Israel lifts warning over travel to Turkey
JULY 20,10 1:30PM
JERUSALEM – Israel has canceled a warning to its people to avoid traveling to Turkey, citing an end to stormy protests over Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.The Israeli statement Tuesday said in light of the calm in Turkey and the absence of large-scale anti-Israeli demonstrations, it was lifting its travel warning.After the May 31 raid in which Israeli naval commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists, Turkey's government harshly criticized Israel and withdrew its ambassador, as demonstrations swept across the country.Turkey had been a popular vacation spot for Israelis, but tourism dropped significantly after the raid.Lifting the travel warning is the first sign that relations between Israel and Turkey, formerly close allies, could be warming.
Russia says delivers 50 armoured vehicles for Palestinians
JULY 20,10
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia has delivered 50 armoured personnel carriers to Jordan where they are now waiting to be transferred to the Palestinian security forces, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.The official ceremony for the receiving of the special equipment took place on July 19 in Jordan where it was delivered by sea, the foreign ministry said in a statement.The Russian armoured vehicles will be there until the Palestinian and the Israeli sides agree on the time and ways of its transfer to the western bank of the Jordan River, it added.We consider it important to do it without delay, the statement said.The Palestinians will receive the armoured vehicles for free and Russian specialists have already taught Palestinian drivers and mechanics how to operate them, the foreign ministry added.Moscow has friendly relations with the Palestinians dating back to the Soviet era, when it provided support to Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.
S.Africa envoy returns to Israel after recall over flotilla
JULY 20,10
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – South Africa is returning its ambassador to Israel, nearly seven weeks after recalling him in the wake of the deadly raid on an aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip, the government said Tuesday.The foreign ministry in a statement noted that an Israeli army probe had identified mistakes in the raid on May 31, but said South Africa still wanted an international inquiry into the incident.South Africa reiterates its call that any investigation should be a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent, in line with UN recommendations,the statement said.But the ministry said government had nonetheless decided to send ambassador Ismail Coovadia back to Tel Aviv, saying he plays a crucial role in monitoring developments in the region.Following extensive discussions and consultations .... the decision was taken by government for ambassador Coovadia to return to Tel Aviv to resume his duties there.The South African government also continues to call on the Israeli government to lift its blockade of Gaza, which is causing untold suffering to thousands of innocent civilians,the statement said.Since the fall of the whites-only apartheid regime in 1994, South Africa has been an outspoken critic of Israel and infuriated the Jewish state with its willingness to meet members of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza.
Turkish FM met Hamas supremo in Damascus
JULY 20,10
ANKARA (AFP) – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has met Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal in Damascus, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday, a move that threatens to fan fresh tensions with Israel.During Monday's meeting, the two men discussed efforts to heal the rift between the Islamist Hamas and the Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Anatolia said.The Middle East peace process was also on their agenda, it said.Meanwhile, Hamas said on its website the talks also covered ways of breaking the (Israeli) embargo on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and that Davutoglu pledged Turkey would pursue its efforts to lift the blockade.The meeting took place amid simmering tensions between Turkey and its one-time ally Israel over the killing of nine Turks on May 31 in an Israeli raid on a Turkish ship that was part of a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza.Davutoglu told Meshaal Ankara was still demanding an apology from Israel for the raid, compensation for the families of the victims and an international probe into the attack, the website reported.
Turkish foreign ministry officials contacted by AFP were unable to immediately confirm the meeting.Davutoglu visited Damascus on Monday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before heading to Afghanistan for an international conference on the future of the war-torn country.Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organisation and has reacted angrily to previous contacts between Turkish officials and the militant group.But in an tirade following the deadly flotilla attack, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the terrorist label for Hamas and defended the group as resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land.Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government insists that peace cannot be achieved in the Middle East if Hamas is excluded from the process.It has also urged the armed group, which has called for the destruction of Israel, to renounce violence and engage in peaceful politics.The ill-fated aid flotilla, spearheaded by a Turkish Islamist charity, had aimed to break the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian enclave and deliver tonnes of humanitarian supplies to its people.Israel eased the blockade -- originally imposed in a bid to pressure Hamas to end rocket attacks on southern Israel -- following international pressure in the wake of the raid.In February 2006, Ankara angered Israel when it hosted a delegation led by Meshaal following Hamas's victory in Palestinian elections.A Turkish team led by Davutoglu in January 2009 acted as a mediator between Hamas leaders based in Syria and Egyptian officials seeking to hammer out a ceasefire deal to end Israel's devastating 22-day war on Gaza.
Israeli lawmaker visits flashpoint religious site
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan - JULY 20,10
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A senior lawmaker of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing party on Tuesday visited a flashpoint religious site in Jerusalem revered by Jews and Muslims, a move that has sparked violence in the past.Under armed police escort, Danny Danon, a deputy parliament speaker, toured the site of an ancient Jewish temple, a plaza home to the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, and said he thought Jews should be permitted freer access there.A group of Muslim protesters shouted Allahu Akhbar, or God is Greatest, as Danon, trailed by armed police and dozens of Israeli and Western tourists, strolled around the area known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.But despite the tense atmosphere there was no violence or confrontations during the lawmaker's hour-long visit.Danon told reporters at the nearby Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, before the climb to the Temple Mount, that his visit was to mark the ninth of Ab, a day of fasting marking the day the Roman-era Jewish temple was razed.Past visits by senior Israeli officials to the site at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute have sparked violence, notably in 2000 when a visit by Ariel Sharon, then an opposition leader, set off a Palestinian uprising and years of bloodshed.Israel considers Jerusalem as its capital including Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of a future state.
Disputes over the city have played a key role in hindering progress in U.S.-backed efforts to resume direct peace talks between the sides.Palestinians are angry at Israeli plans published in the past few months to expand housing construction in East Jerusalem, and destroy dozens of Palestinian homes Israel says were built illegally.I don't see any provocation here, Danon, a Likud party lawmaker, replied when asked by reporters whether his tour of the holy site in the old walled city may ratchet up tensions.Danon said he wanted a firsthand look at security procedures and to press the case for permitting Jews to pray at the site.There is full religious freedom for Jews and Muslims on the Temple Mount, Danon said. But it is more difficult for the Jew than the Muslim to go and pray on the Temple Mount. This is a distortion that must be corrected.If Jews want to go and pray on the Temple Mount then they should be allowed to do it, he added.Israeli police often permit tourist visits to the holy compound but discourage Jews from worshipping there, diverting them to the nearby Western Wall to try and prevent violence.No Jewish worship took place at the site during Danon's tour on Tuesday, and all were under strict orders to avoid entering al-Aqsa. Afterwards, a small group of Jewish settlers said some prayers outside the compound's gate, where they intoned a Hebrew psalm that calls for the holy temple to someday be rebuilt.(Editing by Jon Hemming)
Zawahiri slams Arab leaders as Zionists in new tape
by Ali Khalil – Mon Jul 19, 3:59 pm ET
DUBAI (AFP) – Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri slammed Arab leaders as Zionists who are helping Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip, in his first message since December posted online Monday.He also mocked US President Barack Obama for saying that the Taliban will not gain power in Afghanistan, hailing at the same time, the victory of the Islamist militant group against coalition forces.These Arab Zionists are more dangerous than Jewish Zionists, Zawahiri said in the audiotape posted on an Islamist website that stated the message was produced by Al-Qaeda's Al-Fajr media arm.He hit out at Egypt in particular for planning to build an underground metal fence with Gaza to curb cross-border smuggling -- the only lifeline for the Hamas-run enclave amid Israel's blockade.Who is besieging our people in Gaza and is surrounding them with an underground metal fence? Is he not the chief of Arab Zionists (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak? he charged.This metal fence is a shame for the people of Egypt who let the chief of Arab Zionists besiege their brothers, in Gaza, he added.He went on to accuse Jordan's king Abdullah II, Saudi King Abdullah and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of being Zionists.Who is providing his intelligence service to serve US intelligence and (Israel's) Mossad? Is he not the heir of traitors, Abdullah, the son of (late King) Hussein of Jordan, he said.
And who is aiding Mossad to kill the Mujahedeen (holy warriors) and capture them? Is he not the Arab Zionist Mahmoud Abbas?,he charged.And who presented an initiative (for Middle East peace), following the directions of Jewish (US journalist) Thomas Friedman, and organised an inter-faith dialogue conference where he shook hands with (Israeli President Shimon) Peres? Is he not the Arab Zionist Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz?,he added.He slammed Arab leaders collectively for backing the Saudi-drafted peace initiative, which was first presented in 2002, offering Israel full recognition in return for its withdrawal from the occupied territories and a just settlement for refugees.Who were those who agreed collectively to hand most of Palestine to the Jews, and said that the refugees issue can only be settled in arrangements with the Jews? Were they not the Arab rulers in their shameful initiative,he asked.Zawahiri, who has a US bounty of 25 million dollars on his head, resurfaced last in December, when he criticised Obama's Middle East policy, charging it was humiliating for Muslims and a new stage in the Crusader and Zionist campaign.
In his new tape, he also lashed out at Obama.Poor Obama comes to Kabul pledging that Taliban will not return to power... Poor you, can you promise that your herds (of soldiers) will return safe to America?,he charged.You threaten the Taliban, you are just a puppet of the tyrants... We will see who will not return to Kabul because he will flee it hastily in fear.Obama, whether you admit it or not, Muslims have defeated you in Iraq and Afghanistan and will defeat you in Palestine, Somalia and the Islamic Maghreb, he added. He hailed Taliban's military action against coalition forces in the south of Afghanistan, congratulating its leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, on his steadfastness and vowing allegiance to him as the leader of the believers.
Congratulations to the Muslim Ummah (nation)... and to the leader of the believers, the patient mujahed, Mulla Umar... the imminent victory, he said. Before that, congratulations on your steadfastness against infidels and tyranny,he added. We renew our vow of allegiance to you... on the path of jihad (holy war) in the name of Allah,he said.
New Israeli rocket shield passes final test: ministry
Mon Jul 19, 2:16 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli system that shoots down short-range rockets passed final tests on Monday and will be deployed near Israel's borders by November, the Defense Ministry said.President Barack Obama in May asked Congress for $205 million to support the development of Iron Dome, which intercepts short-range rockets like those used by Palestinian militants in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.The system successfully shot down multiple rockets simultaneously for the first time in testing this week, Israel's Defense Ministry said.Defense Minister Ehud Barak has argued Iron Dome could be a necessary safeguard to reassure Israelis in the event of a withdrawal from the occupied-West Bank that comes in the framework of a peace deal with the Palestinians.Senior U.S. State Department official Andrew Shapiro said last week that U.S. support for Iron Dome will, provide Israel with the capabilities and the confidence that it needs to take the tough decisions ahead for a comprehensive peace.Produced by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Iron Dome uses small radar-guided missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets with ranges of between 5 km (3 miles) and 70 km (45 miles), as well as mortar bombs, mid-air.Its development was spurred by the 2006 conflict in Lebanon with Hezbollah and the Gaza Strip war against Hamas 18 months ago, when those Israeli towns within range were all-but defenceless against the rockets.The Defense Ministry aired video footage of the test that showed the Iron Dome rockets fly past errant missiles and intercept only those calculated to land in populated areas.
The two units will begin operating by November are truck-towed and easily deployed to any of Israel's borders, the Defense Ministry said.Israel launched a devastating three-week offensive into the Gaza Strip in late 2008 to try to curb the cross-border salvoes.Israel envisages Iron Dome becoming the lowest level of a multi-tier aerial shield capped by Arrow, a partly U.S.-funded system which shoots down ballistic missiles above the atmosphere.Each Iron Dome interception is estimated to cost $10,000 to $50,000. Pitted against estimated costs of cruder Palestinian rockets, as low as $500, that could bleed the defense budget, some analysts have argued.But Barak has brushed off such criticism, pointing out that were Israel to go to war in retaliation for serious casualties in a rocket strike, the campaign would cost $1.5 billion a day.The Defense Ministry has said the system may also be manufactured for export in the future.(Reporting by Dan Williams and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Jon Hemming)
US envoy Mitchell takes Mideast peace talks to UAE
Mon Jul 19, 10:27 am ET
ABU DHABI (AFP) – US Middle East envoy George Mitchell held talks Monday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan in efforts to engage Israel and the Palestinians in direct peace talks, WAM state news agency said.Mitchell briefed Sheikh Mohammed on the talks he held with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Palestinian and Israeli sides, over the past few days, WAM said.They discussed steps that should be taken to achieve a tangible progress in the Palestinian-Israeli talks, in a way that would guarantee establishing an independent and viable Palestinian state,it added.Mitchell helped start in May indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians and has been shuttling between both sides to try and clinch an agreement to a face-to-face meeting between them.He held talks Sunday with Mubarak, during which they discussed ways to prepare the necessary conditions for negotiations that achieve a two-state solution,Egypt's news agency MENA reported.
He also met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, a day after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The Palestinians have long demanded a complete freeze on Israeli settlement expansion ahead of direct talks and have accused Israel of undermining the process by approving new settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of their promised state.
Israel nabs Hamas cell accused of deadly shooting By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jul 19, 8:25 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel has arrested five Palestinians accused of being members of a Hamas cell responsible for killing an Israeli policeman in the West Bank, the Shin Bet security service said Monday.It said the men, all in their 20s, confessed to killing the policeman near the West Bank town of Hebron on June 14 and handed over three Kalashnikov rifles they used. The arrests were carried out a week after the attack, which wounded two other policemen, but were only made public Monday in a statement released to the media.The names of the arrested men were not released, and it was not possible to confirm the details with their families or lawyers. Hamas Web sites mentioned the arrests but did not explicitly link the group to the attack Monday.The men were from the southern West Bank village of Deir Samit, which is under full Israeli security control, according to Palestinian security officials. The officials said the Israelis arrested around 20 men and they did not know which of them had confessed to shooting the police officer.They spoke on condition of anonymity because the Palestinian Authority had not officially commented.
Violence has diminished in the West Bank in recent years, thanks in part to increased security cooperation between Israelis and forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which has limited power in the territory under Israel's overall security control. The Palestinian Authority, controlled by the secular Fatah movement, has launched its own crackdown against Hamas, driving the Islamic group underground in the West Bank.Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and has cracked down on Fatah members there. On Monday, Gaza's Hamas rulers banned top Fatah officials from leaving the territory for a meeting in the West Bank, according to Amal Hamad, a Fatah member from Gaza.Also Monday, Israeli forces demolished a cluster of tents and shacks belonging to Palestinians in the northern West Bank, according to the Israeli military and footage from AP Television News. Israeli house demolitions have angered Palestinians, who say they are forced to build without permits because of discriminatory planning rules, and have drawn criticism from the international community.One of the Palestinians, Ziad Adnan Saeh, said Israeli soldiers arrived early Monday and ordered him and others away before knocking the structures down.They didn't leave anything of our belongings. They were threatening to shoot us if we come close, so all of us left and now look what happened,he said.
The Israeli military's Civil Administration said the military knocked down nine temporary agricultural structures because they were put up without permits in an army firing zone, endangering the Palestinians working there. The Palestinians were given three weeks to contest the demolition orders in court but did not do so, the Civil Administration said in a statement.Associated Press Writers Nasser Shiyoukhi in Hebron, West Bank, and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.
EU envoy meets parents of captive Israeli soldier
Mon Jul 19, 7:46 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The European Union's top diplomat Catherine Ashton met on Monday with the parents of a captive Israeli soldier, telling them she would continue to demand the release of their son.Ashton's meeting came a day after she visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, where Gilad Shalit has been held by Palestinian militants since his capture in 2006 in a deadly cross-border raid.The message that I wanted to give them is very clear. In everything that we do, in all the statements that I have made, in all of my meetings, the issue of Gilad Shalit's release is part of what we are demanding," Ashton said in a statement after the meeting.During her visit to the Palestinian coastal strip she did not meet with Hamas officials as the group is branded a terrorist organisation by the West, including the EU.Shalit also holds French citizenship.Noam Shalit, the soldier's father, told reporters after the meeting he had asked Ashton that the EU should demand progress in negotiations for Gilad's release before requesting humanitarian gestures in Gaza.Ashton has repeatedly called for the further easing of Israel's four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip and said she believed that would also help hasten Shalit's release.What we are doing in trying to support ordinary people in Gaza is in essence to try and help that process,she said.The Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, wants hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, including scores of top militants responsible for deadly attacks.The talks collapsed late last year.
Hamas bans water pipes for Gaza women
by Adel Zaanoun – Sun Jul 18, 5:52 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Hamas-run government in Gaza on Sunday said it had banned women from smoking water pipes in public, as fear of the police drove many cafe owners to extinguish the popular pastime.The police have decided to ban women from smoking water pipes in open, public places because it is against our customs, traditions and social norms, interior ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told AFP.The smoking of water pipes loaded with sweetened tobacco, also known as nargileh or shisha, is popular in cafes across the Arab world and was one of the few remaining leisure activities left in the isolated coastal strip.The owners of several large cafes along Gaza's beachfront said that in recent days they were ordered to stop serving the water pipes altogether, before police clarified that the ban only applied to women and minors.We received orders from the police to stop serving shisha without any further details, said Abu Ahmad, the owner of one such cafe who asked not to be identified, adding that he is not currently serving shisha to anyone.We are in favour of a shisha ban for children and young people, but women should be able to smoke inside a tent, he said, referring to the semi-private areas of the outdoor cafes usually reserved for families.Nashat al-Hamarna, the owner of a popular beach club north of Gaza, said he continued serving shisha to men but distributed notices with his menus saying,Because of a government decision it is forbidden to serve shisha to women.He says he still lost 30 percent of his normal weekend business.
Even Gaza's most luxurious hotels, which largely cater to diplomats, foreign aid workers and journalists, have extinguished their coals.A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity insisted the ruling only applied to women and children but said there may have been a misunderstanding by some over-zealous policemen.Gazans flock to the territory's beaches during the summer break, packing into dozens of outdoor restaurants and cafes that serve non-alcoholic drinks.Most of Gaza's cinemas and bars were torched after the outbreak of the 2000 Palestinian uprising, or intifada, and alcohol is strictly banned.Few women in Gaza's conservative society smoked water pipes in public even before the ban, though some would indulge at hotel restaurants or in private.The Islamist Hamas movement has taken only limited steps to impose Islamic law on Gaza since it seized power in June 2007 but has tried to curb the mingling of the sexes in public places.Hamas recently banned men from working in women's hair salons and last year forbade women from riding on motorcycles. The police also regularly interrogate young couples and detain those who are not married.The shisha ban drew criticism from many Gazans who felt it infringed on personal freedom and could harm some of the few businesses still functioning in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade for more than four years.The decision is not good because everything becomes more desirable when it is forbidden,said Ayman Salih, a 25-year-old accountant.They impose their decisions without preparing the people or compensating the owners of cafes and restaurants... We want respect.
EU envoy calls for open borders on Gaza visit
by Joseph Krauss – Sun Jul 18, 3:28 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The European Union's top diplomat Catherine Ashton called for the further easing of Israel's four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip during a visit to the impoverished Hamas-run enclave on Sunday.The answer here is opening the crossings, Ashton told reporters on her first visit since Israel's deadly May 31 seizure of a Gaza-bound aid fleet sparked international demands to lift the closure.
People here recognise and understand the security needs of Israel,she said at a news conference held at a UN-run school for Palestinian refugees.But that should not prevent the ability to be able to see the free flow of goods into and out of Gaza in order that houses can be rebuilt, children can go to fully functioning schools and businesses can flourish.She said the European Union was willing to send monitors to help operate the crossings, but they would have to have a clear role and work alongside the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which Hamas drove out of Gaza in 2007.However, she said there was no proposal on the table to reopen Gaza's sole port.
At the height of the international uproar that followed the flotilla raid, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos, Israel said it would begin allowing all purely civilian goods into Gaza.It said it would also allow building materials into the territory but only for internationally supervised projects and that its naval blockade would remain in place to keep the Islamist Hamas movement from importing military-grade rockets and other weapons.The European Union welcomed the changes but has pressed Israel to allow for freer travel and the export of goods manufactured in Gaza, where the near-collapse of the private sector has spawned 40 percent unemployment.Later, Ashton travelled to Israel where she met with hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, reiterating her call for an end to the blockade, calling it unacceptable, unsustainable and counter-productive.Lieberman said he had briefed Ashton on Israel's new, liberal approach to Gaza and called on the EU to support several large-scale infrastructure projects there like power stations, desalination plants and water purification.Israeli media had reported Lieberman was pushing these projects as a prelude to Israel, which supplies much of Gaza's utilities, severing all ties to the Gaza Strip.Lieberman said Israel was exploring such an idea but no formal decisions had been taken. It is worthy of being seriously discussed but has not been adopted by the cabinet,he told reporters after the meeting.
Ashton expressed her opposition to such a move.I have consistently said the solution is a two state solution... and Gaza should be part of that,she said. I made that position clear to Foreign Minister Lieberman.Ashton was to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later Sunday.After departing Gaza she headed to the nearby Israeli town of Sderot, which suffered near-daily Palestinian rocket attacks in the years leading up to the 22-day Gaza war launched in December 2008.The British baroness was named last year as the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, a new position that was created to give the 27-nation bloc a single voice on the world stage. Her visit came as US envoy George Mitchell held a sixth round of indirect peace talks between Israel and the West Bank Palestinian leadership in a bid to relaunch direct negotiations suspended during the Gaza war. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has thus far rejected US and Israeli demands for face-to-face talks with Netanyahu, insisting the two sides first make progress on the thorny issues of final borders and security. Israel first imposed its blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after Hamas and other militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a deadly cross-border raid. The 23-year-old is still being held at a secret location. The sanctions were tightened a year later when Hamas drove Abbas's forces out after months of factional unrest.Ashton did not meet anyone from Hamas, which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the West because of its refusal to recognise Israel and its commitment to armed struggle.
Mideast leaders queue for talks with Egypt's Mubarak
By Yasmine Saleh – Sun Jul 18, 12:19 pm ET
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hosted Palestinian and Israeli leaders and the U.S. peace envoy on Sunday with a return to direct talks on the agenda but a breakthrough still seemingly distant.While Egypt has long played a mediating role in Middle East politics, it is unusual for Cairo to host leaders on the same day. Shuttle diplomacy has been the preferred way of operating.Still, none of the visitors saw the others, instead lining up back-to-back appointments with Mubarak, who was flanked by his foreign minister and top intelligence officer.U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who has shuttled between the main players since a four-month window for indirect talks was agreed in May, held an hour-long meeting, then hurriedly left the presidency without briefing reporters.Minutes after Mitchell's convoy of tinted-window white cars rolled out, a convoy of similarly tinted black cars rolled in, escorting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who Mitchell met on Saturday in Ramallah.Half an hour later Abbas was also gone, again without speaking to reporters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived soon after Abbas' departure.The Egyptian state news agency MENA reported that Mubarak's talks with all three men focused on efforts to create the conditions necessary to advance the peace process and achieve a two-state solution. It did not elaborate.
NOT TOO LATE
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters after the trio of talks that the reports submitted did not make direct talks feasible yet, but that there was still time.We are still hopeful that we can bridge this gap. The gap between the needs for security for Israel and the borders for the Palestinians,he said.They (the Israelis) claim that they are determined to offer the Palestinians a good deal,he said, adding that Egypt was encouraging the U.S. to keep pushing for face-to-face talks.Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu said: I intend to discuss with President Mubarak the ways to speed up the process of entering direct negotiations with the Palestinians. I know that Egypt is as interested in advancing the diplomatic process as we are.Abbas told a Jordanian newspaper on Saturday Israel must agree to the idea of a third party, possibly NATO, that would secure the borders of a future Palestinian state, and set other terms necessary for a return to direct talks.Netanyahu did not refer to those terms in his comments.
Israel and the United States are both pushing for a speedy return to direct talks. The Palestinians say they have yet to receive a clear response from Israel on issues such as the size and shape of a future Palestinian state, security and Israeli settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.Netanyahu in November ordered a partial freeze on Jewish settlements that will lapse in September.The long-stalled indirect talks are about halfway through their agreed four-month duration.(Writing by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
