Jordan slams Israel over West Bank evictions threat
Wed Apr 14, 11:47 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan condemned Israel on Wednesday over a military order that could lead to the eviction of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, demanding it be revoked.The Amman government strongly condemned the Israeli decision, describing the move as illegal and a flagrant violation of international law and conventions, as well as the Jewish state's obligations as an occupying power.
In a statement, the government urged the international community to act to halt such unilateral measures,which would block peace efforts and raise tensions in the Middle East.It added that Foreign Minister Nasser Jawdeh, who is in Washington with King Abdullah II, had already started to contact his counterparts about the matter during a nuclear meeting there this week.Meanwhile, Israel Ambassador Dani Nevo was summoned to the foreign ministry and given a note of protest, the official Petra news agency reported.The note underlined Jordan's strong denunciation of the Israeli decision ... and the need to immediately stop its application, as well as the reaffirmation of the right of the Palestinian people to live in and move about freely on their national territory, Petra said.Jordan said on Monday it had received assurances from Israel that the order would not lead to expulsions of Palestinians living in the West Bank.The Israeli military insists the new orders merely formalise existing procedures and said there would be no new wave of deportations from the territory.On Tuesday, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called the orders illegal,while the Arab League called on the Palestinians to refuse to heed them.
Obama voices frustration on stalled Mideast peace By Matt Spetalnick – Tue Apr 13, 6:44 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama voiced frustration on Tuesday over stalled Middle East peace efforts, saying Israelis and Palestinians may not be ready to resolve their conflict no matter how much pressure Washington exerts.Obama, speaking to reporters after hosting a nuclear security summit, made clear he harbored little hope for swift progress toward Middle East peace, more than a year after taking office and declaring it a high priority for his administration.U.S.-led peace moves have been stymied by a dispute over Jewish settlement construction on occupied land that has strained ties between Washington and its close ally Israel, and by divisions among the Palestinians.The truth is in some of these conflicts the United States can't impose solutions unless the participants in these conflicts are willing to break out of old patterns of antagonism,Obama told a news conference.
The Obama administration has tried to get Israel and the Palestinians to launch indirect peace talks but has made scant headway. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave little ground in White House talks with Obama last month.Obama recently acknowledged he had underestimated the obstacles to a renewed peace process that bedeviled many of his predecessors, and some critics have called his approach naive.The Israeli people, through their government, and the Palestinian people, through the Palestinian Authority, as well as other Arab states may say to themselves, We are not prepared to resolve these issues no matter how much pressure the United States brings to bear,Obama said.But Obama insisted the United States would press on, constantly present, constantly engaged.He said progress on issues like Middle East peace, nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament would be measured not in days, not in weeks.It's going to take time, and progress will be halting,he said.And there will be frustrations.
The White House promised on Friday not to surprise anybody at any time with a dramatic shift in Middle East peace strategy and said no decision had been made for Obama to offer his own solution to the conflict.While dampening expectations for a revamped U.S. approach, national security adviser Jim Jones left open the possibility of further internal discussions, following reports a broad new Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal was under consideration.(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Israel warns nationals of imminent kidnap threat in Egypt by Marius Schattner – Tue Apr 13, 5:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel warned its nationals on Tuesday that there was an imminent risk of kidnap attempts by militants against holidaymakers in the neighbouring Sinai peninsula in Egypt.Israel's anti-terrorism unit said it had concrete information about an imminent risk of a terrorist abduction operation.Israel already issued a general warning to its citizens in February about the dangers of travel over the next few months to the Red Sea resort area which is a major draw.But despite the travel advice, some 20,000 Israeli tourists still holidayed in the Sinai over the Jewish Passover holiday in late March and early April.The anti-terrorism unit cited threats from (Lebanese Shiite militant group) Hezbollah and Iran.A senior Egyptian security official contacted by AFP said the interior ministry was looking into the Israeli travel warning.But other officials played it down, saying that it was based on rumours and that there was no credible intelligence suggesting tourists were under threat.Israeli military radio reported that the warning was issued following an unconfirmed rumour about the kidnapping of an Israeli.The Sinai has been the scene of three major bombing attacks targeting Israeli or Western tourists.
In April 2006, 20 people were killed in the resort of Dahab; in July 2005, 70 people were killed in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh; and in October 2004, 34 people were killed in Taba, hard by the Israeli border.In April last year, Egyptian authorities said they had unveiled a plot by sympathisers of Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, to kidnap or kill Israelis in the Sinai.The security forces carried out extensive search operations in the peninsula's mountainous interior at the time, sparking protests among the indigenous Bedouin nomads.An Egyptian court is to hand down its verdict later this month against 26 suspected members of the alleged Hezbollah cell. Prosecutors have called for death sentences in the trial, in which all but four of the accused are in the dock.
Hezbollah has said repeatedly that its only operatives in Egypt have been exclusively engaged in smuggling arms and money to the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza.Egypt depends heavily on its tourism industry. Revenues totalled 10.76 billion dollars last year despite a 2.1 percent decline in receipts in the face of the recession hitting its main European markets.Around 12.5 million tourists visited the country in 2009, including more than two million from Russia.Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana said in February that the government hoped to see arrivals rise to 14 million this year, bringing in revenues of 11.5 billion dollars.
Israel's Peres calls for urgent relaunch of peace talks
Tue Apr 13, 3:56 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Israeli President Shimon Peres called on Tuesday for stalled negotiations with Palestinians to be urgently relaunched, on the first day of an official visit to Paris.A year has already gone by and it's already late. The negotiations have to be urgently taken up again and we can get to a compromise, Peres said after a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.We should help create a Palestinian state, it's in Israel's interest. We need to tell our Palestinian friends that too much time has been lost towards the resumption of talks,he added.The Israeli president also paid tribute to France for the extraordinary role that it constantly plays in the peace process.Paris has offered to host a peace conference as long as the talks lead to results, while also firmly criticising Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Turning to Syria, Peres renewed his attacks against Damascus, which he accuses of supplying Scud missiles to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah while publicly talking peace.As regards Syria, the question is always the same: where are they going? what do they want, because they speak of peace at the same time they encourage Hezbollah ... which has only one sole objective which is to attack Israel, he said.The Syrians have to be clear. They have to decide whether they want to speak about peace or whether they want to support Hezbollah against Israel, he said.On Iran, Peres said that Israel and France completely agree on the need to show firmness towards Tehran over nuclear security.Peres is to meet with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday, the second day of a three-day trip to Paris, before meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a working lunch on Thursday.
Israeli stores pull book criticizing settlers By GRANT SLATER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 13, 2:31 pm ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli bookstore chain pulled a book that criticizes Jewish settlers as hypnotized zombies plagued by messianic madness after customers complained about it, the company said Tuesday.The decision set off protests from some academics and public figures, who accused the store of bowing to political pressure.The book also criticizes the Israeli right for its strong ties to West Bank Jewish settlers. The chain, called Tzomet Hasfarim, or Books Junction, packaged the book with an Israeli flag magnet ahead of Israel's independence day next week and sold it for one shekel, about 27 cents.The store said customers objected to the packaging of the book with the flag magnet for a symbolic price, implying that the chain endorsed the message of the book. For that reason, the store said it pulled the book from its shelves.The store issued a statement saying it has no connection and does not support one side or the other.
In response, some Israeli academics and public figures called for a boycott of the store. Their petition criticizes the chain for caving in to political pressure, saying its decision constitutes a critical blow to freedom of expression.About 300,000 Israeli settlers live among some 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Many Israelis oppose the settlements and are in favor of removing them in exchange for peace with the Palestinians.Dani Dayan, chairman of Settlers Council, blasted the book.This blasphemous publication attacks our communities with vulgar language, Dayan said, adding that he did not object to the book being published.The book was self-published by its authors, Shmuel Hasfari and Eldad Yaniv, and all of the bookstore's copies have been returned to the authors, the chain said.Yaniv told the Israeli Haaretz newspaper he intended to publish more copies of the book and distribute them for free on university campuses.I think that today (the settlers) proved what the book says about them is justified,Yaniv told Haaretz.It's time to put them in their place and say that we are Zionist and Israeli and want to stop the occupation of the West Bank.Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and started building settlements there shortly afterward. The Palestinians claim the West Bank for part of their future state and want the settlements removed.
Med water conference ends in failure due to Israel-Arab row by Pierre Ausseill – Tue Apr 13, 1:55 pm ET
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – Talks aimed at adopting a water management strategy for the Mediterranean failed Tuesday due to a row between Israel and Arab countries over a reference to the Palestinian territories, participants said.The stalemate was seen as a strong blow against the nascent 43-nation Mediterranean Union, which was set up two years ago to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.
Unfortunately we can not reach an agreement,French secretary of state for European affairs Pierre Lellouche said at the end of the 4th Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water in Barcelona where the body is based.The conference aimed to reach an agreement on a strategy for managing fresh water in the Mediterranean to ensure equal access to the non-renewable resource and prevent the issue from becoming a source of conflict in the future.But a reference to occupied territories in a proposed draft text prevented the approval of a final accord event though delegates were in agreement on 99 percent of the technical issues related to water management, said Lellouche.Israel disagreed with this wording while Arab nations opposed to the alternative formulation of territories under occupation proposed by European participants, he added.The head of the body, Jordan's Ahmad Masa'deh, said he was saddened by the failure to reach an agreement at the conference because it casts doubt on the future of the Mediterranean Union.The union groups all 27 EU member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as well as Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in the region.It was established in 2008 in Paris by France and Egypt but was temporarily mothballed in early 2009 because of tensions caused by Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.My disappointment is matched only by my hope, this structure is irreversible,said Lellouche, adding the body is a fundamental project for peace in this region and it has not lost any validity.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau rejected responsibility for the failure of the talks and blamed Arab nations instead.We wanted to concentrate solely on the problems of water and avoid entering into political themes. But Arab League nations lapsed into pure propaganda and made political declarations against the state of Israel,he said.They decided to obstruct the meeting, he added.The issue of access to water is of crucial importance for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin.Some 290 million people in the region could lack water by 2025 due to the combined effects of population growth, rising needs of agriculture, industry and tourism and global warming, according to the United Nations.Over 180 million people in the region already lack water and over 60 million people face chronic shortages, according to Mediterranean Union experts.Water management is a major source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians.Israel largely controls joint water resources and supplies most of the water consumed in the West Bank. International organisations say Israel's water supplies fall short of Palestinian needs, but also that the Palestinians have failed to set up the infrastructure and institutions needed in the water sector.
Jerusalem plans to build synagogue in settlement
Tue Apr 13, 6:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Jerusalem authorities plan to give the green light to build a new synagogue and school in east Jerusalem on land seized from Palestinians, Israeli army radio reported on Tuesday.The land was seized from its Palestinian owners shortly before planning for the buildings started in the 1990s, the radio said.The construction project in the Gilo neighbourhood, a Jewish settlement, still needs final approval from the city's planning commission, whose head Kobi Khalon said this would be a formality.But Khalon, who is also deputy mayor, added: We must act with prudence and responsibility as Jerusalem is an explosive city.The status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements are major stumbling blocks in Middle East peace efforts.Israel has considered the Holy City its eternal and indivisible capital since it seized Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as part of the occupied West Bank and want it to be the capital of their promised state.The announcement of a plan for 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden last month triggered a major row with Washington, which has pushed for a freeze of settlement activity.
Israel's seven-strong security cabinet met on Monday to discuss Washington's demands for specific confidence-building measures to promote a restart of Middle East peace talks.The demands were made last month during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington that appeared to deepen the row with the administration of President Barack Obama.Under Netanyahu's orders, Jerusalem's planning commission -- whose approval is needed for any construction project in the city -- has not met since the ill-timed announcement during Biden's visit, said city council member Meir Margalit.Its first meeting for more than a month will be on Thursday, when it is expected to approve the Gilo project, said the leftwinger.
World Bank urges Israel to ease West Bank limits
Mon Apr 12, 3:28 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The World Bank warned on Monday that continued economic growth in the occupied West Bank would depend on Israel taking further steps to lift restrictions on movement.The fiscal position of the (Palestinian Authority) remains precarious. Despite evidence of economic growth in the West Bank, its sustainability remains in question, the Bank said ahead of a donors conference in Madrid.The warning came a day after the International Monetary Fund said the West Bank economy grew 8.5 percent in 2009 following Palestinian reforms, the easing of some restrictions, and nearly two billion dollars of foreign aid.Both bodies have cautioned that those gains could be in danger if Israel does not remove more of the hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints it maintains in the West Bank, which it says are necessary for security.The World Bank recommended that continued easing of the economic restrictions on the West Bank, and lifting the Gaza blockade, remain a top priority for the government of Israel.Specifically, it urges unlocking of the economic potential of Area C in the West Bank, it said, referring to the more than 60percent of the territory that is under complete Israeli civil and military control.
It also urged the liberalising of economic linkages with east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed in a move not recognised internationally, and which the Palestinians view as their capital.Both the World Bank and the IMF called for the lifting of sanctions on Gaza imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, which have crippled the private sector and spawned an informal smuggling economy based on tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.All parties must bear in mind that economic integration of the West Bank and Gaza is critical to the viability of a Palestinian state in the medium and long terms,World Bank regional vice president Shamshad Akhtar said.The current political and security uncertainty, as well as the movement restrictions, pose substantial impediments to the necessary integration of the Palestinian economy within the Middle East as well as globally.
Netanyahu at Holocaust ceremony: Stop Iran By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 11, 2:39 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The specter of Iran hovered over the start of Israel's annual memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazis in the Holocaust of World War II, as Israeli leaders warned of an Iranian nuclear program they believe is aimed at weapons production.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained bitterly about international reaction to what he called Iran's drive toward nuclear bombs and its intention to destroy Israel, but he did not hint at a possible Israeli response.
We encounter in the best case a limp reaction, and even that is fading,Netanyahu said Sunday.We do not hear the necessary rejection, no harsh denunciation, no outcry.
Netanyahu spoke at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial authority, before hundreds of Holocaust survivors and their families, Israeli leaders, diplomats and others. A military honor guard stood at one side of the podium and a girls' choir on the other.If we have learned anything from the Holocaust,Netanyahu said,it is that we must not be silent or be deterred in the face of evil.In his address at the ceremony, President Shimon Peres recalled visiting the village in Poland where he was born. Of all the Jewish homes and synagogues, not a single beam remains,he said.Turning to the present, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate urged the world to confront threats of genocide, singling out Iran's nuclear program. Israel dismisses Iranian claims that it is not making nuclear bombs.Peres said, Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those capable of mass destruction, with voices encouraging that destruction — that is the most perilous combination to world peace.
The day is one of the most solemn on Israel's calendar. Restaurants, cafes and places of entertainment closed down across Israel Sunday evening at the start of the annual remembrance day. Local TV channels scrapped their light entertainment and substituted documentaries about the Holocaust and other similarly serious programming. Radio networks aired interviews with survivors and panel discussions about the significance of the genocide and lessons for the future.At midmorning Monday, air raid sirens are set to wail across the country, marking two minutes of silence in memory of the victims.Yad Vashem picked Voices of the Survivors as the theme for this year's commemoration. About 220,000 survivors live in Israel, all of them aging, some of them destitute and alone. In a statement on its Web site, Yad Vashem said,The voice of the survivors is the link that binds the painful and tormented history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to the future, to hope and to rebirth.On Monday, Holocaust memorial day ceremonies include gatherings around the country, starting in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, where people read the names of victims of the Holocaust. The project, called Every Person Has a Name,is meant to break down the number of 6 million into stories of individuals, families and communities wiped out during the war.
A study released hours before the opening ceremony found that anti-Semitic incidents doubled worldwide last year compared with 2008. The Tel Aviv University report concluded that Muslim groups and radical leftists used Israel's bruising 22-day invasion to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, starting in late December 2008, as a wedge to expand their anti-Jewish agenda.Researchers counted 1,129 incidents, more than double the toll of the year before and the highest in two decades of studies. Researchers said they found an orchestrated and concerted attempt to delegitimize the Jewish people and Jewish state in Europe.The report by the Steven Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism charged that radical leftists and Muslim groups channeled Israel's invasion of Gaza into a campaign of anti-Semitism.Dina Porat, the report's editor, said the study tracked only instances of physical violence against Jewish targets. Verbal violence is violence, of course, but we don't count it,Porat said.
Israeli army detains 14 in West Bank land protest
Sat Apr 10, 9:33 am ET
BEIT OMAR, West Bank (AFP) – Israeli forces clashed with several dozen Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, arresting 14 people, the army and witnesses said.The protesters were joined by Israeli peace activists and foreigners at the rally near Beit Omar village, charging that Jews from nearby Bat Ayin settlement were farming on Palestinian-owned land.The demonstrators threw rocks and set fire to crops, the army and witnesses said.Security forces used riot dispersal means to disperse the protesters. The army declared the area a closed military zone and arrested 14 people,an army spokeswoman said.No casualties were reported in the incident in Beit Omar, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron which has been a frequent flashpoint in recent weeks between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
Thousands of Jews visit disputed West Bank tombs By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 9, 3:09 pm ET
KIFL HARES, West Bank – Thousands of devout Jews descended on a Palestinian village Friday in a rare pilgrimage to three disputed tombs, praying and dancing at a site they claim holds the remains of biblical ancestors.The visit, made under the guard of soldiers enforcing a curfew on local residents, took place before dawn Friday to try to avoid provoking trouble with the Palestinians of Kifl Hares, who say the graves hold the remains of Muslims.Such visits are especially sensitive because Palestinians fear Israeli hard-liners are using religious claims to buttress demands for areas the Palestinians want for a future state.Earlier this year, a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to add two West Bank shrines to a list of Israeli heritage sites set off weeks of clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli troops in the biblical city of Hebron. Both of those sites, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, hold great significance for Muslims and Jews.No clashes were reported during the pilgrimage to Kifl Hares, which began late Thursday and ended early Friday. The Palestinian mayor, however, called it a serious bother.
Israeli soldiers, some using glow sticks to direct traffic in the darkness, imposed a curfew on the Palestinian residents. The Jewish visitors, some carrying children or pushing strollers, walked the village's narrow streets. Near the tombs, groups of ultra-Orthodox men with sidelocks and black hats recited prayers, sang and danced in circles.Some devout Jews claim biblical Joshua, along with his father, Nun, and companion Caleb are buried in Kifl Hares. Local Palestinians say the graves hold the remains of Muslims.About 5,000 Jews from around Israel and its West Bank settlements flocked to the village on Thursday night, many on buses chartered for the trip. Israeli soldiers lined the streets, directing visitors to the three tombs.At the tomb pilgrims believe to be Joshua's, men in black hats and long coats jostled to enter. They recited prayers, read psalms and snapped photos. Women in long skirts, covering their hair with hats or scarves, prayed in a separate section.Outside, merchants hawked religious books, CDs and bumper stickers. Others distributed soft drinks and slices of noodle cake. Later, groups of Orthodox men joined arms and danced in a circle, singing praise songs.It's a unique opportunity where they are able to reach the burial place of one of the most important leaders of the Jewish people,said David Haivri, one of the organizers.The Israeli military says Jewish worshippers can only enter Palestinian communities with army escorts. In the West Bank, tensions continue to run high, particularly between Palestinian villagers and hard-line Jewish settlers, who in recent months have stepped up rampages in Palestinian communities.Ahmed Bouzia, the mayor of Kifl Hares, called the most recent visit a serious bother and said many villagers worry Israel will try to take the sites away from them.All three are Islamic graves,Bouzia said, adding that one contains the remains of an ancestor.Anyone who uses his eyes and head can see that these are Islamic graves.
Israel viewed as world's sixth nuclear power: analysts
Fri Apr 9, 1:14 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – Israel, whose prime minister withdrew Friday from next week's US-hosted nuclear summit, is viewed as the sixth country to have acquired nuclear weapons -- a title it has neither denied nor confirmed.Analysts at British defence specialists Jane's believe the Jewish state has between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads, putting them among the more advanced nuclear weapons states and roughly on a par with Britain.The London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) estimates Israel has up to 200 warheads delivered on land-based short-range Jericho 1 and medium-range Jericho 2 missiles.The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US advocacy group co-created by Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, puts the figure at 100 to 200.Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East with a programme dating back to the 1950s under Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.It was developed with the help of France and is centred on the Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert.According to Jane's, the Israeli strategic force could be deployed by the Jericho 2 missile, which has a range of up to 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles), or the five-year-old Jericho 3, which reaches up to 7,800 kilometres.It is also believed to be able to deploy by air, using F-16 fighter jets, and even by sea through its submarine fleet, providing an opportunity for a second strike if its land systems are attacked.Israel acquired three diesel-powered Dolphin-class submarines in 1999-2000 which are capable of launching adapted Harpoon cruise missiles fitted with nuclear warheads.
In addition, Jane's says some observers believe Jerusalem has developed tactical nuclear weapons such as landmines and artillery shells.Some analysts believe that Israel probably keeps most, if not all, of its nuclear arsenal in an unassembled mode,the latest Jane's briefing says, adding that fully functional weapons could be completed in a matter of days.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly withdrew Friday from next week's nuclear summit in Washington, underscoring Israeli reluctance to expose its own nuclear programme to scrutiny.
