Monday, September 06, 2010

ISRAEL URGES NEW SETTLEMENTS BE BUILT

Jordan king briefs Syria's Assad on peace talks
SEPT 6,10 11AM


DAMASCUS (AFP) – President Bashar al-Assad and Jordan's King Abdullah II met in Syria on Monday for talks on the resumption of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, SANA news agency reported.The king -- who attended Thursday's US-brokered resumption of the talks in Washington along with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak -- briefed Assad on the latest developments linked to these direct talks, the official agency said.The US administration is aiming to reach a comprehensive peace agreement, as a peace deal will only last if it is comprehensive and includes all states in the region, Abdullah was quoted as saying.However Assad said it was necessary that all representatives of the Palestinian people take part in these talks, in a reference to the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip that vehemently opposes the talks.Syria hosts Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas whose armed wing claimed responsibility for a deadly attack that killed four Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank as the peace talks were about to resume last week.

SANA quoted Assad as reiterating Syria's will for a just and comprehensive peace, while also warning that Israeli policies of aggression and settlements are a true obstacle to peace.Syria, through its official press, has come out against the peace negotiations, saying they serve only Israeli interests and sacrifice the rights of Palestinians.Jordan and Egypt have signed peace treaties with Israel, whereas the Jewish state's other two neighbours -- Syria and Lebanon -- have not.Syria and Israel did begin indirect talks in May 2008 mediated by Turkey, but these broke down over Israel's massive offensive that December against Hamas in Gaza, aimed at halting rocket and mortar attacks from the enclave.

Israeli FM pushes for new settlement construction By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Sep 6, 8:33 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israel's hard-line foreign minister said Monday that his party will try to block any extension of Israel's settlement slowdown, a move that could derail the recently launched Mideast peace negotiations.Avigdor Lieberman said the Israeli government must keep its promise to voters that the 10-month slowdown, declared last November under U.S. pressure in order to draw the Palestinians to the negotiating table, will end as scheduled at the end of the month.The Sept. 26 deadline is a challenge for the fragile talks launched in Washington last week. The Palestinians say they will quit the talks if settlement construction accelerates, but not ending the slowdown could potentially bring down the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to say how he will handle the deadline.A promise is a promise, Lieberman told Israel Radio.We will not agree to any extension.I promise that if there's a proposal that we don't accept it will not pass, he added.

Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party is a key member of Israel's governing coalition, which is led by Netanyahu's Likud party.It holds 15 seats in parliament, making it the second-largest member of the coalition and giving it the ability to rob the government of its parliamentary majority if it pulls out. Other coalition partners, and members of Netanyahu's own party, also favor resuming construction.In a sign that compromise was possible, however, Lieberman told the daily Yediot Ahronot that he would not quit the coalition even if he does not get his way.We will not leave or bring down the government. We will fight from the inside for what we believe, he told the paper.At the summit marking the relaunch of peace talks in Washington last week, Netanyahu used unusually warm language about the Palestinian leadership and the chances for peace. But the Israeli foreign minister has been vocal in his pessimism.Speaking to diplomats in Jerusalem on Monday, Lieberman said the stated goal of the talks — a peace agreement within one year — was unrealistic.The Israeli government says construction in settlements continued during previous rounds of peace talks, and that building does not compromise a future deal.Lieberman's party ran on a platform that questioned the loyalty of Israel's one-fifth Arab minority, and Lieberman, known for blunt and often unpredictable language, is perhaps Israel's most polarizing politician. A resident of a West Bank settlement himself, he has absented himself from active involvement in the peace talks, which are being conducted by Netanyahu's office.Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, a prominent member of Netanyahu's party, said extending the slowdown would pose a huge danger to the coalition.Within the coalition, there is a huge majority against it, Shalom told reporters late Sunday. He said the issue could only be resolved through negotiations.

Netanyahu is seeking a way to get through the Sept. 26 deadline without dismantling his coalition, alienating the Palestinians or angering the U.S. administration, which is backing the talks and has invested time and political capital in their success.Netanyahu is slated to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a second round of talks next week in Egypt and Jerusalem. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to attend.About 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, among the territory's some 2.5 million Palestinians. In addition, almost 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians. The Palestinians and the international community say the settlements are obstacles to peace because they eat up land the Palestinians want for a future state.The slowdown has cut the construction in the settlements, though the extent of the drop is the subject of disagreement.According to official government statistics released last week, a total of only five new building projects were begun in settlements in the first half of 2010, compared to 673 in the first half of 2009. Israeli advocacy groups tracking settlement construction dispute those numbers.The group Peace Now says building has begun on around 450 new housing units since the slowdown went into effect last November, around 300 of them in violation of the terms of the freeze. Peace Now says those numbers mark a drop of about 50 percent in new projects.Settlement expert Dror Etkes said government statistics show the number of units under construction overall in the first quarter of this year was 2,517, a drop of only 15 percent compared to the last quarter of 2009.Groups critical of settlement building say if the slowdown is revoked now it will have had nearly no effect on settlement construction in the long term.Associated Press Writer Karin Laub contributed to this story from Ramallah.

US artists support Israelis' settlement protest
– Mon Sep 6, 5:39 am ET


JERUSALEM – A dovish U.S. Jewish group says more than 150 film and theater artists have signed a letter of support for Israeli actors who refused to perform in a West Bank settlement.The names on the letter include Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City and playwright Tony Kushner. It was organized by the Jewish Voice for Peace.A group of Israeli actors sparked a vocal debate in Israel last month when they said they would refuse to perform at a new theater in the settlement of Ariel. They aimed to protest Israeli control of the West Bank.The actors' boycott drew support from a group of 150 Israeli academics and dozens of authors, including well-known writers Amos Oz and David Grossman.

Netanyahu seeks new solutions to Palestinian conflict by Philippe Agret – Sun Sep 5, 4:43 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that creative thinking was needed to end the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians.

Washington meanwhile announced that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would travel to the region later this month for the first of twice-monthly meetings between Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.And the Palestinians warned that failure to clinch an agreement would spell the end of Abbas's moderate, Western-backed Palestinian Authority and strengthen Islamists and other factions opposed to talks with Israel.We will need to think creatively, and in new ways, about how to resolve complex problems, Netanyahu told reporters at the start of Israel's weekly cabinet meeting.In order to reach practical solutions, we will need to think about new solutions to old problems, the right-winger said.To succeed, we will need to study the lessons of the 17-year effort at negotiations and to embrace original thinking, to think outside the box, he said, referring to the 1993 Palestinian autonomy accords.Netanyahu insisted, however, that he was willing to achieve an historic compromise with our Palestinian neighbours so long as it maintains the national interests of the state of Israel with security first and foremost.The two sides relaunched direct peace talks at a Washington summit on Thursday after a 20-month hiatus, but the negotiations will face a major test later this month when an Israeli settlement moratorium expires.The Palestinians have warned that if Israel does not renew the partial freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank when it expires on September 26 the peace process will end.

Netanyahu, under pressure from right-wingers who dominate his ruling coalition to resume construction, has said settlements should be discussed alongside other core disputes that have bedeviled past attempts at peace, including the final status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.It is almost impossible to do it as it would cause a government crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Sylvan Shalom said of extending the construction freeze.Asked about the risks to the peace talks of resuming construction in the occupied West Bank, Shalom told foreign journalists the Palestinians would make a big mistake of they quit the talks.Netanyahu plans to hold twice-monthly talks with Abbas starting with a September 14-15 meeting in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which will be attended by Clinton.After attending the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh she will head to Jerusalem for further discussions, a State Department official said in Washington.Secretary Clinton will be joined in these negotiations by Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George Mitchell, the official added.Meanwhile chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat warned that should the latest attempt to reach a peace settlement fail, the moderate Palestinian leadership would disintegrate.We hope to bring (about) a Palestinian state. If we fail to bring it now, then I think we'll go home, he told AFP on Sunday.The collapse of the moderate Palestinian leadership would leave the Islamist Hamas movement, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, at the head of the national movement. If we have an agreement, (Hamas) will disappear, and if we don't have an agreement, then we will disappear,Erakat warned.I really hope that we can make it, God willing.But Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday he does not believe a deal can be clinched within a year or even during the next generation.Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not sign a comprehensive agreement. That's why we should look for a long-term interim accord and concentrate on Israel's security, Lieberman said in remarks broadcast on Channel 2 television.In any case, he added, the signing of a peace agreement does not mean the end of the conflict and of mutual demands as well as the recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people.

Israel picks Gaza war commander as new military chief
by Charly Wegman – Sun Sep 5, 7:43 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli cabinet on Sunday confirmed as armed forces chief Major General Yoav Galant, who directed Israel's 2008-2009 Gaza war, the prime minister's office said.The government approved his appointment as chief of staff for a period of three years, with a possible extension to four years in exceptional circumstances, it said in a statement.Yoav Galant has proved himself in the course of 33 years of service in the front line of the Israel Defence Forces, the statement quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying.He is to take over the post from Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi in February after the latter's term expires. The appointment required approval by the cabinet, which held its regular weekly meeting on Sunday.Defence Minister Ehud Barak announced his nomination last month in the wake of a controversy over the circulation of a forged document aimed at discrediting Galant that kicked off the so-called battle of the generals.The document, which lobbied for Galant's appointment while smearing his rivals and was reportedly prepared by a public relations firm hired by the general, was leaked to a television channel.Ashkenazi has said no member of the general staff was involved and police found that the document was a fake.As head of the southern command, Galant oversaw the devastating December 2008-January 2009 war in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that cost the lives of 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.A subsequent investigation by the UN Human Rights Council found that both Israel and Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the 22-day offensive aimed at halting rocket attacks from the territory.

Israel slammed the so-called Goldstone report, which it said was biased against the Jewish state.But following Galant's nomination the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem called for a thorough review of his role in the fighting.Other leading candidates for the military's top job were Major General Benny Gantz, Ashkenazi's deputy, and Major General Gadi Eizenkot who heads the army's northern command.The decision was a hard one, Barak's office quoted him as telling cabinet colleagues before the vote. All the candidates are worthy, talented, deeply experienced; men of the highest attributes.Ashkenazi, the current chief of staff, was appointed in February 2007 in the wake of Israel's disastrous 2006 war on the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.Galant was born on November 8, 1958 in the mixed Arab-Jewish neighbourhood of Jaffa, which now forms part of Tel Aviv.He joined the navy's Flotilla 13 commando unit, rising through the ranks to become its commander from 1994 to 1997. The unit carried out the May 31 raid on an aid ship bound for Gaza in which nine Turkish activists were killed.In 2005, Galant was appointed to head Israel's southern command.He is married with three children and holds a degree in business and financial management.

Palestinian Authority lashes out at Ahmadinejad over remarks
– Sat Sep 4, 5:38 pm ET


RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority lashed out Saturday at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his remarks about the relaunching of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.The Iranian president, who does not represent the Iranian people, who falsified elections and took power by fraud does not have the right to talk about Palestine, its president or its representatives,Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rodeina said in a statement distributed by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.We are defending our national rights and interests and will not allow anyone to threaten us or question the legitimacy of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation led by president Mahmud Abbas, Rodeina added.Calling Western-backed Abbas a hostage of Israel, Ahmadinejad said the talks begun Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington lacked legitimacy as the Palestinian leader had no right to make concessions in the name of Palestinians.What do they want to negotiate about? Who are they representing? What are they going to talk about? Ahmadinejad asked rhetorically about Abbas' negotiating team during a rally Friday in Tehran.Who gave them the right to sell a piece of Palestinian land? The people of Palestine and the people of the region will not allow them to sell even an inch of Palestinian soil to the enemy. The negotiations are stillborn and doomed.Iran implacably opposes the new talks and has given strong support to the Islamist movement Hamas, which carried out two attacks against Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank that killed four people and cast a pall over the talks relaunch.

Gaza militants fire rocket into Israel
– Sat Sep 4, 6:39 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian militants fired a rocket from Gaza into Israel on Saturday without causing any casualties or damage, an army spokesman said.The rocket struck an uninhabited area in the western part of the Negev desert, the spokesman said.It came just two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas relaunched direct peace talks broken off when Israel launched a devastating offensive against Gaza in December 2008.The Islamist Hamas movement which controls the territory is vehemently opposed to the negotiations and carried out two shooting attacks against Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank in the run-up which killed four and wounded two.Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitz said on Saturday that he expected the imminent arrests of the perpetrators of the two attacks, which he said were not the only attempts by Palestinian militants to cast a pall over the relaunch of peace talks.

This week there have been dozens of alerts about attempts to carry out attack in Israel and in Judaea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank), Aharonovitz said in comments broadcast by army radio.Hamas has vowed to carry out further attacks against Israeli targets in the coming weeks.

Backer of NYC mosque gave to Hamas-linked charity By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 3, 11:20 pm ET

NEW YORK – One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near ground zero is a Long Island medical clinic owner whose expressions of sympathy for Palestinians included a donation to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.The developer leading the project confirmed Friday that Hisham Elzanaty, 51, is among the members of a real estate partnership that paid $4.8 million last year for the vacant clothing store that is to be torn down and replaced by a cultural center and mosque.

The partnership's general manager, Sharif El-Gamal, confirmed Elzanaty's role in response to a media report about his reputed involvement.All of these investors are committed, as I am, not to receive funding from any organization that supports terrorism or is hostile to America, El-Gamal said in a statement.Reached by telephone, Elzanaty declined to speak immediately with The Associated Press on Friday, but said he may have something to say later.El-Gamal has so-far declined to reveal the names of his other financial backers, but has said the eight-member group is diverse and includes Jews and Christians, Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, and others. El-Gamal, who was born in Brooklyn, and Elzanaty are the only Muslims.

Those involved with the Islamic Center proposal have come under intense scrutiny from groups opposed to the project, and critics point to a donation Elzanaty made to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development a decade ago as evidence that its backers secretly harbor extremist views.Tax records show that Elzanaty gave $6,050 to the foundation in 1999. At the time, it was the largest Islamic charity in the U.S. It raised millions of dollars from Americans in the 1990s, telling donors the money would fund schools, orphanages and social welfare programs.Two years after Elzanaty made the donation, the U.S. government froze the foundation's assets and accused it of acting as a fundraiser for Hamas, which was labeled a terrorist organization by President Clinton in 1995.The foundation and some of its leaders were indicted in 2004 on charges of supporting Hamas. Five were ultimately convicted.

A New York television station, Fox affiliate WNYW, was the first to report Elzanaty's investment in the Islamic center project and his donation to the Holy Land Foundation. The tax filing listing the donation was provided to The Associated Press by The Investigative Project on Terrorism, a nonprofit group headed by Steven Emerson.Elzanaty's lawyer told a WNYW reporter in a report broadcast Thursday night that his client had no knowledge of the group's involvement with Hamas when he donated the money, and had intended the cash to go to an orphanage.Many other donors to the foundation gave thinking their donations would fund humanitarian programs.

Other people and companies who donated money, equipment or services to the foundation the year Elzanaty gave included NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon, the Microsoft Corp., and a medical equipment company owned by General Electric, according to tax records.When the foundation's leaders were indicted, Attorney General John Ashcroft said, the case was not a reflection on the well-meaning people who may have donated funds to the foundation.Newspaper stories questioning whether the Holy Land Foundation had ties to Hamas began appearing as early as 1993 and Israel banned the Richardson, Texas-based foundation from operating there in 1997. It wasn't until after the 9/11 attacks, however, that U.S. officials cracked down.City property records show that Elzanaty has been involved in other real estate deals with El-Gamal. He was listed as a guarantor on a $39 million mortgage that El-Gamal's investment group assumed when it purchased a Manhattan commercial building in 2009.

Elzanaty is a U.S. citizen whose Egyptian mother and father died on an EgyptAir flight from New York to Cairo that went down in the Atlantic in 1999. U.S. investigators later ruled that the co-pilot had deliberately steered the plane into the water - a finding disputed by Egypt. Elzanaty has made no secret of his past philanthropy involving the Palestinians. In a 2002 interview with Newsday, he spoke of a hesitation to donate to Middle Eastern charities because of concerns that it could unwittingly land him in a terror investigation.When you see people surrounded by tanks and F-16s, you ask how can we help? he told the paper. But you don't want years later to have a knock on the door and someone asking why did you donate money?

Canada praises Middle East peace talks
– Fri Sep 3, 7:24 pm ET


OTTAWA (AFP) – Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon on Friday praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas for launching direct peace talks this week.Canada commends prime minister Netanyahu and president Abbas on taking this important first step toward a peace agreement, Cannon said in a statement.We also welcome the parties' commitment to meet at regular intervals over the course of the next year, he added, in reference to a pledge by both sides to meet as frequently as every two weeks for ongoing talks.The two leaders traveled to Washington this week for their first direct talks since December 2008, amid a new US push to achieve a peace deal in a year.As the talks started, militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in the West Bank that killed four Israeli settlers.Both Israel and the Palestinian leadership condemned the attack, and a second shooting attack, also in the West Bank, and said they would not succeed in halting negotiations.Cannon said Canada urged the parties to remain steadfast in their efforts to keep negotiations on track toward peace, despite the obstacles which opponents of this process may put in their way.

Hezbollah places 15,000 rockets on border with Israel: Oren
– Fri Sep 3, 4:55 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, warned Friday that Hezbollah has placed around 15,000 rockets along Lebanon's border with Israel, including some that could hit southern Eilat.The Syrian-Iranian backed Hezbollah poses a very serious threat to Israel, Oren said in a conference call focused mainly on the new direct Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.Hezbollah today now has four times as many rockets as it had during the 2006 Lebanon war. These rockets are longer-range. Every city in Israel is within range right now, including Eilat, he said.The Red Sea resort of Eilat is the most southern point in Israel.He said the rockets also have bigger payloads and are far more accurate than those fired four years ago.In 2006, many of their missiles were basically out in the open, in silos and the Israeli air force was able to neutralize a great number of them, Oren said.

Today those same missiles have been placed under hospitals, and homes and schools because Hezbollah knows full well if we try to defend ourselves against them, we will be branded once again as war criminals, he added.He said Israel is watching the situation with Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim fundamentalist movement, very vigilantly because it is of great concern to the Jewish state.We know Hezbollah has in violation of UN resolutions once again penetrated southern Lebanon, transformed entire villages into armed camps and put in about 15,000 rockets along the Israeli border, he said.Israel has already said Hezbollah has a total arsenal of 40,000 rockets.In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets at northern Israel during a conflict with the Jewish state, paralyzing the region for 34 days and forcing a million Israelis to hide in shelters or flee to cities in the south.

More than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers, were killed during the 2006 war.Israel accuses Shiite Muslim Iran of arming Hezbollah.

Clinton sees Jerusalem's future as symbol of peace
– Fri Sep 3, 2:09 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday Israel and the Palestinians know they need to find a solution that turns Jerusalem into a symbol of peace and cooperation rather than a flashpoint.In an interview with Israeli and Palestinian television journalists a day after direct peace talks resumed, Clinton said both sides also know that the daily lives of Palestinians must improve more in order to boost the negotiations.When her Israeli interviewer asked whether Clinton still supported Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital, a point he recalled her making during her failed presidential campaign two years ago, she did not answer directly.You should believe that I am committed to a safe and secure Israel and that I believe a two-state solution that realizes the aspirations of the Palestinian people is in the best interests of Israel, the chief US diplomat said.Jerusalem is a contested emotional issue for both Israelis and Palestinians, Clinton told journalists from Israel's Channel 2 and Palestine TV, who had been invited by Washington to conduct a joint interview.I want to support what is the outcome that the parties can agree to, she said at the State Department.And I think both parties know that they're going to have to engage on this issue and come to an understanding and a resolution so that Jerusalem becomes not a flashpoint but the symbol of peace and cooperation, Clinton added.Israel claims Jerusalem, including the eastern mainly Arab part that was annexed after the 1967 war, as its eternal and undivided capital. The Palestinians claim the eastern part as the capital of a future state.

Clinton and other US officials who hosted Thursday's launch of the first direct peace talks in 20 months did not say whether Jerusalem was discussed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.Both leaders have agreed to resume their talks in the Middle East in two weeks.In reply to a question from her Palestinian interviewer, Clinton said the United States saw the importance of Israel allowing greater Palestinian freedom of movement, including to sites of worship in Jerusalem.She said Tony Blair, the representative of the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East, will work with both sides to try to ease as many of those problems as possible while the negotiations are going.Clinton added:I think the political negotiations need to be matched with changes on the ground, confidence building measures and interactions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Muslims hold mass prayers at Jerusalem mosque
by Majeda El Batsh - Fri Sep 3, 9:00 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Muslims poured into the heavily guarded Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem for the last Friday prayers of Ramadan as Palestinians protested over newly relaunched peace talks.Israeli police put the number of worshippers at 160,000 to 170,000, while Muslim authorities said it exceeded 200,000.In his Friday sermon Sheikh Yusef Abu Sneineh criticised the relaunch on Thursday of Middle East peace talks in Washington, saying these negotiations are a joke.He went on to accuse Israel of seeking normalisation with the Arab and Muslim world while continuing its colonisation of the occupied West Bank through the building of Jewish settlements.In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, hundreds of people attended a rally in honour of the Iranian-declared Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day.Senior officials from Hamas and other hardline factions called for more armed resistance following twin attacks by the Islamist group in the West Bank that killed four settlers ahead of the talks.Jerusalem will not be liberated by negotiations but by jihad and resistance, senior Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar told the crowd, adding that it was a crime to participate in such talks.

Jerusalem remained calm, however, according to Israeli police.As in previous weeks, the police deployed 2,000 men around the mosque. They have not interfered, and the prayer has taken place with the utmost calm, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby said.The sprawling mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. It is also the holiest site in Judaism because it was the location of the Second Temple, razed by the Romans in 70 AD.The compound is inside the famed Old City in Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.The fate of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East peace process, with Israel claiming the entire city as its capital and the Palestinians demanding east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.As with past Fridays, Israel limited access to the compound to men over the age of 50, women over the age of 40 and children, and only granted visiting permits to a limited number of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank.The site has often been a flashpoint for violence, most notably in 2000 when the second Palestinian uprising erupted after a visit to the compound by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become Israel's prime minister.The holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, is expected to end on September 9 or 10, depending on the sighting of the new moon.

Arab League chief wants to give peace talks a chance
– Fri Sep 3, 8:34 am ET


CERNOBBIO, Italy (AFP) – The Arab League's secretary general Amr Mussa said on Friday negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians should be given a chance, but wondered whether Israel was ready for real peace.We see the negotiations start, let us give them a chance, Mussa told AFP at the Forum Ambrosetti, an annual political and economic summit in Cernobbio, on the Lake of Como in northern Italy.I don't want to be pessimistic on the first day of negotiations, he added.Let us see what kind of compromise (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is offering, we have never heard from the Israeli side any initiative or any concrete position, Mussa said.

Mussa wondered whether Israel was ready to accept a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas have vowed to meet twice a month in a bid to hammer out an accord, after on Thursday launching the first direct negotiations in 20 months a meeting in Washington.US President Barack Obama can, he said it, this is his motto, yes we can and this has to cover the Arab-Israeli conflict too, Mussa said.Ahead of Thursday's Washington meeting, Mussa said there was widespread pessimism in the region about new peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Mideast people capable of removing Israel: Ahmadinejad
– Fri Sep 3, 5:42 am ET


TEHRAN (AFP) – Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that the people of the Middle East are capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene in an annual Palestinian solidarity day address in Tehran.If the leaders of the region do not have the guts, then the people of the region are capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene, the hardliner said as the crowd chanted Death to America! Death to Israel!.Ahmadinejad said that direct peace talks which Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas relaunched with Israel in Washington on Thursday after a 20-month hiatus were doomed to fail.What do they want to negotiate about? Who are they representing? What are they going to talk about? the Iranian president said of the Palestinian leadership.Who gave them the right to sell piece of Palestinian land? The people of Palestine and the people of the region will not allow them to sell even an inch of Palestinian soil to the enemy.

The negotiations are stillborn and doomed.Iran is implacably opposed to the new peace talks and has given strong support to the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza and which carried out two shooting attacks against Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank in the run-up to their relaunch that killed four and wounded two.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

HAMAS SERIOUS ISSUE OF ISRAEL SECURITY IN PEACE TALKS

Hamas among intractable issues in Mideast talks By IBRAHIM BARZAK AND JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writers – Thu Sep 2, 4:06 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.But Hamas let it be known with its bullets that it would not be left out of the equation — the militants killed four Israelis and wounded two others in a pair of attacks on the eve of the new talks.The bloodshed was a reminder that Hamas is now on the list of intractable issues that have stymied decades of Mideast negotiations. There can be no peace without Hamas, but there is no solution so far for bringing the Iranian-backed group into the process.The attacks were meant to tell (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas he is not the one who decides the fate of the Palestinians, declared Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, adding that the group deserves a place in national decision-making because it won parliamentary elections in 2006.Hamas will never agree to be ignored and isolated, and it can reshuffle the cards, he said.Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, one of the two territories that are supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state. It wields virtual veto power over any agreement and has given no indication it would be willing to accept a deal with Israel reached by Abbas, who runs a rival government in the West Bank.

The more moderate Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for the first peace talks in two years, hosted by President Barack Obama.Abbas and Netanyahu are far apart on issues that have eluded a solution for decades, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the most explosive issue, the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.But if they can somehow work out these differences, Hamas would be needed to implement any deal. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza — located on opposite sides of Israel — for their future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.For now, the Palestinians appear to be unified on one issue: There can be no peace that leaves the 1.5 million people of Gaza out.Abbas has rejected any suggestion of a partial solution granting independence only to the West Bank and its 2.4 million Palestinians. This would be perceived by the Palestinian public as a massive sellout and sign of weakness. Hamas would paint Abbas as a traitor.Any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people. It only commits Abbas himself, said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.Abbas has repeatedly said he will present any peace deal to a national referendum, a vote that would include the people of Gaza. A vote in favor of peace would put heavy pressure on Hamas to accept the will of the Palestinian people.So if Abbas will not go it alone, the quandary is how to bring Hamas into the fold.Hamas, founded two decades ago as a Palestinian offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly played the role of spoiler in Mideast peace efforts over the years.A series of Hamas suicide bombings in the mid-1990s helped derail peace negotiations at the time. The group also killed hundreds of Israelis during the second Palestinian uprising last decade — a time of heavy fighting in which Israel killed Hamas' spiritual leader and dozens of other top commanders. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians also died in the fighting.When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel, helping fuel years of violence. After the 2006 election, a unity government formed with Abbas' Fatah movement collapsed into civil war, resulting in Hamas' takeover of Gaza the following year.

In fiery speeches ahead of the launch of peace talks, Hamas leaders repeatedly rejected compromise with Israel and condemned Abbas for seeking peace. Yet behind the public rhetoric, the enigmatic group has also shown itself to be remarkably pragmatic. In its short-lived power-sharing agreement with Abbas, it agreed to let the moderate president handle negotiations with Israel, as long as he presented any deal to a national referendum. While refusing to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, Hamas has largely honored a cease-fire since a devastating Israeli military offensive ended early last year. Hamas forces have even blocked smaller militant groups from staging attacks, and this week, commanders ordered their forces to hold fire when Israeli tanks were conducting exercises along the Gaza border. Hamas leaders frequently speak of long-term truces with Israel that could last decades. Hamas is also eager to win legitimacy in the Arab world. The reaction of key Arab players — including Syria, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Damascus, as well as Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and Egypt — could greatly influence Hamas' behavior.Beyond condemnations of this week's shootings, neither Israeli, American or Palestinian officials in Abbas' delegation have said much about Hamas, reflecting the international community's inability to find a way to work with the Islamic militants.Abbas condemned the attacks by the Islamic militants and his forces have arrested more than 250 Hamas activists in the West Bank.Asked about Hamas on Thursday, White House Mideast envoy George Mitchell said: We do not expect Hamas to play a role in this immediate process. He added, however, that the U.S. would welcome Hamas' full participation if it complies with the basic requirements of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite to engage in these serious types of discussions.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor agreed the Islamic militants have no role to play for now.Hamas does not fit into the process, he said, adding that although the sides hope to reach an agreement in a year, implementing it would have to be gradual.

Very efficient measures will be needed by all parties involved before an eventual peace agreement can be extended to Gaza, he said. In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, top Hamas officials voiced great skepticism over the new peace talks, but signaled they have no intention of scuttling the negotiations, at least for now.You want to go? OK, go. We have no objection, said Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, referring to Thursday's gathering in Washington. He confidently predicted the talks would fail, saying Abbas is wasting time.Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinians have been torn between two governments. Hamas now has tens of thousands of armed fighters in Gaza and a sizable arsenal of rockets and mortar shells at its disposal. Neither a three-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza nor Israel's fierce military offensive last year put a dent in Hamas' control.
Israel and the international community shun Hamas as a terrorist group and would have to make a tough decision to engage with the militants. The group has long coveted international recognition. But it has refused to accept international calls to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist. Our resistance is continuous,Zahar said.Barzak reported from Gaza City and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Hamas vows more deadly attacks on Israelis
by Sakher Abu El Oun - Thu Sep 2, 11:28 am ET


GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas vowed to press its campaign of deadly attacks on Israelis as a new round of Middle East peace talks was launched in Washington on Thursday.The resistance operations will continue, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, following two shooting attacks on West Bank roads in 24 hours that killed four Israeli settlers and wounded two others.Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has claimed responsibility for both attacks and linked them to the relaunch of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington, which it vehemently opposes.Security forces scoured the occupied West Bank for the gunmen and an Israeli official, who asked not to be named, hailed the Palestinian Authority for what he said was the arrest of hundreds of terrorists in the territory.Hamas gave conflicting accounts of the number of its members arrested in the crackdown, with the leadership in Gaza putting it at 550 but a senior Hamas official in the West Bank saying it was closer to 150.The Palestinian Authority denied it had arrested any Hamas members in connection with the attacks.Its security spokesman Adnan al-Damiri said that Hamas members were given routine summonses which the security services undertake to prevent any law-breaking.The Western-backed Palestinian Authority and Hamas have been fiercely divided since the Islamist movement seized control of the Gaza Strip in deadly street fighting in 2007.

A military spokeswoman said Israeli forces had arrested eight wanted Palestinians in and around Hebron, where the first attack took place, but declined to say whether the arrests were related to the incident.Major Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, had earlier said that while Israel had a good working relationship with Palestinian security forces there was still the risk of future attacks.They are working against Hamas and we are working against Hamas, but it's still not enough and the results are plain to see over the last two days, Lerner told reporters on a tour of the West Bank.All it takes is one man with a gun, one man, to penetrate our defences.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who were in Washington for the talks, both condemned the attacks.I will not let the terrorists block our path to peace, but as as these events underscore once again, that peace must be anchored in security, Netanyahu said Wednesday.Abbas called for an end to the violence.We do not want at all that any blood be shed... one drop of blood on the part of Israelis and Palestinians, he said.Furious settlers vowed to flout an Israeli moratorium on West Bank settlement construction in protest at the attack.

In a symbolic protest, settlers began building a house in the settlement of Beit Haggai, where the slain Israelis were from, after laying the foundation for a sports centre in the West Bank north of Jerusalem on Wednesday. In November, the Israeli government, under US pressure, imposed a partial, 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem in a move aimed at promoting the peace talks. The Palestinians say that a renewal of settlement building after September 26, when the moratorium expires, would end the negotiations. But Netanyahu has told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that there is no change to the cabinet decision to end the (moratorium) at the end of September 2010, his office said. This week's attacks were the first in the West Bank to be claimed by Hamas since early 2008 and followed the deployment of thousands of US-trained Palestinian security forces in the territory over the past three years.

Pope wants respectful deal in Mideast
– Thu Sep 2, 10:38 am ET


VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI Thursday called for a Middle East peace agreement that is respectful of the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians, during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.The pope said he hoped Israeli and Palestinian leaders' resumption of direct talks set for later on Thursday in Washington would assist the parties in reaching a deal capable of bringing lasting peace to the Holy Land and to the entire region, the Vatican said in a statement.He also condemned all forms of violence and affirmed the necessity of guaranteeing better conditions of life to all the peoples of the area.Under US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's supervision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will sit down for their first direct talks in nearly two years, with issues that have thwarted previous peace efforts on the table.Pope Benedict also expressed hope for the rapid conclusion of the work of an Israeli-Vatican commission that is drafting an economic accord between the two states.The cordial discussions were conduct in English at Pope Benedict's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome.Peres gave the pope a Menorah, the traditional Jewish seven-branched candelabrum, with an inscription likening Pope Benedict as a shepherd leading his flock to lands of blessing and peace.The pope in return gave Peres a bronze medal copy of one placed by Pope Alexander VII in 1657 on the first stone of the collonade on the north side of Saing Peter's basilica at the Vatican.

EU urges restraint as Middle East talks resume
– Thu Sep 2, 10:38 am ET


BRUSSELS (AFP) – Israelis and Palestinians should avoid provocative actions which could derail direct peace talks, the European Union's chief diplomat said Thursday after a flare-up of violence.EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for their vision and political courage as they prepared to resume negotiations.She said the outcome of their talks would be crucial for both sides and the whole Middle East.

But the killing of four Israelis near a West Bank settlement, an attack claimed by the Islamist militant group Hamas, shows that there are forces in the region which are determined to undermine the peace process, Ashton said.We must not allow them to succeed. Supporters of peace must persevere through difficult times, she said in a statement.It is very important that all relevant parties avoid provocative actions which could undermine the success of the talks.Ashton added: This attack underlines, above all, the urgency of a two-state solution with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with each other and their neighbours.Abbas and Netanyahu were to resume direct talks in Washington on Thursday following a 20-month hiatus.

Ashton reiterated hopes expressed by a quarter of international powers that the two sides would conclude negotiations within one year, adding that the talks should focus on all final status issues.The European Union is a member of the Middle East Quartet, along with the Russia, the United States and the United Nations.Ashton was invited to an informal dinner ahead of the talks in Washington, but was unable to attend due to a previously scheduled trip to China.

Mubarak urges Netanyahu to act on peace chance
– Wed Sep 1, 10:35 pm ET


WASHINGTON (AFP) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to make good on his vow to forge peace with the Palestinians and reiterated a plea for Israel to halt settlement activity.On the eve of Thursday's first direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in 20 months in Washington, Mubarak said the Israelis should seize the current opportunity and not let it slip through your fingers.He was speaking at a press conference at the White House to launch the negotiations alongside US President Barack Obama, Netanyahu, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan.I urge Israel to reach out to the Arab hand extended for peace, said Mubarak. Israel should totally halt settlement activity until the peace process comes to a conclusion.The Palestinians say that a renewal of settlement activities after September 26, when a 10-month partial moratorium expires, would end the negotiations. The settlements house about 500,000 people on lands occupied by Israel in 1967.Netanyahu faces pressure from his Likud party to continue settlement construction.The Egyptian leader noted that he had met Netanyahu many times and said he looked forward to him making good on his repeated assertions that he wanted to forge a long awaited peace which Israelis yearned for.Mubarak had a bilateral meeting earlier in the day with Obama, as the US president geared up his bold attempt to secure a historic Middle East peace deal within a year.

Mubarak's main message had been that Obama should be prepared to step directly into the dialogue between the two sides, his spokesman Soliman Awaad said.President Mubarak told President Obama that had (the late Egyptian president Anwar) Sadat and (the late Israeli prime minister) Menachem Begin been left all alone in Camp David, they would have never reached any peace agreement, Awaad said, referring to the landmark 1978 negotiations.This time also, the two parties should not be left all alone, otherwise there will be big stumbling blocks, he said.What is really needed is for the United States to step in, remain committed, remain engaged and lend a helping hand to the two parties in order to help bridge the gaps in the positions, sort the differences.Mubarak wrote in Wednesday's edition of The New York Times that Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, is prepared to continue mediating between Abbas's Fatah party in the West Bank and the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, which rejects talks with Israel.The Palestinians cannot make peace with a house divided. If Gaza is excluded from the framework of peace, it will remain a source of conflict, undermining any final settlement, he wrote.Mubarak added that Arab states should make gestures to allay Israeli concerns.In the interim both sides must show that this dream (of a Palestinian state) is within reach. Arab nations should continue to demonstrate the seriousness of their peace initiative with steps that address the hopes and concerns of ordinary Israelis.Washington has demanded that Arab countries take steps to normalize relations with Israel to build confidence for the negotiations. Only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, have diplomatic relations with Israel.Mubarak supported previous calls by Abbas to station international troops in a Palestinian state, writing: I recognize that Israel has legitimate security needs, needs that can be reconciled with the Palestinians? just demand for a complete withdrawal from occupied territory.

Obama holds Mideast talks
– Wed Sep 1, 6:03 am ET


WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will hold separate meetings Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS').It's an effort to jump-start peace talks that have been stalled for almost two years. He'll also meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak (HAHS'-nee moo-BAH'-rahk) of Egypt.
With Hurricane Earl bearing down on the U.S., the president will get an update on preparations from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate.

Palestinian kills 4 Israelis on eve of peace talks By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 31, 9:17 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Palestinian gunmen opened fire Tuesday on an Israeli car in the West Bank and killed four passengers on the eve of a new round of Mideast peace talks in Washington. The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility.Assailants firing from a passing car riddled the vehicle with bullets as it traveled near Hebron — a volatile city that has been a flash point of violence in the past. Some 500 ultranationalist Jewish settlers live in heavily fortified enclaves in the city amid more than 100,000 Palestinians.One of the victims was pregnant, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Israel's national rescue service said the victims were two men and two women, and Israeli media said everyone in the car was killed.Video broadcast live on Israel TV late Tuesday showed a white Subaru station wagon standing at an angle at the side of a road, its windows shot out and its doors dotted with bullet holes. The car was flanked by army and police vehicles and dozens of soldiers.The attackers fled and Israeli forces set up roadblocks and carried out searches to try to catch them.About 3,000 people joined a rally in Gaza to celebrate the attack. Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida was among them and told The Associated Press: The Qassam Brigades announces its full responsibility for the heroic operation in Hebron.Upon arriving in Washington for this week's talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and said terror will not determine Israel's borders or the future of the settlements. Borders and the fate of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians want for a future state are key issues in the negotiations.

President Barack Obama hopes to forge a peace agreement within one year.The White House on Tuesday condemned the attack and press secretary Robert Gibbs called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. He said the attack, coming on the eve of a new round of talks, shows how far the enemies of peace will go to try to block progress.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was already in Washington meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when the attack took place.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's office issued a statement charging the attack was aimed at undermining his government's effort to build international support for the Palestinian position and ending the (Israeli) occupation.Hamas, a fierce rival of the Western-backed Palestinian president, expelled Abbas' forces from Gaza in 2007 and took over the territory. Abbas has been trying to limit the Islamic militants' reach in the West Bank, jailing activists and even cracking down on mosque preachers.Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and European Union.Asked about the shooting, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. is aware there are those who will do whatever they can to disrupt or derail the process.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised a tough response to an attack he said was aimed at sabotaging the talks.Israel will not allow terrorists to raise their heads and will exact a price from the murderers and those who send them, he said in a statement.

U.N. envoy Robert Serry issued a statement condemning the attack and urging all parties not to allow the enemies of peace to affect the negotiations about to be launched.There is widespread opposition to the resumption of the peace talks among Palestinians. Hamas opposes any contact with Israel and has harshly criticized Abbas for agreeing to resume the negotiations. Opposition to resuming talks is also coming from within the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group headed by Abbas. Some Fatah activists threaten to try to depose him if he makes concessions, and several hard-line PLO groups plan a demonstration in the West Bank administrative capital of Ramallah on Wednesday to protest resumption of negotiations.Netanyahu also faces some domestic opposition from elements of his hard-line coalition of religious and nationalist parties. He has said that protecting Israel's security interests will be his top priority in the talks.Heading into a meeting with Clinton, Netanyahu said in the statement he would tell her, This criminal murder proves again the need to stand firmly on Israel's stringent security demands, and there will be no compromise on them.The attack disrupted a relative lull in the West Bank. The last fatal attack occurred in June, when Palestinians opened fire on a police vehicle near Hebron and killed one officer.It was the deadliest Palestinian attack against Israelis since March 2008, when a lone assailant gunned down eight students in a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary.A previous U.S. launching of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was also accompanied by deadly violence. Palestinian gunmen shot and killed an Israeli in the West Bank before then-President George W. Bush convened Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a summit in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007. The gunmen said the attack was an act of protest against the Annapolis conference.Talking to reporters on his plane heading for Washington, Abbas called for decisive American involvement in the talks. He said that if the two sides reach a deadlock, the Obama administration should present bridging proposals to bridge the gap between the two positions.In one major challenge to the first direct talks between the sides in two years, Abbas warned it would be difficult to continue negotiating if Israel fails to extend a 10-month curb on West Bank settlement construction that ends in late September. Netanyahu has not made a final decision.Associated Press writers Matti Friedman and Robert Burns in Washington, Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip and Nasser Shiyoukhi in Hebron, West Bank contributed to this report.

Egypt urges EU to bolster U.S.-led Mideast peace bid
– Mon Aug 30, 10:59 am ET


PARIS (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Europe on Monday to throw its weight behind U.S.-led efforts to secure a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.Mubarak, whose country in 1979 became the first Arab state to strike a peace deal with Israel, discussed the matter with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before heading to Washington this week for the first direct negotiations in 20 months.The American administration needs strong backing from the European Union for the peace process to continue, he said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are due to meet President Barack Obama on September 1, according to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and launch direct negotiations the following day.Sarkozy said Europe planned to further promote the push for peace at a Euro-Mediterranean summit planned for November 20 in Barcelona, Spain, where key leaders from the Middle East would be present.After months of stalemate, a hope exists. This chance must be seized, Sarkozy said.I believe the U.S. role is very important but cannot be the only one.Mubarak expressed concerns that Israeli building of further settlements would not help the peace process.We agreed that a peace deal should be reached within one year to end occupation and establish the Palestinian state, the 82-year-old president said.There is a hesitation among Israelis to stop settlements and that needs more effort and European support.After their hour-long meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Sarkozy expressed a similar view.Firstly, every person in Israel should understand one thing. When there is hope for peace, everything should be done to bolster that, he said.(Reporting by Felix Bate in Paris, Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, writing by Brian Love; editing by Michael Roddy)

Abbas, Palestinians should die: Israeli rabbi
– Sun Aug 29, 6:03 pm ET


JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An influential Israeli rabbi has said God should strike the Palestinians and their leader with a plague, calling for their death in a fiery sermon before Middle East peace talks set to begin next week.Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this earth, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the religious Shas party in Israel's government, said in a sermon late Saturday, using Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's popular name.God should strike them and these Palestinians -- evil haters of Israel -- with a plague, the 89-year-old rabbi said in his weekly address to the faithful, excerpts of which were broadcast on Israeli radio Sunday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the comments and said Israel wanted to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians that would ensure good neighborly relations.The comments do not reflect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's view or the position of the government of Israel, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.The United States said Yosef's comments were inflammatory and an impediment to peace efforts.As we move forward to relaunch peace negotiations, it is important that actions by people on all sides help to advance our effort, not hinder it, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a statement.President Barack Obama's administration is hosting Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington this week to try to restart direct Mideast peace negotiations after a nearly two-year hiatus.

The Iraqi-born cleric has made similar remarks before, most notably in 2001, during a Palestinian uprising, when he called for Arabs' annihilation and said it was forbidden to be merciful to them.He later said he was referring only to terrorists who attacked Israelis. In the 1990s, Yosef broke with other Orthodox Jewish leaders by voicing support for territorial compromise with the Palestinians.Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Yosef's latest comments were tantamount to calling for genocide against Palestinians. The rabbi's remarks, he said, were an insult to all our efforts to advance the negotiations process.Arriving at Netanyahu's office for a weekly cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai of Shas declined to comment when asked by reporters about Yosef's sermon.Netanyahu and Abbas are due to resume direct peace talks in Washington Thursday, the first such negotiations in 20 months in a peace process that commits both sides to avoid incitement, which has included anti-Jewish sermons by Palestinian clerics.(Additonal reporting by JoAnne Allen in Washington. Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Jon Boyle and Chris Wilson)

Thousands rally for release of Israeli soldier By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer – Sat Aug 28, 4:27 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Thousands of people rallied outside the Israeli prime minister's residence Saturday, demanding he conclude a deal to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants more than four years ago.The show of support for Staff Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was seized by Hamas-allied militants inside Israel in a 2006 cross-border raid, comes on the soldier's 24th birthday.More than seven thousand people took part in the rally outside premier Benjamin Netanyahu's house, some of them toting large white banners bearing Schalit's picture.

Hamas has demanded Israel release hundreds of prisoners, including many who carried out deadly attacks on Israeli civilians, in exchange for Schalit.No one but his Hamas captors have seen Schalit since he was abducted, but the group released a brief videotape last year to prove he was still alive.Israelis are divided on whether such a deal should take place. There is a strong emotional sentiment behind freeing a soldier at any cost. But there are those that oppose the deal because statistics show that many Palestinian militants freed in past prisoner swaps have returned to violence upon their release.On Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a message to Schalit's family, promising that we will never give up trying to free him. Schalit is French-Israeli.Britain's Foreign Office released a short statement demanding Schalit's release, calling his detention unjustifiable and unacceptable.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

BARACK-ISRAEL MAY BE DIVIDED

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Barak: Israel May Divide Jerusalem, Internationalize Holy Basin
by Chana Ya'ar SEPT 1,10


Defense Minister Ehud Barak says it is likely that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will agree to divide Jerusalem with the Palestinian Authority.Barak told the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz in an interview published Wednesday that he believes the best chance for peace lies in a peace deal in which all the Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem would be handed over to the PA in order to create a capital for a new Arab country.If Netanyahu leads a process, a significant number of rightist ministers will stand with him, he told the newspaper. So what is needed is courage to make historic, painful decisions. I'm not saying that there is certainty for success, but there is a chance. This chance must be exploited to the fullest.

The peace plan described by Barak includes the following:
* two states for two nations
* an end to the conflict and the end of all future demands
* demarcation of a border that will run inside the Land of Israel dividing a demilitarized PA state from an Israel that includes the settlement blocs.
* retrieving and relocating the isolated settlements into the settlement blocs or within Israel
* a solution to the refugee problem within the PA state, or rehabilitating them through international aid
* comprehensive security arrangements
* a solution to the Jerusalem problem.

As for the Jerusalem problem, Barak told the newspaper that the western side of the city plus 12 Jewish neighborhoods that are home to 200,000 residents will be ours. The neighborhoods in which nearly 250,000 Arabs are living will be theirs.In addition, Barak envisions a special regime with agreed-upon arrangements to administer the Old City, the Mount of Olives and the City of David. The concept is similar to one raised in the past by the administration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who recommended the area, which he referred to as the Holy Basin, be internationalized under a special regime.Prior to his re-election as Israel's prime minister nearly two years ago, Binyamin Netanyahu warned a gathering at the Jerusalem Conference in January 2009 that leftist politicians would try to internationalize the holy sites in Jerusalem – and he vowed to fight the move.Some politicians are trying to blur the importance of the Temple Mount to the Jewish People by referring to it as the Holy Basin,he told the crowd at the time.We, as Jews, know who built the Temple Mount.Netanyahu promised the packed hall, We have demonstrated in the past, and will continue to demonstrate our commitment to a complete, undivided Jerusalem... Everyone knows what will happen if we were to leave those areas and divide Jerusalem. Someone will enter – and that someone will be Hamas.

Meanwhile, Barak told Haaretz that Tuesday night's murderous attack by Hamas terrorists was a very serious incident, the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time.Four Jews -- two men and two women, one of whom was nine months pregnant -- were shot to death by a Hamas terrorist cell on Highway 60 at the Bani Nayim junction, between the Jewish community of Pene Hever and Hevron just as darkness fell, ending the daily Muslim fast of Ramadan. According to security sources, the terrorists had confirmed the kill by approaching the car and firing at point-blank range once the victims were already either seriously wounded or dead. Ten children were orphaned by the attack.Barak countered demands by outraged politicians and community leaders for Netanyahu to return from Washington, saying the attack had no doubt been an attempt to harm the start of the peace talks and urged Israelis to support the process.(IsraelNationalNews.com)