EGYPT PERMANANTLY OPENS BORDER

Egypt reopens Rafah border with Gaza
by Adel Zaanoun – 11:30AM MAY 28,11

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Egypt on Saturday reopened its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, allowing people to cross freely for the first time in four years, in a move hailed by Hamas but criticised by Israel.Among the first to cross were two ambulances ferrying patients from the hitherto-blockaded Gaza Strip for treatment in Egypt, as well as a minibus carrying a dozen visitors.A total of around 200 Gazans crossed by early afternoon.The crossing is to open to people for eight hours a day from 9:00 am, apart from holidays and Fridays, giving Gazans a gateway to the world as Rafah is the only crossing which does not pass through Israel.Under the long-awaited change, which excludes the flow of goods, people under the age of 18 or older than 40 require only a visa to pass, but men between 18 and 40 still need security clearance, officials said.Jamal Nijem, 53, whose wife and daughter live in his spouse's native Egypt, was among hundreds who flocked to the border post, but he was unsure whether he would be allowed to cross.I came here three years ago to rejoin my family but my Egyptian residency permit had run out because of frequent closures of the crossing, and the security services barred me from going back,he said.

Commercial traffic will continue to have to pass through border points with Israel to enter the impoverished Palestinian enclave.According to an official in charge of administrative procedures on the Palestinian side of the terminal,the process is going without a hitch, and we are providing the facilities for travellers to pass quickly and comfortably.On the Egyptian side, an official said: We are going to do everything possible to ease the passage of our Palestinian brothers, and we hope procedures will be simplified further in due course.Aman Mahdi, 21, said she hopes her husband will be able to accompany her to Malaysia for medical treatment.I've been trying in vain for four months to travel. I am registered, but there have not been any concrete results due to a lack of coordination with the Egyptian authorities. I hope this time we can finally leave,she said.Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi announced in April that the crossing would reopen permanently, stressing this would help ease the blockade imposed by Israel.The border has remained largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after Palestinian militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.The blockade was tightened a year later when the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the territory, ousting forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.The United Nations has called the blockade illegal and repeatedly demanded it be lifted.The decision to permanently reopen the Rafah crossing came more than three months after former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned under pressure following 18 days of massive street protests against his rule.It was hailed by Hamas and the European Union, but Israel has greeted the news with trepidation.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said on Thursday the move was a courageous and responsible decision which falls in line with Palestinian and Egyptian public opinion.The European Union said it was in consultations with Egypt, the Palestinians and Israel about returning its team of advisers to monitor activity along the frontier.But Israel expressed concern, with Home Front Defence Minister Matan Vilnai telling public radio it would create a very problematic situation.The opening follows an April 27 unity accord between rival factions Hamas and the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas that was signed in the Egyptian capital.
Israeli NGO Gisha, which campaigns for freedom of movement for Palestinians, said that over the past year an average of 19,000 people a month used the crossing, just 47 percent of the number who used it in the first half of 2006.

Egypt permanently opens Gaza border crossing
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press – MAY 28,11

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egypt lifted a four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip's main link to the outside world Saturday, bringing relief to the crowded territory's 1.5 million Palestinians but deepening a rift with Israel since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.The Egyptian move will allow thousands of Gazans to move freely in and out of the area — heightening Israeli fears that militants and weapons could easily reach its doorstep.Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure, which also included tight Israeli restrictions at its cargo crossings with Gaza and a naval blockade, was meant to weaken Hamas, but it also fueled an economic crisis in the densely populated territory.Hundreds of Gazans gathered early Saturday as the first bus load of passengers crossed the border at 9 a.m. Two Egyptian officers stood guard next to a large Egyptian flag atop the border gate as the vehicle rumbled through.Rami Arafat, 52, was among the earliest arrivals. He said he hoped to catch a flight out of Cairo on Sunday to Algeria for his daughter's wedding.

All we need is to travel like humans, be treated with dignity, and feel like any other citizens of the world who can travel in and out freely,Arafat said. He said he believed the relaxing of travel restrictions will guarantee more support from all Arabs and Palestinians for the new Egyptian regime.Nearby, 28-year-old Khaled Halaweh said he was headed to Egypt to study for a master's degree in engineering at Alexandria University.The closure did not affect only the travel of passengers or the flowing of goods. Our brains and our thoughts were under blockade, said Halaweh, who said he hadn't been out of Gaza for seven years.Until Saturday, the Rafah border terminal had functioned at a limited capacity. Only certain classes of people, such as students, businessmen or medical patients, were eligible to travel and the crossing was often subject to closures, leading to huge backlogs that forced people to wait for months.Under the new system, most restrictions are being lifted, and a much larger number of Palestinians are expected to be able to cross each day.Inside the border terminal Saturday, the atmosphere was orderly, as Hamas police called up passengers one by one to register their travel documents.After 5 1/2 hours of operation, terminal officials said 340 people had crossed from Gaza into Egypt. None were forced to return, a departure from the past when Egypt had rejected passengers found to be on blacklists.Another 150 people crossed from Egypt into Gaza.Today is a cornerstone for a new era that we hope will pave the road to ending the siege and blockade on Gaza,said Hatem Awideh, director general of the Hamas border authority in Gaza.We hope this facilitation by our Egyptian brothers will improve travel and will allow everyone to leave Gaza.

One after another buses crossed Rafah, pulling blue carts behind them with luggage piled high. Inside the terminal, many waited with high hopes.One woman, who gave her name as Aisha, said she was headed for a long overdue medical checkup in Cairo. She underwent surgery for blocked arteries at a Cairo hospital in October, but Egyptian authorities had prevented her from returning for checkups because a distant relative was caught — and killed — operating a smuggling tunnel on the Gaza-Egypt border. During the four-year blockade, a thriving smuggling business has grown along the border.Salama Baraka, head of police at the Rafah terminal on the Gaza side, said travel has been limited to about 300 passengers a day under the old system. He said it was unclear how many people would pass through Saturday, but that officials hoped to get about three days' worth of people, or roughly 900, across.About 100 Hamas supporters marched with Palestinian and Egyptian flags outside the border terminal in a gesture of gratitude to Egypt.This courageous step by Egypt reflects the deep historic relations between the Palestinian and Egyptian nations, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri. We hope this will be a step in the long process to end the blockade imposed on Gaza.The new system will not resolve Gazans' travel woes completely.While Egypt has dropped its restrictions on who can travel, bureaucratic obstacles remain. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 will have to apply for Egyptian visas, a process that can take weeks. Women, children and older men need easier-to-obtain travel permits, which can be obtained in several days.Israel, which controls Gaza's cargo crossings, allows most consumer goods into Gaza, but it still restricts exports as well as the entry of much-needed construction materials, saying they could be used by militants. Israel also enforces a naval blockade aimed at weapons smuggling.Israeli and American officials have expressed concerns that Hamas will exploit the opening to bring weapons and fighters into Gaza. In January 2008, masked militants blew open the Rafah border wall, allowing thousands of people to pour in and out of Egypt.Egyptian officials say they have security measures in place to keep weapons from crossing through Rafah.

Hamas has long used tunnels to get arms into Gaza. Gaza militants now have military-grade rockets that have hit cities in southern Israel.Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official, told Channel 2 TV Friday that Israel's primary concern is that military training personnel could cross to instruct Hamas fighters.
One trainer who tells them how to set up the rockets and how to use them is equal to a large quantity of weapons,Gilad said.Egypt's decision to open the border is also meant to boost an Egyptian-mediated unity deal between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. Hamas has governed Gaza since routing Fatah forces in 2007, leaving the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in control only of the West Bank.Last month, the Egyptian regime brokered a reconciliation deal. With details still being worked out, Hamas will be in charge of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, but Egypt coordinated the opening with the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, said Yaser Afnan, Egypt's ambassador in the West Bank.

Arab League chief backs U.N. path for Palestinians
By Ali Sawafta – MAY 28,11

DOHA (Reuters) – The head of the Arab League said on Saturday the Palestinians should seek U.N. recognition for their statehood in September because negotiations with Israel have proven futile.The sound path is going to the United Nations and political struggle, Amr Moussa told Reuters.He was speaking in Doha, where Arab League member states were to meet later on Saturday to discuss Palestinian options in the wake of major policy speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Moussa said a vision presented by Netanyahu in a speech to the U.S. Congress this week had amounted to a series of no's.I believe that negotiations have become futile in light of all of these no's. What will you negotiate on? Moussa said, referring to the Netanyahu speech which the Palestinians said put more obstacles in the path of the moribund peace process.Netanyahu said he was willing to make concessions for peace but repeated terms long rejected by the Palestinians, including an insistence that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state and accept Israel keeping settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Doha for the meeting of the Arab League's peace process committee, said this week he would seek U.N. recognition for Palestinian statehood if there was no breakthrough in the peace process by September.The Palestinians currently have the status of U.N. observers without voting rights, but are hoping that at September's General Assembly they can persuade other nations to accept them as a sovereign member.Both Netanyahu and Obama have criticized the move, and although U.S. opposition means the Palestinians have very little chance of success, the Israelis fear the maneuvering will leave them looking increasingly vulnerable on the diplomatic front.

U.S.-brokered talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down last September in a dispute over continued Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.In a bid to break the deadlock, Obama said in a major policy speech last week that a future Palestinian state should be based on the borders as they existed on the eve of the 1967 Middle East, with land swaps mutually agreed with Israel.Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in that war.Netanyahu immediately rejected Obama's proposal saying it would leave Israel with indefensible borders. Abbas described the idea as a foundation with which we can deal positively.(Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Palestinians have no wish to isolate Israel: Abbas
By Ali Sawafta – Sat May 28, 5:34 am ET

DOHA (Reuters) – Palestinians are not seeking to isolate Israel on the international stage, but will pursue their unilateral drive for U.N. recognition of statehood unless peace talks resume, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday.He was in Doha for a meeting of Arab states on Saturday called to discuss President Barack Obama's latest ideas for reviving the moribund peace process and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's negative response to them.The Arab League will almost certainly endorse any suggestions put forward by the Palestinians, and in an interview with Reuters, Abbas said negotiations remained the best option for bringing about the creation of an independent state.We will review ... the steps we will take -- persisting with negotiations as the fundamental way to achieving a resolution, Abbas said.If we fail in reaching this solution, then we confirm that we will go to the United Nations.The Palestinians currently have the status of U.N. observers without voting rights, but are hoping that at September's General Assembly they can persuade other nations to accept them as a sovereign member.Both Netanyahu and Obama have criticized the move, and although U.S. opposition means the Palestinians have very little chance of success, the Israelis fear the maneuvering will leave them looking increasingly vulnerable on the diplomatic front.Israel believes that if we go to the United Nations we will work to isolate it and delegitimise it,Abbas said.This is not at all possible because we do not want to isolate Israel or to delegitimise it. On the contrary, we want to co-exist with it,he added.U.S.-brokered talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down last September in a dispute over continued Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.In a bid to break the deadlock, Obama said in a major policy speech last week that a future Palestinian state should be based on the borders as they existed on the eve of the 1967 Middle East, with land swaps mutually agreed with Israel.

Netanyahu immediately rejected the proposal saying it would leave Israel with indefensible borders. But Abbas described the idea as a foundation with which we can deal positively.Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told Reuters in an interview that Israel will not gain security by clinging to territory beyond the 1967 West Bank frontier.(Writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Rocket fired from Gaza into Israel: army
– Sat May 28, 3:01 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel overnight without causing any casualties, Israel's military said on Saturday.A rocket fired from Gaza landed last night in the Eshkol region and caused no injuries or damage,a military spokesman told AFP.It was the first rocket to have been fired in nearly a month and a half.In mid-April, a rocket-propelled grenade struck an Israeli school bus, killing a teenager and triggering the deadliest clashes since Israel's devastating 22-day assault on the Palestinian territory to stop such attacks in 2008-2009.

UN chief discourages a new Gaza aid flotilla
– Fri May 27, 7:46 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Friday on all governments in the region to use to their influence to push against a new flotilla of ships expected to try to break the blockade on Gaza.The secretary general was said to be following with concern media reports of potential flotillas to Gaza, said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.Some 1,500 activists are expected to take part in the convoy that will embark at the end of June, seeking to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip, a year after a deadly Israeli raid on a similar fleet.Ban called on all governments concerned to use their influence to discourage such flotilla, which carry the potential to escalate into violent conflict.The UN chief also called on all governments, including the government of Israel, to act responsibly and with caution to avoid any violent incident.On May 31 last year, Israeli marines swarmed aboard the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of an international aid flotilla bound for Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists in international waters and plunging relations with Ankara into deep crisis.

Canada takes strong pro-Israel line at G8 summit
By Luke Baker and David Ljunggren – Fri May 27, 7:07 pm ET

DEAUVILLE, France (Reuters) – Group of Eight leaders had to soften a statement urging Israel and the Palestinians to return to negotiations because Canada objected to a specific mention of 1967 borders, diplomats said Friday.The government has adopted a staunchly pro-Israel position in international negotiations since coming to power in 2006, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying Canada will back Israel whatever the cost.Diplomats involved in Middle East discussions at the G8 summit said Ottawa had insisted that no mention of Israel's pre-1967 borders be made in the leaders' final communique, even though most of the other leaders wanted such a reference.The communique called for the immediate resumption of peace talks but did not mention 1967, the year Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt during the Six-Day War.U.S. President Barack Obama last week laid out a vision for peace in the Middle East, saying pre-1967 borders should be a basis for talks to achieve a negotiated settlement. Israel quickly dismissed the idea as unworkable.

The Canadians were really very adamant, even though Obama expressly referred to 1967 borders in his speech last week, one European diplomat said.Harper, pressed repeatedly by reporters, declined to confirm he had objected to the language on borders but said he would oppose what he called unbalanced statements on finding peace in the Middle East.We are very much at ease with President Obama's speech but you cannot cherry pick elements of that speech, he said.If you're going to get into other elements then obviously I would have liked to see a reference to elements that were also in ... (the) speech, such as for instance the fact that one of the states must be a Jewish state, the fact that the Palestinian state must be demilitarized.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman thanked Canada for taking a brave stand at the conference, his spokesman said in a statement.It added that Lieberman had thanked his counterpart, John Bird, for Canada's understanding that the 67 lines do not fit in with Israel's security requirements and the current demographic situation,a reference to Jewish settlements Israel has built in the occupied West Bank.The G8 communique said: Negotiations are the only way toward a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the conflict.It added: The framework for these negotiations is well known ... We express our strong support for the vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace outlined by President Obama.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel would be indefensible if it returned entirely to the borders that existed before 1967.Canada's strong backing for Israel was cited by diplomats last year as one reason why Ottawa failed to win a rotating two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council.In the wake of the vote, Harper said:When Israel, the only country in the world whose very existence is under attack, is consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand.(Reporting by Luke Baker, David Ljunggren and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Jon Boyle and Mark Trevelyan)

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
By The Associated Press – Fri May 27, 4:57 pm ET

YEMEN-The deadly fighting that rocked the Yemeni capital this week spreads beyond Sanaa as armed tribesmen seeking to oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh seize two military camps in battles that kill at least 18 and prompt airstrikes by government warplanes. The fighting brings to at least 124 the number killed in the past five days of bloodshed, which has hiked fears that the Arab world's poorest country could be thrown into civil war as Saleh clings to power in the face of peaceful protests demanding his ouster.Amid the chaos, hundreds of Islamic militants seize control of a southern city, killing eight policemen and two civilians in gunfights.

LIBYA-Russia abandons one-time ally Moammar Gadhafi and offers to mediate a deal for the Libyan leader to leave the country he has ruled for more than 40 years. The striking proposal by a leading critic of the NATO bombing campaign reflects growing international frustration with the Libyan crisis and a desire by the Kremlin for influence in the rapidly changing Arab landscape.

SYRIA-Syrian security forces open fire on anti-government demonstrations, killing at least eight people as thousands take to the streets despite the near-certainty they would face gunfire, tear gas and stun guns, human rights activists and witnesses say. Protests erupt in the capital, Damascus, and the coastal city of Banias, the central city of Homs and elsewhere.

EGYPT-Thousands of protesters return to downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square for what they call a second revolution, pressing Egypt's military rulers to speed up the pace of democratic reforms in a country that is still charting its political future. Protesters carry banners reading the Egyptian revolution is not over and chant the slogan. They also call for the speedy trial of Hosni Mubarak and high-ranking members of his regime.

Palestinian state requires UN council support
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press – Fri May 27, 3:00 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – The president of the U.N. General Assembly said Friday there is no way that a Palestinian state could become a member of the United Nations without a recommendation from the Security Council.Joseph Deiss told a news conference that if the United States or any other permanent council member used its veto, the General Assembly would not be able to vote on membership for Palestine.The Palestinian U.N. Observer Mission had no immediate comment.President Barack Obama said last weekend that no vote at the United Nations would ever create a Palestinian state, a strong indication that the U.S. would veto a resolution recommending Palestinian membership in the 192-nation world body.Some legal experts say there may be ways to maneuver around that block. The question is whether any declaration the Palestinians can wrest from the General Assembly would be a largely symbolic gesture or would be strong enough to win them valuable legal leverage against Israel's occupation.

Asked if there was any other way for the Palestinians to achieve U.N. membership if a Security Council resolution is vetoed, Deiss replied: No. No.Deiss, a former president of the Swiss Confederation and a former foreign minister who led Swiss voters to approve joining the U.N. in 2002, made a distinction between U.N. membership and recognition of Palestine as a state.He said the requirements for U.N. membership are clearly stated in the U.N. Charter: A state has to fill out an application stating its adherence to the Charter, the 15-member Security Council must then make a recommendation the requires nine yes votes and no veto by a permanent member, and only then can the General Assembly vote on membership, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority.Deiss said the Palestinians are also working to be recognized as an independent state by as many countries as possible.
This is one way to get statehood and I think before the existence of the United Nations, this was the main track, he said.So far, 112 nations have recognized Palestine, mostly in the developing world. The Palestinians predict they will have 135 recognitions by September — more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.Deiss recalled that General Assembly resolution 181 of 1947 already provides for the creation of two states, one Arab, one Jewish, at the end of the British mandate in Palestine. He said if the Palestinians get a large number of recognitions, this has to be taken into consideration along with the 1947 resolution.The General Assembly cannot take the initiative, but we are ready to do our work as soon as a recommendation of the Security Council will be addressed,Deiss said.He said the U.N. is not necessarily creative of statehood, but to be a member of United Nations at least gives you an international recognition and gives you also protection since one of the goals of the United Nations is to protect the sovereignty of its members.

Israeli figures urge Europe to back Palestine at UN
by Hazel Ward – Fri May 27, 7:56 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A group of notable Israeli figures, among them former senior officials, are calling on Europe to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September in a letter published on Friday.In the face of endless procrastination and mutual distrust, a declaration of Palestinian independence is not only legitimate, but also a positive and constructive step for the benefit of the two nations, the letter reads.Since the collapse of direct peace talks late last year, the Palestinian leadership has pursued a strategy aimed at securing UN recognition of their promised state on 1967 borders in a move likely to take place in September.In a statement accompanying the letter, the signatories urged European leaders to recognise Palestinian statehood in 2011, saying a declaration of independence was consistent with fundamental Israeli interests and could even rejuvenate the moribund peace process.Among the signatories were former attorney general Michael Ben-Yair, ex-foreign ministry director Alon Liel, former parliamentary speaker Avraham Burg and Nobel Prize laureate Daniel Kahneman.

Organisers said they would seek meetings with European ambassadors to further their campaign.The failure of the international community and primarily of the United States to renew peace negotiations reflects an undeniable and disconcerting reality: peace has been taken captive by the Peace Process,the letter said.It also accused the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the peace process as a distraction manoeuvre rather than a means to conflict resolution.The letter was published just days after Netanyahu gave a key address to the US Senate which failed to offer any new political initiative which could revive peace talks and thereby dissuade the Palestinians from heading to the UN in September.
Netanyahu?s horror show in Washington and the unequivocal support he received from the US congress may mark the end of the peace process, the group said.The only alternatives at this time are the Palestinian push towards independence or the risk of another surge of violence.The Palestinians have consistently said that in the absence of any peace talks, they will press ahead with plans to approach the United Nations in a move which many believe will unleash a diplomatic tsunami against Israel.Israel strongly opposes the move, as does Washington, with both parties saying a Palestinian state can only arise out of a negotiated settlement.

I strongly believe for the Palestinians to take the United Nations route rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis is a mistake, Obama said in London on Wednesday.But the group behind the letter, all of whom are supporters of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, a grassroots Israeli protest organisation which fights for Palestinian rights in annexed east Jerusalem, said they would support any such declaration.If and when the Palestinian people declares independence in a sovereign state to exist side by side with Israel in peace and security we shall support such declaration, they wrote, pledging to recognise a state based on the 1967 lines, with land swaps and Jerusalem as the capital of both states.The Gaza Strip should also be recognised as part of the Palestinian state as long as its leadership acknowledges Israel?s right to existence, it added, referring to the Islamist Hamas movement which rules the coastal enclave but which does not recognise the Jewish state.

Non-aligned states urge release of Palestinians
– Fri May 27, 4:53 am ET

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) – The 118-nation Non-Aligned Movement on Friday demanded Israel release a substantial number of Palestinian political prisoners as a positive step towards peace.At the end of a ministerial meeting in Indonesia, the movement reiterated its support for the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, a position it shares with the United States but which is rejected by Israel.
In a joint statement, the ministers reaffirmed the longstanding international consensus recognising the Palestinian people as a nation and recognising their inalienable right to self-determination and independence in their state of Palestine, with east Jerusalem as its capital.They called on Israel to release Palestinian political prisoners including 300 under the age of 18 and 10 members of the Palestinian legislative council.The issue is a central one and a practical and effective benchmark in the construction of a just peace in the region, the statement said.The ministers stressed that the release of a substantial number of Palestinian prisoners... could constitute a positive step towards fostering the climate of mutual trust necessary for the resumption of permanent status negotiations.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the meeting on Wednesday and warned of new strategic rivalries between states as the world deals with complex challenges including terrorism and climate change.But in their declaration the foreign ministers referred only to the Palestinian issue and a long-standing call for nuclear disarmament.The ministers declare their firm commitment to work for convening a high-level international conference to identify ways and means of eliminating nuclear weapons at the earliest possible date,they said.The declaration made no mention of specific events in member states such as Libya, Yemen or Bahrain, countries which are in the grip of violent turmoil as unpopular regimes try to cling to power in the face of unrest.On the sidelines of the meeting on the resort island of Bali, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi told the official MENA news agency that he had met his Iranian counterpart to discuss re-opening diplomatic ties.He said Egypt's next parliament, which will be elected in September, would review the establishment of diplomatic relations with Iran.Iran severed diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1980 in protest at Cairo's peace treaty with Israel signed a year earlier, and the two states maintain only interests sections in each other's capitals.But they have signalled they plan to mend ties in the wake of the February 11 fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Turkey: Israel should avoid flotilla face-off
– Fri May 27, 4:13 am ET

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey's foreign minister says he hopes Israel will avoid confrontation as a new aid flotilla prepares to depart for the Gaza Strip.Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview aired on Ulke TV late Thursday that he believes Israel has gained sufficient experience after last year's Israeli raid on a flotilla that killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American and sparked international outrage. Each side accused the other of starting the violence.A coalition of pro-Palestinian groups say a flotilla will set sail in the third week of June. Israel has vowed to stop any attempt to breach its sea blockade of Gaza.A Turkish Islamic aid group said it expects the convoy to be at least twice as big as the one that attempted to reach Gaza last year.

Israel struggles to stop weapons smuggling at sea
By ARON HELLER, Associated Press – Fri May 27, 3:21 am ET

HAIFA, Israel – Israel's navy is casting its net wider and deeper in an effort to stop Gaza militants from receiving weapons by sea, a difficult mission made harder, Israel says, by political turmoil in Egypt and the Egyptian decision to fully reopen its border crossing with Gaza.In recent weeks, Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza have aimed rockets at Israeli cities, far enough away that Israel is convinced the projectiles came from abroad, probably Iran.The first leg of a journey for weapons ending up in Gaza is a sea journey, ending with a trek across Egypt's barren Sinai desert, and then through a network of smuggling tunnels under the 9-mile (15-kilometer) Gaza-Egypt border.The Israeli navy is trying to stop the shipments at their first stage — on the high seas.Like other branches of Israel's military, the navy works mostly behind the scenes, and many of its operations are classified. They come to light when the navy carries out a major interception.Its most recent success was March 15, when it seized the Victoria cargo ship. That weapons shipment departed from the Syrian port of Latakia and stopped in Mercin, Turkey. It was headed for the port of Alexandria in Egypt when it was intercepted, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Israel's Mediterranean coast. From there, Israel charges, the weapons were headed for Gaza.

The Israeli naval officer who commanded the raid said the main success was capturing Chinese-made C-704 missiles onboard that could have been game changing by allowing land-based forces to attack ships. As evidence of Iran's involvement, Israel produced Farsi instruction manuals, a booklet that identified the system by its Farsi name, Nasr, along with serial numbers and dates of issue in the Persian calendar.Israeli defense officials believe Iran has since shifted its tactics, and now hides crates of weapons on civilian ships. In some cases, the crew isn't even aware.The Israeli officials say Iran has a well-oiled mechanism of naval arms smuggling, with the primary route departing from the Iranian port of Bandar-Abbas and traveling through the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai and then via the Gulf of Aden to countries in east Africa. They are then believed to be shipped overland to Egypt, across the largely lawless Sinai peninsula and into Gaza through a vast network of tunnels under the short border.Iranian Foreign Ministry officials refused to comment on the Israeli charges.Israel has long accused Iran and Syria of using the seas to smuggle weapons to Hamas and to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. For this reason, Israel has maintained a strict naval blockade around Gaza since Hamas militants took control of the territory in 2007. Critics charge the blockade is illegal.Israeli security officials believe that as Egypt prepares for elections, a power vacuum in the security establishment has led to complete chaos in Sinai that has hurt Israeli intelligence collection and left the Gaza border far more porous.

The problem becomes especially acute this Saturday as Egypt officially and fully reopens its passenger crossing with Gaza at the town of Rafah, after a long period of restrictions aimed at isolating the Hamas militant group that rules the Palestinian coastal strip.So now, more than ever, Israel says it is trying to stop the weapons flow before they reach Sinai — by intercepting shipments on Mediterranean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean.Experts also point to another problem: the sheer size of the seas. At any given moment, literally millions of containers are floating on the world's waterways.Without precise intelligence, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, said Avraham Yassour, an Israeli expert in international maritime trade. He said it was impossible to say how many shipments have sneaked through, but it was fair to say that the ships Israel has seized are only a tiny fraction.Israeli naval officials acknowledge that for each arms shipment they catch, others are likely getting through.The sea is very difficult, said a top Israeli navy officer. Protecting a land border is relatively easy and you can protect the air with radars, but a maritime border is very soft.He called the smuggling efforts relentless and said Israel is constantly scouring the seas in search of smugglers, declining to say whether any other arms busts have taken place. He spoke on condition of anonymity under standard military procedures.Israel's naval activities have raised some legal questions about taking action beyond its territorial waters.

David Benjamin, a former high-ranking officer in the military's legal department, said maritime law entitles Israel to search any merchant vessel it believes is carrying contraband to support its enemies.The basis is that Israel is in an armed conflict with Hamas. Once you are in an armed conflict, it creates a legal framework in which you can operate, he said.Scott L. Silliman, a military law expert at Duke University, agreed, though the situation is complicated because Hamas is an armed group, and not a sovereign state.That issue is quite similar to the state of armed conflict which the United States claims exists between itself and al-Qaida, he said. I believe the consensus now is that an armed conflict can exist under these conditions.

IMF FINANCES MIDEAST NEEDS

IMF sees $160 billion in Middle East financing needs
– Thu May 26, 4:22 pm ET

WASHINGTON/DEAUVILLE (Reuters) – The external financing needs of oil-importing countries in the Middle East and North Africa will exceed $160 billion over the next three years and donor countries must step in to help, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.In a report to the Group of Eight meeting in Deauville, France, the IMF urged G8 industrial nations and rich Arab partners to develop an action plan that lays out what help they could provide countries in need.The region needs to prepare for a fundamental transformation of its economic model, Masood Ahmed, in charge of Middle East and Africa at the IMF, told journalists on the sidelines of a Group of Eight meeting in northern France.This will be greatly facilitated if international players including the G8 can enter into strategic partnership with these countries...where incentives are linked to a social agenda.

G8 leaders, meeting in the northern French seaside resort of Deauville for a two-day summit, said in an early draft of their joint statement that they stood ready to meet the region's financing needs.Countries such as Egypt and Tunisia are facing economic pressures following mass protests that toppled their autocratic rulers. Uprisings have also roiled Yemen, Jordan, Morocco and Syria, and left the government of Libya fighting to stay in power.In the immediate future, there is a need to restore confidence in the oil-importing countries, which face surging global commodity prices and domestic pressures associated with the initial transition shocks, the IMF said.The fund also said it was able to provide about $35 billion to try to stabilize countries' economies.Over the next 18 months the bulk of the financing will need to come from the international community, the IMF said, because markets were uncertain about the political and economic transitions in countries.

Ahmed said the group of oil importers would need to create 55-70 million jobs, mostly for young people, in the coming decade while stimulating a private sector economy that has long been neglected in favor of state-run businesses.In addition, countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Syria are facing inflationary pressures due to a surge in global food and energy prices, it added.IMF staff projected that Egypt lost about $15 billion in foreign exchange reserves over a four-month period until the end of April. Staff also put the country's external and fiscal financing gap at about $9 billion to $12 billion for fiscal year 2011/12.
Pressures on the balance of payments will ease only gradually with continued net capital outflows, and weak tax revenues and higher food and fuel subsidy costs will weigh on the budget, the IMF said.An agreement on aid for Egypt, which formally approached the IMF for aid earlier this month, could be reached within weeks, Ahmed said.For Tunisia, IMF staff forecast budgetary financing needs of about $3.7 billion in 2011, or 8 percent of gross domestic product. External financing needs, after foreign direct investment and short-term capital flows, are likely to be $4.4 billion this year, or about 9.5 percent of GDP.An IMF aid program for Yemen, currently rattled by heavy fighting between supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opponents who want his ouster, had been suspended until the situation became clear, Ahmed added.(Editing by Jon Boyle)

Activists refuse to send Gaza aid via Israel
by Romen Bose – Thu May 26, 1:44 pm ET

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Activists on a Malaysian aid ship that had been bound for Gaza refused to hand their cargo to Egypt on Thursday, saying they feared it would end up in Israel.They had tried to land in Gaza last week but changed course when the Israeli navy fired warning shots.Matthias Chang, who is heading the mission for the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, told AFP the group was not consulted when the Malaysian and Egyptian governments worked out a deal to end the impasse.Chang said Egypt had insisted the cargo be discharged and transported via Kaern Shalom, at the Israeli border in Gaza.We are not assured that this cargo would in fact be delivered to Gaza, as in the past... most of the humanitarian aid was laid to waste in Israel, he added.Chang also questioned Cairo's refusal to allow the cargo, consisting of 7.5 kilometres (4.6 miles) of sewage pipes, to be transferred via the Rafah crossing -- Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel -- given that it would be open this weekend.This turn of events demonstrates the insincerity of the Egyptian government and their implicit endorsement of the illegal siege when they explicitly stated they would permanently open the Rafah crossing, Chang said.Egyptian state media have said the Rafah border crossing would open on a daily basis starting Saturday.Perdana Foundation adviser Mukhriz Mahathir, a son of former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, told AFP they were unhappy with Cairo's actions.

We are disappointed that it has come to this as we were hopeful that with the new government there would be substantial change in regard to the way they treat Palestinians and Gaza but this is clearly not the case, he said.We urge the Egyptian government to allow the aid ship to dock and unload the pipes and ensure that they are delivered to Gaza via the Rafah crossing, Mukhriz added.However, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said Kuala Lumpur and Cairo were working to enable the MV Finch, which has been refused entry to El Arish for the last 10 days, to dock and unload its aid, according to a statement.Anifah and his Egyptian counterpart urged the parties concerned not to resort to any unnecessary action that could further aggravate the situation.The 12 activists and crew onboard the MV Finch aborted their second attempt to land in Gaza on Monday after engine trouble, and are anchored in a waiting area off the Egyptian port of El Arish.Perdana Foundation officials said the MV Finch left Greece on May 11, carrying the pipes to help restore the sewage system in Gaza.But Israeli naval forces fired warning shots at the vessel on May 16, when it was in Israeli waters about 400 metres (yards) from Gaza, forcing it into Egyptian waters.The Perdana Foundation is headed by Mahathir, an 85-year-old firebrand who was a strident critic of the West and Israel over the treatment of Palestinians during his two decades in power.The organisation was also involved in the first Freedom Flotilla, a May 2010 attempt to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which ended in disaster when naval commandos raided the aid ships, killing nine Turks on board one of the vessels.The incident sparked heavy criticism of Israel and led to a sharp deterioration in ties between Turkey and the Jewish state.

Palestinians eye $1 bln fund to rebuild Gaza: Abbas adviser – Thu May 26, 1:42 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinians are to create a $1 billion fund to invest in the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip, the economic adviser to president Mahmud Abbas has told AFP.In the coming weeks, we will approach private sector businessmen to create a $1 billion fund to invest in the Gaza Strip, said Mohammad Mustafa, chairman and chief executive of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), who is tipped as a favourite to become the next Palestinian prime minister.We will invest $200 million in this fund, and will work on attracting Palestinian, Arab and international investors for the rest, said Mustafa who was on his first visit to Gaza since it was taken over by the Islamist Hamas movement four years ago.The visit by a delegation of top businessmen and politicians from the West Bank came just three weeks after Abbas's Fatah movement, which controls the Palestinian Authority, signed a surprise unity deal with Gaza's Hamas rulers, ending years of bitter rivalry.Under terms of the agreement, Fatah and Hamas are working to build a caretaker government of independents, with no ties to either party, which will govern until elections can be held at some point over the next year.Mustafa said the investment will be funnelled into both private sector projects and local firms in Gaza who will engage in what he called an ambitious programme to revive the enclave's battered infrastructure.We want to start building Gaza's economy as a part of the upcoming state's economy which will be built on self-sufficiency, with the establishment of an airport, a port and desalination plants, he said.

And we will expand the electricity network in a partnership between the public and private sectors.The PIF chairman said there were also plans to invest in turnkey housing projects, which already exist in the West Bank.We have provided loan guarantees to more than 350 companies in the West Bank over the past two years, and through this programme we want to help small businesses in Gaza, he told AFP.We have a programme that allows for direct investment in small businesses working in industry, tourism, agriculture and fisheries.For Gaza, which has been languishing under an Israeli blockade for almost five years, having greater access to the outside world was essential for its development, he said.His remarks came as Egypt announced it would permanently open the Rafah border crossing from Saturday, opening up Gaza's only gateway to the rest of the world which is not controlled by Israel.We want more visibility for our exports and to be able to see the reality in neighbouring countries where we hope to play a more concrete role, Mustafa said, without elaborating.We cannot solve the economic problems without freedom of movement at the crossing points for goods and people, particularly in Gaza,he said.

Referring to cross-border smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border, Mustafa said smuggling was not likely to continue.Since the start of the blockade, the tunnels have been used to bring in a bewildering array of foodstuffs and consumer goods.But since Israel eased the measure in June 2010, allowing previously banned foods and consumer goods into the enclave, the tunnels have been largely used to smuggle in construction materials but also as Gaza's sole export channel.What was happening before was exceptional and it does not need to continue because it relates to the blockade, Mustafa told AFP.In the next stage, a united government will manage the crossings, the economy and security, so the tunnels economy will not be needed, he said.

Blair: Obama anxious about Israel's fate
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press – Thu May 26, 10:15 am ET

LONDON – Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Thursday that he believes President Barack Obama launched his peace initiative out of concern for what might happen to Israel if Palestinian statehood is endorsed by the U.N. General Assembly.Speaking to an audience of Middle East-focused business leaders at London's Royal Institution, the former British prime minister said that Obama was frankly worried about the position that Israel is in.Blair described Obama's initiative — rejected by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu — as an attempt to fill a vacuum which he sees as dangerous, particularly dangerous for Israel in the run-up to September, when the assembly is expected to take up the issue of Palestinian statehood during the U.N.'s annual meeting.Such a vote would be potentially damaging for the United States and Israel. Although the move is largely symbolic — the U.S. can veto any such move in the Security Council — a lopsided vote in the General Assembly would leave Washington looking isolated while rallying anti-Israel sentiment in Europe and elsewhere.

It's with an eye toward avoiding an embarrassing diplomatic showdown in New York that Obama has tried to prod both parties back to the bargaining table. Last week, the president endorsed Israel's 1967 boundaries — with mutually agreed land swaps enabling Israel to keep some settlements — as the basis for a future Palestine in a bid to re-energize the anemic peace process. And at a recent news conference in London the president warned Palestinians that to take the United Nations route, rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis, is a mistake.Blair, who represents the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., the EU, the United Nations and Russia — didn't explicitly say what he thought the consequences of U.N.-backed Palestinian statehood might be. But he seemed to predict a rough ride ahead.I do think, especially with what's coming up in September ... we're going to live in interesting times.Blair was speaking alongside Ronald Cohen, the founder of The Portland Trust, a nonprofit devoted to promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians through economic development.Online:The Portland Trust: http://www.portlandtrust.org/ Raphael G. Satter can be reached at: http://twitter.com/razhael(This version corrects title of Ronald Cohen in last paragraph.)

Poll: Israelis back Netanyahu's tough stance in US
– Thu May 26, 3:50 am ET

JERUSALEM – An Israeli poll indicates that support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has surged following his contentious visit to the United States.Netanyahu had a a tense meeting in Washington with President Barack Obama over the nature of a future Palestinian state. In an address before Congress, he insisted Israel would not return to its pre-1967 war borders.The survey has 51 percent of those polled supporting Netanyahu — a 13 percent increase from the Dialog Institute's previous poll published five weeks ago. The latest poll results were published Thursday in the Haaretz daily.Forty-seven percent of Israelis surveyed believe Netanyahu's U.S. trip was a success while only 10 percent see it as a failure. The poll surveyed 477 people and had a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.

US concerned about UN atomic report on Syria
– Wed May 25, 4:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States said Wednesday it views with tremendous concern a UN report that a remote desert site in Syria that was bombed by Israeli planes in 2007 was probably a nuclear reactor.The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report that it is very likely that the building destroyed at the Dair Alzour site was a nuclear reactor which should have been declared to the agency.The attempt by Syria to construct a clandestine nuclear reactor site is obviously a matter of concern, and we fully expect that the IAEA board will address this issue when it meets, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.The IAEA board will meet and then decide whether to advance it to the UN Security Council, Toner told reporters without actually saying that Washington would push for it to go to the council.We view this as a matter of tremendous concern and will make our views clear at the board meeting,he said.The nine-page report was the toughest ever by the IAEA since it began investigating allegations of illicit nuclear work by Syria in 2008 and reflects the agency's growing frustration with Damascus, diplomats said.Indeed, it is the first time that the IAEA has publicly stated its belief that Syria was building an undeclared reactor at Dair Alzour.And diplomats suggest the report could now pave the way for Western powers at the upcoming board of governors meeting next month to push for Syria to be referred to the UN Security Council.

Europe set for key Palestine role By DAN PERRY and DON MELVIN, Associated Press – Wed May 25, 2:35 pm ET

BRUSSELS – Europe, its global influence waning by the day, has long wished for more of a voice in a Middle Eastern diplomatic arena dominated by the U.S.That wish is now being granted, in a limited way: The position of key European nations could determine the impact of the Palestinians' plan to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state at its September annual meeting.The issue emerged Wednesday during a European tour by President Barack Obama, who repeated his recent days' call on the Palestinians to change course.Speaking at a joint news conference in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama said that for the Palestinians to take the United Nations route, rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis, is a mistake.Cameron was tellingly noncommittal, saying it was too early to decide: We want to discuss this within the European Union and try to maximize the leverage and pressure the European Union can bring on both sides to get this vital process moving.The U.S. can veto a Security Council resolution on Palestine membership, which the U.N. Charter requires. The Palestinians plan to then go to the General Assembly, which cannot alone grant membership under normal procedures. A murky outcome looms — suggesting the symbolic aspect of the maneuver will be key.In this sense, Europe has a swing vote of sorts: Without its support a resolution could more easily be dismissed as nothing new, a result of the automatic anti-Israel majority in the General Assembly; but a pro-Palestinian groundswell by major European nations with deep ties to Israel, such as Britain and France, could make the event a watershed and provide tail wind to talk of boycotts and mass protests against Israel.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton acknowledged Wednesday that the Palestine issue was now on the table. It will be individual countries in the General Assembly who will make their decisions,she said.Europeans face a choice between substance and process: Most favor giving the Palestinians full statehood — but, like the Americans, they prefer negotiations to get there.The Palestinians, however, seem to have given up on negotiations, at least with the current Israeli government. And in a sentiment shared by many in Europe, they are fed up with Israel's continuing construction of Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel occupied in 1967 and which the Palestinians claim.From conversations with officials and what public statements have been made, the following picture emerges: Spain seems set to vote in favor of the Palestinians, as are Ireland and possibly Norway. France, too, has indicated it would support Palestinian statehood if peace talks do not restart by September. Britain is wavering and has suggested it would contemplate a yes vote if Israel did not do more to enable talks to resume.As Europeans wrestle with the issue, they bump up against a host of other powerful concerns, all pointing in different directions: Relations with the awakening Arab world, ghosts of the Holocaust that lend Israel lingering moral sway, and the very role of Europe in a world increasingly turning its attention to developing powers in Asia and elsewhere.

And they are being lobbied by all sides.Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Paris and London, two capitals where he heard there was a chance his hosts would vote for Palestine.French President Nicolas Sarkozy was clearest, telling the weekly newsmagazine L'Express during that visit that if talks between Israel and the Palestinians don't resume over the summer, France will help promote international recognition of a Palestinian state.The idea that we have time is a dangerous idea. We must finish, Sarkozy said.And Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Wednesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also planning another European trip himself.We concentrate also on Europe ... They said they will recognize the Palestinian state when time is appropriate. We are telling them now that now is the appropriate time.Sharon Pardo, chairman of European Studies at Ben-Gurion University, likened the situation to the one created by the 2008 declaration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo, which divided opinion in Europe and around the world.But the majority of EU member states will vote in favor eventually, Pardo said.A French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed with that assessment, saying that if nothing moves on talks by September most European nations will likely vote for the Palestinians.Germany — widely considered Israel's best friend in Europe — is certain to vote against, as will Italy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians is more urgent than ever — but insists unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would not be a constructive step.One major concern, said an EU diplomat, was fear that a yes vote, depending on how a resolution was worded, would be interpreted as accepting the Palestinians' terms — meaning a state on all the lands Israel captured in 1967, including the hotly contested eastern sector of Jerusalem.That would set up confrontation with Israel. In his speech to the U.S. Congress Tuesday, Netanyahu said Jerusalem would never be divided and ruled out a return to the pre-1967 lines.

Another complication is a fear that the project is fundamentally flawed since the General Assembly cannot normally grant membership. Legal arguments, procedural machinations and a vague result seem in the offing. One possibility being examined by the Palestinians is asking the General Assembly for observer status for Palestine as a nonmember state — which the wider body is authorized to grant.Meanwhile, some European countries have been upgrading the status of the Palestinians' diplomatic representation in their respective capitals, signaling their attitudes toward a possible independent state.In March, Britain upgraded the status of Palestinian representation in London, recognizing it as a full diplomatic mission, just short of a full-fledged embassy, rather than its previous status as a delegation. This month, Italy did the same.Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said he thought upgrading was a message, and an indicator for the support that can develop into recognition.That prospect creates anguish beyond the diplomatic in Israel — which is psychologically conflicted on Europe, both eager to belong to the European club and distrustful of Europe's intentions.One fear in Israel is that Europe will eventually take a leading role in a movement to boycott the Jewish state, especially over its settlement policies. That could be disastrous for a country for whom the European Union is a major trade partner.According to the most recent government figures, European nations bought $18.9 billion worth of Israeli imports last year — about a third of the total and slightly higher than the U.S. They accounted for 45 percent of Israel's $59 billion of imports. European nations accounted for more than 2 million tourists, more than three times the number that arrived from the U.S. and 10 times all of Asia.Israel also has a type of associate status with the European Union which enables close cooperation on research and in other areas — and it participates in European sporting contests and cultural events like the Eurovision Song Festival, where its three victories over the years each brought outpourings of national joy.A European setback at the United Nations would strike hard at the sense among Israelis that theirs is a quasi-European country, and deepen a common perception that almost everyone except for Washington is against them.Dan Perry reported from Jerusalem. Angela Charlton in Paris, Juergen Baetz in Berlin, Bjorn Amland in Oslo, Cassandra Vinograd in London and Alessandra Rizzo in Rome contributed to this report.

Israel leaders attend east Jerusalem settler ceremony
by Majeda El Batsh – Wed May 25, 1:16 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The speaker of Israel's parliament and at least two ministers attended the dedication on Wednesday of new Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem in what an Israeli NGO called a dangerous provocation.Among the first of the VIPs to arrive in the city's annexed Arab eastern sector were speaker Reuven Rivlin, Environment Minister Gilad Erdan and Education Minister Gideon Saar, all of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party.Also scheduled to attend were Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz from the Jewish religious right.The ceremony, in which Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also took part, came the day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel's claim to all Jerusalem -- east and west.The new homes are in the Jewish enclave of Maaleh Zeitim, in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud, where another 50 apartments were built in 2003. On the slopes of the Mount of Olives, overlooking the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, it is close to the centre of east Jerusalem.

Rivlin welcomed their completion.I am happy about all building in Jerusalem, which is part of the state of Israel, he told reporters.A third phase of the development is subject to a Jerusalem magistrates court hearing on Thursday in which a Palestinian family whose home stands in the way of further settler building are to fight an eviction order.Maaleh Zeitim was financed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz, according to Israeli NGO Ir Amin, which advocates equitable division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians.Moskowitz has bankrolled other settlement projects in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.The continuing settlement activity in east Jerusalem, which has gained support of government ministers and Knesset members, is a dangerous provocation that is intended to sabotage any chance of reaching a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ir Amim said in a statement.In an address to the US Congress on Tuesday, Netanhyahu rejected Palestinian claims to east Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of a future state.Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel, he said.The international community has repeatedly called on Israel to stop new building projects in east Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day war and annexed shortly afterwards.

Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed after Netanyahu's government refused to extend a partial moratorium on settlement expansion.The Israeli interior minister was also to sign on Wednesday an agreement with Barkat incorporating about 24 hectares (60 acres) of orchards belonging to southern Jerusalem kibbutz Ramat Rachel into the city's jurisdiction, his spokesman told AFP.
A spokeswoman for settlement watchdog Peace Now told AFP that although a small part of the land jutted into the demilitarised zone between Israel and the West Bank it was territory which had never been under Jordanian control and was therefore not considered occupied.It's not a drama on the scale of Israel annexing new territory, Hagit Ofran said.This is land which has always been considered part of Israel.

Obama confident of Mideast two-state solution
By Matt Falloon – Wed May 25, 1:10 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he believed a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine was achievable but urged the Palestinians to talk to Israel over statehood rather than seeking U.N. recognition.My goal, as I set out in a speech I gave last week, is a Jewish state of Israel that is safe and secure and recognized by its neighbors and a sovereign state of Palestine in which the Palestinian people are able to determine their own fate and their own future, Obama told a news conference in London.I am confident that can be achieved.During the joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama added: "For the Palestinians to take the United Nations route rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis is a mistake.Palestinians will seek recognition as a U.N. member-state at the world body's general assembly in September, a senior Palestinian official said on Saturday.Obama said Islamist group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, had to recognize Israel's right to exist and abandon its strategy of violence for the peace process to succeed.It is very difficult for Israelis to sit across the table and negotiate with a party that is denying their right to exist and has not renounced the right to send missiles and rockets into your territory,he said.

I don't want the Palestinians to forget that they have obligations as well and they are going to have to resolve, in a credible way, the meaning of this agreement between Fatah and Hamas if we are to have any prospect of peace moving forward.Obama was referring to a recent powersharing deal between Hamas and the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which runs the West Bank.Britain this month welcomed the deal brokered by Egypt to end the four-year feud between Hamas and Fatah, and, speaking alongside Obama, Cameron offered a more nuanced view.We don't believe the time for making a decision about the U.N. resolution (on Palestinian statehood) -- there even isn't one there at the moment -- is right yet.We want to discuss this within the European Union and try and maximize the leverage and pressure that the European Union can bring frankly on both sides to get this vital process moving, Cameron told reporters.He said unified Hamas and Fatah had to accept some of what the people they are going to negotiate with desperately need.That, in the end, is why the peace process in Northern Ireland was successful because both sides had some understanding of what the other side needed for some dignity and some peace.(Writing by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Netanyahu Congress speech raises few hopes
– Wed May 25, 5:16 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinians and Israelis alike saw little prospect of a fresh start to Middle East peace talks on Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's keynote speech to Congress.At a Washington encounter with sympathetic U.S. lawmakers, Netanyahu pleased core supporters while offering nothing new to secure peace with the Palestinians, in the assessment of most media commentators.
Invited by the Republican opponents of President Barack Obama, Netanyahu won standing ovations as he extolled Israel's democracy and military self-reliance while rejecting any Palestinian state based on Israel's pre-1967 borders.He ruled out dividing Jerusalem and urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to shun the Islamist Hamas movement, promising to be generous with West Bank land if Abbas would make peace. But he pledged to keep control of the Jordan Valley.Palestinians said it was a familiar offer of leftovers that could not divert them from their new strategy of seeking majority United Nations recognition of Palestinian statehood at the General Assembly in September.Netanyahu is the best spokesman Israel has in the United States,wrote Nahum Barnea in Yedioth Ahronoth.All Israelis love America ... and the members of Congress love Israel.American-educated Netanyahu chose exactly the right tone and used idioms like a native to create the right atmosphere in the packed chamber.Regrettably, members of Congress will not be there when Israel gets into trouble, Barnea said.Their engagement in foreign policy is marginal. Their influence on foreign affairs is small. And mainly, it is not they who will look for shelter in Ashkelon or Beersheba if rocket fire is resumed by Hamas in Gaza.

TOP OF POLL

Obama, currently on a visit to Europe, has won international support for the principles he set out in a major policy speech last week to revive the moribund Mideast peace process.Abbas is due to consult Arab states at the weekend on how to respond to the initiative.Israel's daily Maariv published a poll showing about 57 percent of voters believe Netanyahu should have supported Obama's initiative rather than opposing Obama.But the poll also showed Netanyahu was still Israel's most popular political leader.Netanyahu knows very well that the conditions that he set yesterday for a peace process are a complete non-starter, wrote Maariv's Ben Caspit.
There is no Palestinian in the world who will accept them, there is no Arab state in the world that will support them, there is not a single person in Europe who will take them seriously, and they will only make Barack Obama angry.Caspit also made the point that in the United States, foreign policy is set by the President, not Congress.Nobody in the world will change their attitude toward Benjamin Netanyahu as a result of this speech. Nobody will change their attitude toward Israel as a result of this speech. Peace will not break out as a result of this speech. No peace outline was presented in this speech,he concluded.(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Netanyahu stands firm on peace with Palestinians
by Gavin Rabinowitz – Tue May 24, 11:28 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers he would uproot settlements in a generous peace deal with Palestinians, but ruled out a return to the 1967 borders or sharing Jerusalem.In his speech to a rare joint session of the US Congress, the Israeli leader broke no substantial new ground in his positions and rejected key calls from US President Barack Obama and the international community, who have been looking for ways to revive the comatose peace process.Netanyahu also ruled out any return to talks as long as the unity deal between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the Islamist movement Hamas holds, calling the Palestinians' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state the real stumbling block to peace.In any peace agreement that ends the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel's borders, Netanyahu said.We will be very generous on the size of a future Palestinian state.But Netanyahu, whose speech was frequently punctuated by warm applause and at least 20 standing ovations from the US lawmakers, again ruled out any return to the borders that existed before the Six-Day War or dividing the holy city of Jerusalem.The Palestinians demand east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel, Netanyahu said.The issue of accepting the 1967 borders as a starting point for negotiations has been at the core of an ongoing row between Netanyahu and Obama.Obama gave public voice last week to the long-held view of the US and international communities that a Palestinian state should be created based on those lines.

Such a state would include the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and mostly Arab but Israel-annexed east Jerusalem, with some adjustments and land swaps so that Israel can maintain settlement blocs.A senior Israeli official said taking such a strong stand against the proposal had been important.We needed to stop the deluge. You have to find that critical issue and make a stand, the official said.Netanyahu said Israel would not give up its main settlements nor compromise on the issue of Palestinian refugees, calling the 1967 lines indefensible.Israel must have defensible borders because in our part of the world, there is a simple truth: a peace you can't defend is a peace that will not hold, he told Fox News.As such, his positions are unlikely to entice the Palestinians back to the negotiating table or persuade them to abandon attempts to seek recognition for a Palestinian state when the UN General Assembly meets in September.In a swift reaction, a Palestinian official said the Israeli leader was just adding obstacles on the road to peace.A far-reaching Israeli initiative has been seen as the only way of heading off a Palestinian attempt to unilaterally secure recognition of statehood.But analysts said it appeared Netanyahu had not done enough.He made peace with Congress (but) there's no formula there for peace with the Palestinians, Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher told AFP.Obama pushed all the right buttons on Israeli-American relations and Israel's security needs, but there was nothing which constitutes a basis for renewed negotiations, Alpher added.Israeli officials said the speech had not aimed to assuage the Palestinians, but rather to ensure the United States and European powers would not support the UN bid.

Hopefully, this will lead to a stronger US position and also to other important countries opposing it, said the senior official, noting that Israel believes the Palestinians have an automatic majority at the UN.Still, Netanyahu said the bid must be forcefully opposed by all those who want to see this conflict end.But he also ruled out any negotiations until Abbas severs ties with Hamas.Israel is prepared to sit down today and negotiate peace with the Palestinian Authority. I believe we can fashion a brilliant future of peace for our children. But Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by the Palestinian version of Al-Qaeda, Netanyahu added in his address.And he blamed the Palestinians for the failure to reach a peace deal over the last two decades.President Abbas must do what I have done. I stood before my people, and I told you it wasn't easy for me, and I said I will accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu said.It is time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say:I will accept a Jewish state... Those six words will change history.

Netanyahu: Israel ready for painful compromises
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press – Tue May 24, 5:42 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cheering U.S. Congress on Tuesday he was willing to make painful compromises for peace with the Palestinians, but he offered little concrete to entice Palestinians back to the bargaining table.By giving such a high-profile speech before overwhelmingly supportive U.S. lawmakers, Netanyahu was able to demonstrate to Israelis that he retains strong backing in the United States despite his frosty relations with President Barack Obama.He also moved the needle on territorial compromise, for the first time explicitly saying in his address that Israel would have to give up some West Bank settlements.But Palestinians immediately rejected his overall peace package, which for the most part was a recycling of previously stated positions that the Palestinians had turned down. One senior Palestinian official even dubbed Netanyahu's peace blueprint a declaration of war.Speaking before a sympathetic Congress that showered him with more than two dozen sustained standing ovations, Netanyahu said Israel wants and needs peace and would make generous territorial concessions. Under any final peace accord, he added, some settlements will be beyond Israel's borders.But undercutting his overture was his insistence that Israel hold onto major settlement blocs and all of contested Jerusalem, that his country maintain a long-term military presence on the eastern edge of the West Bank and that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas scuttle his power-sharing agreement with the violently anti-Israel Hamas militants.

He also restated Israel's refusal to repatriate millions of Palestinians who lost homes in Israel during the fighting over the Jewish state's 1948 creation.Unlike the Americans, Palestinians had no accolades for Netanyahu.In the West Bank, Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, called the speech a declaration of war against the Palestinians.This is an escalation and unfortunately, it received a standing ovation, he said, noting that Netanyahu had rejected Palestinian demands on central issues such as borders, competing claims to Jerusalem and the fate of refugees.In Gaza, the Islamic militant Hamas fumed that Netanyahu denied us all our rights.We must work to adopt an Arab and Palestinian strategy based on the right of resistance, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, referring to armed attacks on Israeli targets.In lieu of negotiations, Abbas is campaigning to obtain U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood when the General Assembly meets in September. Both Israel and the U.S. oppose this strategy, calling instead for the negotiated solution that has been the cornerstone of two decades of peace efforts.Abbas is to meet with leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization and his Fatah movement on Wednesday to discuss their next move. The Palestinians have developed an alternate strategy to moribund negotiations, largely on hold since 2008, and have said they will seek U.N. recognition of their state in September.Netanyahu came to the U.S. in a fighting mood, sparring — even before he landed — with Obama, who hours before had expressed support for drawing future borders on the basis of the boundaries Israel had before capturing east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.Netanyahu repeatedly challenged the president's position, ignoring Obama's assertion that the territorial markers could be adjusted through mutually agreed land swaps. The Palestinians accept that principle, which would allow Israel to retain major West Bank settlement blocs and help to assure its security.

In his speech before Congress, Netanyahu backed off from this dispute, acknowledging that the president had not called for a return to Israel's prewar borders. Israeli officials said that was because Obama sharpened his position on this matter, but it is possible Netanyahu felt he could ease the assault because of the tremendous outpouring of support he received in Congress and, the night before, at a meeting of the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington.That support in the U.S. has allowed Netanyahu in the past to fend off Obama's demands that he do more to advance peacemaking by freezing settlement construction.Obama has, in large part, staked his reputation in the Muslim world on finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But he has not been able to draw Israelis and Palestinians back to the bargaining table for sustained talks. The Palestinians are refusing to return as long as Israeli settlement construction continues on lands they want for a future state.
Netanyahu, early in his speech, congratulated the United States for killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, wishing him good riddance. He dismissed shouts from an anti-Israel protester as evidence that freedom of speech is alive and well in the United States and is respected there and in Israel.Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this story.

Israel frees mother of exiled senior Hamas man
– Tue May 24, 4:01 pm ET

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Israeli army released on Tuesday the elderly mother of Salah Aruri, a senior member of Hamas exiled in Syria, AFP reporters said.Aisha Yussef Salah, almost 80, said police had taken her for questioning about the activities of her son, who is considered to be a leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.The Israeli army had no comment on the arrest or the release of the mother of Salah Aruri.She was arrested in a night-time raid by the Israeli army on her West Bank home near the village of Arura, her daughter, Jamila Mohammed Yussef, told AFP.The Israeli army at the time said it was investigating the report.Aruri served a 15-year sentence in an Israeli jail before being released in 2007 and arrested again three months later, Palestinian security sources said.He was released last year on condition that he go into exile and now operates from Hamas's political office in Syria.Hamas, in a statement issued in Damascus, denounced the arrest and the way in which it was carried out.We firmly denounce the raid on Aisha Yussef Salah's home and her arrest and we denounce the savage way in which she was arrested and her home searched,the statement said.This savage Zionist act is ... a desperate bid to terrorise Aruri's family.Hamas urged human rights groups to intervene to secure the woman's release.

Palestinians set sights on UN after Netanyahu speech
by Nasser Abu Bakr – Tue May 24, 3:46 pm ET

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinians on Tuesday set their sights firmly on the United Nations after a speech by the Israeli premier which failed to offer any new incentive to talk peace.In a 45-minute address to the US Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his vision of peace in a speech which pundits said contained nothing to deter the Palestinians from plans to seek UN recognition for their state later this year or to revive the moribund peace process.Officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah said the speech offered nothing new and only added more obstacles on the path to peace, while Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers said Netanyahu had laid down conditions which were impossible for the Palestinians to meet.There is nothing new in Netanyahu's speech except that he is adding obstacles on the road towards a genuine, serious, lasting and comprehensive peace, said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Peace, he said, required international benchmarks such as the recognition of the borders of 1967 as the basis for any peace negotiations -- an idea which has been repeatedly rejected by Netanyahu in a series of addresses over the past four days.Jibril Rajoub, a senior official of Abbas's Fatah movement, told AFP the address revealed the true face of Netanyahu and his ruling right-wing Likud party, which he described as a danger to regional stability and international peace.

And Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip told AFP it proved Netanyahu doesn't want any peace process and that he is setting impossible conditions for the Palestinians to meet.Netanyahu, he charged, was trying to deceive the world by speaking of the possibility of recognising a Palestinian state while destroying its foundations by rejecting a return to the 1967 borders, by refusing to give up annexed Arab east Jerusalem and by ruling out any return for the refugees.The Israeli leader had been expected to make some kind of gesture to prevent the Palestinians from pursuing a diplomatic campaign to win UN recognition for their promised state within the 1967 borders in a move expected to take place in September.But his speech only left them more determined.After the Netanyahu speech, the Palestinians have only one choice -- to go to the UN in September, to the General Assembly, negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh told AFP of the strategy adopted after the breakdown of peace talks late last year.Instead of offering a carrot, Netanyahu suggested a stick, urging anyone interested in resolving the decades-old conflict to forcefully oppose the Palestinian bid for UN recognition.The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations will not bring peace, he said.It should be forcefully opposed by all those who want to see this conflict end.The Israeli leader also took aim at the recently-signed reconciliation deal between Abbas's secular Fatah movement and Hamas, which does not recognise the Jewish state, urging the Palestinian president to abandon the deal.I say to President Abbas: Tear up your pact with Hamas. Sit down and negotiate. Make peace with the Jewish state. And if you do, I promise you this: Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations -- it will will be the first.
But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed his remarks as arrogant.The true response to this arrogant speech which denies Palestinian rights should be the complete ending of all negotiation and the implementation of reconciliation as soon as possible,he told AFP.

Suspect site in Syria very likely a nuclear reactor: IAEA by Simon Morgan – Tue May 24, 2:06 pm ET

VIENNA (AFP) – A remote desert site in Syria that was bombed by Israeli planes in September 2007 was very likely a nuclear reactor, the UN atomic watchdog said Tuesday.Based on all the information available to the agency and its technical evaluation of that information, the agency assesses that it is very likely that the building destroyed at the Dair Alzour site was a nuclear reactor which should have been declared to the agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a new restricted report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.The nine-page report was the toughest ever by the IAEA since it began investigating allegations of illicit nuclear work by Syria in 2008 and reflects the agency's growing frustration with Damascus, diplomats said.Indeed, it is the first time that the IAEA has publicly stated its belief that Syria was building an undeclared reactor at Dair Alzour.And diplomats suggest the report could now pave the way for Western powers at the upcoming board of governors meeting next month to push for Syria to be referred to the UN Security Council.A senior international official familiar with the IAEA's investigation said the agency felt it had no option but to make such an assessment after Damascus has persistently refused to cooperate since the very beginning.

We have given Syria ample opportunities to react, to engage with us. They didn't do that. I think we've exhausted all the possibilities. And so now we've made this assessment,the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Even an unprecedented letter from IAEA chief Yukiya Amano to Syria's foreign minister late last year failed to unblock the situation, the official said.Damascus has indeed stonewalled the IAEA's investigation all along, granting inspectors access to the site only once in June 2008 and not allowing any follow-up visits to either Dair Alzour or other possible related sites.It maintains that Dair Alzour was a non-nuclear military installation and that the IAEA therefore had no right to go there.But suspicions only deepened when Syria cleared and hid all the debris from the site.Furthermore, at their one and only visit to Dair Alzour, UN inspectors detected significant traces of man-made uranium there, as yet unexplained by Damascus.In its new report, the IAEA said features of the destroyed building were comparable to those of gas-cooled graphite-moderated reactors.Indeed, photos of the building prior to the bombing showed a marked resemblance to North Korea's reactor at Yongbyong, which produced plutonium for Pyongyang?s small stockpile of nuclear weapons.The infrastructure at the site -- including its connections for cooling and treated water -- was configured in such a way as to support the operation of such a reactor and was not consistent with Syria's claims regarding the purpose of the infrastructure,the report said.The IAEA said the circumstances relating to the Dair Alzour site were unique in that the building on the site has been destroyed, the debris from the site has been cleared, several years have now passed, and Syria has not provided the necessary cooperation required by the agency.It was therefore forced to conclude that after considering the initial allegations and Syria's responses thereto and considering all information available to the agency ... the destroyed building was very likely a nuclear reactor and should have been declared by Syria.

Palestinians must tear up deal with Hamas: Netanyahu
– Tue May 24, 1:06 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday urged Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to tear up a pact with Hamas, and said a unilateral bid for Palestinian statehood must be opposed.Peace can only be negotiated with partners committed to peace. And Hamas is not a partner for peace, the Israeli premier told US lawmakers.Hamas remains committed to Israel's destruction and to terrorism, he argued, as he referred to a reconciliation pact between Abbas's Fatah party and Hamas signed earlier this month.So I say to President Abbas, tear up your pact with Hamas. Sit down and negotiate. Make peace with the Jewish state.The Israeli premier also took issue with a Palestinian drive, currently gathering steam, to convince the United Nations to unilaterally recognize an independent Palestinian state at its General Assembly in September.The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations will not bring peace,Netanyahu insisted.It should be forcefully opposed by all those who want to see this conflict end.

Some settlements will be outside Israel: Netanyahu
– Tue May 24, 12:24 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that some Jewish settlements would end up beyond Israel's borders in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.The status of the settlements will be decided only in negotiations, but we must also be honest. So I'm saying today something that should be said publicly, by all those who are serious about peace, he told US lawmakers.In any real peace agreement, in any peace agreement that ends the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel's borders.He was speaking in a historic address before the US Congress, as he outlined his vision for how to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians which has eluded both sides for decades.But Netanyahu stressed that the outline of Israel's future borders had sill to be negotiated, and insisted the Jewish state would not return to the 1967 territorial lines.Israel's refusal to extended a moratorium on settlement building, particularly in Jerusalem and the West Bank, led to the collapse of direct peace negotiations late last year.

Netanyahu: Israel cannot return to 1967 borders By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press – Tue May 24, 12:15 am ET

WASHINGTON – Israel's prime minister promised to present his vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace in a speech before U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday, but vowed his country would not return to mid-1967 borders that he termed indefensible.Benjamin Netanyahu made this pledge in an address Monday to thousands of pro-Israel American Jews and U.S. lawmakers. His speech drew roaring cheers and standing ovations, a sign of the powerful backing he enjoys in the U.S. as the White House pressures him to do more to renew stalled Mideast peacemaking.The warm reception Netanyahu enjoyed at the gala dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee contrasted sharply with the contentious quality of some of his recent exchanges with President Barack Obama precisely over border issues.His planned address on Tuesday to a joint meeting of Congress, where Israel enjoys strong bipartisan backing, could similarly remind Obama, ahead of his re-election bid, of the political price he might pay if he tries to push Netanyahu too hard.In that speech, Netanyahu said, he will outline a vision for a secure Israeli-Palestinian peace.But in language that suggested he was not going to take a conciliatory pose, he promised to speak the unvarnished truth.This conflict has raged for 100 years because the Palestinians refuse to end it. They refuse to accept a Jewish state.A peace agreement, he said, must assure Israel's security: Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 borders, he declared, rekindling the dispute with Obama in a possible effort to placate territorial hardliners in his government.Borders became an issue last week when Obama, in a major Mideast policy speech, took the position that any negotiations on final borders of the Jewish and Palestinian states must be based on the boundaries Israel held in 1967 before capturing east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — lands the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state.

In direct statements and through aides, Netanyahu suggested Obama did not understand Israel's security needs or the realities of the conflict-riven Mideast.Obama said clearly in his policy speech and in his own address before AIPAC on Sunday that the territorial markers could be adjusted through mutually agreed land swaps — a principle accepted by the Palestinians that would allow Israel to retain major settlement blocs and help assure its security.But Netanyahu has repeatedly sidelined this part of the Obama message.In a sign of the sympathy Netanyahu can hope to enjoy in Congress, Obama's own political ally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, challenged Obama on the border issue at the AIPAC dinner.No one should set premature parameters about borders, about building or about anything else, Reid, D-Nev., said.
The reference to building alluded to earlier U.S. demands that Israel renew an expired moratorium on settlement construction.Peacemaking with the Palestinians stalled in late 2008, shortly before Obama and Netanyahu each took office. Obama had hoped to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table and wrest a deal by September 2011. But those efforts foundered after Israel refused to extend a settlement construction slowdown and Palestinians abandoned negotiations after three short weeks, saying continued Israeli building on land they want for a future state did not show good faith.Now, they are refocusing their strategy on trying to obtain a unilateral declaration of statehood at the U.N. when the General Assembly meets in September. Israel would like to derail that campaign, which, if successful as expected, could compound its diplomatic isolation.The U.S. also opposes unilateral action, which would put Washington in the awkward position of having to vote against Palestinian statehood at a time when calls for greater democracy are ringing out across the Arab world.Further complicating peace efforts is a unity deal between rival Palestinian factions that would bring violently anti-Israel Hamas militants into the Palestinian government.Obama has said Israel should not be expected to negotiate with a government that does not recognize its right to exist.Anti-Israel hecklers interrupted Netanyahu's speech several times, but supporters drowned them out, leaping to their feet, giving him a standing ovation and at one point chanting his nickname, Bibi, Bibi and pumping their arms in the air.

NETANYAHU SPEECH AT WHITEHOUSE

May 24, 2011 - 04:55 Netanyahu to outline peace vision in speech to U.S. Congress
Israel's PM Netanyahu speaks at the annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington (reuters_tickers)By Jeffrey Heller and Susan Cornwell
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Israeli-Prime-Minister-Addresses-Congress/10737421714-1/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would set forth his view of a future Middle East peace in an address to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday and reaffirmed Israel would never return to its old, narrow borders.I will outline a vision for a secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, the right-wing Israeli leader said on Monday about his planned address to a joint meeting of Congress.I intend to speak the unvarnished truth. Now more than ever what we need is clarity.Addressing the annual policy conference of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby group, Netanyahu appeared to keep alive a public dispute with President Barack Obama over the shape of a future Palestine.(A peace agreement) must leave Israel with security, and therefore Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 lines, he said, repeating a term he had used at a testy meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday.Obama drew Israeli anger a day earlier when he said a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip should largely be drawn along lines that existed before the 1967 war in which Israel captured those areas and East Jerusalem.On Sunday, Obama presented that blueprint in his own address to AIPAC on Sunday. But he seemed to ease Israeli anger somewhat when he made clear Israel would likely be able to negotiate keeping some settlements as part of a land swap in any final deal with the Palestinians.Peace talks are frozen, largely over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Neither Obama nor Netanyahu have offered a concrete plan to try to revive them.

CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT

Netanyahu has a mostly sympathetic ear in Congress, where few lawmakers in either party speak up for the Palestinians, hewing to decades of close U.S.-Israeli ties.
Support for Israel doesn't divide America, it unites America. It unites the old and the young, liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, Netanyahu told AIPAC.Netanyahu will most likely try to tone down any perceived differences between his position and the president's, because his disagreements with President Obama have become counterproductive for both and ultimately undermine Israel's own interests,said Haim Malka, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.But Republicans in Congress, including leaders in the House of Representatives, are not about to drop their criticism of the Democratic president's newly articulated Mideast vision.House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that Obama's comments on Middle East borders left most Americans ... just questioning what kind of strategy there is. It doesn't make sense to force a democratic ally of ours into negotiating with now a terrorist organisation" about land swaps.Cantor was referring to a unity deal last month between Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas, an Islamist group viewed by the United States as a terrorist organisation.Republican Senator Orrin Hatch's office says he will introduce a resolution saying that it is not U.S. policy to have Israel's borders return to the boundaries of 1967.Speculation had been high in Israel that Netanyahu would offer new ideas on peacemaking to try to display flexibility and rally opposition to the Palestinians' plan to ask the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state in September.In his AIPAC address, Netanyahu reiterated his demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state, a step they fear could impinge on their claim of a right of return for Palestinian refugees displaced by the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Netanyahu first addressed a joint meeting of Congress in 1996 during his first term as prime minister.While Obama won the Jewish vote overwhelmingly in 2008, some prominent Jewish Americans were rethinking their support for his re-election after this week's events.Israeli leaders have long regarded AIPAC as a valuable advocacy group in the United States and have frequently attended its annual conventions.
Listing a membership of 100,000, the group has worked with Congress and the White House on securing foreign aid for Israel and legislation to strengthen what it describes as the vital U.S.-Israel relationship.AIPAC's dominant voice in advocating for Israel has been challenged by J Street, a pro-Israel lobby founded in 2009.J Street leaders have said the group provides a way for liberal American Jews critical of Israeli government policies to support the Jewish state.Unlike AIPAC, the group supports President Obama's demand that Israel cease settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while calling on the Palestinians to end incitement and violence.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)Reuters

Netanyahu says will give up some land for peace
By Jeffrey Heller – MAY 24,11

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel is prepared to make painful compromises for peace with the Palestinians, including the handover of land they seek for a state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress on Tuesday.Addressing a joint meeting of Congress, a bastion of support for Israel, after a testy exchange last week with President Barack Obama over the contours of a future Palestine, Netanyahu reiterated his terms for peace.They included Palestinian recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and the scrapping of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' unity accord with the Islamist movement Hamas.Tear up your pact with Hamas. Sit down and negotiate. Make peace with the Jewish state, he said.I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historical peace. As the leader of Israel, it is my responsibility, the right-wing leader added, echoing a pledge he made in a speech to Israel's parliament on May 15.Now this is not easy for me. It's not easy, because I recognize that in a genuine peace we will be required to give up parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland," he said, referring to the occupied West Bank.Commenting on Netanyahu's Washington address, a spokesman for Abbas said the Israeli leader's vision for ending conflict with Palestinians put more obstacles in front of the Middle East peace process.What came in Netanyahu's speech will not lead to peace,said the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Settler leaders and members of Netanyahu's own Likud party voiced opposition last week to his hints of territorial compromise. But with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks currently frozen and no breakthrough in sight, his governing coalition did not appear to be in any jeopardy.

IMPLIED ANNEXATION

Though he implied in Congress that Israel would cede some Jewish settlements in the West Bank, he said others would be annexed in any future peace agreement.This compromise must reflect the dramatic demographic changes that have occurred since 1967, he said, referring to Israel's construction of hundreds of settlements on land Palestinians want for a state.Repeating a message he has delivered consistently during his five-day visit to Washington, Netanyahu said "Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967, narrow lines that existed before the West Bank was captured in a war 44 years ago.Obama drew Israeli anger when he said on Thursday a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip should largely be drawn along the pre-1967 frontiers.A frosty meeting with Netanyahu followed at the White House on Friday when the Israeli leader, with Obama sitting at his side, rejected those borders.On Sunday, Obama seemed to ease Israeli anger somewhat when he made clear Israel would likely be able to negotiate keeping some settlements as part of a land swap in any final deal with the Palestinians.Netanyahu was greeted warmly by congressional leaders and received frequent standing ovations. He was heckled once from the gallery by a woman who shouted No more occupation -- end Israeli war crimes!
Legislators stood to applaud Netanyahu, to drown out further disruptions, and police hustled the woman out.Netanyahu repeated his long-standing demand that a future Palestine must be demilitarized and accept a long-term Israeli military presence along its eastern border on the Jordan River.He also called on Palestinians to see their future homeland, rather than Israel, as the place to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees.It's time for (Palestinian) President Abbas to stand before his people and say,I will accept a Jewish state, Netanyahu said to applause.Those six words will change history. They will make it clear to the Palestinians that this conflict will come to an end,he said.And those six words will convince the people of Israel that they have a true partner for peace.Netanyahu again voiced his opposition to a planned bid by the Palestinians to seek U.N. recognition of statehood in September in the absence of peace talks.Peace cannot be imposed. It must be negotiated,he said.(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and John McGowan)

Palestinians: Netanyahu peace outline unacceptable
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press – MAY 24,11

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's parameters for a peace deal, outlined in a speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday fell far short of what is needed to resume negotiations, Palestinian officials said.Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Netanyahu's insistence on keeping key parts of the territories the Palestinians want for their state is a declaration of war against the Palestinians.The Palestinians want to establish their state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.They have said they are ready for minor border adjustments through land swaps, to enable Israel to annex several of the largest of the dozens of Jewish settlements it has built on war-won land since 1967.Netanyahu said he is willing to make generous territorial concessions, but also told Congress that Jerusalem must remain united as Israel's capital and that Israel wants to keep key areas of the West Bank where tens of thousands of Jews have settled, as well as areas of strategic importance.Abbas is set to meet with leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization and his Fatah movement on Wednesday to discuss their next move. The Palestinians have developed an alternate strategy to moribund negotiations, largely on hold since 2008, and have said they will seek U.N. recognition of their state in September.Shaath said the Palestinians would continue to pursue these strategies. We have nothing but to continue our struggle in the international arena and to continue building our state and to continue our popular struggle, he said, referring to demonstrations and protests against Israeli occupation.In two policy speeches in recent days, President Barack Obama said that the pre-1967 war line must serve as the basis for negotiations, while allowing for mutually agreed land swaps. The Palestinians have said negotiations can resume only if Netanyahu commits to that principle and halts settlement construction.What Netanyahu said in his speech tonight is a clear rejection of the suggestions of President Obama concerning the borders of 1967,said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.Actually, what he did is that he put more obstacles in the path of peace.

Full text: Netanyahu speech to US Congress Published today 19:40-Speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a Joint Meeting of the United States Congress, May 24, 2011 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390785

I am deeply honored by your warm welcome. And I am deeply honored that you have given me the opportunity to address Congress a second time.Mr. Vice President, do you remember the time we were the new kids in town? And I do see a lot of old friends here. And I do see a lot of new friends of Israel here. Democrats and Republicans alike.Israel has no better friend than America. And America has no better friend than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace. We stand together to fight terrorism. Congratulations America, Congratulations, Mr. President. You got bin Laden. Good riddance! In an unstable Middle East, Israel is the one anchor of stability. In a region of shifting alliances, Israel is America’s unwavering ally. Israel has always been pro-American. Israel will always be pro-American.My friends, you don’t need to do nation building in Israel. We’re already built. You don’t need to export democracy to Israel. We’ve already got it. You don’t need to send American troops to defend Israel. We defend ourselves. You’ve been very generous in giving us tools to do the job of defending Israel on our own. Thank you all, and thank you President Obama, for your steadfast commitment to Israel’s security. I know economic times are tough. I deeply appreciate this.

Support for Israel’s security is a wise investment in our common future. For an epic battle is now unfolding in the Middle East, between tyranny and freedom. A great convulsion is shaking the earth from the Khyber Pass to the Straits of Gibraltar. The tremors have shattered states and toppled governments. And we can all see that the ground is still shifting. Now this historic moment holds the promise of a new dawn of freedom and opportunity. Millions of young people are determined to change their future. We all look at them. They muster courage. They risk their lives. They demand dignity. They desire liberty.These extraordinary scenes in Tunis and Cairo, evoke those of Berlin and Prague in 1989. Yet as we share their hopes, but we also must also remember that those hopes could be snuffed out as they were in Tehran in 1979. You remember what happened then. The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered Lebanon’s democratic Cedar Revolution, and inflicted on that long-suffering country, the medieval rule of Hezbollah.So today, the Middle East stands at a fateful crossroads. Like all of you, I pray that the peoples of the region choose the path less travelled, the path of liberty. No one knows what this path consists of better than you. This path is not paved by elections alone. It is paved when governments permit protests in town squares, when limits are placed on the powers of rulers, when judges are beholden to laws and not men, and when human rights cannot be crushed by tribal loyalties or mob rule.Israel has always embraced this path, in the Middle East has long rejected it. In a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted, Israel stands out. It is different.As the great English writer George Eliot predicted over a century ago, that once established, the Jewish state will "shine like a bright star of freedom amid the despotisms of the East.” Well, she was right. We have a free press, independent courts, an open economy, rambunctious parliamentary debates. You think you guys are tough on one another in Congress? Come spend a day in the Knesset. Be my guest.

Courageous Arab protesters, are now struggling to secure these very same rights for their peoples, for their societies. We're proud that over one million Arab citizens of Israel have been enjoying these rights for decades. Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel’s Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights. I want you to stop for a second and think about that. Of those 300 million Arabs, less than one-half of one-percent are truly free, and they're all citizens of Israel! This startling fact reveals a basic truth: Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East. Israel is what is right about the Middle East.Israel fully supports the desire of Arab peoples in our region to live freely. We long for the day when Israel will be one of many real democracies in the Middle East.Fifteen years ago, I stood at this very podium, and said that democracy must start to take root in the Arab World. Well, it's begun to take root. This beginning holds the promise of a brilliant future of peace and prosperity. For I believe that a Middle East that is genuinely democratic will be a Middle East truly at peace.But while we hope and work for the best, we must also recognize that powerful forces oppose this future. They oppose modernity. They oppose democracy. They oppose peace.Foremost among these forces is Iran. The tyranny in Tehran brutalizes its own people. It supports attacks against American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It subjugates Lebanon and Gaza. It sponsors terror worldwide.When I last stood here, I spoke of the dire consequences of Iran developing nuclear weapons. Now time is running out, and the hinge of history may soon turn. For the greatest danger facing humanity could soon be upon us: A militant Islamic regime armed with nuclear weapons.Militant Islam threatens the world. It threatens Islam. I have no doubt that it will ultimately be defeated. It will eventually succumb to the forces of freedom and progress. But like other fanaticisms that were doomed to fail, militant Islam could exact a horrific price from all of us before its inevitable demise.

A nuclear-armed Iran would ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It would give terrorists a nuclear umbrella. It would make the nightmare of nuclear terrorism a clear and present danger throughout the world. I want you to understand what this means. They could put the bomb anywhere. They could put it on a missile. It could be on a container ship in a port, or in a suitcase on a subway.Now the threat to my country cannot be overstated. Those who dismiss it are sticking their heads in the sand. Less than seven decades after six million Jews were murdered, Iran's leaders deny the Holocaust of the Jewish people, while calling for the annihilation of the Jewish state.Leaders who spew such venom, should be banned from every respectable forum on the planet. But there is something that makes the outrage even greater: The lack of outrage. In much of the international community, the calls for our destruction are met with utter silence. It is even worse because there are many who rush to condemn Israel for defending itself against Iran’s terror proxies.But not you. Not America. You have acted differently. You've condemned the Iranian regime for its genocidal aims. You’ve passed tough sanctions against Iran. History will salute you America.President Obama has said that the United States is determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He successfully led the Security Council to adopt sanctions against Iran. You in Congress passed even tougher sanctions. These words and deeds are vitally important.Yet the Ayatollah regime briefly suspended its nuclear program only once, in 2003, when it feared the possibility of military action. That same year, Muammar Qadaffi gave up his nuclear weapons program, and for the same reason. The more Iran believes that all options are on the table, the less the chance of confrontation. This is why I ask you to continue to send an unequivocal message: That America will never permit Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

As for Israel, if history has taught the Jewish people anything, it is that we must take calls for our destruction seriously. We are a nation that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust. When we say never again, we mean never again. Israel always reserves the right to defend itself.My friends, while Israel will be ever vigilant in its defense, we will never give up on our quest for peace. I guess we’ll give it up when we achieve it. Israel wants peace. Israel needs peace. We've achieved historic peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan that have held up for decades.I remember what it was like before we had peace. I was nearly killed in a firefight inside the Suez Canal. I mean that literally. I battled terrorists along both banks of the Jordan River. Too many Israelis have lost loved ones. I know their grief. I lost my brother.So no one in Israel wants a return to those terrible days. The peace with Egypt and Jordan has long served as an anchor of stability and peace in the heart of the Middle East.This peace should be bolstered by economic and political support to all those who remain committed to peace.The peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan are vital. But they're not enough. We must also find a way to forge a lasting peace with the Palestinians. Two years ago, I publicly committed to a solution of two states for two peoples: A Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historic peace. As the leader of Israel, it is my responsibility to lead my people to peace.This is not easy for me. I recognize that in a genuine peace, we will be required to give up parts of the Jewish homeland. In Judea and Samaria, the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. We are not the British in India. We are not the Belgians in the Congo.

This is the land of our forefathers, the Land of Israel, to which Abraham brought the idea of one God, where David set out to confront Goliath, and where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace. No distortion of history can deny the four thousand year old bond, between the Jewish people and the Jewish land.But there is another truth: The Palestinians share this small land with us. We seek a peace in which they will be neither Israel’s subjects nor its citizens. They should enjoy a national life of dignity as a free, viable and independent people in their own state. They should enjoy a prosperous economy, where their creativity and initiative can flourish.We've already seen the beginnings of what is possible. In the last two years,
the Palestinians have begun to build a better life for themselves. Prime Minister Fayad has led this effort. I wish him a speedy recovery from his recent operation.
We've helped the Palestinian economy by removing hundreds of barriers and roadblocks to the free flow of goods and people. The results have been nothing short of remarkable. The Palestinian economy is booming. It's growing by more than 10% a year.
Palestinian cities look very different today than they did just a few years ago. They have shopping malls, movie theaters, restaurants, banks. They even have e-businesses. This is all happening without peace. Imagine what could happen with peace. Peace would herald a new day for both peoples. It would make the dream of a broader Arab-Israeli peace a realistic possibility.

So now here is the question. You have to ask it. If the benefits of peace with the Palestinians are so clear, why has peace eluded us? Because all six Israeli Prime Ministers since the signing of Oslo accords agreed to establish a Palestinian state. Myself included. So why has peace not been achieved? Because so far, the Palestinians have been unwilling to accept a Palestinian state, if it meant accepting a Jewish state alongside it.You see, our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state. This is what this conflict is about. In 1947, the United Nations voted to partition the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews said yes. The Palestinians said no. In recent years, the Palestinians twice refused generous offers by Israeli Prime Ministers, to establish a Palestinian state on virtually all the territory won by Israel in the Six Day War.They were simply unwilling to end the conflict. And I regret to say this: They continue to educate their children to hate. They continue to name public squares after terrorists. And worst of all, they continue to perpetuate the fantasy that Israel will one day be flooded by the descendants of Palestinian refugees.My friends, this must come to an end. President Abbas must do what I have done. I stood before my people, and I told you it wasn’t easy for me, and I said… I will accept a Palestinian state. It is time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say…I will accept a Jewish state.Those six words will change history. They will make clear to the Palestinians that this conflict must come to an end. That they are not building a state to continue the conflict with Israel, but to end it. They will convince the people of Israel that they have a true partner for peace. With such a partner, the people of Israel will be prepared to make a far reaching compromise. I will be prepared to make a far reaching compromise.

This compromise must reflect the dramatic demographic changes that have occurred since 1967. The vast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live beyond the 1967 lines, reside in neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem and Greater Tel Aviv.These areas are densely populated but geographically quite small. Under any realistic peace agreement, these areas, as well as other places of critical strategic and national importance, will be incorporated into the final borders of Israel.The status of the settlements will be decided only in negotiations. But we must also be honest. So I am saying today something that should be said publicly by anyone serious about peace. In any peace agreement that ends the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel’s borders. The precise delineation of those borders must be negotiated. We will be very generous on the size of a future Palestinian state. But as President Obama said, the border will be different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967. Israel will not return to the indefensible lines of 1967.We recognize that a Palestinian state must be big enough to be viable, independent and prosperous. President Obama rightly referred to Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, just as he referred to the future Palestinian state as the homeland of the Palestinian people. Jews from around the world have a right to immigrate to the Jewish state. Palestinians from around the world should have a right to immigrate, if they so choose, to a Palestinian state. This means that the Palestinian refugee problem will be resolved outside the borders of Israel.

As for Jerusalem, only a democratic Israel has protected freedom of worship for all faiths in the city. Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel. I know that this is a difficult issue for Palestinians. But I believe with creativity and goodwill a solution can be found.This is the peace I plan to forge with a Palestinian partner committed to peace. But you know very well, that in the Middle East, the only peace that will hold is a peace you can defend.So peace must be anchored in security. In recent years, Israel withdrew from South Lebanon and Gaza. But we didn't get peace. Instead, we got 12,000 thousand rockets fired from those areas on our cities, on our children, by Hezbollah and Hamas. The UN peacekeepers in Lebanon failed to prevent the smuggling of this weaponry. The European observers in Gaza evaporated overnight. So if Israel simply walked out of the territories, the flow of weapons into a future Palestinian state would be unchecked. Missiles fired from it could reach virtually every home in Israel in less than a minute. I want you to think about that too. Imagine that right now we all had less than 60 seconds to find shelter from an incoming rocket. Would you live that way? Would anyone live that way? Well, we aren’t going to live that way either.

The truth is that Israel needs unique security arrangements because of its unique size. Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world. Mr. Vice President, I'll grant you this. It’s bigger than Delaware. It’s even bigger than Rhode Island. But that’s about it. Israel on the 1967 lines would be half the width of the Washington Beltway.Now here’s a bit of nostalgia. I first came to Washington thirty years ago as a young diplomat. It took me a while, but I finally figured it out: There is an America beyond the Beltway. But Israel on the 1967 lines would be only nine miles wide. So much for strategic depth.So it is therefore absolutely vital for Israel’s security that a Palestinian state be fully demilitarized. And it is vital that Israel maintain a long-term military presence along the Jordan River. Solid security arrangements on the ground are necessary not only to protect the peace, they are necessary to protect Israel in case the peace unravels. For in our unstable region, no one can guarantee that our peace partners today will be there tomorrow.And when I say tomorrow, I don't mean some distant time in the future. I mean -- tomorrow. Peace can be achieved only around the negotiating table. The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations will not bring peace. It should be forcefully opposed by all those who want to see this conflict end.

I appreciate the President’s clear position on this issue. Peace cannot be imposed. It must be negotiated. But it can only be negotiated with partners committed to peace.And Hamas is not a partner for peace. Hamas remains committed to Israel's destruction and to terrorism. They have a charter. That charter not only calls for the obliteration of Israel, but says kill the Jews wherever you find them. Hamas’ leader condemned the killing of Osama bin Laden and praised him as a holy warrior. Now again I want to make this clear. Israel is prepared to sit down today and negotiate peace with the Palestinian Authority. I believe we can fashion a brilliant future of peace for our children. But Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by the Palestinian version of Al Qaeda.So I say to President Abbas: Tear up your pact with Hamas! Sit down and negotiate! Make peace with the Jewish state! And if you do, I promise you this. Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations. It will be the first to do so.My friends, the momentous trials of the last century, and the unfolding events of this century, attest to the decisive role of the United States in advancing peace and defending freedom. Providence entrusted the United States to be the guardian of liberty. All peoples who cherish freedom owe a profound debt of gratitude to your great nation. Among the most grateful nations is my nation, the people of Israel, who have fought for their liberty and survival against impossible odds, in ancient and modern times alike.I speak on behalf of the Jewish people and the Jewish state when I say to you, representatives of America, Thank you. Thank you for your unwavering support for Israel. Thank you for ensuring that the flame of freedom burns bright throughout the world. May God bless all of you. And may God forever bless the United States of America.