Friday, March 05, 2010

US PRESSURE ON MIDEAST TALKS

US under pressure to deliver on Mideast peace by Christophe Schmidt – Fri Mar 5, 12:33 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – With new indirect Middle East peace talks on the horizon in the coming days, the Obama administration is under pressure to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis closer to an elusive accord.The top US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is traveling to the region for a series of meetings over the weekend and into Monday -- capping months of shuttle diplomacy to prod the two sides back to the negotiating table.Mitchell has proposed US-brokered indirect talks as a way of getting around a deadlock, with negotiations on ice since Israel launched a devastating attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.We've been working hard in the region for several months to create the kind of political support that the parties will need if they make the decision to enter into discussions, State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said after the Arab League backed indirect US-mediated negotiations.Middle East analysts said the reopening offers a chance for a potential breakthrough, but also ups the pressure on Washington to deliver.The US is going to have to be the catalyst that actually says to both sides: This is what you will have to give up,Amjad Atallah of the New America Foundation told AFP.

Even before the Arab foreign ministers gave their green light on Wednesday for the talks, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said he would abide by the decision.The bigger challenge will be defining practical and achievable objectives for those talks that have an impact on the strategic environment, said Haim Malka of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.In one sign that the talks will renew a commitment by President Barack Obama's administration to resolving the conflict, Vice President Joe Biden is due in Israel and the Palestinian territories next week.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has laid the ground work with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a March 19 meeting in Moscow of the Middle East Quartet, which groups the two former Cold War foes with the European Union and the United Nations.According to the Israeli daily Maariv, the new US peace plan foresees the two sides immediately relaunching final status talks on the thorniest issues that have plagued the conflict.To entice both sides to agree to the deal, Washington is drafting letters of guarantee. If the talks flounder, the Palestinians will ask for US backing that they be granted a territory equal to the area under Arab rule prior to the Six-Day War in 1967.

Israel, meanwhile could be allowed to keep its major settlement blocks.

But there are few indications that either the Palestinians or the Israelis are prepared to make concessions to clinch a deal that has eluded sucessive US governments for decades.George Washington University professor Nathan Brown hailed the Obama administration's achievement in getting the Arab League's backing for the talks.That said, the basic ingredients for progress simply are not there. Convening talks even if they are proximity talks between an isolated Palestinian leadership and a right-wing Israeli government is an accomplishment, but neither side has the ability to move anywhere, he noted.This appears a bit too much like the Annapolis process, diplomacy for the sake of diplomacy, referring to a Middle East peace conference launched by former US president George W. Bush in 2007 that yielded little progress and was soon forgotten.While hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly welcomed the prospect of new talks, it was slammed by the Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip as an excuse for Abbas to rejoin negotiations that would only lead to failure.The US effort will also be complicated by the four-month limit imposed by the Arab League, which coincides with the end of Israel's 10-month freeze that excludes public buildings and annexed Arab east Jerusalem.Yet the costs of failure are too high, Atallah said. Hamas would be stronger than ever, the arguments against a third intifada (Palestinian uprising) would be weaker than ever, the Arab League would step back further from believing that the US can actually broker a deal.

Israel's Netanyahu awaits talks with Palestinians
Thu Mar 4, 12:28 pm ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he hoped to restart the peace process with the Palestinians a day after Arab foreign ministers backed indirect talks.We welcome the start of talks, even if they are proximity talks, he said at a weekly cabinet meeting ahead of US Vice President Joe Biden and Middle East envoy George Mitchell's arrival in the region next week.In the end, our goal is to try to reach a peace agreement with our Palestinian neighbours via direct talks, but we have always said that we do not necessarily insist on this format, Netanyahu said.If this is what is necessary to start the process, Israel is ready ... This government wants to start a peace process and I tell you that we also want to complete it.On Wednesday, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo lent their support to indirect US-mediated negotiations but expressed strong doubts about Israel's intentions and said the talks should not exceed four months.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had said before the ministers' decision that he would abide by it, and was expected to make a formal announcement this weekend regarding the indirect talks.Washington has been struggling for months to get the two sides to relaunch peace negotiations suspended after Gaza war was launched in December 2008.

The Palestinians have refused to meet face to face with Netanyahu without a complete freeze of Jewish settlement growth in the occupied territories.In November Netanyahu imposed a 10-month ban on new building starts in the West Bank, but the Palestinians rejected the move as insufficient because it excluded public buildings, existing projects and all of east Jerusalem.

Syria denies concealing nuclear activities By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 4, 9:37 am ET

VIENNA – Syria on Thursday denied hiding nuclear activities from the world and said Israel was the source of suspicious uranium particles found at a Syrian desert complex bombed two years ago by the Jewish state.The Syrian comments to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors were strongly backed by Iran and came in response to Western demands that Damascus stop stonewalling IAEA attempts to investigate suspicions that it ran covert nuclear programs — some with possible weapons applications.While Iran remains the main focus of the board, Syria's refusal to allow IAEA inspectors into the country for follow-up visit to sites possibly linked to secret nuclear work was the principal theme of Thursday's closed board meeting.A recent IAEA report prepared for the board said for the first time that uranium particles found at the desert facility destroyed by Israeli warplanes in September 2007 indicate possible covert nuclear activities at the site. The finding lent backing to Western allegations that the bombed target was a nearly completed nuclear reactor that Washington says was of North Korean design and meant to making weapons-grade plutonium.Syria has put forward several explanations for the source of the uranium at the bomb site and of uranium traces found at its Damascus research reactor that IAEA inspectors say would not normally be found at such a facility. One Syrian suggestion — that Israeli munitions used to bomb the desert location contained depleted uranium — has been all but ruled out by the agency.

Delegates inside the meeting told The Associated Press that Bassam Al-Sabbag, Syria's chief IAEA delegate offered a new theory Thursday, suggesting that Israel had dropped uranium particles from the air after the bombing to implicate his country.Separately, Iranian chief delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Israel — not Syria — should be criticized at the meeting, describing the bombing of the Dair Alzour desert site as an aggressive act, committed by the Zionist Regime. He accused the US and its allies of making an issue of a few uranium particles.But the U.S and the European Union said the onus was on Syria to disprove suspicions by cooperating with the agency.IAEA experts inspected the Dair Alzour site in June 2008 but have been barred from revisiting since. Damascus also has turned down requests for visits to three linked sites which have undergone major landscaping work since those requests were made.The IAEA has also been attempting to probe possible connections between the uranium traces found at the desert site and those detected during a separate 2008 visit at a research reactor in Damascus.Over the past two years, we have noticed a troubling pattern in Syria's behavior, Chief U.S. delegate Glyn Davies told the meeting.The more evidence the agency uncovers that Syria was engaged in serious safeguards violations, the more Syria has tried to actively hinder the agency's investigation.On behalf of the EU, Spanish chief delegate Jose Luis Rosello expressed deep regret that Syria has not been cooperative and transparent with the agency.Associated Press writers Noura Maan and Alexander Mueller contributed to this report.

Gov't in law change bid after Israel warrant row
Thu Mar 4, 1:25 am ET


LONDON (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to propose changes to ordering arrests in Britain under international law Thursday after a row with Israel over a warrant issued here for Tzipi Livni, a newspaper said.The former Israeli foreign minister reportedly cancelled a trip to Britain in December for fear of being arrested after a court issued the warrant following an application by Palestinian activists.The affair acutely embarrassed the government and Brown pledged to change the law that allows judges to consider a case for an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes suspects brought by any individual.Brown will present proposed legal changes to a parliamentary committee Thursday, which will then be consulted on before the government legislates, the Daily Telegraph reported.Writing in the paper, the prime minister said proposals would put the crown prosecution service -- as opposed to judges -- in charge of considering whether an arrest warrant should be issued in any case brought under international law.The only question for me is whether our purpose is best served by a process where an arrest warrant for the gravest crimes can be issued on the slightest of evidence, wrote the prime minister.As we have seen, there is now significant danger of such a provision being exploited by politically-motivated organisations or individuals.A London court last year issued a warrant for the arrest of Livni, now the leader of Israel's opposition Kadima party, over her role in Israel's 22-day war against the Hamas-rule Gaza Strip, launched at the end of 2008.

Livni was foreign minister at the time.

Judges in Britain can issue arrest warrants for war crimes suspects around the world under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, without any requirement to consult public prosecutors.Livni on Thursday welcomed the proposed changes and attacked the original decision to issue the warrant as absurd.The current situation in (Britain) enables the more cynical elements to take advantage of the system. The warrant that was issued against me according to the legislation was an absurd use of this law, she told the paper.A UN fact-finding mission to Gaza last year said both Israel and Palestinian militant groups were guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the war that ended on January 18, 2009 with mutual ceasefires.The conflict, which Israel launched in response to rocket fire from the territory, killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Arabs give Palestinian-Israeli indirect talks final chance by Mona Salem – Wed Mar 3, 2:51 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Arab foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to back one last round of indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks despite scepticism over Israel's readiness to revive peace efforts, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said.The move, which came after months of US-led shuttle diplomacy, was swiftly welcomed by Israel but was slammed by the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza as an excuse for Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to rejoin negotiations that would only lead to failure.Mussa said that the Arab ministers had called for a four-month deadline for the indirect talks.Despite a lack of conviction over Israel's seriousness, (Arab foreign ministers) will give indirect talks a chance, for the final time, in order to facilitate US efforts, within four months, he said.There was a consensus that Israel is not interested in peace, the proof being what is taking place on occupied land... acts which are meant to provoke the Arab and American sides, he added.

Negotiations have been on ice since Israel launched a devastating attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.The Palestinians have said they will only return to the negotiating table if Israel first halts all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.But Israel has agreed only to a 10-month freeze that excludes public buildings and annexed Arab east Jerusalem, failing to satisfy the Palestinians.US Middle East envoy George Mitchell proposed US-brokered indirect talks as a way of getting around the deadlock.Israel welcomed the Arab ministers' endorsement of indirect talks.We welcome this decision. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been continually calling for peace talks, and we hope that now the talks can move forward, government spokesman Mark Regev told AFP.

Netanyahu said conditions were ripe for talks.It seems the conditions are ripening for a renewal of talks between us and the Palestinians, he told MPs.In general, the world understands that this government is on the path to negotiations and has taken difficult steps to advance the negotiations,he said.The Arab ministers said the talks should be based on the principles of a 2002 Arab peace initiative, which calls for full normalisation with Israel in exchange for a complete withdrawal by Israel from Arab land, the creation of a Palestinian state and an equitable solution for Palestinian refugees.They stressed that any direct negotiations could only take place if there is a complete halt of settlement activity on all occupied land, including Jerusalem.US-proposed indirect talks will not bear fruit if Israeli violations continue, which would lead to the failure of talks, they said.There has been no let-up in Israeli settlement construction outside the limited 10-month moratorium Netanyahu announced in November. On Friday, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the government had given the green light for 600 new homes in a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem, drawing US criticism. Hamas slammed the Arab endorsement of indirect negotiations as a figleaf to cover a retreat by Abbas on his demand for a freeze on settlement expansion. The excuse given by Abbas that there is an Arab agreement to resume negotiations according to the American vision is a cover for him to climb down from the tree and into a maze of compromise,Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, whose government is a major supporter of Hamas, said that the endorsement by Arab ministers of indirect talks was outside their mandate. The decision to go to indirect or direct talks is a Palestinian decision,said Muallem.

Israel aborts raid after soldier posts details on Facebook
Wed Mar 3, 12:14 pm ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's military and one of its soldiers are no longer friends after the gunner posted details of an impending West Bank raid on his Facebook page, leading to the mission being aborted, the army and media reports said on Wednesday.
The soldier from an artillery unit updated his page on the social networking site, saying on Wednesday we are cleaning Qatanna, and on Thursday, God willing, going home,army radio reported.Other soldiers in the unit, who saw the posting, alerted their officers and the planned raid on Qatanna, a village near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, was called off, the army said in a statement.The division commander decided to cancel the operation out of concern that the information had reached hostile groups and would harm IDF (Israeli military) forces,the statement said.The soldier's page contained details of his unit and the exact time and location of the planned sweep. The army said soldiers are barred from posting any sensitive information on the Internet.The Israeli army frequently carries out raids in the occupied West Bank, detaining suspected Palestinian militants.The army apparently did not like the post.The soldier was sentenced to 10 days' imprisonment, his combat certificate revoked, and he was removed from his battalion and from all combat postings,the statement said.

Netanyahu intervenes in sensitive Jerusalem project By Allyn Fisher-ilan – Tue Mar 2, 6:23 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing concern over Israel's international image, persuaded Jerusalem's mayor on Tuesday to put on hold any demolition of Palestinian homes in a municipal tourism project.Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the project as another attempt by Israel to cement its claim to all of Jerusalem, and urged the international community to stop Israel from carrying it out.The United States praised Netanyahu's move, saying the two sides appeared to be closer to resuming peace negotiations that have been frozen for more than a year and it did not want either to do anything to derail their possible resumption.Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and considers the entire city its indivisible and eternal capital, a claim that has not won international recognition.Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Mayor Nir Barkat has unveiled a plan that would involve demolishing about 20 Palestinian homes built without permits in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, and reshaping parts of it into parkland and tourism-based business areas.In return, Palestinian residents would receive permission to build elsewhere in Silwan, which is adjacent to Jerusalem's walled Old City.A statement issued by the prime minister's office said Netanyahu told Barkat he was concerned parties interested in sowing discord would present to the world a distorted picture of the King's Garden plan.A city spokesman said Netanyahu asked Barkat to set aside more time to come to an understanding with the Palestinian inhabitants on the plan which aims to revive a biblical garden dating to the days of King Solomon so to promote tourism.Of course I accepted the prime minister's request and I decided to delay the discussion of the local commission in planning (King's Garden), and continue the discussion with the residents,Barkat told a news conference.

PALESTINIAN ANGER

The plan has stoked Palestinian anger and any demolitions would be certain to raise international concern.These escalatory actions add a high degree of danger to a situation that was already dangerous, Fayyad said in the West Bank town of Ramallah, denouncing Israel for strengthening its grip on East Jerusalem.The United States, and other Western countries have called on Israel to cease the demolition of Palestinian homes built without municipal permits in East Jerusalem.Palestinians say it is nearly impossible to obtain permission to build from Israeli authorities.

Citing biblical and historical links to Jerusalem, Netanyahu has excluded the city from a limited freeze on Jewish settlement construction he ordered in November after U.S. pressure to help revive stalled peace talks.State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington appreciated Netanyahu's intervention. That said, we continue to urge the parties to refrain from unilateral actions that, whether intended to or not, undermine trust,he said.He also said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would attend a planned March 19 meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators -- the European Union, United Nations, United States and Russia -- if her counterparts could make it. We think we are at a point in time where there is ... some reason to believe that the parties are getting closer to resuming peace talks, he told reporters in Washington.We hope to see the parties engage in discussions ... soon.

Tensions have risen in Jerusalem over the past week since Netanyahu announced he intended to include two holy sites, revered by Jews and Muslims, in the West Bank in a separate Jewish heritage plan. Monday, an Israeli security guard was wounded by gunfire in Silwan. A day earlier, Israeli police clashed with dozens of rock-throwing Palestinians outside al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Arshad Mohammed in Washington)(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Noah Barkin and Cynthia Osterman)

Clinton ready to attend Mideast Quartet meeting
Tue Mar 2, 2:57 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is ready to go to Moscow for an upcoming meeting of the Middle East Quartet in a bid to encourage Israeli-Palestinian talks, her spokesman said Tuesday.If everyone is agreeable, the secretary will be there, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.A UN spokesman earlier told AFP that UN chief Ban Ki-moon will take part in the meeting of the Quartet -- the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- on March 19.Crowley voiced hope that Israel and the Palestinians would soon resume negotiations -- a key US diplomatic priority that eluded President Barack Obama's administration in his first year in office.We think we are at a point in time when there is some reason to believe that the parties are getting closer to the kind of discussions that we think will lead to resolving the complex issues that they face, Crowley said.In any negotiation that might take place, we will need strong regional support and we will need strong international support.

Hamas aide: Assassinated leader smuggled weapons By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 2, 2:41 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The right-hand man of a Hamas leader assassinated in Dubai confirmed Israeli claims that his boss supplied weapons to Palestinian militants, according to an interview transcript released Tuesday.The aide, Damascus-based Mohammed Nassar, spoke to Hamas' Al Aqsa radio in Gaza.Nassar's boss, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, was killed Jan. 19 in a Dubai hotel room. Israel has been widely suspected, but has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.Al-Mabhouh and Nassar fled Gaza in the late 1980s, after capturing and killing two Israeli soldiers. Speaking to the radio late Monday, Nassar described al-Mabhouh's action after one of the killings.

Aboul Abed (Mabhouh) stood on the last body and raised his hands to the sky and said Praise God who honored me with capturing and killing him,Nassar said.Israeli defense officials have alleged that al-Mabhouh played a role in smuggling weapons from Iran to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Nassar did not reveal specifics about al-Mabhouh's dealings, but said his boss never stopped thinking about how to fight the occupation by supplying quality weapons to the Palestinian fighters.He participated with me in searching for weapons, Nassar said, according to the transcript.The aide said al-Mabhouh knew he was being pursued, telling Nassar before he left for Dubai,I feel like an army is chasing me.Nassar claimed that Arab spies helped Israel's Mossad agency track al-Mabhouh, but provided no details or evidence. He said he believed those spies were sent either by Hamas' Palestinian rival, the West Bank government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, or by the intelligence service of either Jordan or Egypt. All three are deeply hostile to the Islamic militant group.The aide said Hamas militants would avenge al-Mabhouh's killing with an attack inside Israel, but did not elaborate, saying only that it would be soon, God willing.Dubai police have identified 26 suspects they claim traveled on forged European and Australian passports, in addition to two Palestinians already detained in the investigation.

Media reports said authorities had added a 27th suspect, but there were no other details given. On Monday, authorities said they were seeking a third Palestinian.

Dubai police did not immediately respond to calls for comment.More than half of the 26 names released by Dubai police have matched those of Israeli citizens who are dual nationals of Western countries. All have denied involvement, saying their identities were stolen.Australian officials are expected to arrive in Israel to meet Australian-Israeli nationals whose identities were used in the slaying of the Hamas operative, a spokeswoman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.
The spokeswoman, speaking from the Australian capital, Canberra, on customary condition of anonymity, did not say when the team would arrive.Last week, the Australian government summoned the Israeli ambassador, Yuval Rotem, over the use of Australian passports. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd later pronounced himself not satisfied with the Israeli government's answers.Britain has already sent a special police investigator to Israel to meet with eight Israeli-British dual nationals whose identities were used in the slaying. With reporting by Rizek Abdel Jawad in Gaza City, Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Brian Murphy in Dubai.

Israel PM still waiting for Hamas on prisoner swap
Tue Mar 2, 7:30 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is still waiting for a response from Hamas, three months after giving them an offer for a prisoner swap for a captive soldier held in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.Until today, three months have passed and we have received no answer from Hamas, Netanyahu told the closed-door parliamentary foreign affairs and defence committee, a senior official in the meeting quoted him as saying.Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to exchange prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, now 23, who was captured by Hamas fighters and militants from two other groups in a deadly cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006.

Although Israel is reportedly prepared to release around 450 prisoners in exchange for Shalit, Netanyahu has vowed not to free several high-profile Palestinians whom Hamas insists must be part of any deal.Netanyahu said Israel had also insisted that some of the freed prisoners go to the Gaza Strip or be exiled overseas and not return to their homes in the West Bank.We told them that we were prepared to free prisoners in order to bring Gilad home safely and in good health, but not like (previous) deals where freed prisoners returned and killed Israelis, Netanyahu was quoted as saying.We will not agree to released prisoners going to places where they can easily reach Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, he added.While Hamas has not formally replied to Israel's latest offer, sent through a German mediator, senior officials have indicated that they reject it and have repeatedly blamed Israel for the failure to reach an agreement.After the interference of Netanyahu, there was a big regression and retraction. For this reason, everything has stopped,Mahmud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, told the BBC last month.

Hamas leader disowns son who spied for Israel By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 1, 7:46 pm ET

JERUSALEM – A senior Hamas leader publicly disowned his son Monday, days after the young man announced he had secretly spied for Israel and helped authorities hunt down members of the Islamic militant group.Hamas Web sites published a letter late Monday by Sheik Hassan Yousef that the militant group said was smuggled out of the Israeli prison where he is serving a six-year sentence.In the letter, he said his family announced its complete renunciation of the one who was once our eldest son, who is called Mosab. The father said he was sorry to take such a step but said he had no choice after his son disbelieved in God...and collaborated with our enemies, he said.The elder Yousef, who helped found the militant Islamic group two decades ago, was humiliated last year when his eldest son announced he had converted to Christianity. Then the son told an Israeli newspaper last week that he had helped Israeli intelligence foil militant attacks and hunt down Hamas leaders — including his father.Mosab Yousef told the Haaretz daily said he spied for Israel for a decade before fleeing to California in 2007. Mosab Yousef is publishing a memoir, Son of Hamas.

Monday's announcement means the family now considers their son to have never existed. He loses his inheritance and the family will never speak to him, or about him, again.Mosab Yousef did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on his family's decision.Palestinians, much like Arab communities across the region, are typically deeply private and try to conceal damaging family fissures. Only in very rare cases do families publicly renounce their children — usually when a son or daughter has done something in public that the family considers deeply humiliating.
In his book, Mosab Yousef claims he was considered one of the Shin Bet security agency's most valuable assets and was dubbed The Green Prince, a reference to his Hamas pedigree and the Islamists' signature green color.The claims have exposed a new side of the Islamic militant's vulnerability, coming in the wake of the assassination of a top Hamas operative in Dubai in January.Israel has not commented on Yousef's claims, or on widespread speculation that it carried out the Dubai assassination.

Palestinian cabinet meets in Hebron over tomb row by Samih Chahine – Mon Mar 1, 8:33 am ET

HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority held its weekly cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Hebron on Monday to affirm its claim over contested holy sites at the centre of a growing row with Israel.Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said the meeting was called to express his government's absolute rejection of Israel's plan to include the sites in Hebron and Bethlehem in a national heritage restoration project.These monuments are in Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, and this is the same land on which we are going to establish an independent Palestinian state, he told reporters after the meeting.Hebron has seen near-daily clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli troops since Israel announced that the town's Tomb of the Patriarchs, revered by Muslims and Jews, would likely be included in the plan.Israel also hopes to include Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, a Jewish pilgrimage site currently surrounded by eight-metre (26 feet) high concrete walls which Muslims refer to as the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque.The plan has also drawn international criticism, with Israel's key ally the United States calling it a provocative act that could further complicate efforts to relaunch peace talks suspended during the 2008-2009 Gaza war.The Islamist Hamas movement has also slammed the move and on Monday sought to hold a special meeting of Palestinian lawmakers in the West Bank town of Ramallah but was prevented from doing so by Palestinian security forces.We called this meeting to discuss Israeli threats against Islamic holy sites, but when we tried to enter the hall the door was locked,Hamas parliamentary speaker Aziz al-Dweik told reporters.

We condemn those who have prevented us from holding the session, he added.Hamas has had little visible presence in the occupied West Bank since security forces loyal to the Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas began curbing its activities following its bloody takeover of Gaza in June 2007.The Tomb of the Patriarchs, where the biblical figure Abraham is believed buried, has been a frequent flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades, though no one has been seriously wounded in the latest unrest.A few hundred hardline Jewish settlers live under heavy Israeli military protection in the heart of the town of 160,000 mostly Muslim Palestinians.

The Ibrahimi mosque built above the tomb was the site of the infamous 1994 shooting massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers by the US-born Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein, who was killed by the survivors in the melee that ensued.The meeting came a day after clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, the holiest site in the world for Jews and the third holiest in Islam after Mecca and Medina.The fighting broke out after Muslim worshippers threw stones at a group of visitors they believed were Jewish extremists threatening the tense status quo of the site, where only Muslims are allowed to pray.Jerusalem was calm on Monday as police deployed reinforcements throughout the narrow streets of the historic old city and closed the mosque to Muslim men under the age of 50.

Indian PM: Palestinian state crucial for stability
Mon Mar 1, 5:06 am ET


RIYADH (AFP) – India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that an independent Palestinian state was key to Middle East stability and called on arch-foe Pakistan to act decisively against terrorism.There is no issue more important for peace and stability in the region than the question of Palestine, Singh told members of the Saudi Shura Council, the kingdom's appointed consultative body, in Riyadh.For far too long the brave people of Palestine have been denied their just, legitimate and inalienable rights, including most of all the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian state, he said.Singh, on the third and final day of a state visit to Saudi Arabia, also said that good relations with India's neighbour Pakistan hinged on its actions against terrorism.Our objective is a permanent peace (with Pakistan) because we recognise that we are bound together by a shared future, he said.But to realise this vision, Pakistan must act decisively against terrorism. If Pakistan cooperates with India, there is no problem that we cannot solve,Singh said.Nuclear powers India and Pakistan have fought four major wars since 1947, and New Delhi accuses its arch-foe of being implicated in several terror attacks over the past years.

A bilateral cooperation agreement which Singh signed with King Abdullah after talks late on Sunday also emphasized the need for an independent Palestinian state.In the agreement the two leaders stressed that Israel's continued building of settlements is a major obstacle to the peace process.Before his arrival in the Saudi capital on Saturday, Singh told journalists that India's purchase of significant military hardware from Israel did not affect its stance on the Palestinian issue.New Delhi's support for an independent Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem is an article of faith for us, he said.

Iranian president calls Israel a microbe of corruption by Farhad Pouladi – Sun Feb 28, 11:37 am ET

TEHRAN (AFP) РIsrael is a microbe of corruption and Islamic resistance will send it to the bottom of hell,Iran's president said Sunday at a conference attended by top Palestinian militant leaders, Iranian media reported.With God's grace and thanks to the Palestinian resistance the occupying Zionist regime has lost its raison d'̻tre, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a Tehran conference in support of the Palestinians.Their presence (Israel's) even in one inch of the region's soil causes threat, crisis and war,the state-run television's website quoted him as saying.The only way to confront them (Israelis) is through the Palestinian youths' resistance, and that of the regional nations,he told the two-day conference that closed on Sunday.This microbe of corruption is no longer feasible for its masters to keep. The European and American people are opposed to Zionism and want an end to the Zionist thoughts,the ISNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.The hardline president called for unity among Palestinian groups to triumph over Israel.Unity and readiness of the Palestinian resistance groups are the only ways to control this evil demon and send it to the bottom of hell,ISNA quoted him as saying.Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah and the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, Ahmed Jibril, all of whom live in exile, were at the conference, Iranian media said.

The Palestinian people will not be defeated by Israel, and through intifada (Palestinian uprising) and resistance will defeat Israel, said Meshaal, whose group controls the Gaza Strip since June 2007.Israelis who are the thieves of Palestinian lands will be defeated through resistance, he told the conference.Islamic Jihad leader Shallah called for jihad (holy war) and resistance.In a word, the future of Palestine is victory and freedom, which will materialise through jihad and resistance, ISNA quoted him as saying.This aim may be considered by some to be an exaggeration and fantasy, but it is a reality and has its legitimacy,he said.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Palestinian militant chiefs on Saturday that sustained resistance was the key to liberating their land.Palestine, surely and definitely, will be freed by sustained resistance from the people of Palestine and by maintaining unity among jihadist groups,Khamenei said.Iran does not recognise Israel and is a staunch backer of Palestinian militant groups.Tensions have soared between Iran and Israel since Ahmadinejad, a hardliner, came to power in 2005.

Ahmadinejad has drawn international condemnation by predicting that Israel is doomed to disappear and dismissing the Holocaust as a myth, while Israel has refused to rule out military action to prevent Iran from possibly developing a nuclear bomb.

Israel confronts protesters near Jerusalem mosque
Sun Feb 28, 4:28 am ET


JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli police raided a plaza near the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Sunday in response to stone-throwing protests by Palestinians, an Israeli police spokesman said.There were no immediate reports of casualties from the confrontation taking place at the sensitive holy site, Islam's holiest in Jerusalem, which is also revered by Jews as the site where two biblical temples stood.Shmuel Ben-Ruby said police entered the compound when about 20 Palestinians threw stones, but that the protesters had quickly taken cover inside the mosque.Israeli police do not usually enter the area, other than in response to incidents. Police did not enter the mosque.One protester was arrested as the rock-throwing protests spread to the alleyways of the old walled city, Ben-Ruby added.Adnan al-Husseini, a Palestinian official in charge of Jerusalem, said Palestinian youths had spent the night at the mosque saying Jewish hardliners had threatened to enter the site.

The holy site has been a frequent flashpoint of violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Tensions have been on the rise in Jerusalem and Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory over stalled peace talks which haven't convened since before a Gaza war in December 2008.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Alison Williams)