KING JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD LIVES TODAY ON RESURRECTION SUNDAY SO WE CAN LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER ON EARTH WHEN HE RETURNS SHORTLY.
Christian pilgrims mark Easter in Jerusalem by Majeda El Batsh – Sun Apr 4, 7:38 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Thousands of Christian pilgrims streamed into Jerusalem's cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Easter Sunday at the traditional site of Jesus's crucifixion and burial.Incense filled the air as Western and Orthodox pilgrims packed into the labyrinthine maze of chapels and crypts lit by thousands of candles as services were held at the grotto where Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead.Women in shawls knelt to kiss the stone where Jesus's body is believed to have been prepared for burial as bearded monks in long black robes watched over visitors making their way through Christianity's holiest site.I came all the way from Belarus for the holiday,said Lana, 38, as she waited in a long line at one of the chapels.I am so happy to be able to light a candle at this holy tomb.
The centuries-old church is shared uneasily by six denominations of Jesus Christ's followers -- Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Copts, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox.In previous years Israeli police have had to rush into the church to break up fist fights between rival monks over alleged attempts to alter a delicate status quo hammered out over centuries, but this year calm prevailed.The Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal welcomed the fact that Easter fell on the same day for Western and Eastern denominations, saying in his Easter sermon that this year... our joy is double.Someone might be disturbed by the overlapping of prayers and songs... Yet this seeming cacophony, lived in faith, becomes instead a symphony that expresses the unity of the faith,he said.Israeli police had stepped up security across the walled Old City during holy week, when thousands of pilgrims trace Jesus's final steps through its winding cobblestone streets.Israel maintained a general closure of the West Bank imposed for the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday but the military said it issued more than 10,000 permits allowing Palestinian Christians to enter for up to two weeks.Another 500 Christians from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, about a fourth of the territory's tiny non-Muslim minority, were also granted permits to travel to Israel and the West Bank, according to the military.The Palestinians have however complained of restrictions, including long waits at the hundreds of checkpoints scattered across the occupied territory.My family got permits to come to Jerusalem but they decided not to because they will suffer at Qalandiya,said Rimas Kasabreh, 34, a Greek Orthodox woman living in Jerusalem, referring to the main checkpoint outside the city.Her family hails from a village near the northern West Bank town of Jenin.The lines take hours. It would spoil the happiness of the holiday,she said.Jerusalem, with famed sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, has seen rising tensions in recent weeks following Israel's announcement of plans for new Jewish settlements in the mostly Arab eastern side of the city.The Old City is part of east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed in a move not recognised by any other government.
Israel views all of Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital, but the Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and the dispute over the city has paralysed US-led peace efforts.In an Easter message delivered at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called for a true exodus from the Middle East conflict. I pray... that in the Middle East, and especially in the land sanctified by (Christ's) death and resurrection, the peoples will accomplish a true and definitive exodus from war and violence to peace and concord,he said.
Pope hailed as unfailing leader at Easter Mass By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer - APR 4,10
VATICAN CITY – A senior cardinal staunchly defended Pope Benedict XVI from petty gossip on Sunday as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting sex abuse cover-up accusations during his Easter message.The ringing tribute by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, at the start of Mass attended by tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, marked an unusual departure from the Vatican's Easter rituals.Sodano's defense of the pope's unfailing leadership and courage, as well as of the work of priests worldwide with children entrusted to their care, built on a vigorous Vatican campaign to defend Benedict's moral authority.The pontiff and other church leaders have been assailed by accusations from victims of clergy sexual abuse that he helped shape and perpetuate a climate of cover-up toward the crimes against children in parishes, schools, orphanages and other church-run institutions.Dressed in gold robes and shielded from a cool drizzle by a canopy, Benedict looked weary as he listened to Sodano's speech at the start of Mass in the cobblestone square bedecked with daffodils, tulips and azaleas.
In early evening, the pope, who turns 83 later this month, was to fly by helicopter to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside retreat in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome, where he will greet pilgrims from the palace courtyard balcony on Monday.Easter Sunday Mass was the highlight of a heavy schedule of public appearances by the pope before the thousands of faithful who have poured into Rome for Holy Week services.With this spirit today we rally close around you, successor to (St.) Peter, bishop of Rome, the unfailing rock of the holy church, Sodano said. "Holy Father, on your side are the people of God, who do not allow themselves to be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials which sometimes buffet the community of believers.At the end of the two-hour long ceremony, Benedict delivered the papacy's traditional Easter Urbi et Orbi message — Latin for to the city and to the world — which analyzes humanity's failings and hopes.Benedict singled out the trials and sufferings of Christians in Iraq and Pakistan, noting that these believers have risked persecution and death for their faith. He urged hope for the people of Haiti and Chile, devastated by earthquakes. He said Easter could signal the victory of peaceful coexistence and respect in crime-ravaged areas of Latin American countries plagued by drug trafficking and said he would pray for peace in the Middle East.But, despite repeated appeals by victims of clerical sexual abuse that he take responsibility for his role in the handling of pedophile priests, he stayed silent on that issue. The victims contend there were decades of systematic cover-up by bishops in many countries, including the United States, Ireland and Benedict's native Germany.
They want him to demand the resignations of bishops complicit in any conspiracy to shield pedophile priests by shuffling them from parish to parish instead of kicking them out of the priesthood.The accusations against the pope stem from his leadership as archbishop of Munich before he came to the Vatican three decades ago, as well as his long tenure in Rome leading the Holy See's office dealing with a growing pile of dossiers about pedophile priests.Sunday's edition of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano denounced the accusations against the pope as a vile defamation operation.Benedict hasn't made any explicit reference to the sex abuse scandals since he released a letter to the Irish faithful concerning the abuse crisis in that country on March 20.
Sodano defended the church's priests as well as the pontiff.Especially with you in these days are those 400,000 priests who generously serve the people of God, in parishes, recreation centers, schools, hospitals and many other places, as well as in the missions in the most remote parts of the world,the cardinal said.In rushing to Benedict's defense, the Vatican has angered abuse victims and their advocates. Jewish leaders also fumed after the papal preacher in a Good Friday sermon told the pope that the accusations against him were akin to the campaign of anti-Semitic violence that culminated in the Holocaust. The preacher, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, told Corriere della Sera daily in an interview Sunday that he had no intention of hurting the sensibilities of the Jews and of the victims of pedophilia.
I have sincerely regretted and I ask forgiveness, reaffirming my solidarity with both lobbies, he was quoted as saying.
Israel allows commercial shipment of goods into Gaza by Sakher Abu El Oun – APR 4,10
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israel on Sunday allowed the first commercial shipment of clothes and shoes into the Gaza Strip since 2008 but said its policy towards the territory's Hamas rulers had not changed.A Palestinian official had earlier said the five truckloads of clothes and five of shoes were the first such shipment since the summer of 2008, but later clarified that smaller amounts of such items had entered Gaza as part of international aid packages.Today is the first time they have allowed the private sector to bring clothes and shoes into Gaza since August 2008, said Raid Fatuh, the Palestinian Authority border official in charge of coordinating such shipments.After the Gaza war in 2009 UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees) and other international organisations brought in aid that included clothes and shoes, but it was a small amount.A military official said the shipment was part of a long-standing policy of allowing basic goods into the territory ruled by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and blacklisted as a terrorist group by the West.This is a regular shipment that enters every few months. There has been no change in policy, he said on condition of anonymity.Israel has sealed the territory of 1.5 million people off from all but vital aid since Hamas seized power there in June 2007, tightening sanctions imposed after the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier.However, large amounts of clothing, domestic appliances and other basic goods are smuggled in through tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, and although prices have gone up, there are no shortages of such goods.
The military official said Sunday's shipment was part of a package of goods approved for UN-run projects in the impoverished territory.Everything is coordinated with the UN so we are sure who is getting the clothes, he said.The Israeli official said the approved package would include a rare shipment of cement to be used for a UN waste water project, without specifying the amount or date of the shipment.Israel will not allow the reconstruction of Gaza, which we regard as a terrorist entity because it is controlled by Hamas and the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still held captive, he said.Shalit was captured by Hamas and two smaller militant groups in a deadly cross-border raid nearly four years ago. Hamas has said it will only release him in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.UN chief Ban Ki-moon said during a visit to Gaza last month that Israel had approved the import of construction materials for UN projects to build 150 homes, a flour mill and a sewage treatment plant.He referred to the projects as a drop in the bucket, but expressed hope that they could pave the way for further reconstruction.The closures have prevented virtually any reconstruction following the December 2008 to January 2009 Gaza war, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians and destroyed thousands of homes.
Thirteen Israelis were killed during the offensive, which was aimed at halting years of near-daily rocket attacks on southern Israel.Israel has said any construction materials could be hijacked by Hamas and used for underground bunkers and makeshift rockets. Critics of the policy have said militant groups get all the cement they need from the tunnels.
Holy Fire brings Jerusalem Easter to joyful climax By Alastair Macdonald – Sat Apr 3, 2:47 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Bells, drums, ecstatic chants and flaming candles lit from the tomb of Jesus brought Easter to a joyful climax in Jerusalem on Saturday for Palestinians and thousands of Orthodox Christian pilgrims from around the world.
Sectarian tensions were, as ever, in evidence at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the ceremony of the Holy Fire, which symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross. But, under a heavy Israeli police presence, there was none of the factional violence that has seen rival clergy trade punches -- and even a stabbing -- in the past few years.A mass influx of Russian and other visitors from the former Soviet bloc, and the absence of many Palestinians denied permits from Israel to enter the Old City, confirmed the changing face of Christian rites in Jerusalem since the fall of Communism.The coincidence of the Easter calendars of the Eastern and Western churches has prompted ecumenical gatherings during Holy Week, notably among the dwindling Christian communities in the West Bank, where Israeli occupation and more militant Islam have fostered emigration in recent years, local church figures said.Roman Catholics and Protestants, however, eschew the Holy Fire rite; Western visitors have for centuries scoffed at the ceremony in which the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem produces a lighted candle from the sealed and empty tomb -- without the aid of matches or other, visible, terrestrial aids.At times, terrible stampedes have left worshippers injured or even killed. Several hundred died in a crush in 1834.
RIVAL CELEBRATIONS
For thousands of locals and foreigners packed in the many corners of the ancient church around the ornate stone tomb on the traditional site of the crucifixion and resurrection, the ritual progressed much as it is must have done for a millennium.
For hours, competing chants, singing and processions marked out areas of the church dominated by the Greek Orthodox and the Armenians, congregations which, with Roman Catholics, have the main rights to the Holy Sepulchre through an arrangement drafted under 19th century Ottoman Turkish rulers anxious for calm.Colorful, noisy groups from other denominations, including Copts from Egypt and Syrian Orthodox, added to the throng.A couple of dozen teenagers in uniform red T-shirts from one church group, Roman Catholic monks observing with detachment from the upper balconies, and a preponderance of heavy-set young men in clerical garb at the forefront of the main Greek and Armenian delegations lent an air of sporting competition.But fears of a showdown between the two denominations, whose clergy engaged in a widely televised bout of fisticuffs inside the church less than 18 months ago, proved unfounded.The Greek patriarch and a senior Armenian cleric both emerged from the tomb bearing the holy fire for their followers.In seconds, light spread around the darkened chapels as the delighted faithful lit one bunch of candles from flaming others.This is the greatest joy of my life,said 64-year-old Suhair Amin, who had travelled two days by bus from Egypt and said many of her Coptic fellows were denied entry to the church.
Competition for places has become particularly intense with Israel's opening of visa-free travel for Russians, tens of millions of whom have embraced the Orthodox Christianity long frozen out under Communism. One Russian attending on Saturday said he had paid $700 for a pass given by one denomination.Asked whether it was worth it, as the candle flames raced around the church, he was speechless, simply beaming in reply.Members of smaller but hitherto influential denominations in Jerusalem, like the Greeks and Armenians, are wary of the surge in numbers and money coming from Russia -- and of Israel's potential to use its control as a diplomatic bargaining chip with Moscow, at the expense of smaller churches.(Editing by Paul Casciato)
Israel warns of new Gaza assault as US urges restraint by Gavin Rabinowitz – Sat Apr 3, 6:07 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Friday threatened widescale military action against the Gaza Strip after launching a string of air strikes in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.However, the United States urged restraint on both sides, saying there was no military solution to the conflict.Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned of a new offensive on the coastal territory unless militant rocket attacks ceased.If this rocket fire against Israel does not stop, it seems we will have to raise the level of our activity and step up our actions against Hamas, Shalom told public radio.We won't allow frightened children to again be raised in bomb shelters and so, in the end, it will force us to launch another military operation.I hope we can avoid it, but it is one of the options we have, and if we don't have a choice, we will use it in the near future, he said.Three Palestinian children -- aged two, four and 11 -- were hit by flying glass in one of six overnight raids, said Moawiya Hassanein, head of the Palestinian emergency services in Gaza.
There were no other reports of casualties.
The head of the Islamist Hamas movement's government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, blamed the Jewish state for the increase in tensions.We call on the international community to intervene to stop this escalation and Israeli aggression, he said in a statement. Israel closer to death if it attacks Gaza: Ahmadinejad
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters Israel has a right to self-defence. At the same, as we've said many times, we don't ultimately think there is a military solution to this, he said.Our message remains to the Israelis and Palestinians that we need to get the proximity talks going, focus on the substance, move to direct negotiations and ultimately arrive at a settlement that ends the conflict once and for all.Britain and France also expressed concern at the escalation, calling for restraint and the launch of US-backed indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.We call on all parties to show restraint,a Foreign Office spokeswoman said in London. We encourage Israelis and Palestinians to focus efforts on negotiation and to engage urgently in US-backed proximity talks.In Paris, France's foreign ministry echoed British concern.Any initiative likely to raise tension is not appropriate, not welcome, not constructive, said ministry spokesman Bernard Valero, urging all sides to act responsibly and take brave and necessary measures to restore trust.The air strikes came after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants landed near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon late on Thursday, causing damage but no casualties, the military said.Nearly 20 rockets have been fired into Israel in the past month, including one that killed a Thai farm worker, in the worst violence since the end of Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza that began in December 2008. Since the war, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, Israel has routinely responded to rocket fire by targeting smuggling tunnels and workshops it says are used to make rockets. Three of the overnight Israeli strikes struck near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Two missiles hit a guard post of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.
A fourth raid destroyed a workshop in Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Hamas and witnesses said. In the other raids, a small dairy was destroyed in western Gaza City. The Israeli military said it hit a weapons manufacturing site in the northern Gaza Strip, a weapons manufacturing site in the central Gaza Strip and two weapons storage facilities in the southern Gaza Strip.The (army) holds Hamas as solely responsible for maintaining peace and quiet in the Gaza Strip, it said. Haniya said his government was in contact with other Palestinian factions to maintain the internal consensus (truce), to protect our people and strengthen our unity.The increased rocket attacks come amid tensions over Israel's settlement plans for annexed east Jerusalem that have stymied US efforts to launch peace talks and after fresh clashes along the Gaza-Israel border. Two Israeli soldiers, including an officer, were killed along with two Palestinian gunmen on March 26-27 when Israeli tanks made a brief incursion into Gaza.And on Tuesday, a Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli troops near the border of the blockaded coastal strip.
US says talks the solution in Mideast
Fri Apr 2, 2:26 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States called Friday on Israel and the Palestinians to pursue talks and said there was no military solution to the conflict after a flare-up in violence.The Israelis have a right to self-defense. At the same, as we've said many times, we don't ultimately think there is a military solution to this, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.Our message remains to the Israelis and Palestinians that we need to get the proximity talks going, focus on the substance, move to direct negotiations and ultimately arrive at a settlement that ends the conflict once and for all.Israel has launched a string of air strikes in the Gaza Strip and threatened wide-scale military action after rocket attacks from the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.We are always concerned that steps taken by other side, legitimate or otherwise, can be misconstrued, can be twisted and ends up causing turbulence that can be an impediment to progress, Crowley said.The United States has been seeking to launch peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.But even before the latest violence, the efforts were stymied by disagreements between Israel and the United States over the Jewish state's settlement plans in annexed east Jerusalem.
Israeli planes and helicopters mount Gaza attacks
Fri Apr 2, 4:31 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli planes and helicopters mounted at least seven missile attacks on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday, destroying what a military spokesman described as Palestinian munitions sites.Four air strikes blew up two caravans near the town of Khan Younis, witnesses and Hamas officials said. There were no casualties in this attack.A fifth missile hit a cheese factory in Gaza City, setting it on fire, the witnesses and Hamas officials said. Hospital officials said two children were slightly wounded by flying debris.Helicopters struck twice in the central refugee camp of Nusseirat, destroying a metal foundry and no one was injured.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the attacks, saying they had targeted two weapons-manufacturing plants and two arms caches.The air strikes were Israel's response to a Palestinian short-range rocket that was fired across the border into the Jewish state on Thursday, the spokesman said. The attack, which went unclaimed by any Palestinian faction, caused no damage.Israel has said it will hold Hamas responsible for any attacks on its cities from the Gaza Strip.Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said the Islamist group was trying to reaffirm an agreement reached last year with other Palestinian factions to curb the rocket fire.An Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip early last year was designed to counter such salvoes. Rocket attacks have resumed sporadically in recent weeks and Israel has responded with air strikes.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Dan Williams)
Palestinian PM sees statehood by August 2011
Fri Apr 2, 4:09 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad predicts a Palestinian state will be established by August 2011 through positive facts on the ground, in an interview published on Friday in an Israeli newspaper.The birth of a Palestinian state will be celebrated as a day of joy by the entire community of nations, Fayyad told the Haaretz daily.The time for this baby to be born will come, he said,and we estimate it will come around 2011, the prime minister said.That is our vision and a reflection of our will to exercise our right to live in freedom and dignity in the country (where) we are born, alongside the State of Israel, in complete harmony.
Fayyad's August 2011 target is based on a decision taken by the Palestinian leadership in August 2009 to establish a state within two years. Since then Fayyad has been building institutions for a de-facto state.If for one reason or another, by August 2011 (the plan) will have failed ... I believe we will have amassed such credit, in the form of positive facts on the ground, that the reality is bound to force itself on the political process to produce the outcome, Haaretz quoted him as saying.Palestinians have repeatedly said they will unilaterally declare a state or ask for UN recognition of their independence amid growing frustration with so-far ineffective US efforts to relaunch peace negotiations with Israel.The talks were suspended during the Gaza war of December 2008-January 2009.Israel, however, has warned of a tough response to a unilateral Palestinian declaration.US President Barack Obama's administration has so far been unable to convince Israelis and Palestinians to resume their peace talks, amid deep disagreements on the thorny issue of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.The Palestinians insist on a freeze of all settlement activity before talks restart, while Israel is offering a temporary and limited ease on construction, saying the issue will be resolved during final-status negotiations.
US wants Syria to act as key peace player
Thu Apr 1, 12:55 pm ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) – President Barack Obama's administration considers Syria a key player in Washington's efforts to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, US Senator John Kerry said in Damascus on Thursday.Syria is an essential player in bringing peace and stability to the region, Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech after meeting President Bashar al-Assad.Both the United States and Syria have a very deep interest... in having a very frank exchange on any differences (and) agreements that we have about the possibilities of peace in this region, he said in the statement.A summit of Arab leaders last weekend ruled out renewed Palestinian-Israeli peace talks unless the Jewish state halts all settlement building, particularly in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.There are things that the United States can do, there are things that Syria can do, there are things that Israel can do, Turkey can do, some are unilateral, some are multilateral, Kerry said.But all of us have to work together in order to seize real opportunities.
Obama's administration has pursued a year-long campaign to engage Syria, a former US foe, and energise its thwarted push for a broad Arab-Israeli peace, particularly between Israel and the Palestinians.Its decision in February to appoint the first US ambassador to Damascus in five years was evidence that engagement with Syria is a priority at the highest levels of our government,said the former US presidential candidate.Envoy Robert Ford is still awaiting US confirmation of his new post, but he will be an excellent representative of the president's policies and an outstanding envoy to the Syrian government, Kerry said.He also called on Syria to play a role to halt the supply of weapons to Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah.We also remain deeply concerned about the flow of weapons in this area, through this area, to Hezbollah. That is something that must stop in order to promote regional stability and security,Kerry said.
Hezbollah will not be silent if accused in Hariri murder by Natacha Yazbeck – Wed Mar 31, 5:01 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned that his Shiite militant group would not remain silent if a UN probe into the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri pointed its finger at his party.Accusing individual members of our party is equivalent to accusing Hezbollah, he said.That would take Lebanon to a very difficult place.We will not remain silent if we find we are facing political accusations, Nasrallah said in an interview with Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up by a UN Security Council resolution in 2007 to find and try suspects in the murder of Hariri, who was killed in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February 2005.In its first annual report published in March, the tribunal said investigators were getting closer to identifying the suicide bomber who carried out the attack.Tension has been brewing in Lebanon after a flurry of press reports said the UN court was readying to accuse Hezbollah operatives in the Hariri murder.But the tribunal said the reports were mere speculation in a statement last week.Nasrallah confirmed the UN team investigating the murder had interrogated members of his party but said Hezbollah was not currently in the tribunal's line of fire.In the past few weeks the prosecutor's office in Beirut contacted a number of our brothers, some of them members of Hezbollah and others close to the party, and requested they come in for interrogation,he said.They called in 12 of our brothers in recent weeks, and I believe they are now in the process of summoning six more,Nasrallah added.
Representatives of the prosecutor's office guaranteed us that all those being interrogated were called in as witnesses, and not as suspects, at a semi-official meeting with representatives of Hezbollah,he said.The prosecutor's office has not until now accused any Hezbollah member. But we don't know what could happen in the future.The Shiite leader downplayed the tribunal's credibility, saying it had ruled out the possibility of archfoe Israel being behind the Hariri murder too soon and was leaking information to the press.But Nasrallah said the court still had a chance to rebuild trust and said his party would continue to cooperate with the UN team.
We will cooperate ... Hezbollah has nothing to fear,he said.None of the Hezbollah members interrogated so far were public figures, Nasrallah said, adding that the tribunal had also interrogated male and female party members in previous years.Some of our brothers and sisters were interrogated at the end of 2008, after the events of May 7 and right before the four generals were released, he said.He was referring to street battles that broke out in the Lebanese capital Beirut on May 7, 2008 -- the worst sectarian fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war -- pitting supporters of a Hezbollah-led alliance to those of a rival camp loyal to Hariri's son Saad Hariri, now Lebanon's prime minister. The clashes, sparked by a government crackdown on Hezbollah's private communications network, left over 100 people dead. Four Lebanese generals were detained for nearly four years in connection with Hariri's assassination but were released last April, after evidence against them was deemed insufficient. The Hariri murder has been widely blamed on Syria, a main backer of Hezbollah, although Damascus has roundly denied any involvement. A UN commission of inquiry said it had found evidence to implicate Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services prior to the tribunal's formation, but there are currently no suspects in custody.
U.S. seeks 4-month Jerusalem building freeze: report
Wed Mar 31, 5:40 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama wants Israel to freeze construction in East Jerusalem for four months in exchange for an attempt to renew stalled Israeli peace talks with Palestinians, an Israeli newspaper said on Wednesday.Washington hopes such a deal could persuade Palestinians to renew direct negotiations rather than indirect proximity talks, as had been planned, the Haaretz daily said, quoting an unnamed Israeli political source.A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reached by telephone, declined to comment.Asked about the report, Nabil Abu Rdainah, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: What is required is firstly a freeze to settlement in Jerusalem and in the rest of the West Bank before a return to any negotiations, direct or indirect.
Obama has also pressed Israel to stop building in East Jerusalem, which it captured along with the West Bank in a 1967 war and annexed.Officials said he asked Netanyahu in talks last week in Washington to introduce some unspecified goodwill gestures to help persuade Palestinians to renew peace negotiations suspended since December 2008.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that has not won international recognition. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel's Maariv newspaper at the weekend Washington's main demand of Israel was freezing construction in most of the Jewish neighborhoods, listing four in the East Jerusalem area.Lieberman called the demand completely unreasonable and said it had not been accepted by any senior cabinet ministers.Netanyahu, who has thus far resisted U.S. pressure on the Jerusalem issue, has held two inconclusive cabinet consultations on Washington's proposals, and officials have said these discussions would continue.The Haaretz newspaper said a consensus among ministers, who last met on Sunday, was that Israel would avoid declaring an outright building freeze in Jerusalem, and seek instead to achieve a quiet understanding on the issue.
Netanyahu's differences with the Obama administration on Jerusalem have put him in a political bind, as he seeks to avoid harming Israel's critical security ties with Washington while keeping his pro-settler ruling coalition from breaking apart.The Israeli leader excluded East Jerusalem from a 10-month moratorium he declared, under U.S. pressure, in November on new housing starts in West Bank settlements.(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah)(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Sarkozy joins Obama in condemning settlements
Tue Mar 30, 5:15 pm ET
WASHINGTON – France is standing with the United States in condemning Israeli settlement activity in east Jerusalem.French President Nicolas Sarkozy (sar-koh-ZEE') says his own commitment to Israel's security is well known but adds that the settlement activity in an area claimed by the Palestinians contributes nothing.
Speaking at a news conference with President Barack Obama after their White House meeting Tuesday, Sarkozy praised Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks. Sarkozy said that the absence of peace in the region is a problem for all of us — and that it feeds terrorism around the world.
