Saturday, May 29, 2010

EXTREMISTS WANT QUICK ACCESS TO GAZA

ISRAEL MUST SECURITY ITS BORDERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

Aid flotilla activists determined to reach Gaza by Haro Chakmakjian – 11:45AM MAY 29,10

NICOSIA (AFP) – Hundreds of activists at sea in the eastern Mediterranean were determined on Saturday to break Israel's Gaza blockade after their boats were tampered with, an organiser of the aid operation said.Israel, which has branded the operation illegal, has warned that its navy will intercept the vessels.Two of the seven boats involved were tampered with, forcing one to drop out and the other to pull into port in Turkish-held north Cyprus for repairs, said Elize Ernshire of the Free Gaza Movement which organised the flotilla.We are more determined than ever. These actions can be frustrating but in the end they are not going to stop us, she told AFP.These boats had no previous mechanical problems and had undergone full (mechanical) surveys,Ernshire said, declining to elaborate on the damage. A statement would be issued at a later date.

One of the damaged boats transferred its passengers at sea.The other pulled into Famagusta in the Turkish-held sector of the island and headed back out late Saturday afternoon to rejoin the flotilla, Turkish Cypriot politician Teberruken Ulucay at the port told AFP.Ernshire said the flotilla of cargo and passenger ships was located 120 nautical miles from the Gaza coast and would head off toward the Palestinian territory late on Saturday, aiming to arrive at around noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday.Five European MPs are among the activists, she said. However, another five would not be on the boats that had been due to leave on Friday but were delayed due to a lack of cooperation by Greek Cypriot authorities.Organisers had been kept under close scrutiny while on land in Cyprus by helicopters and intelligence agents, she added.For a humanitarian operation, this was a real eye opener.The six remaining boats in the flotilla regrouped in international waters are loaded with thousands of tonnes of supplies. Organisers said an eighth ship, which left from Ireland, would travel toward Gaza separately.The Cypriot government does not want us to leave from Cyprus. I can only assume pressure was put on them, said Audrey Bomse, another member of the Free Gaza Movement.A Cypriot government official said Nicosia had not received any formal request from the Palestinian Authority for humanitarian aid and that it was not in the divided island's interests to assist the operation.Bomse said the involvement of Famagusta had led to the withdrawal of Greek and Greek Cypriot politicians from the operation, but MPs from Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden were still on board the boats.Greece and Cyprus regard the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where Famagusta is the main port, as an illegal entity.

Earlier this week, Israel told the ambassadors of Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and Ireland -- the countries from which the ships set sail -- that the flotilla would be breaking international law.With its naval forces at the ready, the Jewish state plans to intercept the vessels and detain the hundreds of people aboard in the Israeli port of Ashdod before deporting them.Organisers dismissed the Israeli charge that their blockade-busting bid is illegal. Most despicably of all, Israel claims that we are violating international law by sailing unarmed ships carrying humanitarian aid to a people desperately in need,the Free Gaza Movement said. Israel imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas -- an Islamist movement committed to the destruction of Israel -- seized power in the impoverished, overcrowded Palestinian territory. Because of the blockade, only limited reconstruction has been possible in the wake of a devastating 22-day offensive Israel launched on December 27, 2008. Pro-Palestinian activists have landed in Gaza five times, with another three attempts unsuccessful since their first such sea voyage in August 2008.To date, the aid has been largely symbolic, but organisers say the flotilla now underway is laden with 10,000 tonnes of aid, ranging from pre-fabricated homes to pencils.

Two Palestinians killed in Gaza smuggling tunnel
MAY 29,10


GAZA CITY (AFP) – Two Palestinians were killed and 11 others injured on Saturday in a Gaza smuggling tunnel when contraband gas canisters exploded, medics in the coastal enclave said.The accident occurred as the canisters were being smuggled through the tunnel under the Egyptian border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the sources said.The impoverished territory of 1.5 million people has largely relied on the vast network of tunnels since Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza off to all but what it says is vital aid after the Islamist Hamas seized power in June 2007.Most of the tunnels are used to bring in basic goods like food, household appliances and livestock but Hamas and other militant groups reportedly use their own more secret tunnels to bring in arms and money.More than 130 Palestinians have died in cave-ins or been killed by Israeli military operations aimed at the tunnels since the Hamas takeover, medics say.

GO BENJAMIN CANADA LOVES YOU AND ISRAEL-REBUILD THE 3RD TEMPLE NOW.OR WE BETTER LOVE ISRAEL IF WE KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR US.GOD HATES ISRAEL HATERS AND COUNTRIES PAY WHO HATE ISRAEL.JUST LOOK AT THE MEXICAN GULF AND THE OIL SPILL.

Israeli PM in Toronto, seeking support before US meet
Sat May 29, 1:40 am ET


TORONTO (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Canada for a four-day visit aimed at cementing ties with one of Israel's strongest backers in the international community.Netanyahu, on the first visit to Canada by an Israeli premier in 16 years,is hoping to build support ahead of talks next week with US President Barack Obama on the fragile US-brokered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.I welcome the opportunity to spend time with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a leader of vision and conviction and a great friend of Israel and a champion of peace, Netanyahu said ahead of his arrival.Netanyahu said he planned to discuss Israel's quest for peace with the Palestinians and efforts to boost cooperation between Israel and Canada in the fields of high-tech, renewable energy and water conservation.The friendship between Israel and Canada is exceptionally warm. We are sister democracies that seek peace with security, progress and prosperity, he told reporters on his plane.

This is the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to Canada since Yitzhak Rabin toured in 1994.Relations took a downturn after forged Canadian passports were used in a botched assassination attempt by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency against Hamas Chief Khaled Meshaal.The mission was approved by Netanyahu, then in his first term as prime minister.However, ties have warmed substantially since, with Canada giving Israel considerable support at international institutions, particularly the United Nations.Netanyahu is scheduled to attend a pro-Israel rally by Canada's Jewish community in Toronto on Sunday, before travelling to Ottawa for meetings with government and opposition leaders.Netanyahu arrived in Toronto from Paris, where he accepted an invitation for Israel to join the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Obama gets OK on boosting Israel against rockets
By Jim Wolf – Fri May 28, 7:27 pm ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives approved President Barack Obama's request for $205 million to spur Israel's production of a system to counter short-range rockets of the type used by Hamas and Hezbollah.The authorization for the extra funding was part of a defense spending bill that would provide $726 billion next year for U.S. national defense programs, including funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House gave the bill final passage on Friday by a vote of 229 to 186.The Senate Armed Services Committee likewise voted to provide $205 million for the Israeli system, known as Iron Dome, panel chairman Carl Levin told reporters on Friday. Levin said he hoped his committee's bill would reach the Senate floor before the July 4 Independence Day recess.A congressional staff member said the request for the funding seems to have come directly from the commander in chief, Obama. It was not entirely clear what prompted it.Produced by Israeli state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Iron Dome uses small radar-guided missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets with ranges of between 3 miles and 45 miles, as well as mortar bombs, in mid-air.Its development was spurred by the 2006 conflict in Lebanon with Hezbollah, and the Gaza Strip war against Hamas a year ago. In both cases, Israeli towns within reach of short-range rockets were in some ways defenseless.A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said earlier this month Obama recognized the threat missiles and rockets fired by Hamas and Hezbollah pose to Israelis.As a result, he decided to seek funding from Congress to support the production of the Iron Dome system, Vietor said.

Two Iron Dome batteries are under construction, an Israeli defense official said in February. Designed to be towed by vehicle, they will be available for any Israeli front at a few hours' notice.The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has three initiatives with Israel to boost its home-grown capability to defend against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.The so-called David's Sling Weapon System is for short-range defense; the Arrow Weapons System targets medium-range missiles; and the Arrow-3 interceptor is an upper-tier system under development.The United States is also developing interoperability between the U.S. ballistic missile defense system and the Israeli architecture to make sure Israeli systems can be stitched in to a global umbrella.In addition, the Obama administration is working toward a Middle East missile defense that envisions adding an advanced radar site in a Gulf state to one already in Israel to thwart any Iranian attack, U.S. officials have told Reuters.

The House voted to authorize $10.3 billion for ballistic missile defenses overall, $361.6 million more than Obama's request. The extra funds will strengthen defenses against "the most immediate threats from nations such as Iran and North Korea," said Rep. James Langevin, the Strategic Forces subcommittee chairman.(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Todd Eastham)

U.S., Arabs reach deal at nuclear treaty talks
Fri May 28, 12:13 pm ET


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and Egypt struck a deal on a push to pressure Israel to ultimately scrap any atomic bombs it has in a bid to avert a collapse of talks on shoring up the global anti-nuclear arms pact, envoys said Friday.But they said it was unclear whether Iran would attempt to single-handedly block an agreement on a final declaration that has now been agreed upon by the other 189 signatories of the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, who have been meeting for a month to find ways to strengthen the troubled pact.We have a deal that everyone can live with, a Western diplomat told Reuters.Now the question is will Iran do the right thing.The latest draft of a final declaration for the NPT review conference calls for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to organize a meeting of all Middle Eastern states in 2012 on how to make the region free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, as demanded by a 1995 NPT resolution.It also urges Israel to sign the NPT and put its nuclear facilities under U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards -- a passage the Americans had wanted deleted. In the end, they backed down in the interest of salvaging the conference, delegates told Reuters.The creation of a WMD-free zone would eventually force Israel to abandon any atomic bombs it might have. The Jewish state, which like nuclear-armed India and Pakistan never signed the NPT, is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies that.Israel is not participating in the NPT meeting.(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Todd Eastham)

Abbas to visit White House June 9: US
Thu May 27, 7:59 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will visit the White House on June 9, a US official said Thursday, in a trip that will come one week after Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is due to hold talks here.US President Barack Obama will welcome Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas to the White House on June 9, Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.The president looks forward to reviewing with president Abbas the progress so far in Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, and how the United States can work with the parties to transition to direct talks.Gibbs said the leaders will also discuss our continuing effort to work cooperatively to develop the institutions that can advance the aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support the establishment of a Palestinian state.On Tuesday Obama holds talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as the United States ramps up its Mideast peace mediation efforts following months of high tensions between staunch allies Washington and Israel.White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday handed Netanyahu a personal invitation from the US president for a working meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbors.Obama and Netanyahu last held a one-on-one meeting in March in an extraordinary encounter between leaders of the two nations, during which Netanyahu was deprived of the trappings granted to foreign leaders.

The two sides were in the middle of a rare public row over Israeli settlement building, which Washington said harmed its efforts to get proximity talks underway between Israel and the Palestinians.The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israeli towns.Israel and the Palestinians embarked on a round of US-brokered indirect negotiations on May 9 as Washington presses for a resumption of peace efforts.Last week, both Netanyahu and Abbas met US envoy George Mitchell as part of those proximity talks.The indirect negotiations were first agreed to in March but the initiative collapsed within days when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem.The Palestinians eventually agreed to enter the talks after receiving US assurances that the project would be frozen.

Wildfire rips through Golan, scorching ancient ruins
Thu May 27, 2:47 pm ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – A bush fire which reports said was sparked by an army live-fire exercise raged through a park in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday, scorching an ancient archaeological site.As hundreds of hectares went up in smoke, Gamla National Park staff evacuated a colony of griffon vultures when the flames approached their enclosure.Media reports said flames and soot blackened 1st century archaeological remains nearby, but the extent of the damage was still unclear.

Firefighter Yair Elkayim, interviewed on Israel's Channel Two television, described it as a mega-incident, a mega-fire.Other firefighters and the television report said the blaze was started by a live-fire exercise at a nearby army training area, which set alight to undergrowth and scrub that was already tinder-dry in the hot, arid weather.Channel One quoted a military statement as saying that the fire broke out on Wednesday apparently during an exercise in the area. It said soldiers put out the flames, but because of the heatwave fire broke out again on Thursday.Gamla is the site of an ancient Jewish town destroyed in 67 CE during a revolt against Roman rule.

According to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Roman soldiers killed 4,000 of the cliff-top town's 9,000 defenders and the remainder committed suicide by hurling themselves into a canyon below.

Netanyahu: Time for direct talks with Palestinians By SYLVIE CORBET, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 27, 1:33 pm ET

PARIS – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday it's time to move to direct talks with the Palestinians and that he will raise the issue with President Barack Obama in Washington next week.Netanyahu, after talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he wants to move beyond indirect proximity talks that are being mediated by the United States.We want to move as speedily as possible to direct talks because the kind of problem that we have with the Palestinians can be resolved in peace and can be arranged only if we sit down together, Netanyahu told reporters at the French presidential palace.Indirect talks began early this month and have raised hopes that direct negotiations could begin soon.The Palestinians have insisted that Israel impose a full freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — captured areas they claim for their future state — in order to hold direct talks.With Netanyahu ordering only a partial freeze, the indirect talks gave the Palestinians political cover to resume a dialogue with Israel. The Palestinians have given the talks up to four months to succeed. After that, they say they will decide whether to continue the dialogue, hold face-to-face negotiations with Israel or break off the talks.Netanyahu said Thursday he would discuss the peace efforts with Obama in Washington next week. I think there is a broad consensus that we should move on to direct talks, the Israeli prime minister said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he hoped indirect talks will yield results in four months, as envisaged.

Of course we are committed to peace and to achieving peace through negotiations, Abbas said during a visit to Malaysia.We will see what will happen. Anyhow, we are hopeful.In Paris, Netanyahu said Sarkozy discussed ways that France could help to expedite this process of negotiations.Sarkozy's office did not elaborate.The French president has encouraged peace efforts in the past, and offered Thursday to help revive peace efforts between Israel and Syria, according to the French president's office.Netanyahu praised Sarkozy's efforts toward tough new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities, which Western powers and Israel fear are aimed at making weapons but which Tehran says are aimed at producing nuclear energy.Netanyahu is in Paris for a ceremony welcoming Israel into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of leading world economies. Palestinian officials opposed OECD membership for Israel, citing Israel's occupation of the West Bank and discrimination against its own Arab minority.Slovenia and Estonia also officially accepted invitations to full OECD membership at the ceremony.The new members will take the OECD's roster to 34 countries once ratification takes place in individual OECD member states, a process that will take several weeks, OECD chief Angel Gurria said.The OECD is essentially an economic think tank that advises the world's richest countries on the best practices in matters including trade, corporate governance and taxation.Netanyahu called Israel's membership in the OECD a historic occasion.

Karl Marx and Groucho Marx were both wrong,the Israeli prime minister joked,free markets are the wave of the future, and I can think of no club that Israel would more like to join than the OECD.Netanyahu said in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro that one of the current challenges is to develop the economic situation of the Palestinians,which he says could greatly help peace efforts. He did not lay out any proposals for boosting the Palestinian economy, which suffers from high poverty and unemployment. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who chaired the OECD's annual ministerial meeting, said Israeli membership in the OECD would help advance the cause of peaceful negotiations with the Palestinians. I think it's very good that Israel is joining the OECD,Berlusconi said.Anything that Europe and the international community can do to encourage the continuation of peace talks is very positive.AP Business Writer Greg Keller contributed to this article.

Netanyahu in Paris fetes Israel's OECD entry by Roland Lloyd Parry – Thu May 27, 12:21 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – Israel officially joined the OECD club of rich economies Thursday, giving a boost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he heads for talks in Washington on the faltering Middle East peace process.Netanyahu attended a ceremony at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as it welcomed Israel along with Estonia, Slovenia and Chile to the 31-nation grouping.We in Israel are deeply honoured by your invitation to join this club, Netanyahu said.We see this not only as recognition of what we have achieved, but as a vote of confidence for the future, he added.OECD member states decided this month to invite Israel to join despite objections from Palestinians, who argued that letting Israel in would be a breach of the Paris-based group's commitment to human rights.The ceremony came as the Israeli leader prepared for a key meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.OECD membership means Israel's status with foreign investment funds switches from that of an emerging economy to a developed one, opening up new sources of capital.The invitation caps a 16-year campaign waged by Israel for membership and Netanyahu had hailed the decision as one of strategic importance, bringing Israel into the club of the world's elite economies.

Netanyahu began his visit with lunch at the Elysee Palace, posing for the cameras with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before heading into talks on advancing Middle East peace, bilateral relations and Iran.Sarkozy voiced hope that a UN sanctions resolution against Iran that will be the most strongly-worded possible will soon be adopted at the Security Council, Elysee officials said.I think he's been forthright and very clear throughout his presidency about the need to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and I expressed appreciation for that, Netanyahu told reporters following his meeting.France has been at the forefront of western calls for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its failure to meet demands that it halt uranium enrichment, the main ingredient in nuclear bomb-making.On the Middle East peace track, a significant diplomatic move came on Wednesday when White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel delivered an invitation to Netanyahu from Obama.The Netanyahu-Obama working meeting on Tuesday is to discuss our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbours, Emanuel said after talks with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem.Israeli newspapers described the invitation as a sign that Obama is seeking to turn a new leaf in relations with the Likud leader that have been strained by a dispute over Jewish settlements.

Obama has also invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to visit in June in his latest bid to revive direct negotiations after an 18-month break.Indirect talks were first agreed in March but the initiative collapsed within days when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem.In France, many in Jewish intellectual circles increasingly see Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace rather than an engaged party.An online petition dubbed the European Jewish Call for Reason or JCall has gathered more than 6,000 signatures, including prominent Jewish figures such as philosophers Bernard-Henri Levy and Alain Finkielkraut. Netanyahu will travel to Canada on Friday before heading to Washington.

Israel indicts 2 Arab citizens in aiding Hezbollah By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 27, 7:20 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israel indicted two prominent activists from its Arab minority on Thursday for allegedly spying for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, deepening a case that has raised tensions with the country's Arab minority.Both men denied the charges, the latest in a series of cases in which the government has accused Arab citizens of aiding Israel's staunchest enemies.Israel's Shin Bet security service said Arab activist Amir Makhoul confessed to meeting with a Hezbollah agent in Denmark in 2008 and agreed to collect information for the Lebanese militia.Israel considers the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which battled Israel to a stalemate in a monthlong war four years ago and is believed to possess tens of thousands of rockets, one of the greatest threats to the Jewish state.According to the Shin Bet, Makhoul gave his handlers contacts for Israelis the group could try to recruit. He also provided details, including addresses, about Israeli security facilities, the Shin Bet said.Speaking to reporters outside a courthouse in the northern city of Haifa, Makhoul angrily described the accusations as a balloon that will burst very quickly.This legal proceeding is invalid and I reject all the allegations against me,he said.

Adalah — an Arab legal center in Israel that is representing Makhoul — said he had confessed to false charges following harsh interrogation methods that included sleep deprivation and being handcuffed to a small chair in painful positions for many hours.All of these harsh conditions point toward illegal confessions to facilitate the process of convicting the accused, said attorney Abeer Baker of Adalah. Shin Bet officials had no immediate comment.Makhoul, who leads an umbrella network for Arab advocacy groups, was arrested on May 6 but was prevented from speaking to a lawyer for 12 days, Adalah said. Israel imposed a gag order on the case, releasing only limited information until charges were filed Thursday.A second Arab-Israeli, Omar Saeed, was indicted on lesser charges of contacting a foreign agent, and transmitting information to an enemy. Israel also prevented Saeed from speaking to a lawyer for 16 days after his arrest on April 24. He, too, denies all charges.The cases highlight the deep mistrust that often runs between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority, about one-fifth of the population.Although they enjoy citizenship rights — unlike their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — Israeli Arabs have suffered from decades of discrimination, high unemployment and poverty. A Palestinian uprising last decade, as well as wars against Hezbollah and Hamas, have added to the tensions.Some in Israel consider them a potential fifth column that could threaten the Jewish state by working with its enemies in neighboring states.

In recent years, several Israeli Arabs have been arrested for spying for Hezbollah. One suspect, Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara, fled Israel in 2007 after police charged him with passing information to Hezbollah agents during Israel's war against the Lebanese militia the previous year.Hezbollah fired about 4,000 rockets at Israel during the 34-day war, while Israel bombed the group's strongholds in Lebanon. Israel believes the group has restocked its arsenal and upgraded its capabilities by obtaining more powerful, longer-range missiles from Syria.The war killed around 1,200people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel.

Obama invites Netanyahu and Abbas to White House
By Jeffrey Heller – Wed May 26, 7:47 pm ET


JERUSALEM (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House for separate meetings, White House officials said Wednesday.The meetings with Obama will be the first for the Middle Eastern leaders since the start of indirect peace talks which began last month, with Obama's special envoy George Mitchell mediating between the parties.But Israeli commentators portrayed the surprise invitation to Netanyahu as an attempt by Obama to counter U.S. criticism of what was widely seen as his cold shoulder toward the Israeli leader after a public dispute over Jewish settlements.

Obama has put both Israel and the Palestinians on notice they will be held accountable if either side takes actions to undermine the so-called proximity talks Mitchell is mediating.Obama will use his meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas to give a boost to the proximity talks. Both meetings are designed to help move that process forward, said a White House spokesman in Washington, Tommy Vietor.White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel delivered the invitation in person to Netanyahu in Jerusalem Wednesday, while on a family visit to Israel.Obama will host Netanyahu Tuesday after the Israeli leader completes a visit to France where he will attend a ceremony welcoming Israel to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and to Canada.(President Obama) has asked me to extend an invitation to you to come visit with him at the White House for a working meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation on seeking peace between Israel and its neighbors, Emanuel told Netanyahu.In mentioning shared security interests while announcing Netanyahu's visit, Emanuel appeared to be referring to the U.S. and Israel's shared desire to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.In Washington, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor announced Abbas's visit, which had been widely expected, but said no firm date had yet been set.The president looks forward to a visit from President Abbas in the near future. We're just working out timing, Vietor said.

Abbas aides were not immediately available for comment but the Palestinian leader told France 24 television this week he had been invited to the United States and thought the meeting would probably be in June.

NO BREAKTHROUGH EXPECTED

Getting the two sides to revive negotiations, after an 18-month break, marks Obama's most tangible Middle East achievement since he took office last year. But expectations remain low for any kind of breakthrough.Netanyahu, who heads a coalition dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own, has rejected a total freeze on Jewish settlement building in territory captured in a 1967 war.But no new Israeli housing projects in East Jerusalem have been approved since March, raising speculation Netanyahu has imposed a de facto moratorium that could avoid friction with Washington and any showdown with far-right coalition partners.Earlier that month, Israel embarrassed Washington and angered Palestinians by announcing during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden a project to build 1,600 homes for Jews in Ramat Shlomo, in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem.Palestinians see settlements as an obstacle to the creation of a state they seek to establish in the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, and in the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by Hamas Islamists opposed to the U.S. peace efforts. Netanyahu last saw Obama in March in a low-profile White House meeting that was portrayed in Israel as a snub to its leader because it did not include the usual photo opportunity afforded visiting foreign leaders. Israeli media predicted Obama would try in the coming talks to portray the relationship in a warmer light, ensuring photos are taken and possibly holding a news conference with him. Since their frosty March meeting, Obama has been at pains to reaffirm publicly Washington's commitment to Israel's security. Israel and the West fear Iran's uranium enrichment is aimed at producing an atomic bomb, an allegation Tehran denies.(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Tom Perry; editing by Andrew Roche and Cynthia Osterman.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

PRISONER BILL PASSES 1ST READING

Israel's Hamas prisoner bill passes initial reading
Wed May 26, 2:11 pm ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Israeli bill seeking to toughen the conditions under which Hamas prisoners are held passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset on Wednesday by 52 votes to 10, legislator Jamal Zahalka said.The bill, which on Sunday won the backing of the ruling coalition of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes in response to a stalemate over the fate of soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas militants since 2006.The 120-seat Knesset also gave a preliminary reading to another draft law which would revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted of spying for a terror organisation.Each bill would need to pass a further three readings in the parliament before becoming law.Dubbed the Shalit law, the prisoners bill would end family visits to Hamas inmates, restrict their access to newspapers, television and study and allow them to held in solitary confinement for an unlimited time.Zahalka, a member of Israel's Arab minority, said he saw it as a measure to put psychological pressure on Hamas and reassure the Israeli public that the government was doing its utmost to free Shalit.The goal of the proposed law against the Hamas prisoners is to threaten Hamas, and to put pressure on it to agree to a deal to release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, he told AFP.I doubt these laws will continue to move forward and get final approval, he added, without elaborating.

Likud Knesset member Danny Danon, one of those who sponsored the bill, said that if enacted it would bring to an end the VIP treatment enjoyed by Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails.This law is a statement to Hamas: We have had enough. The party is over. From today, we will speak with you in language you understand,Danon told the assembly.On Sunday, the ministerial committee on legislation voted to back the bill, thereby strengthening its chances of passing into law, although legislators said its provisions are likely to be watered down before that happens.

Hamas on Sunday said the move would not achieve anything.

Shalit, now 23, was captured in June 2006 by Hamas and two smaller armed groups in a cross-border raid in which two other soldiers were killed.He is believed to be held in a secret location somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.Israel is reportedly prepared to release around 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, who also holds French citizenship.But negotiations for a possible exchange hit a dead end in December, when Israel presented an offer through a German mediator to which Hamas has yet to officially respond. Each side has blamed the other over the stalled talks.

Lebanese army fires on Israeli warplanes: military
Wed May 26, 1:32 pm ET


BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on two Israeli warplanes that were violating Lebanon's airspace on Wednesday, a military statement said.The anti-aircraft batteries fired in the direction of Israeli warplanes that flew over the Shebaa region of southern Lebanon at medium altitude, the statement said.Earlier in the day, two aircraft flew over southern and northern Lebanon before returning to Israeli territory, it said.While Lebanon's army publishes almost daily reports of Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, the military rarely opens fire unless the planes fly within range of its guns.The overflights are a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a devastating 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militia.Israel argues that the overflights are necessary, despite the resolution, to monitor what it says is massive arms smuggling by Hezbollah, also in breach of the same resolution.Last month Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of providing Scud missiles to Hezbollah, which Israel alleges has stockpiled more than 40,000 rockets, some capable of reaching large towns in Israel.Damascus has rejected the allegation but the armed Hezbollah which controls southern Lebanon has neither confirmed nor denied it.

Sirens wail across Israel in huge defence drill
Wed May 26, 11:48 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Air raid sirens wailed across Israel on Wednesday at the peak of a five-day civil defence exercise to test the Jewish state's defences in the event of war, the army said.The sirens sounded at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) for 90 seconds, sending civilians across the country scurrying into their nearest bomb shelter or protected space where they waited for 10 minutes until the all-clear.Radio stations broadcast a pre-recorded message saying the sirens were part of a drill but asking people to go down to the shelters.Motorists, however, were not expected to participate in the nationwide exercise. Dubbed Turning Point 4, it kicked off on Sunday with the aim of preparing the country for any future rocket attack from Gaza, Lebanon or Syria.In the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh, near northern the West Bank city of Nablus, officials acted out a scenario in which large numbers of refugees arrived from Tel Aviv in search of a haven from rockets hitting the coast, an AFP correspondent said.

But Israel has sought to reassure neighbouring Lebanon and Syria that the exercise, which ends on Thursday, is not hostile.This is a routine exercise which has been scheduled for a long time and is not the result of any unusual security development, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as the exercise began on Sunday.Israel seeks calm, stability and peace but it is no secret that we live in a region where there is a threat from missiles and rockets, he added.It is the fourth such drill held since a 2006 war with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and aims to fine-tune emergency procedures in the event of a new rocket barrage against the Jewish state.During the Lebanon war, some 300,000 Israelis fled from border regions under relentless Hezbollah rocket attacks.Since then, Israeli military experts believe Hezbollah has stockpiled more than 40,000 rockets. Israeli officials have also charged that Syria has supplied the militia with Scud missiles, something Damascus has denied.In the 1991 Gulf war, then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fired more than 30 Scud missiles at Israel, killing one person, wounding more than 170 and causing extensive property damage.

OECD sees healthy Israel growth but poverty still rife by Steve Weizman – Wed May 26, 11:22 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The OECD on Wednesday said prospective new member Israel was expected to enjoy healthy 3.8 percent economic growth this year, with a fall in inflation in the near term.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to formally accept the invitation to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development at its Paris headquarters on Thursday.In its outlook released on Wednesday, the organisation forecast a further rise in Israel's gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.2 percent in 2011.Israel's GDP grew by 0.7 percent in 2009, compared to an OECD average of minus 3.3 percent.The organisation predicted that the rise in Israeli consumer prices would slow to 1.7 percent in 2010 from 3.3 percent last year, but would speed up again in 2011 with a 2.6 percent increase.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Israel was plagued by triple-digit inflation and forced to repeatedly devalue its currency.Emerging from the doldrums, Israel in 1994 sent observers to the OECD in what was the first step on a long road to membership.After the invitation was announced on May 10, Netanyahu said joining the group would open up new sources of capital for Israel.

With membership, Israel's status with foreign investment funds switches from an emerging economy to a developed one.In a special press conference to mark the invitation Netanyahu, said there was also a diplomatic and perceptual dividend for Israel in being recognised for its technological and economic achievements rather than being seen only in the context of its conflict with the Palestinians.And he pointed out that Israel's accession had been agreed by a consensus of the 31 existing OECD members -- any of which could have cast a veto.Israel's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at 28,400 dollars (23,000 euros) in 2009, which would place it 22nd among the organisation's 31 members.This is behind Italy but ahead of South Korea, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Chile, Mexico and Turkey.Netanyahu says Israel's goal is to be in the top 15 countries within a decade.Unlike most economies, Israel managed to withstand the economic downturn which has been sweeping the global economy, with the OECD praising the government's response to the slump in a report published in January.Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer said Israel's conservative and closely supervised banking system" and the absence of mortgage-backed assets in capital markets had cushioned it from the worst of the global economic turmoil.

But there are still many challenges ahead.

By the OECD's definition, 20 percent of Israel's population of 7.6 million currently live below the poverty line -- more than in any member state. And about 40 percent of people of working age have no jobs, compared to about 33 percent in OECD countries, the organisation reported in January. This is largely due to cultural traditions among Israel's large Arab and ultra-Orthodox Jewish minorities -- each of which has low participation in the workforce but higher than average birthrates. All told, nearly half of children entering primary school belong to one or other of these communities,the OECD said. Israel will have to take action on a number of fronts including education, training, childcare, support for jobseekers and working conditions if it is to ensure these children do not inherit their parents? economic disadvantage, the OECD said. Jerusalem's Taub Center for Social Policy Studies said the current trend must change, or Israel will find it hard to survive. In order for tomorrow's adults to be employed 30 years from now, then today's pupils need to receive an education befitting the needs of a modern economy, it said last week. This is not the situation today in Israel. The country's level of education in the core curriculum subjects is the lowest among advanced Western countries and among (ultra-Orthodox) and Israeli Arab pupils, it is even lower.The centre's director, Daniel Ben-David said one benefit of OECD membership would be having to regularly supply economic data which would be published and compared with that of other members. It will hold a mirror up to our faces,he told AFP on Tuesday.Reporters who watch these things will write about our performance and that will put pressure on our policymakers.

Hezbollah vows to bomb ships in event of new war with Israel by Jocelyne Zablit – Tue May 25, 5:16 pm ET

BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that his militants would bomb military, civilian and commercial ships heading to Israel in the event of a new war with the Jewish state.If you (Israel) launch a new war on Lebanon, if you blockade our coastline, all military, civilian or commercial ships heading through the Mediterranean to occupied Palestine will be targetted by the Islamic resistance, said Nasrallah in a speech transmitted via video link to thousands of supporters massed in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.Whether along the northern or southern Israeli shore, we can target ships, bomb them and hit them God willing, he added, speaking on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after a 22-year occupation.When the world sees how these ships are destroyed, no one will dare go there (Israel), he added.You will forgive me if one ship manages to slip through.Nasrallah also reiterated past threats of bombing Israeli airports and other strategic targets if a new war erupts.His speech came against a backdrop of tension in the region following allegations that the Shiite party, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, was stockpiling sophisticated new weapons in anticipation of a new conflict.

Nasrallah said in his hour-long speech that he would not comment on his party's military capacity so as to reserve a surprise for Israel in the event of a new conflict.The enemy is scared and we will keep him scared, he said, referring to Israel.But you (the Lebanese) should feel assured because the equation has changed.
In the next war, we will resist, come out victorious and change the face of the region God willing, he added to applause.Nasrallah accused Israeli leaders of spreading allegations that Syria was transferring Scud missiles to Hezbollah in order to garner further US financial assistance.The whole brouhaha over the Scuds was so that Israel could get 200 or 250 million dollars in aid from the US Congress, he claimed.Despite its economic crisis, the US finds money to assist Israel.He said his party was not seeking a new conflict and would neither confirm nor deny Israel's allegations concerning the Scuds.If you are strong, the world respects you and talks to you and takes you into account, he said.And as such we can impose our conditions.

If you are weak, you will be eaten.His speech came as Prime Minister Saad Hariri was on his first official visit to the United States, where he met on Monday with President Barack Obama, who raised the issue of illegal arms smuggled into Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Hariri was to address the UN Security Council, chaired this month by Lebanon.Hezbollah, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington, has two ministers in the Lebanese government.It is the only faction that refused to disarm following the country's 1975-1990 civil war, claiming its arsenal was needed to defend Lebanon against any Israeli aggression.

Israeli police question ex-PM Olmert on bribe case By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Tue May 25, 10:25 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli fraud investigators grilled former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for eight hours on Tuesday, police said, questioning him about suspected bribery and money laundering in a multimillion dollar real-estate scandal that has rocked the country.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Olmert was ordered to return to the headquarters of the national anti-fraud unit for further questioning on Sunday.

Rosenfeld said Olmert is suspected of accepting illicit payments, money laundering and violating the public trust while he was mayor of Jerusalem and Israel's trade minister — positions he held before becoming prime minister in 2006. He has not been charged in the case.Olmert has denied all the allegations against him, calling them a witch hunt. He says he never accepted a bribe during his three-decade-long political career.Olmert is already standing trial on separate charges of accepting illicit funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad — also before he became prime minister.But police say the scope of the latest corruption affair dwarfs the others.Police say millions of dollars illegally changed hands to promote several real estate projects, including a controversial residential development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws. The sprawling Holyland housing development, built on a prominent hilltop, is widely seen as a symbol of government corruption.Police have already briefly arrested and questioned another former Jerusalem mayor, Uri Lupolianski, and other close Olmert associates in the affair.Olmert, 63, arrived at the national fraud squad headquarters in central Jerusalem early Tuesday, as television cameras captured his car driving from his home to the police station.Ahead of the interrogation, Olmert spokesman Amir Dan said the questioning would finally allow Olmert to address the accusations after six weeks of baseless leaks.Olmert has stressed more than once that he was never offered a bribe and never accepted a bribe, not directly and not indirectly,Dan said in a statement. Dan's office did not return messages after the interrogation ended.Olmert was prime minister from 2006 to 2009. His tenure was marked by wars against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Hamas militants in Gaza, in addition to intense peace negotiations with the Palestinians.He resigned in response to the corruption charges, which all related to his activities before becoming prime minister.

IMF: Mideast, NAfrica economies rebounding in 2010 By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer – Tue May 25, 9:38 am ET

CAIRO – Mideast and North African oil exporters will see a strong recovery in 2010, pulled ahead by increasing capital inflows and oil prices, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday even as it lowered its projection for the countries' growth amid a sharp drop in oil prices and worries about Europe's debt crisis.In a report on the region, the IMF also warned that concerns remained about the banking sector in these nations — mainly stemming from slow credit growth.The IMF said MENA oil exporters were projected to see a combined growth rate of 4.2 percent — down slightly from the 4.5 percent growth it had projected last month in its World Economic Outlook. Since that report's release, crude prices have plummeted over 20 percent amid concerns that Europe's debt crisis could undercut the global economic recovery currently under way.Growth is gathering momentum in 2010, helped by the pickup in capital inflows and resurgence in domestic consumption, IMF Middle East and Central Asia Director Masood Ahmed said.However, this positive perspective is clouded by some stress in the banking system and lethargic credit activity across the region.MENA exporters, which include OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Libya and Algeria, account for about 30 percent of the world's supply of oil. But their economies were hard hit when the global economic meltdown battered oil prices. Crude only began to rebound last year.

The IMF said the combined current account surplus of MENA oil exporters fell to $53 billion in 2009 from $362 billion in 2008.The drop came at a time when global credit markets were drying up, draining with them the sources of ready cash on which some of the countries had relied to fuel their growth. The default worries that emerged last year linked to Dubai World, a conglomerate owned by the UAE sheikdom of Dubai, offered one of the first and most compelling examples of the debt challenges confronting some Gulf nations.While they enacted aggressive stimulus packages, their reliance on oil has left them vulnerable to volatility in the crude futures market.

The benchmark crude oil contract for July delivery fell below $68 a barrel Tuesday, dragged down by declining share prices and fears of weaker global economic growth.
That has put crude below the comfort zone of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — the producer bloc that has, for over a year, resisted changing its official output quotas for fear that a drastic reduction in output to shore up prices could further jeopardize economic recovery efforts worldwide.The big picture for oil exporters is that after a difficult year, economic prospects of the region are now beginning to look brighter on a variety of fronts, but there are a couple of areas of policy challenges, Ahmed said.The report pointed to sluggish credit growth to the private sector, losses on non-performing loans that have yet to be fully recognized, and the delicate balancing act of phasing out stimulus measures.Beyond this year, the stimulus measures should be gradually unwound to avoid additional fiscal pressures, in particular for countries that already have high levels of debt, he said.Aisha Tariq in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Obama, Hariri discuss Lebanon weapons threat
Mon May 24, 6:26 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Monday discussed with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri the threat posed by illegal arms smuggled into Lebanon amid Israeli warnings to its neighbor.Regional tensions have been mounting over claims the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which is based in southern Lebanon just across the border from Israel, is stockpiling sophisticated weaponry in anticipation of war.

Analysts said before Hariri arrived that he was expected to seek US assurances during his five-day trip that the Obama administration will use its influence with Israel to ease the mounting tensions.Obama stressed the threat posed by the transfer of weapons into Lebanon in violation of UN resolutions, the White House said in a statement issued after the talks which did not feature the usual joint press appearance.The White House also appeared to pressure Hariri to back growing moves to impose new sanctions on Iran over its refusal to rein in its suspect nuclear program.

The president stressed the importance of efforts to ensure Iran complies with its international nonproliferation obligations, the White House statement said.Lebanon, which has two members from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah as part of the government, is perceived to be one of the countries on the 15-member UN Security Council opposed to new sanctions. The others are Turkey and Brazil.Obama added Washington would continue efforts to support and strengthen Lebanese institutions such as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces.Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, is the only faction that refused to disarm following the 1975-1990 civil war.In recent months Israel has repeatedly accused Syria of arming Hezbollah with Scud missiles and other weaponry, and warned that in the event of a new conflict it will consider Lebanon, rather than just Hezbollah, as its enemy.The threats have sparked war jitters and prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity to ease tensions in the region.Hariri urged continued US support to help Lebanon's defense capability and to help our security institutions exercise control over all Lebanese territories, he said in a statement.He added that Beirut believed stability in Lebanon, which has seen decades of political upheaval and civil unrest, depends ultimately on the attainment of a just peaceful settlement in the region.The clock is ticking. And it is ticking against us. Against all those who believe in a just peace, Hariri said.Failure will nurture more extremism and give birth to new forms of violence. This poses great dangers to everyone in the Middle East and to the world at large.

The Arab-Israeli peace process was also the focus in Hariri's talks with top US officials ahead of the White House meeting.We discussed the key role of Lebanon in the long-term effort to build a lasting, comprehensive peace in the Middle East, said Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs.
Realizing this goal will help the region move forward and enjoy greater prosperity and stability. The importance of achieving this is clear to everyone, Feltman told reporters. The United States has focused its regional diplomacy on reviving direct Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations while at the same time pressing for a resumption of Israel's negotiations with both Syria and Lebanon. A senior State Department official also told reporters on condition of anonymity that Feltman and Hariri talked about the importance of the upcoming vote on the resolution for new UN Security Council sanctions against Iran. The UN force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has some 13,000 troops from various countries stationed in southern Lebanon. The force, set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon, was considerably beefed up in the wake of the devastating 2006 war.

Israel urges Palestinians to choose economic peace
Mon May 24, 11:56 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Monday urged the Palestinians to pursue economic peace with the Jewish state and to avoid any steps which would harm its development.The Palestinian Authority needs to choose if it wants peace and an improved standard of living, or if they want further collisions and to eternalise the conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his right-wing Likud party.Israel wants peace with the Palestinians and an increased standard of living (for both peoples), to reach a real agreement that gives security and prosperity, he said.Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor, a member of Netanyahu's cabinet, also accused the Palestinians of shooting themselves in the foot over a campaign to boycott products from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.We do a lot to improve their economic situation. At the same time, they make their economic life more difficult, he told reporters in Jerusalem.What we need to see is more economic cooperation, more economic growth. What I see in the boycott is just the opposite, said Meridor who is also minister for intelligence and atomic energy.Last month, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas approved a law banning trade in goods produced in settlements after a months-long campaign that has featured the public burning of products.

Those found guilty of trading in settlement goods face two to five years in prison and fines of up to 22,000 dollars (16,400 euros).The Yesha Council, the main settlers' organisation, has decried the campaign as an act of terrorism and ill will.
Netanyahu focused his remarks on Palestinian efforts to prevent Israel's acceptance into the prestigious Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.This is an interesting test case for us because the Palestinian Authority opposed our acceptance until the last minute, Netanyahu said.This is particularly stark given that in the last year we have removed hundreds of roadblocks to allow greater freedom of movement and trade in the Palestinian Authority and worked to encourage investment.Israel is to be formally accepted into the OECD at a ceremony in Paris on Thursday.Netanyahu did not mention the boycott, but said he hoped the Palestinians would choose the right path in the near future.The OECD coordinates economic policy among the leading industrialised nations, and its members represent an unofficial list of the most developed countries.Palestinian groups had argued that letting Israel join would be a breach of the OECD's commitment to human rights because of the Jewish state's continuing occupation of Palestinian land and its treatment of the Palestinians.

EU aid to Palestinians may shrink if talks fail
Mon May 24, 8:53 am ET


JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The European Union could rethink the future size of its 300 million euro ($370 million) aid budget for Palestinians if no progress is made toward peace soon, EU diplomats said Monday.The aid is supposed to prepare the Palestinians for a peace treaty with Israel that will give them their own state, but if that isn't coming then I can see a number of questions, said Christian Berger, the EU's representative in Jerusalem.The annual assistance given to the Palestinians over the past 16 years represents the EU's highest per capita foreign aid program. The current seven-year budget, part of which funds United Nations support projects, is locked in until 2013.A delegation from the European Parliament is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories this week and would certainly be asking if at the end of the day we don't have a state, then what are we doing with the money,Berger added.

EU Ambassador to Israel Andrew Standley said discussions on the next seven-year budget would start soon and focus on how best to spend the money.There was a debate about whether it should be spent mostly on reducing poverty or more should be devoted to projects that advanced EU geopolitical goals, he said.After 16 months without negotiations of any kind, Israel and the Palestinians began indirect talks this month on a peace treaty via United States mediator George Mitchell.If there's a breakthrough then I guess there's a likelihood that our support will be increased, Berger told reporters at a briefing of EU delegation heads.A two-year plan by Western-backed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to build the institutions of a state was well on track, Berger said. The Palestinian Authority was performing better than some states which are states already.About 71 million euros of the total 2010 aid package is going to support the Fayyad plan, which is supposed to be complete by August 2011. The visiting EU parliamentarians know Fayyad will be seeking more money later this year to cover a shortfall.Israel is concerned that if peace talks do not result in a treaty to resolve the 62-year-old conflict, the Palestinian leadership might declare statehood unilaterally, with the hope of support from the 27-member EU.The EU diplomats said they believed seven European countries that are now EU members had already recognized a Palestinian state before they joined the EU and currently hosted Palestinian embassies in their capitals.
(Reporting by Douglas Hamilton; editing by David Stamp)

Syria's Assad says US has lost Mideast peace influence
Mon May 24, 5:47 am ET


ROME (AFP) – The United States has lost its influence in the Middle East peace process despite the hopes raised by President Barack Obama, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published Monday.Assad was quoted as telling the Italian daily La Repubblica that Washington has no influence because they don't do anything for peace. But they remain the greatest power.Obama raised hopes but we cannot wait any more, he said, adding that a new era has been born in the Middle East including an understanding between its major powers that was reshaping the region.He pointed to a similar phenomenon throughout the world, with countries such as China and Brazil refusing to wait for the United States to hand out roles.Assad said there had been a realisation that the United States and Europe had failed to resolve the problems of the Middle East, noting that Russia was trying to rebuild its own role in the region.On relations with Israel, the Syrian leader said that if Israel was ready to return the Golan Heights to Syria we would not be able to say no to a peace treaty.But he added that any deal would have to include a complete solution of the Palestinian issue and that he thought Israel was not ready for an accord at the moment.

French FM calls for easing of tensions by Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere – Sun May 23, 10:33 am ET

BEIRUT (AFP) – French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called on Sunday for an easing of tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbours, urging all sides to respect a 2006 ceasefire in Lebanon.We cannot be resigned to a constant state of tension, even if it is decreasing, Kouchner told journalists on his plane to Beirut after a meeting in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.On landing in the Lebanese capital, Kouchner went into talks with President Michel Sleiman and later continued on to Cairo to meet his Egyptian and Spanish counterparts, Ahmed Abul Gheit and Miguel Angel Moratinos.Minister Kouchner informed the president that his regional tour aims to ease recent tension, which began to decline over the past few days especially as concerns Israel's threats, Sleiman's office said after the meeting.France's foreign minister in his briefing of reporters travelling with him renewed an appeal for all sides to respect UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended a devastating month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah.The resolution bans the supply of arms to the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.In Damascus, Kouchner expressed France's concern over Hezbollah's weaponry, to which Assad gave assurances it was not in the interests of Damascus, Tehran or Hezbollah to trigger a new conflict, a French diplomatic source said.

The source, asking not to be named, said that France as a peace broker also wanted to encourage Syria to ease tensions in the region and not to facilitate the delivery of arms to Hezbollah.Israeli President Shimon Peres sparked controversy last month when he accused Syria of supplying Hezbollah with Scud missiles, a charge Damascus has staunchly rejected.In the meeting with Kouchner, Assad accused the West of overlooking Israeli violations in the region.The region has changed and the West's policy in the area is no longer acceptable, keeping silent over Israeli violations is no longer acceptable,Syria's official news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying.

If the West wants security and stability to be established in the Middle East, they (Western countries) must start to play an effective role to contain Israel and put an end to its extremist policies, Assad said.He also told Kouchner that countries pushing for UN sanctions against Iran should change their stance, because Tehran's nuclear programme was aimed at civilian pursuits, SANA reported.The countries concerned should modify their approach concerning Iran's civilian nuclear programme, he said.Assad said an accord signed in Tehran last week after three-way talks with the leaders of Brazil and Turkey, whereby Iran would swap its low-grade uranium for enriched nuclear fuel, was an important step toward a diplomatic solution.On Saturday, Kouchner said Iran was still courting sanctions despite the nuclear fuel accord because it still refused to stop enrichment as demanded by the UN's nuclear watchdog.After Damascus, Kouchner travelled to Beirut from where left for Cairo to wind up his regional tour.

Hezbollah promotes itself through jihadi tourism By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 22, 4:21 pm ET

SOJOD, Lebanon – The students clapped and cheered as a Hezbollah fighter perched on a rocket launcher paraded past. Later, they snapped photographs with guerrila fighters, getting a firsthand account of the group's tactics against Israel on the battlefield.Excursions like the one more than 400 Lebanese university students took Saturday to a Hezbollah stronghold in south Lebanon are part of the militant group's push to promote itself through jihadi tourism to mark the 10th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon. The efforts also include a sprawling new war museum touting Hezbollah's history.It's a way for the militant group to showcase its military prowess at a time when Israel and the U.S. say the Iranian-backed group is acquiring more sophisticated weaponry.We are bringing students to the area previously occupied by Israel, to show them how the resistance, with its meager capabilities, was able to defeat the strongest army in the world, said Jihad Hammoud, one of the organizers of the student tours.Hezbollah guerrillas waged a war of attrition against Israeli forces occupying a strip of Lebanese territory along the Israeli border until May 2000, when, faced with rising casualties, Israel withdrew it troops, ending a 22-year military presence there.The Israeli withdrawal crowned Hezbollah as a heroic organization viewed by many Lebanese and Arabs as a liberator that won back territory without negotiations or concessions. The group further burnished its reputation after its guerrilla fighters battled the Israelis to a draw during the monthlong 2006 war.Hezbollah has not fired any rockets on Israel since then, but is widely believed to have replenished its weapons stockpile and says it can now strike deeper into Israel.

It has also consolidated its power in the domestic political arena, joining the Western-backed coalition in a national unity government that ensures it has veto power within the cabinet.A U.N. deal to end the 2006 war between Israel and the Shiite militants required Hezbollah to disarm, but Lebanon's politicians have been unable to agree on a national defense strategy that would integrate the group's weapons into the regular armed forces.On Saturday, some 450 students — both Christian and Muslim — from the Lebanese American University took part in a visit dubbed the dignity trip to Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon.The outing included a visit to the wooded hills of Sojod, an area just north of an enclave that was occupied by Israel for 18 years until it pulled out its troops on May 25, 2000.

At the site, the students were led through the rough, rocky terrain to a spot that Hezbollah officials said was where Hadi Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was killed while conducting a guerrilla raid on Israeli positions in 1997.This is the spot where he was martyred, explained a Hezbollah tour guide, pointing to a blue prayer mat on a mound of earth hidden amid trees. The students mingled and snapped photographs with Hezbollah fighters, who asked that no pictures of their faces be taken.The students cheered as an anti-aircraft gunner and a katyusha rocket launcher used to fight Israel were paraded past, while speakers belted out excerpts of Nasrallah speeches.Hezbollah has recently been trying to reinvent itself as a more conventional political movement in Lebanon, and projects such as the museum and student tours suggest the group is attempting to reach out to more factions within a Lebanese society split over Hezbollah's divisive role in the country.This is an excellent, very well organized trip, said 19-year-old Rana Mhaydleh, a student of math and science at the university.I think it's very important to get a first hand look at Hezbollah because there are a lot of prejudices out there.The weekly student tours are part of Hezbollah activities marking the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal. The anniversary comes amid U.S. and Israeli concerns that Hezbollah has acquired increasingly advanced weapons from backers Syria and Iran.Hezbollah has neither confirmed nor denied the Israeli claims, but Nasrallah has said his group now has rockets that can strike deeper than ever inside Israel, including Tel Aviv.

The tensions have fueled concerns of another war in the Middle East. Hezbollah has expressed confidence that it would win a future war and says any new conflict with Israel will change the face of the region. After Sunday's visit to Sojod, the students were taken to a newly inaugurated Hezbollah war museum in the nearby village of Mlita, replete with war booty captured from Israeli soldiers and their Lebanese militia allies and a memorial for the group's dead. We hope this tourist jihadi center will be a first step toward preserving the history of our heroic resistance,Nasrallah told supporters via video link at Friday's inauguration of the Mlita museum. In a nod to Hezbollah's rivals, Nasrallah cited Israeli Holocaust museums to stress the importance of preserving history. Everywhere you go there is a Holocaust museum, regardless of (the Holocaust's) authenticity, accuracy or magnitude, he said. The sprawling Mlita complex — 60,000 square meters — includes a gallery, caves and a 250-meter-long downhill terrain that features life size replicas of Hezbollah guerrillas simulating fighting with Israel on the battlefield and in underground tunnels. It is not the first time the group has exhibited war booty at a museum, but the one inaugurated Friday is permanent and by far the largest. Israel has condemned such museums, saying they promote hatred. Several Lebanese officials, including representatives of the president and prime minister, attended Friday's inauguration. Noam Chomsky, a prominent American academic and outspoken Jewish critic of Israel, was also there.Hezbollah and Israel fought an inconclusive monthlong war in 2006 that killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon and about 160 in Israel. While some believe a new war is inevitable, others say the new balance of power makes it unlikely.The cost of an attack ... has become so high that warfare no longer makes the same kind of sense it did in decades past, wrote political analyst Rami Khouri in the Daily Star Saturday. On the Net:
http://www.mleeta.com/

Monday, May 24, 2010

RAND PAUL AND ISRAEL

AmSpecBlog Rand Paul and Israel
By Philip Klein on 4.22.10 @ 11:06AM


I've obtained a document that the Rand Paul campaign is circulating to those interested in his views on Israel, and it's interesting to see how the positions he's taking as a Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky differ from those adopted by his father, Rep. Ron Paul, a harsh critic of U.S.-Israel ties. Israel and the United States have a special relationship, Rand's position paper begins. With our shared history and common values, the American and Israeli people have formed a bond that unites us across the many thousands of miles between our countries and calls us to work together towards peace and prosperity for our countries.Rand goes on to support free trade with Israel, call for divestment from Iran, and strongly object to the arrogant approach of (the) Obama administration toward the peace process. Only Israel can decide what is in her security interest, not America and certainly not the United Nations, he asserts.

In one clear departure from his father, Rand states that: As a United States Senator, I would never vote to condemn Israel for defending herself. Whether it is fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, combating Hamas-linked terrorists in Gaza or dealing with potential nuclear threats in the Persian Gulf, Israeli military actions are completely up to the leaders and military of Israel, and Israel alone.By contrast, when Israel retaliated against Hamas in Gaza to stop rockets from being fired toward Israeli civilians, his father rushed to condemn Israel. In a YouTube video, Ron Paul called it a pretty sad day for the whole world that he said reflected the spread of the idea of preemtive war. He went further, by saying the fact that the United States provides aid to Israel and did nothing to try and stop the military action made the U.S. complicit. He said the action would antagonize the Arab-Muslim world and warned that we’ll suffer the consequences.Continued U.S. support for Israel is part of Ron Paul's broader view of foreign policy and the concept of blowback. Rand Paul focuses his statement on condemning foreign aid to enemies of Israel, saying that, In the Senate, I would strive to eliminate all aid to countries that threaten Israel.But he doesn't address the issue of aid to Israel itself. You can read the full statement after the jump.

The United States Special Relationship with Israel
By Dr. Rand Paul
Candidate, United States Senate


Israel and the United States have a special relationship. With our shared history and common values, the American and Israeli people have formed a bond that unites us across the many thousands of miles between our countries and calls us to work together towards peace and prosperity for our countries. The free trade agreement that has existed, and been subsequently strengthened, between our countries since 1985 is a tremendous mutual benefit. As a United States Senator, I would work against the growing protectionist sentiment in our country and defend free trade with Israel. I would never vote to place trade restrictions on Israel, and I would filibuster any attempts to place sanctions on Israel or tariffs on any Israeli goods. The issue of Palestine is incredibly difficult and complex. The entire world wishes for peace in the region, but any arrangement or treaty must come from Israel, when she is ready and when her conditions have been met. I strongly object to the arrogant approach of Obama administration, itself a continuation of the failures of past U.S. administrations, as they push Israel to make security concessions behind thinly veiled threats. Only Israel can decide what is in her security interest, not America and certainly not the United Nations. Friends do not coerce friends to trade land for peace, or to give up the vital security interests of their people.

As a United States Senator, I would never vote to condemn Israel for defending herself. Whether it is fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, combating Hamas-linked terrorists in Gaza or dealing with potential nuclear threats in the Persian Gulf, Israeli military actions are completely up to the leaders and military of Israel, and Israel alone. It is not the place of outsiders to meddle or pass judgment or to use our power or relationship to force Israel to go against her own interest for the sake of peace.Peace is a laudable goal. But it is just that – a goal. It is not an end at any cost. It makes no sense to me that the United States provides Arab countries hostile to Israel with $12 billion in annual financial and military aid. Many of the weapons that Israel would face in a Middle Eastern conflict would have come directly from our government. I find this appalling. In the Senate, I would strive to eliminate all aid to countries that threaten Israel. Finally, Iran has become increasingly bellicose towards Israel. Thankfully, Israel has one of the bravest, most elite military forces in the world. I would never vote to prevent Israel from taking any military action her leaders felt necessary to end any Iranian threat.Just as the United States would not follow the will of another country in the face of our national security, we shall not limit the options of Israel in this area. Finally, I believe the United States should increase the pressure on Iran. I would mandate that all publicly managed investment funds divest from Iran immediately. We should not be subsidizing any company that does business with Iran, and we should not allow U.S. companies or those with funds from U.S. taxpayers to enrich Iran through its national energy program. I would fight to end all subsides to American corporations that do business with Iran, including so-called renewable energy companies that work through Brazil to provide support to Iran and empower its dictators dangerous nuclear saber rattling.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

PALESTINIANS BEHIND BOYCOTT

Palestinians' Abbas swings behind boycott campaign
By Ali Sawafta 10:52AM MAY 22,10


RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday swung behind a campaign to stop Palestinians buying goods produced by Israeli settlements in the West Bank, urging all Palestinians to shun the products.Abbas dismissed Israeli accusations that the campaign amounted to incitement of hatred against the Jewish state -- something the United States has urged him to prevent as it mediates indirect peace talks between the sides.The 75-year old Palestinian leader opened his door to volunteers distributing leaflets detailing products from furniture to wine and soft drinks which the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority has banned from Palestinian markets.I call on all Palestinian citizens to do the same and to boycott these goods, said Abbas, speaking in public for the first time about a campaign spearheaded by his prime minister, Salam Fayyad.He put a sticker on his door declaring his house free of settlement goods.We are not inciting against Israel. We do not want to boycott goods coming from Israel," he said, distinguishing between products produced by Israel and those made in settlements built on occupied land.

Palestinian consumers, their economy tied to Israel's, depend on goods from Israel.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Friday the boycott was undermining the latest U.S. effort to advance the peace process.It's not the right way to approach negotiations, he told Israel's Channel 1 TV channel, adding that settlement goods were often produced together with factories in Israel.By banning settlement goods, the Palestinians hope to undermine the economic viability of the enclaves which pepper the West Bank. They also hope to encourage European Union member states to ban trade with enterprises in the settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.Settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are home to some 500,000 Jews living among 3 million Palestinians. World powers view them as an obstacle to a peace deal that would create a Palestinian state next to Israel.Abbas signed a presidential decree in April stipulating punishments ranging from fines to imprisonment for Palestinians dealing in settlement goods. The Palestinian Authority also aims to stop Palestinians from working in the Israeli enclaves.Palestinian officials estimate the value of settlement goods sold in the Palestinian market at up to $500 million. The settlements employ around 25,000 Palestinians.The United States this month started mediating indirect peace talks aimed at ending the decades-old conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state. President Barack Obama has warned both sides that they will be held accountable if either does anything that undermines the effort. The Palestinians take that to mean that Israel will refrain from declaring new building plans in East Jerusalem.(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Abbas: no progress in indirect talks with Israel
MAY 22,10


RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he's ready to swap some land with Israel but that gaps remain on how much territory is to be traded.
Abbas spoke Saturday after two rounds of indirect, U.S.-mediated peace talks with Israel.Abbas said the first round dealt with borders and security arrangements between Israel and a Palestinian state. He said Israel asked a series of questions the Palestinians are now preparing to answer.The Palestinian leader was asked about reports that he is willing to trade more land than in the past. Abbas only said that there is no agreement on the amount of land to be traded.Israel wants to annex major Jewish settlements built on war-won land sought by the Palestinians.

Militants bury gunmen killed in Israel shootout
MAY 22,10


ABASSAN, Gaza Strip (AFP) – Calling for revenge against Israel, gun-toting Islamic Jihad militants on Saturday took part in the funeral of two of their comrades killed on a rare cross-border raid into Israel.Nader Abu Dakkar and Hamdi Abu Hammad, both aged 17, were shot dead in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops on Friday after they breached the Gaza border fence and headed toward nearby Israeli villages, the military said.Despite their youth, Islamic Jihad identified the two young Palestinians as members of Al-Quds Brigades, its military wing.An Israeli military spokeswoman said Kalashnikov assault rifles and spare magazines carried in military-style tactical vests were found on the bodies.About 1,000 people turned out for Saturday's funeral in the teenagers' home village of Abassan, near the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.Some carried Palestinian flags and others waved the black banners of Islamic Jihad. A small group carried assault rifles slung across their shoulders and chanted Martyrs, martyrs. Revenge, revenge, but no shots were fired.We shall continue our resistance ... until the end of Zionist occupation,Khaled Albatish, an Islamic Jihad leader, said in a speech. As long as there are martyrs, there will be resistance.The two militants had infiltrated Israel apparently with the intention of carrying out terror attacks,Israel's Haaretz newspaper website said.The border between Israel and the Gaza Strip is heavily fortified, and militant incursions into the Jewish state are rare.In April 2008, Palestinian fighters, under cover of mortar fire, breached the border near the Nahal Oz terminal and moved into Israel.The militants shot dead two Israelis in what the army called a failed abduction attempt, before they themselves were killed by tank fire as they fled back to Gaza.In June 2006, militants tunneled under the border, killed two soldiers and escaped back into the strip with a third, Gilad Shalit, who is still in captivity. Two of the Palestinians were killed in the raid.

Lebanon PM slams Israel defence drill
Sat May 22, 6:48 am ET


CAIRO (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Saturday lashed out at Israel's defence exercises and said they ran counter to current Middle East peace efforts.
Israel has to go to the negotiating table in order to achieve peace. To launch military exercises at such a time runs counter to peace efforts, Hariri told reporters in Cairo after a meeting with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.How can you launch peace negotiations with the Palestinians while holding military manoeuvres? asked Hariri, who is to travel to Washington on Sunday for his first visit as premier.Israel's annual week-long civil defence exercises, which start on Sunday, are designed to prepare emergency responses to rocket strikes on Israel.Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai has stressed that the exercises were planned long in advance and had no bearing on the Jewish state's present relations with its northern neighbours, Lebanon and Syria.As in previous years, Israel has made contact through intermediaries with its neighbours, notably Syria, to reassure them of its non-belligerent intentions, he said.

But on Friday, Lebanon's Hezbollah mobilised thousands of militants in southern Lebanon in response to the exercises, said an official from the Shiite militia group which is backed by Damascus and Tehran.Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006 that destroyed much of southern Lebanon, largely a Hezbollah stronghold. It estimates Hezbollah has since stockpiled more than 40,000 rockets.And last month, Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of providing Scud missiles to Hezbollah, charges that Damascus has denied.

Hezbollah shows off weaponry in Lebanon 'tourist complex'
Fri May 21, 3:09 pm ET


MLITA, Lebanon (AFP) – The Hezbollah Shiite militia on Friday inaugurated a tourist complex displaying its own heavy weapons and those left by Israel, to mark the 10th anniversary of Israel's pullout from south Lebanon.Armies that emerge victorious from wars display their exploits in museums, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in an inaugural speech broadcast live at the complex on a giant television screen. He was not present in person.This site is a modest initiative compared... to the sacrifices and historic victories that have been gained, Nasrallah said of the 2006 war in which Israel failed to crush Hezbollah, or the party of God in Arabic.One of our principal responsibilities is to preserve the history of resistance... and this museum is built on the ground of resistance, Nasrallah told hundreds of people gathered in a courtyard at the complex.The site, located in the sprawling southern locality of Mlita, was a Hezbollah military base during Israel's 1978-1990 occupation of south Lebanon and the 2006 war.The museum will open to the public from May 25, the anniversary of the Israeli pullout, which is this year being marked as a national holiday.

Hezbollah has also been organising jihadist tours, in which 500 young men and women were taken on a field trip to witness what the Iran-backed group called the achievements of the resistance against Israel.Dozens of anti-tank and Katyusha rockets, Iran-built Raad 1 missiles, mortars and rocket launchers are on display in the complex that encompasses a mountain cave, wooded grounds and a newly built gallery.Israeli Merkava tanks are also on display.Several Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli raids while digging the caves to hide weapons, according to guide Mohammad Sayyed.The museum is the first complex of its kind in the world, Hezbollah said in a statement.

Israeli army kills 2 armed Palestinians from Gaza
Fri May 21, 9:44 am ET


NIRIM, Israel (Reuters) – Israeli troops killed two armed Palestinians who crossed into Israel on Friday from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a military spokeswoman said.They entered Israel near Nirim, a small farming community, after breaching the security fence along the border with the Palestinian enclave, she said.The soldiers on the scene and the gunmen exchanged fire, during which both gunmen were killed, the spokeswoman said. No Israelis were hurt in the incident. Israeli media said soldiers ordered residents of Nirim to stay indoors during the gunfight.No group in the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility for the incident.Hamas has been urging smaller militant groups to refrain from launching attacks against Israel, which carried out a devastating military offensive in the Gaza Strip 17 months ago with the aim of halting cross-border rocket fire.Israeli air strikes targeted tunnels in the northern and southern Gaza Strip early on Friday after Palestinian militants fired two rockets that landed in fields inside Israel.The Israeli army says that some 350 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip since Israel ended its military offensive there in January 2009.More than 3,000 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip in 2008.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Joseph Nasr; writing by Joseph Nasr, editing by Tim Pearce)

U.S., Egypt strive for Mideast nuclear arms ban deal By Louis Charbonneau – Fri May 21, 8:19 am ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and Egypt are working to bridge differences on a proposed Middle East nuclear arms ban, an idea that could one day force Israel to scrap any atom bombs it has, U.N. diplomats say.The U.S. efforts to secure a deal with Egypt and other Arab countries reflect Washington's concern to win their backing for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program by offering a concession over U.S. ally Israel, even though Washington says such a ban is impossible without peace in the Middle East.Western diplomats say that the success or failure of a month-long meeting on the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) currently under way in New York hinges on the sensitive negotiations on an Egyptian proposal to hold a conference on establishing a zone free of nuclear arms in the Middle East.If we can't get a deal on the Middle East in the next few days, the NPT review conference will probably collapse, a Western diplomat told Reuters. It's what happened in 2005.Another Western diplomat familiar with the talks was guardedly optimistic. Despite the appearance of a chasm separating the Arabs from the United States and the four other permanent U.N. Security Council members, informal conversations indicate the sides are not in reality too far apart, he said.

The next few days will be critical,the envoy added.NPT review conferences are held every five years to take stock of and assess compliance with the anti-nuclear arms pact. They make decisions by consensus, which makes it difficult to reach agreements, since all 189 NPT signatories have a veto.The last review conference in 2005 was widely viewed as a failure. It collapsed due to Egypt's outrage at the failure to move forward on the Middle East nuclear-arms-free zone idea and developing nations' anger at the United States for refusing to reaffirm disarmament pledges from 2000.Both Egypt and the United States are eager to avoid another collapse. Cairo does not want to be labeled as a spoiler again, while the United States wants an outcome that helps ratchet up the pressure on Iran and supports President Barack Obama's determination to move toward a world free of nuclear arms.

If there is no deal on the Middle East, envoys say, there can be no agreement on a final declaration that names and shames Iran and North Korea and acknowledges the disarmament steps the big powers have taken, which Washington and its allies want.

U.S. COUNTERPROPOSAL

The United States and the four other countries allowed to keep nuclear arms under the NPT -- fellow Security Council veto powers Britain, France, China and Russia -- have been negotiating with the Arabs on the sidelines of the NPT meeting, which concludes at the end of next week, to secure a deal.Egypt, which chairs the powerful 118-nation bloc of non-aligned developing nations, circulated a proposal to all 189 NPT signatories calling for a conference by next year on ridding the Middle East of nuclear arms in which all countries in the region would participate.Washington came up with a counterproposal, which calls for "the convening of a conference in 2012-2013 of all states of the Middle East to discuss implementation of the 1995 resolution in its entirety.The 1995 resolution adopted by NPT signatories calls for making the Middle East a zone without atomic bombs or other weapons of mass destruction, and notes that the Middle East peace process could help to make it a reality.

Israel neither confirms nor denies having nuclear arms.Egypt has insisted that both Israel and Iran would have to participate in such a conference, even though Tehran does not recognize Israel's right to exist. Western diplomats agree, but say that Israel would be reluctant to participate.Still, the Jewish state could be persuaded, they say.Israel will attend if the cost of not attending is higher than the cost of attending,a senior Western diplomat said. Among the possible enticements for Israel would be to ensure that any such regional conference also covers biological and chemical weapons, not just nuclear arms, as well as regional security and other issues, Western diplomats said. Like nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, Israel never signed the NPT and is not officially at the NPT review conference. Egypt and Syria are outside the chemical weapons convention that bans production, stockpiling and use of chemical arms. Diplomats say the sticking points include the format for such a conference and the question of whether it should be organized by the United Nations, as the Arabs would like.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Spain says Mediterranean Union summit postponed By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer – Fri May 21, 7:35 am ET

MADRID – A meeting to bring together European and Middle Eastern governments has been postponed to give Israeli-Palestinian talks time to achieve results, officials said. Israel on Friday called the reason for the delay ridiculous.The summit of the Union for the Mediterranean was going to take place June 7 in Barcelona. Now, it has been pushed back to November, Spain's Foreign Ministry said Thursday night.The Union for the Mediterranean brings together the 27-nation EU and 16 partner countries across the southern Mediterranean and the Middle East. It is designed to encourage economic, environmental and other kinds of cooperation.The Foreign Ministry says the postponement was agreed by Spain and co-chair nations France and Egypt to give indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks that began recently time to prosper.But Spanish media said the meeting has been postponed because organizers feared it might be a failure.The newspaper El Pais says Syria and Egypt threatened to boycott it if Israel's hardline foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, attended. Lieberman heads an ultranationalist party and is known for a belligerent tone that has earned him critics abroad and inside Israel.Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said his country did not understand the stated reason for the postponement.

We don't see why an organization that aims to promote cooperation, mostly economic cooperation, among Mediterranean nations should be linked in any way to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. This linkage is simply ridiculous, said Palmor.Will Algeria and Morocco not talk to each other because of Israel and the Palestinians? Will Tunisia now refuse to sit with France because of Israel and the Palestinians? Will Libya and Bulgaria, or Turkey and Cyprus, stop their plans to cooperate because of Israel and the Palestinians? The postponement seemed to be another diplomatic setback for Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of June. An EU-U.S. summit that was to have been held this month in Madrid was called off months ago when Washington announced that President Barack Obama would not attend and had never planned to in the first place.

US lawmakers back Israel missile defense aid
Thu May 20, 3:44 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly backed President Barack Obama's plans to help Israel deploy an anti-missile system, in an unmistakable election-year show of support.By a 410-4 margin, lawmakers endorsed Obama's plan to give Israel 205 million dollars for its production of a short-range rocket defense system called Iron Dome.With nearly every square inch of Israel at risk from rocket and missile attacks, we must ensure that our most important ally in the region has the tools to defend itself, said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman.The looming threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and the persistent threat posed by Iran's allies Hamas and Hezbollah, only serve to reinforce our longstanding commitment to Israel's security, the California Democrat added.Israel completed tests in January on its Iron Dome system, designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells fired at Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah.The next phase is to integrate the system into the army. Israel hopes the Iron Dome will help counter rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and from Lebanon.Palestinian militants have fired thousands of home-made rockets into southern Israel, prompting Israel's devastating assault on the Islamist Hamas in Gaza on December 27, 2008.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah also fired some 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during a 2006 war with Israel. The group is believed to have an arsenal of some 40,000 rockets.The vote did not actually free up any funds for Iron Dome, but put the US Congress on record as supporting the plan.It came after ties between Israel and its key ally the United States were strained when plans for new Israeli settler homes in east Jerusalem were announced just as US Vice President Joe Biden visited the Jewish state.

US says Syria must curb arm shipments to Hezbollah
Thu May 20, 11:23 am ET


AMMAN, Jordan – A top U.S. diplomat has urged Syria to do more to prevent arms shipments to the militant Lebanese Hezbollah and stem the flow of militants into Iraq.Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman said while relations remain uneasy, Syria was important to achieving a full Arab-Israeli settlement.He told reporters Thursday that Washington wants to influence Damascus because of its ties to Iran and other U.S. foes in the region.Feltman said that because Syria has the ear of Hezbollah, Iran and the militant Palestinian Hamas, the Obama administration felt it must make its own views known to Damascus to ensure peace and security in the region.

Hariri visits Syria amid spat with US, Israel
Tue May 18, 2:42 pm ET


DAMASCUS (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in Damascus on Tuesday ahead of a planned trip to Washington, which accuses Syria of supplying Lebanon's Hezbollah with missiles.Hariri, who has rejected those claims, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the official SANA news agency reported without elaborating.Hariri's second official visit to Damascus follows accusations by Israel and the United States that Syria and Iran are continuing to supply the Lebanese Shiite movement with arms and undermining regional stability.The Lebanese premier is due to visit the United States at the end of May for a meeting with President Barack Obama, and is expected to address the United Nations Security Council, of which Lebanon is currently a non-permanent member.Syrian presidential adviser Bussaina Shaaban hailed the improving ties between Damascus and Beirut, in comments published on Tuesday in the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan.Since his last visit to Damascus, relations (between the two countries) have deepened...President Assad warmly welcomes this visit, designed to coordinate policy ahead of (Hariri's) trip to Washington, she said.We look favourably on every Arab visit to Washington that explains the Arab position.Israeli President Shimon Peres sparked controversy last month when he accused Syria of supplying Hezbollah with Scud missiles, a charge Damascus has staunchly rejected.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made similar allegations at the end of April, saying Syria and Iran were providing Hezbollah with rockets and missiles of ever-increasing capability.During Hariri's December visit to Syria, the first since the 2005 assassination of his father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, he expressed his desire for privileged, sincere and honest relations...in the interest of both countries and both peoples.Hariri and his US- and Western-backed allies have in the past blamed Syria for the murder and for a string of subsequent political assassinations in Lebanon. Damascus has denied any involvement.Syria dominated its tiny neighbour for nearly three decades until April 2005 when it pulled out its troops from Lebanon under international and regional pressure, two months after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri.The two countries established diplomatic ties for the first time in 2008, with Syria opening an embassy in Beirut, while Lebanon opened its mission in Damascus in March 2009.

WHO demands immediate end to Gaza blockade
Tue May 18, 1:04 pm ET


GENEVA (AFP) – The World Health Organization demanded Tuesday that Israel end a blockade on the occupied Palestinian territories, saying that it was causing a shortage of medicines, particularly in the Gaza Strip.An annual meeting of the WHO -- the World Health Assembly -- this week in Geneva passed the resolution with 63 member states voting in favour. Eight states voted against, 51 abstained and another 63 were absent during the vote.The resolution tabled by Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cuba, Libya, Kuwait, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan and Venezuela, demands that Israel ... immediately put an end to the closure of the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the closure of the crossing points of the occupied Gaza Strip that are causing the serious shortage of medicines and medical supplies therein.It also demanded unhindered and safe passage for Palestinian ambulances as well as respect and protection of medical personnel.In addition, the resolution asked Israel to facilitate the access of Palestinian patients and medical workers to health institutions in occupied east Jerusalem and abroad.The United States was among countries that opposed the resolution, saying that it stirred up tensions.The European Union abstained from the vote, saying that it had sought a more balanced text that put the focus on health but that this was not reflected by the resolution.
In 2009, the health assembly had already passed a resolution calling that the blockade be lifted immediately.