PALESTINIAN RIVAL IN EGYPT

Palestinian rivals in Cairo for PM talks
– JUNE 14,11 10:15AM

CAIRO (AFP) – Palestinian factions were in Cairo on Tuesday for reconciliation talks aimed at choosing a prime minister to head a unity government.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah delegation led by Azzam al-Ahmad and the Hamas delegation headed by Mussa Abu Marzuk sat down for talks at the Egyptian intelligence headquarters in Cairo, attended by Egyptian officials, the MENA state agency said.
Fatah has said it wants to retain prime minister Salam Fayyad to head the government, but the nomination was immediately rejected by Islamist Hamas movement.

Both sides however said they were optimistic they would come to an agreement.God willing this will be the last round of talks regarding the formation of the government, MENA quoted Ahmad as saying ahead of the meeting.We hope to agree on the name of a prime minister and the members of the government...We, in Fatah, insist on ending the chapter of division and to implement the deal on the ground. We are optimistic, he said.The Egyptian-sponsored talks are the fruit of a reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo in May aimed at ending years of bitter feuding and laying the groundwork for presidential and legislative elections within a year.Fatah's central committee agreed on Saturday to throw their support behind Fayyad, a former World Bank official and preferred candidate of the international community.But Hamas has rejected Fayyad, blaming him for the arrest and alleged torture of its leaders, and plunging the Palestinian Authority into debt.Izzat al-Risheq, a member of the Hamas politburo, said ahead of the Cairo talks that the best way forward on the unity government was to exclude controversial candidates.A main principle we have agreed on is that thorny issues or disagreements be dealt with by both sides through consensus. Therefore the government will be one of consensus and no side will impose its view on the other,MENA quoted Risheq as saying.We feel the best way is to exclude controversial choices, he said.On Sunday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri reiterated his movement's rejection of Fayyad.Hamas informed Fatah during the last meeting of its rejection of the choice of Salam Fayyad to head the new government, Zuhri told AFP.The Fatah central committee's nomination of Salam Fayyad to head the government is a Fatah nomination and any head of the new government must be chosen by consensus and not, of course, by one of the parties.Hamas has yet to put forward a candidate for the prime minister's post.Risheq said the two sides will also be discussing the release of political prisoners taken by both sides.

Israel police train for mass Palestinian protests
– JUNE 14,11

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Hundreds of Israeli police are taking part in a training exercise in preparation for potentially large-scale Palestinian protests in September, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.There's an exercise that the police are carrying out... in order to deal with public order, maintaining public order, and dealing with widespread disturbances,spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP.Several hundred police officers are taking part in that, and it is leading up to the forthcoming months ... meaning September.The Palestinian leadership plans to seek UN recognition and membership in September in a move Israeli security officials fear could be accompanied by widespread Palestinian protests.Recent demonstrations along Israel's northern borders have raised fears that protesters could storm Israeli checkpoints or settlements in the West Bank.It's a regular standard exercise on a large scale, Rosenfeld said.But obviously we're taking into consideration that there might be the need ... for large numbers of police officers ... to deal with large-scale demonstrations in September.Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that hundreds of police, border guards and special forces were taking part in the three-day exercise.

The exercise reportedly envisages various scenarios, including the possibility of thousands of Palestinians marching towards Israeli roads and checkpoints.The Israeli army would be the first responders in such an instance, but if the protesters crossed into Israel, the police would then handle the response.

EU: Palestinian state vote could be 'dangerous'
– Tue Jun 14, 7:02 am ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – The president of the EU parliament says a unilateral Palestinian move toward statehood could be dangerous.Frustrated by a long-standing impasse in peace talks with Israel, the Palestinians have mounted a campaign for international recognition at the U.N. General Assembly in September.European support would be critical, but EU parliament chief Jerzy Buzek sounded cool to the idea on Tuesday.Speaking in Ramallah, Buzek said he understood the Palestinian position but added it could complicate peace efforts.He said achieving peace through negotiations would be excellent, but unilateral declaration could be sometimes even dangerous.
Israel has denounced the move and has urged the Palestinians to return to peace negotiations instead.

Hezbollah rise in Lebanon gives Syria, Iran sway
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press – Mon Jun 13, 7:50 pm ET

BEIRUT – Hezbollah and its allies rose to a position of unprecedented dominance in Lebanon's government Monday, giving its patrons Syria and Iran greater sway in the Middle East.Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced a new Cabinet dominated by the militant group and its allies after the country has operated for five months without a functioning government. The move caps Hezbollah's steady rise over decades from resistance group against Israel to Lebanon's most powerful military and political force.Opponents of Hezbollah — which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization — say having it in control of Lebanon's government could lead to international isolation. The group's most ardent supporters are Iran and Syria, which dominated Lebanon for 29 years.The new government opens the door for renewed Syrian influence in Lebanon at a time the Syrian leadership is struggling at home. It's a remarkable turnaround from 2005, when fallout from the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri led to massive anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon. The protests, dubbed the Cedar Revolution, drove tens of thousands of Syrian troops out of Lebanon and ended decades of Syrian domination over its smaller neighbor.

The ascendancy of Hezbollah is a setback for the United States, which has provided Lebanon with $720 million in military aid since 2006 and has tried in vain to move the country firmly into a Western sphere and end Iranian and Syrian influence. It also underscores Iran's growing influence in the region at a time when Washington's is falling.U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for an immediate cutoff of U.S. funds to the new government as long as any violent extremist group designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations participates in it.For years, members of Congress warned that it was unwise to fund a Lebanese government in which Hezbollah participated. It was clear that Hezbollah's influence was growing, and that the executive branch had no long-term strategy to deal with that reality, and no contingency plan to stop U.S. aid from falling into the wrong hands,the Florida Republican said in a statement.

Fadia Kiwan, a political science professor at Beirut's St. Joseph University, said Hezbollah's dominance in the new government could backfire on the group, which was formed in 1982 with Iranian support to fight Israel's invasion of Lebanon.Such a government puts a great political responsibility on Hezbollah's shoulders, Kiwan told The Associated Press.A moderate, national unity government would have offered more protection for the group.The Islamic militant group's power has been steadily growing over the years and its newfound clout could add volatility to a region already rocked by anti-government uprisings in a half-dozen countries.A Hezbollah-led government would obviously raise tensions with Israel, which fought a devastating 34-day war against the Shiite militants in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead. Lebanon, torn apart by decades of civil war and deep sectarian divides, has had several major military conflicts with neighboring Israel.
Hezbollah forced the collapse of Lebanon's previous, pro-Western government in January over fears it would be indicted by a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the killing of Hariri, a billionaire businessman and political leader who had been trying to limit Syria's domination of Lebanon in the months before his death.Syria denied any involvement in his killing and called the tribunal a conspiracy by the U.S. and Israel.Hariri's son, Saad, who was prime minister in January, refused to denounce the tribunal or cut off Lebanon's 49 percent share of the funding for it.

Hezbollah and its allies then walked out of the government, forcing its collapse, and secured enough support in parliament to name Mikati as the new prime minister. But Mikati has struggled to form a Cabinet, insisting he won't do the bidding of any one side.On Monday, Mikati announced a Cabinet that gives Hezbollah and its allies 16 of the 30 seats. In the previous government, they had 10 seats.The Cabinet still must be formally presented to Parliament for a vote of confidence.The makeup of the new government is seen as almost entirely pro-Syrian. President Bashar Assad of Syria, facing a growing uprising against his rule at home, called twice to congratulate Lebanese leaders on the new government's formation.Lebanon's politics are always fractious, in part because of the sectarian makeup of the country's government. According to Lebanon's power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim.Each faith makes up about a third of Lebanon's population of 4 million.
Talal Arslan, a politician from the tiny Druse sect, resigned Monday after it was announced he was named to the post of state minister without portfolio. He said Mikati should have given representatives of the Druse community a higher-profile post.Mikati urged the Lebanese to give the government a chance to prove itself.Do not judge intentions and people, but rather actions, he said at a televised news conference.Mikati was quick to reiterate that his government will respect Lebanon's international commitments — a reference to the tribunal investigating Hariri's killing, suggesting that he won't cut its funding. Many in Lebanon fear Hezbollah will react violently if its members are indicted, as is widely expected.Saad Hariri, who has described Mikati's nomination as a coup, vowed not to be part of the new government. His Western-backed coalition is now the opposition in Lebanon.Once seen solely as Iran's militant arm in Lebanon, Hezbollah has reinvented itself as a more conventional political movement. It has joined the government and become involved in domestic politics, but fighting Israel remains the group's priority.

Gaza unemployment rate at 45%, UN agency warns
– Mon Jun 13, 5:04 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip stood at 45.2 percent in late 2010, one of the highest in the world according to a report released on Tuesday by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.The figure, for the second half of 2010, was a slight improvement on the 45.7 percent rate during the same period in 2009, but it was an increase from the first half of 2010, when a temporary building boom boosted employment.UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the figures showed the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the continuing effects of Israel's blockade on the coastal territory.These are disturbing trends, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said, referring to the both the unemployment figures and statistics showing that real wages were continuing to decline.He said it was hard to understand the logic of Israel's blockade, saying it deliberately impoverishes so many and condemns hundreds of thousands of potentially productive people to a life of destitution.Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2006, after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was snatched by a group of Gaza-based militants. It tightened the restrictions a year later, when Hamas seized control of the enclave.The blockade was relaxed slightly in July 2010, as international pressure mounted on Israel after nine Turkish activists were killed in an Israeli raid on a flotilla of aid ships seeking to reach Gaza.

Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from moving weapons, money and people in and out of Gaza, but Gunness said the blockade did not appear to have weakened Hamas.Our research indicates that since 2007, Hamas has been able to increase public employment by about one fifth, he said, noting that private sector jobs have disappeared in the same period.If the aim of the blockade policy was to weaken the Hamas administration, the public employment numbers suggest this has failed,Gunness added.But it has certainly been highly successful in punishing some of the poorest of the poor in the Middle East region.Gunness said the high unemployment rates also put increasing pressure on UNRWA, which helps 1.1 million people in Gaza. The agency said the number of abject poor it was assisting, those earning less than $1.60 a day, had tripled since the blockade was imposed to 300,000 people.

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
By The Associated Press – Mon Jun 13, 2:00 pm ET

SYRIA-Syrians stream across the border into neighboring Turkey, finding sanctuary in refugee camps ringed by barbed wire and offering a frightening picture of life back home where a deadly crackdown on dissent is fueling a popular revolt. Turkey's prime minister accuses Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime of savagery, but also says he would reach out to the Syrian leader to help solve the crisis. Still, many of the 6,000 refugees in Turkey say they expect their government to inflict only more violence and pain.

YEMEN-Yemen's acting president agrees with opposition parties to begin discussions on how to transfer power from the country's embattled president. The agreement provides for the opposition and President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ruling party to open a dialogue to find a way to ease Saleh out of office in accordance with proposals put forward by Yemen's Gulf neighbors. Saleh has publicly accepted the proposals in the past, but has avoided implementing them. Saleh is being treated in Saudi Arabia for wounds he suffered in a rocket attack on his compound.

LIBYA-Libyan rebels break out toward Tripoli from the opposition-held port of Misrata 140 miles to the east, cracking a government siege as fighters across the country mount a resurgence in their four-month-old revolt against Moammar Gadhafi. The rebels gain a diplomatic boost as well when the visiting the German foreign minister says the nascent opposition government is the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.Guido Westerwelle was visiting Benghazi, the capital of the rebel-held east of the country, to open a liaison office and hand over medical supplies. Germany has refused to participate in NATO airstrikes in Libya and withheld its support for the U.N. resolution that allowed the attacks.

EGYPT-Friends and relatives of a U.S.-born Israeli arrested in Egypt on spy charges say he is a law student in Atlanta with an avid interest in the Mideast — and not a Mossad agent out to sabotage Egypt's revolution, as Egyptian authorities claim. His mother says he arrived in Cairo only in May, countering implications that he was involved in protests as early as February. The arrest of 27-year-old Ilan Grapel sets off new fears in Israel that relations with Egypt will sour now that its longtime president, Hosni Mubarak, has been deposed.

LEBANON-Hezbollah and its allies rise to a position of unprecedented dominance in Lebanon's government, giving patrons Syria and Iran greater sway in the Middle East. Lebanon's prime minister announces a new Cabinet dominated by the militant group and its allies, after five months without a functioning government. The feat caps Hezbollah's steady rise over decades from resistance force against Israel to Lebanon's most powerful military and political power. Opponents of Hezbollah — which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization — say having Hezbollah in control of Lebanon's government could lead to international isolation. The group's most ardent supporters are Iran and Syria, which dominated Lebanon for 29 years.

BAHRAIN-A special security tribunal begins trials of 34 doctors and nurses accused of backing Shiite-led protests for greater rights and taking part in alleged anti-state plots at the country's main public hospital. The mass trial is part of a surge of cases coming before the security court set up by Bahrain's Sunni rulers, who are appealing for talks with opposition groups even while moving ahead with trials that have come under sharp criticism from rights groups.

In Gaza, EU official offers unity deal support
– Mon Jun 13, 12:57 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The European Union supports Palestinian unity, but a new government must recognise Israel and accept past accords, European parliament president Jerzy Buzek said on Monday.Buzek spoke during a trip to Gaza City, where he toured projects run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and met its commissioner general, Filippo Grandi.We support a unity government in Palestine, but it is very important that the government recognise Israel's right to exist and past accords, he said at the beginning of a four-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories.The terms of a surprise unity signed by bitter rivals Hamas and Fatah last month require the parties to agree the make-up of an interim government of independent figures that can lay the groundwork for new elections.The elections, both presidential and legislative, are scheduled to take place within a year from the signing of the agreement.The EU has largely welcomed the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas, even though it designates the Islamist group a terrorist organisation.

But Israel has condemned the reconciliation, calling on president Mahmud Abbas, who heads Fatah, to choose between peace with Israel and unity with Hamas.Buzek also called on Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, imposed in June 2006 after the capture of an Israeli soldier and tightened when Hamas took control of the territory a year later.It is impossible to develop the economy, education, and it is also impossible for the residents of Gaza to feel free,he said.

Berlusconi rejects unilateral solutions in Mideast
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press – Mon Jun 13, 10:51 am ET

ROME – Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi told a visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exactly what he wanted to hear Monday, rejecting recognition of a Palestinian state by the U.N. General Assembly and insisting peace must come through negotiations.Netanyahu was in Italy to rally European opposition to plans by the Palestinians to ask the U.N. to recognize a Palestinian state in September. Israel, backed by the U.S., opposes such a move, saying it will only push peace farther away.

Berlusconi echoed Netanyahu when asked about the U.N. statehood recognition at a press conference following the signature of several bilateral agreements.We don't believe a unilateral solution can help peace, Berlusconi said.I believe peace can only be reached with a common effort, that is, with negotiations.Italy is one of Israel's closest friends in Europe, a fact stressed by both leaders Monday.We have no better friend,Netanyahu told the Italian leader.Netanyahu said peace cannot be imposed by the outside or by one-sided U.N. resolutions, which he said would not only violate previous accords but would harden the Palestinian position and make peace even more difficult.Peace requires mutual compromises: Palestinian compromises, Israeli compromises. We both compromise. We're prepared to do to that, but to do that you need a negotiation,Netanyahu said.The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down last September, just three weeks after their launch, with the expiration of a limited Israeli freeze on Jewish settlement construction. The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating as long as Israel continues to build homes in enclaves inside the West Bank and east Jerusalem — captured areas the Palestinians claim for their future state.The Palestinians say they too would prefer a negotiated agreement. But if talks remain stalled, they say they will turn to the U.N. for recognition in September. The move is not expected to immediately change the situation on the ground, but the Palestinians believe a strong U.N. endorsement will isolate Israel internationally and put heavy pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from occupied territory.

Seeking to break the deadlock, both the U.S. and France have floated proposals in recent weeks to restart talks by focusing on the borders between Israel and a future Palestine. Both proposals say Israel should return to its pre-1967 lines, meaning a withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, albeit with some modifications based on negotiated land swaps.Neither Berlusconi nor Netanyahu spoke publicly about the details of the proposals.The French proposal calls for relaunching talks at a peace conference. And Berlusconi even offered to host peace talks in Erice, Sicily, if both sides would come to the table. Italy, he said, would pick up the bill.We expect it would be a long-term negotiation, Berlusconi said.The rival Palestinian leaderships, Fatah and Hamas, are due to meet Tuesday in Cairo to begin negotiations on forming a unity government, a prelude to taking their cause to the U.N. this fall.
Berlusconi said Italy was waiting to see what kind of government emerges, but stressed that the Palestinian leadership must recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, must accept previous peace accords and must renounce violence.Hamas has refused to renounce violence and recognize Israel.Netanyahu also warned about the risk Iran poses if it acquires nuclear weapons and the continued uncertainties about the final results of the string of popular uprisings in the Arab world.It's not obvious where the Arab Spring will go, but I will say this, that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, the Arab Spring could well turn into an Iranian winter, Netanyahu said.

Israel hails Italy's opposition to Palestinian state bid – Mon Jun 13, 10:28 am ET

ROME (AFP) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday declared his opposition to a bid by the Palestinians for UN membership, earning thanks from his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.We do not believe that a unilateral solution can help peace, neither on the Palestinian side nor on the Israeli side. I believe peace can only be reached with a common initiative through negotiations, Berlusconi told reporters following talks with Netanyahu in Rome.I want to thank you for your clear position against the attempt to bypass peace negotiations. Peace will only come through negotiations, Netanyahu said.

Israeli defense minister meets top Chinese general
– Mon Jun 13, 9:20 am ET

BEIJING – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has pledged to work for closer ties with China's military during a visit to Beijing, China's Defense Ministry said Monday.Barak's statement came in a meeting Sunday with the chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army, Gen. Chen Bingde, the ministry said.The Israeli side values the development of military exchanges and cooperation with China and wishes to work together with our Chinese friends to raise military-to-military relations to a new level, the ministry quoted Barak as saying.Chen told Barak that relations between their militaries were an important part of overall ties and have strengthened markedly over recent years, the ministry said.There is tremendous potential for friendly cooperation between the two militaries, it quoted Chen as saying.The ministry gave few details of their discussions in a brief report posted on its website and the Israeli Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an emailed request for information.Barak also held talks with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.China developed one of its most modern fighter jets, the J-10, from an Israeli design and has close ties with the Israeli defense industry.China is also a top Israeli trading partner and relations between the two countries have been generally good, although strained at times. Israel infuriated China in 2000 when U.S. pressure forced Israel to cancel the sale of sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft to Beijing. Israel also aborted a deal to upgrade drone aircraft sold to China, also under U.S. pressure.China, meanwhile, upset Israel by inviting the foreign minister from the Hamas-led Palestinian government, boycotted by Israel and the West, to attend a conference in Beijing.

Palestinian PM supports Israeli for IMF job
– Sun Jun 12, 2:14 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israel's central bank chief has a new and unexpected supporter in his bid to head the International Monetary Fund: the Palestinian prime minister.
Salam Fayyad says Stanley Fischer would make a great managing director for the world financial body and is a superb human being.The Palestinian Authority does not participate in the selection process, but Fayyad said if he had a vote, he would cast it for Fischer.Fayyad, a U.S.-trained economist and former senior IMF official, told the Associated Press on Sunday that he has known Fischer for two decades, since the two worked together at the IMF.A Zambia native and internationally respected economist, Fischer has headed the Bank of Israel since 2005. He announced his candidacy for the top IMF job on Saturday.

Israel orders three settler buildings destroyed
– Sun Jun 12, 8:40 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Defence Minister Ehud Barak has ordered Israeli forces to demolish three buildings in a wildcat West Bank settlement outpost within 45 days, media and his office said on Sunday.The move comes after the state told a court on Friday it would remove the buildings, which are part of the Migron settlement outpost in the northern West Bank, but are built on private Palestinian land, the Haaretz daily reported.Barak's office confirmed the report.The position of the defence minister, in accord with the prime minister, is that illegal construction on private Palestinian land must be prevented and such building will be destroyed, his office said in an statement.This obviously applies to Migron too.The Israeli government has said it is committed to removing settlements on private Palestinian land, but the Palestinians and much of the international community consider all settlements built in the West Bank to be illegal.Israel only considers those settlements built without government approval to be illegal, and of that category has said it will remove only buildings that are on private Palestinian land.Israeli human rights group Yesh Din has filed a series of petitions on behalf of Palestinians seeking to force the Israeli government to remove outposts they claim stand on their private land.

Under the 2003 international roadmap peace plan, Israel pledged to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001 and a government commission later determined there were 26 such wildcat settlements in the West Bank.Watchdog groups number dozens of such unauthorised outposts.Successive prime ministers have made commitments to remove them but, despite strong US pressure, they have not been dismantled.The government has been seeking to differentiate between outposts built on private Palestinian land and others built on public land.Palestinians claim all Israeli construction in the West Bank is in violation of international law and the settlement issue has been a main obstacle to a resumption of peace talks.

Berlin to advise Palestinians against state bid: minister – Fri Jun 10, 1:52 pm ET

BERLIN (AFP) – A high-level German diplomatic mission to the Middle East will try to convince Palestinians next week to drop plans to gain UN recognition for an independent state in September, a minister said Friday.Development Minister Dirk Niebel told Der Spiegel magazine that he and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle would underline Berlin's reservations in talks with Palestinian leaders.We must convince the Palestinians that a unilateral declaration of independence is the wrong way to go, Niebel said in an interview to be published at the weekend.He said he would advise Palestinian leaders to present a resolution calling for a two-state solution with Israel based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and mutually agreed land swaps, as proposed by US President Barack Obama.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has said the Palestinians would seek to be accepted as a full UN member in September if peace talks do not resume.France and other European countries have indicated they would recognise a Palestinian state while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she would not until a broader peace deal with Israel is agreed.The German government announced Friday that Niebel and Westerwelle would spend Monday and Tuesday in the region to discuss the logjam in the peace process and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.Westerwelle will meet his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Liebermann and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu as well as Abbas and premier Salam Fayyad to discuss progress in the development of state institutions in Ramallah.Niebel will travel to the Gaza Strip to monitor progress on bilateral development projects and meet the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Filippo Grandi.

Ex-World Bank chief in Lebanon speech controversy
– Fri Jun 10, 1:44 pm ET

BEIRUT (AFP) – Former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn on Friday cancelled a scheduled keynote address at the American University of Beirut, amid accusations by the AUB faculty that he supported Israel.AUB regrets to announce that Sir James Wolfensohn, out of concern that his presence at the June commencement ceremony would distract from the celebratory nature of the event, has decided that he will not attend, read a statement released by the university.The decision came after more than 90 faculty members signed a petition, entitled Not in our name: AUB faculty, staff and students object to honouring James Wolfensohn.This pressured the university to revoke its decision to grant an honorary doctorate to Wolfensohn, who was also scheduled to give the keynote address at the university's commencement on June 25.AUB president Peter Dorman will now give the address instead.

The petition argued that honouring Mr Wolfensohn... symbolically undermines AUB?s legacy in the struggle for social justice and its historical connection to Beirut, to Palestine and beyond.It also detailed Wolfensohn?s alleged links to Israeli companies and accused him of being an investor in an Israeli company developing transport infrastructure for illegal Jewish-only settlements built in the occupied West Bank and a standing member of the international advisory of the Israeli Democracy Institute.Wolfensohn, an Australian-born naturalised US citizen, could not be reached for comment.The international investment banker and financial adviser served as president of the World Bank from 1995 to 2005 and is currently chairman of his own firm, Wolfensohn and Company.In past years, several artists and writers have had to cancel scheduled performances in Lebanon amid controversy over their alleged ties to Israel, which ended a 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel and has vowed to be the last Arab country to sign a peace agreement with the Jewish state.Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006.

Real peace only possible if Hamas on board
by Hazel Ward – Fri Jun 10, 9:47 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is only possible if Hamas is involved, a group of former top statesmen and diplomats said in a letter made public on Friday.In the letter, which is addressed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, 24 former international figures warned against the dangers of rejecting a recent Palestinian unity deal aimed at ending years of bad blood between the secular Fatah faction and Gaza's Hamas rulers.Israel slammed the deal as a great victory for terrorism in a move which found echoes in Washington, with US President Barack Obama describing it as an enormous obstacle to peace.But the letter argued that lasting peace would only be possible with a unified Palestinian leadership, which made reconciliation a prerequisite for ending the conflict.Reconciliation is... a prerequisite for achieving the two-state solution. It is not an obstacle to it, it said, taking aim at remarks by Israel's premier Benjamin Netanyahu in which he urged Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas to chose between peace with Hamas or peace with Israel.Asking Fatah to choose between making peace with Hamas and making peace with Israel presents a false choice: a lasting peace with Israel is only possible if Hamas is on board,it said.As former international leaders and peace negotiators, we have learnt first-hand that achieving a durable peace requires an inclusive approach.
Under terms of the deal signed in early May, the two factions will work together to form a caretaker government of politically independent figures who will govern until elections can be held at some point before May 2012.

It was imperative that Washington and Brussels constructively engage with the transitional government as well as with the Palestinian leadership that results from elections next year, they wrote, warning that failure to do so could have far-reaching consequences.It warned against repeating past mistakes, recalling a decision by Washington and Brussels to boycott Hamas politically and financially after it secured a surprise victory in legislative elections in 2006.In hindsight, those policies were a major setback for the peace process, it said.If Palestinian reconciliation is undermined, it will throw the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into an even deeper impasse, with dramatic consequences for all parties and the international community at large.Rather than being a threat to Israel, the unity deal could enhance its security by helping consolidate a ceasefire along the Gaza border, and even help towards securing the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was captured by Gaza militants in 2006 and is still being held there.Among the signatories are four former EU prime ministers, including Italy's Massimo D'Alema and Denmark's Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, and 11 ex-foreign ministers, including Hubert Vedrine of France and Gareth Evans of Australia.Former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and veteran Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi also signed the letter.

Israel envoys attempt to foil Palestinian UN bid
– Fri Jun 10, 2:52 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's foreign ministry will launch a diplomatic offensive in a bid to foil Palestinian plans to gain United Nations recognition for a state in September, the Haaretz daily reported Friday.The ministry has established a September Forum and ordered all its envoys to report in on efforts to persuade other nations to oppose the unilateral Palestinian efforts, the newspaper said, citing confidential ministry papers.The goal we have set is to have the maximum number of countries oppose the process of having the UN recognise a Palestinian state, Foreign Ministry Director General Rafael Barak wrote in one internal memo, Haaretz said.The paper instructed diplomats to meet with the most senior politicians and mobilise local organisations, the media and public opinion against the statehood bid.Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has said the Palestinians would seek UN recognition -- to be accepted as a full member of the world body -- at the General Assembly meeting in September if peace talks do not resume.The primary argument is that by pursuing this process in the UN, the Palestinians are trying to achieve their aims in a manner other than negotiations with Israel, and this violates the principle that the only route to resolving the conflict is through bilateral negotiations,Barak wrote.

The diplomats would also likely focus efforts in Europe, where states are divided over support for the Palestinian move.Our goal is to create momentum against recognition of a Palestinian state in September by creating a significant bloc of EU states that voice their opposition as early as possible to unilateral Palestinian action, wrote head of the ministry's Western Europe department, Naor Gilon, according to Haaretz.The Palestinian move is unlikely to pass in the Security Council, where the US has said it will veto it.Several EU nations, like Germany and Italy, have also indicated their opposition.The peace process has been on ice since September when Israel refused to renew a partial West Bank building freeze. The Palestinians have since refused to talk while Israel builds on land they want for a future state.