Tuesday, June 07, 2011

EUROPE-ASIA LIKE OBAMA PEACE PLAN

Europe, Asia diplomats support Obama peace plan
– JUNE 7,11


GODOLLO, Hungary – Foreign ministers from over 40 countries in Europe and Asia have offered strong support for President Barack Obama's peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians based on the 1967 borders and negotiated land swaps.A statement Tuesday at the conclusion of the 10th Asia-Europe meeting, or ASEM, of foreign ministers also calls on the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., the EU, the U.N. and Russia — to contribute to the resumption and success of direct peace talks between the two sides.The diplomats say the peace process must not become a casualty of uncertainty in the context of dramatic changes in the region.The ASEM meeting was held in Hungary, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU until June 30.

Syria warns of more marches on Israeli border
– JUNE 7,11


DAMASCUS, Syria – A Syrian government newspaper says marches to the border will continue and warns Israel the day will come when thousands of Syrians will return to their occupied villages.Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian and Syrian protesters Sunday, killing as many as 23 people who tried to cross into the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.The Tishreen newspaper said the march was only an introduction adding Syrians and Palestinians were now determined to recover their territory through resistance.It says Israel should not be surprised when 600,000 Syrian refugees march back to their villages and farms from which their families were forcefully uprooted.Israel should expect a march at any time,it said.

Turkish FM suggests how to avoid fresh Gaza tensions
– Tue Jun 7, 5:31 am ET


ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey's foreign minister has called on activists to rethink a planned flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip and suggested how to avoid fresh tensions after last year's bloodshed, reports said.Civic groups should take into account the fact that the Rafah crossing (between Gaza and Egypt) has been opened and... act in a more careful manner, Ahmet Davutoglu said in remarks carried by Anatolia news agency Tuesday.The minister however insisted it would be unacceptable for the Turkish government to demand independent civic groups abandon the mission, planned for late June with 15 ships from various countries.In May last year, Israeli forces intercepted a flotilla led by a Turkish Islamist charity, killing nine Turkish activists and plunging ties with Ankara into deep crisis.In separate remarks, Davutoglu said the expected formation of a transitional Palestinian government under a unity deal between the radical group Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the secular Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas might help lower tensions in the region.

Israel should wait for the formation of the new Palestinian government and then lift the blockade of Gaza,he was quoted as saying on the Hurriyet newspaper's web site Tuesday.The aid flotilla should wait to see developments following Egypt's opening of the Rafah crossing and how Israel reacts to the new government to be set up in Palestine,he added.The minister argued a new Palestinian administration would mean that Gaza would no longer be under Hamas control and deprive Israel of the grounds for the blockade.A crisis may be overcome with certain steps by both sides... If we are talking about common sense, you can take those words of mine as common sense, he said.On Sunday, Palestinian officials suspended operations on their side of the Rafah crossing amid a spat with Egypt over capacity and coordination.International activists, who gathered in Istanbul last month, insisted they would sail to Gaza on the grounds that the Israeli blockade remained in place.They said 15 vessels would leave for Gaza from several Mediterranean ports around June 20, with some 1,500 activists from about 100 countries on board and hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian aid.Ties between one-time allies Turkey and Israel remain in crisis after last year's bloodshed, with Ankara demanding an apology and compensation for the victims' families.

Blair open to French Mideast peace talks
– Tue Jun 7, 5:24 am ET


OSLO (AFP) – Tony Blair, the envoy of the Quartet group of world powers seeking an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, said Tuesday he was open to a French proposal to host a Middle East peace conference.What the French foreign minister has been saying is absolutely right in the sense that you need to put together not just the support for Palestinian statehood and institutions building, but some political momentum has to be injected back into this,he said on a visit to Oslo.One of the ways political momentum could be injected, the former British prime minister said, would be by transforming the scheduled Paris meeting of international donors into a broader peace conference to help relaunch stalled negotiations.We should certainly examine that,he said.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a June 2 visit to Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories that Paris was ready to host a Middle East peace conference before the end of July in a bid to kickstart stalled negotiations.The proposal received a cool welcome from Israel and the United States, with Washington deeming such a conference premature.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has told France he is ready to attend if Israel accepts talks based on the 1967 borders.

The Quartet groups the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States.Peace talks hosted by the United States last year broke down in disagreement over Israeli settlement activity. The Palestinians have set a target of having a Palestinian state recognised at the UN General Assembly in September.France has taken the lead in recent weeks in pushing to meet the September deadline, hinting it may recognise an independent Palestinian state this year if peace talks are not back on track by then.

Clinton meets Israeli, Palestinian peace envoys
By Andrew Quinn – Mon Jun 6, 7:19 pm ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Monday as the United States seeks to find a way to revive moribund peace talks.Clinton also met visiting French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe -- who launched a separate bid to start talks -- but said it was too early to consider a proposed Paris conference because neither side appeared willing to talk despite a looming September showdown over Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.We strongly support a return to negotiations, but we do not think that it would be productive for there to be a conference about returning to negotiations, Clinton told reporters.There has to be a return to negotiations, which will take a lot of persuasion and preliminary work in order to set up a productive meeting between the parties, she said, adding that Washington was in a wait-and-see attitude.Clinton's meetings with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and his Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Molcho came amid mounting concern over the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, which remains deadlocked despite the wave of political change sweeping the Arab world.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he intends to seek U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September -- a move which both Israel and the United States say will only inflame tensions.Juppe said his offer last week to host talks between the two sides in Paris was based on concerns that that situation could spin out of control if September arrives and no peace talks are under way.We have the feeling if nothing happens before September, the situation will be very difficult for everybody, he told reporters.

FALTERING EFFORT

President Barack Obama presided over the resumption of direct peace talks between the two sides in September, but the effort collapsed almost immediately over Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.Obama has said he believed it was possible to get a framework deal for peace within a year, and last month sought to accelerate the momentum by proposing that the two sides discuss terms based on the borders that existed in before the 1967 war in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, along with agreed territorial swaps.But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition dominated by pro-settler parties, swiftly rejected the plan as unworkable.The faltering effort has been further strained by a recent Palestinian political unity deal between President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the rival Islamist Hamas, which controls Gaza and remains sworn to Israel's destruction.While the Palestinians say the planned unity government will be technocratic with no direct role for Hamas, both Israeli and U.S. leaders have said peace talks are not possible unless Hamas explicitly recognizes Israel's right to exist and renounces violence.

Clinton said on Tuesday those concerns remained.It is not enough for us that it would be called technocratic,she said.If Hamas is involved we think that undermines the whole purpose of negotiations because we would have a party that rejects Israel's right to exist.Erekat, speaking after his meeting with Clinton, said he had sought to address U.S. concerns over Hamas -- but repeated that Palestinians must achieve political reconciliation if they are to meet their goal of forming an independent state.This is not a power-sharing government,Erekat said.This will be a government for elections, and reconstruction of Gaza, and a government that runs Abbas' program,he said.He said the Palestinians remained firm in their intention to seek U.N. recognition, and warned that failure to move toward statehood could throw a question mark over the future viability of Abbas' Palestinian Authority.(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Israel sees Syrian hand in Golan clashes, 23 dead
By Ari Rabinovitch – Mon Jun 6, 6:05 pm ET


JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel, with U.S. backing, accused Syria on Monday of orchestrating deadly confrontations on a ceasefire line between the two countries as a distraction from Damascus's bloody crackdown on an 11-week-old revolt.Syria said 23 people, including a woman and a child, were killed and 350 wounded on Sunday when Israeli troops fired on Palestinian protesters who surged against the fortified boundary fence on Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said live Israeli fire had caused casualties and U.N. monitors were seeking to confirm facts.Russia voiced deep concern about the flareup and the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, while the United States said it was deeply troubled by attempts to breach the Golan disengagement line and urged restraint on both sides.

Washington backed Israel's charge that by permitting the protests to take place, President Bashar al-Assad was trying to shift world attention from the security forces' killing of at least 1,100 Syrians engaged in anti-government protests.This is clearly an attempt by Syria to incite these kinds of protests, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, saying Damascus hoped to divert attention from its own problems.Israel, like any sovereign nation, has a right to defend itself,Toner added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: The events along the Syrian border did not erupt by chance. There is an attempt being made here to heat up the border and to try and breach our borders.Netanyahu, speaking to reporters at Israel's parliament, said Israel would defend its borders and charged Syria with an attempt here to divert international attention from what is going on inside Syria and the difficult events in Hama.Sunday's protest was held to mark the 44th anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the Golan Heights, as well as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip where Palestinians want to establish a state.Although Israel and Syria are technically at war, and Syria is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war of Israel's foundation, the Golan Heights had long been quiet.That changed on May 15, when scores of flag-waving Palestinian activists flattened a fence on the demarcation line and briefly rallied inside Israeli-controlled territory.

LEGITIMACY

Rattled by the breach, Israel beefed up its defenses and warned that lethal force could be used. A Reuters reporter at the scene on Sunday saw Israeli sharpshooters firing at demonstrators at the fence and 10 people taken away on stretchers by comrades.With U.S.-brokered peace efforts stalled, some Palestinians inspired by non-violent popular revolts sweeping the Arab world are trying to adopt similar tactics against Israel.Israeli leaders said they feared such marches would recur ahead of the Palestinians' campaign to secure recognition of their claim to statehood at the United Nations in September.The official Syrian news agency SANA put Sunday's death toll at 23 and quoted Health Minister Wael al-Halki as saying a woman and child were among the dead. It said 350 people suffered gunshot wounds.The Israeli military said it believed a blast from what it said was a Syrian land mine detonated accidentally by petrol bombs thrown by protesters had caused 10 casualties. But it gave no overall figure for the dead and wounded.Before the Golan violence, Israel rarely censured the Assad government for its domestic crackdowns. Successive Israeli governments have sought peace with Assad, seeing his government as a possible anchor for wider Israeli-Arab accommodation.(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Andrew Quinn in Washington, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Dominic Evans in Beirut; Editing by Dan Williams and Janet Lawrence)

U.N. chief says Gaza flotilla panel to report in July
– Mon Jun 6, 5:15 pm ET


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A much-delayed U.N. panel set up to investigate last year's Israeli attack on an aid convoy bound for Gaza is now due to report back next month, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.This panel is still discussing the incident,Ban told reporters.They will bring me their recommendations and their findings some time in July.In May of last year, Israeli marines intercepted a six-ship flotilla in international waters and killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American aboard one vessel, the Mavi Marmara, owned by a Turkish Islamic charity.

Israel said its marines were attacked by activists wielding metal bars, clubs and knives, but organizers of the convoy denied that. The incident led to a breakdown in already strained ties between Turkey and Israel.Last August, Ban appointed a panel headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer to look into the incident. The panel also included former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe as well as Turkish and Israeli representatives.Ban never publicly set a deadline for it to complete its work, although U.N. officials had originally hoped it might do so first in February and then in April.Diplomats and U.N. officials have said the panel has been held up by disputes between its Turkish and Israeli members. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky suggested last month the group might not be able to produce a consensus document.Ban said there was still no exact date for the panel to report and that it was still working very, very hard.Israel blockades Gaza, a move it says is legal because Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fire rockets at the Jewish state. Many states and the United Nations have called for the blockade to be lifted.Israel says any aid for Gaza should go overland, which in practice has meant through Israel.Pro-Palestinian groups have said they are planning a new flotilla for Gaza in late June, a move that led Ban to appeal last month for governments to try to dissuade them. He repeated that message on Monday, saying it is very important to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
By The Associated Press – Mon Jun 6, 3:55 pm ET


SYRIA-Armed men attack Syrian security forces in a tense northern city, state television says, and 120 policemen and security forces are killed in a region where the army has carried out days of deadly assaults on protesters calling for the end of President Bashar Assad's rule. Communications are cut to the area around Jisr al-Shughour, and the details of the attack were impossible to verify, but there have been unconfirmed reports in the past by residents and activists of Syrians fighting back against security forces. The government promises a decisive response, setting the stage for an even stronger government crackdown against a popular uprising that began in mid-March.

YEMEN-With the wounded president out of Yemen, the United States and Saudi Arabia scramble to arrange a power transfer ensuring an end to his decades-long rule. But a top official says President Ali Abdullah Saleh, recovering in Saudi Arabia, would return home within days, a step almost certain to spark new, intensified fighting between his forces and opposition tribesmen determined to topple him. Both sides' fighters are deployed in the streets of the capital, and a cease-fire brokered by Saudi Arabia only a day earlier is already starting to fray, with clashes killing at least six.

LIBYA-Libya's rebels have arbitrarily detained dozens of civilians suspected of supporting ruler Moammar Gadhafi and at least one has died after apparently being tortured while in custody, Human Rights Watch says. Since the uprising started in mid-February, rebels have seized control of much of the country's east and scrambled to set up an administration in their de facto capital of Benghazi. Rebels also hold the western city of Misrata and smaller towns in the western mountains. Both sides have taken prisoners in the fighting. NATO intensifies its airstrikes in and around the capital of Tripoli, targeting military installations and a government building.

EGYPT-Crowds of Egyptians dressed in black hold demonstrations to honor a young man from Alexandria beaten to death a year ago in a savage attack blamed on police that helped inspire the uprising that brought down Egypt's president. Photographs of Khaled Said's badly disfigured and bloodied face were posted on the Internet and became an instant rallying point for campaigners trying to bring attention to rampant police brutality under the regime of Hosni Mubarak. A Facebook page in his honor called We are all Khaled Said was used months later to call for the protests that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11. On Monday's anniversary of his death, crowds held protests in Cairo and Alexandria to remember him and draw attention to continued abuses by Egyptian police.

BAHRAIN-Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured anti-government protesters during the months of unrest in Bahrain go on trial in a security court on allegations they participated in efforts to overthrow the Gulf country's monarchy. The prosecution of 47 health professionals is a sign that Bahrain's Sunni rulers will not end their relentless pursuit of the Shiite-led opposition despite officially lifting emergency rule last week. The medical workers are charged with participating in efforts to topple Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and taking part in illegal rallies.

Israel's Barak says Syrian president will fall
– Mon Jun 6, 10:56 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be encouraging unrest on the Israel-Syria frontier in a futile effort to save his regime.We have no choice, we have to defend our border and Assad, in my opinion will fall in the end, said Barak a day after hundreds of protesters from Syria tried to cross into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, prompting troops to open fire.It may be something that the Syrians are encouraging, it may be that they are pleased with it, they may think it distracts attention, Barak told Israel public radio.Syrian state television said 23 people were killed and some 350 wounded by Israeli gunfire, with all of the casualties falling on the Syrian side of a no-man's land.But the Israeli army said there were 10 dead, all of whom were killed when a number of Syrian landmines exploded in Quneitra after being set off by Molotov cocktails hurled by the protesters.Barak said Israel would continue to defend its borders and that Assad would not be able to use the confrontations to avoid the consequences of massive popular uprisings rocking Syria.

I think he will fall, he's lost his legitimacy, he may be able to stabilise for another six or nine months, he will be very weakened.Rights groups say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in Syria since protests erupted in mid-March.Damascus insists that the unrest is the work of armed terrorist gangs backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.If he stops the use of force today he will be seen as weak and will be brought down; if he continues, the killing will increase and cracks will start to appear, including within the army, Barak said.His fate is already determined. I think the same about Saleh in Yemen and Kadhafi in Libya,he said of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

Spat with Egypt shuts Rafah border crossing
by Sakher Abu El Oun – Sun Jun 5, 11:51 am ET


GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian officials have suspended operations at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in protest at what they say is Egyptian lack of cooperation at the terminal.Palestinian officials said on Sunday that they had halted operations on their side of the border crossing, after disagreements about capacity and coordination.The crossing was closed on Saturday, with the Palestinians saying Egypt halted operations without warning, stranding angry Palestinian travellers on the Gaza side of the terminal, unable to cross into Sinai.But on Sunday morning, it was Palestinian officials who closed the crossing, with terminal head Ayub Abu Shaar saying it would remain shut until officials on both sides came to an agreement on its operation.A senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused the Egyptian side of foot-dragging.We gave the Egyptian side our requests yesterday and we haven't had a response yet,he told AFP.

Operations... have been suspended until the Egyptian side responds to our requests, which are the implementation of the decision to open the crossing, an increase in the number of travellers, speeding up operations, shorter waiting times for travellers and an agreement on the working hours of the crossing.Earlier, Abu Shaar said the Palestinians had decided to suspend operations after three days of confusion and coordination problems at the crossing.He cited the slow processing of travellers and Egypt's decision to close the crossing on Saturday, which the Palestinians said was done without consultation.The reopening of the crossing will be announced after these problems are solved, he said.On Saturday, Abu Shaar said the crossing was closed without warning, with phone calls to the Egyptian side going unanswered as hundreds of would-be travellers massed at the Palestinian side of the border.According to a security source in Egypt, the crossing was closed for renovation work that was to have been completed on Friday.Egyptian security and state television later said the crossing had reopened, but only for pedestrians, as the works prevented the passage of vehicles.But Palestinian officials said the border was still closed and Hamas police had moved Palestinian travellers away from the frontier fence.On Sunday, a senior Egyptian official said Rafah was open in both directions including for vehicles, but that the Palestinian side had shut down operations in Gaza.

Passage from Egypt to the Gaza Strip is functioning normally, but no Palestinians have arrived in Egypt because Hamas has closed the terminal on the pretext of examining, with the Egyptians, the mechanism for its operation,he added.Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing last month, ending its cooperation with a blockade Israel imposed in 2006, after Gaza-based militants snatched an Israeli soldier.The blockade was tightened in 2007 when the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the territory, with Egypt cooperating by tightly restricting movement through Rafah.
Rafah is Gaza's only border crossing not controlled by Israel, and news of Egypt's decision to reopen it was warmly welcomed in the coastal strip, though Israel strongly criticised the move.Cairo's decision to permanently reopen Rafah came more than three months after former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned following 18 days of massive street protests against his rule.

Palestinians charged with murder of settler family
– Sun Jun 5, 11:26 am ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Two Palestinians have been charged with the grisly murder of a young Israeli family stabbed to death in a West Bank settlement, the Israeli military said on Sunday.Its website said military prosecutors charged Hakim Awad and a relative, Amjad Awad, both from the West Bank village of Awarta, with the murder of five members of the Fogel family: three-month-old Hadas, four-year-old Elad, 11-year-old Yoav, and their parents Udi and Ruthie.In addition to the frenzied March 11 stabbing attack at the Itamar settlement near Awarta, the men were also charged with stealing weapons, breaking and entering, and conspiracy to commit a crime, the military said.They confessed to committing the acts and incriminated one another, the website said, quoting the chargesheet.Also, fingerprints and DNA material of the two were found at the (Fogel) family home.The Ynet news website quoted Amjad Awad as saying he had no remorse, as he was led into a military court in the West Bank for the indictment.I'm proud of what I did,it quoted him as saying.I don't regret what I did.Neither the military website nor Ynet gave a date for the trial.

Sunday, June 05, 2011

ABBAS AGREES TALKS ON 1967 BORDERS

Abbas agrees to peace talks based on 1967 borders
– Sun Jun 5, 6:29 am ET


RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has told France he is ready to attend a Paris peace conference if Israel accepts talks based on the 1967 borders, an aide told AFP Sunday.Nimr Hammad, a political adviser to Abbas, said the president had told French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe that he agreed officially to a French proposal to host a peace conference in Paris before July.Juppe raised the possibility of the conference during a visit to Israel and the West Bank this week.President Abbas told foreign minister Juppe that he agrees officially to the French initiative of holding an international peace conference in Paris,Hammad told AFP.Palestinian agreement is contingent on Israel also agreeing... to start negotiations on the basis of the 1967 border of the Palestinian state.

Palestinians cancel marches toward Israeli borders
– Sat Jun 4, 2:41 pm ET


DAMASCUS, Syria – Palestinians in Syria canceled plans to march to the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday's anniversary of the 1967 war in which Israel captured the territory. Palestinians in Lebanon have also scrapped border rallies.Similar protests turned deadly on May 15 when thousands of Arab protesters mobilized by calls on Facebook surged up to Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations. Those marches were to commemorate another key anniversary — of Israel's 1948 creation — and sparked clashes that killed at least 15 people.An organizer of Sunday's protests in Syria, Khaled Abdul-Majid, gave no explanation for the cancellation but promised the march would be held at a future date.The march in Lebanon had to be abandoned after Lebanese authorities declared the area around the border a closed military zone to prevent the demonstration. Instead, strikes were planned for all 12 of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps, organizers said Friday.In the marches in May, hundreds of Palestinians and their supporters poured across the Syrian frontier and staged riots, drawing Israeli accusations that Damascus, and its ally Iran, orchestrated the unrest to shift attention from an uprising back home.

The borders were quiet on Saturday, but Israeli security forces were bracing for possible protests.Lebanese and U.N. armored personnel carriers patrolled the Lebanon-Israel border and a U.N. helicopter flew overhead.Half a dozen Israeli soldiers stopped cars driving toward Majdal Shams, the border village in the Israeli-occupied Golan that became the epicenter of last month's protests after the border breach.
Six Israeli police vans and a water cannon were parked in a lot nearby.Village residents said Israeli tanks had been patrolling the Syrian border for the past two weeks. Since the border breach, the military has fortified the frontier with trenches and minefields.

Abbas nods at French bid to revive peace talks
By Ali Sawafta – Sat Jun 4, 4:51 am ET


RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday cautiously welcomed a French proposal to convene Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Paris to try to renew collapsed peace talks.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe this week offered to host talks to discuss ideas for a Palestinian state raised last month by President Barack Obama, aiming to avert a showdown at the United Nations in September.We said that in principle that this initiative is acceptable,Abbas told Reuters, two days after his talks with Juppe in the West Bank city of Ramallah.Abbas said the French plan talks about President Obama's vision ...in which he spoke about a (Palestinian) state with the '67 borders with borders with Israel, Egypt and Jordan.Under the plan discussed with Juppe,neither side would carry out unilateral actions,Abbas added.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has yet to respond publicly to the French proposal, has rejected any withdrawal to the borders existing before Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, insisting such a frontier would be indefensible.In a statement after Netanyahu met with Juppe on Saturday the Israeli leader said he asked France to continue efforts to secure the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held since his capture in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

FRANCE SLIGHTLY OPTIMISTIC

I would be lying if I said I was very optimistic. I am slightly optimistic,Juppe said after his talks with Netanyahu.The French proposal calls for Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to meet this month or by early July with an eye to reviving talks which broke off last year in a dispute on Jewish settlement building in land Palestinians seek for a state.The Palestinians plan to unilaterally seek U.N. recognition of statehood in September -- a step Israel strongly opposes fearing it could end up isolated internationally.The United States has already said it opposes the plan, which could kill off the initiative in the Security Council before it can reach the General Assembly.France, which is also one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has not yet decided whether to back the Palestinians, Juppe said.We are convinced that if nothing happens here between now and September the situation will be very difficult for everyone at the time of the United Nations General Assembly,Juppe said during his visit this week.We have to avoid such a situation and the only way to avoid it is to do what we are proposing, that's to say return to the (negotiating) table,Juppe said.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Pope agrees on urgent need for Palestinian state
– Fri Jun 3, 12:40 pm ET


VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in the Vatican on Friday and said there was an urgent need for a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Particular stress was laid on the urgent need to find a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,the Vatican said in a statement after the talks -- the fourth time Benedict has met Abbas since becoming pope.Any resolution to the conflict will have to respect the rights of all parties including through the attainment of the Palestinian people's legitimate aspirations for an independent state,the statement added.It was thus reiterated that soon the State of Israel and the Palestinian State must live in security, at peace with their neighbours and within internationally recognised borders,it continued.

The Vatican said the two had also discussed the irreplaceable contribution provided by Christian minorities living in the Palestinian Territories and the Middle East -- a cherished issue for the current pope.The Middle East peace process has been a constant concern for the pope, who called for the creation of two states during a visit to the Holy Land in 2009.Revolutions across the Arab world have raised tensions in the region.Israeli police and army are on alert as Palestinians gear up to mark 44 years since Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Six Day War.
The anniversary will be marked on Sunday when Palestinians in neighbouring Arab states say they are planning to march on Israel's borders.Thousands of protesters in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza last month tried to force their way across the borders in a mass show of mourning over the 1948 creation of the Jewish state.

Israel denies breakthrough on Shalit release
– Thu Jun 2, 12:33 pm ET


JERUSALEM (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Thursday denied reports of a breakthrough in negotiations to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants in Gaza in 2006.Netanyahu's office issued the statement after Egyptian newspaper El-Mesryoon reported that a deal to free Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners would be completed within hours.The report cited Egypt's former ambassador to Tel Aviv, Mohammed Bassiouny, but he quickly denied having said a deal was imminent.I did not say that the deal will happen in a few hours. I did not say that, there are still problems, he told Israeli public radio by phone.The report was also roundly denied by Egyptian and Hamas officials, as well as Netanyahu's office.Following the report in Egypt concerning Gilad Shalit, the prime minister's office said that contacts over Gilad Shalit are ongoing in a continuous and intensive manner, but there is no breakthrough on the subject,the statement from Netanyahu's office said.Palestinian officials in Ramallah told AFP that envoys from Germany, Turkey and Qatar, as well as Hamas officials, were in Cairo for talks on Shalit.Israeli media also reported that senior defence ministry official Amos Gilad was in Cairo on Wednesday for a brief visit to discuss the issue.

Shalit, now 24, was seized in a 2006 dawn cross-border raid by militants from three Palestinian groups including Gaza rulers Hamas.The Islamist group, which took control of Gaza a year after Shalit's capture, has demanded hundreds of prisoners in exchange for his release, including scores of militants responsible for deadly anti-Israeli attacks.But talks have stalled, with Netanyahu warning that Palestinian militants released in previous prisoner exchanges have gone on to launch deadly attacks on Israel.Netanyahu has come under increasing criticism for his government's failure to secure Shalit's release in talks, which have been mediated by Germany.The last sign of life received from Shalit's captors was in October 2009 when a video recording showed him looking gaunt but apparently in good health.

World leaders in Rome as Mideast diplomacy heats up
– Thu Jun 2, 9:49 am ET


ROME (AFP) – Security forces locked down central Rome on Thursday as world leaders including the Israeli and Palestinian presidents attended a celebration to mark the founding of the Italian republic in 1946.The Afghan, Argentinian and Russian presidents were also among the more than 80 international delegations taking part, along with US Vice President Joseph Biden, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, on the defensive after his party's shock defeat in local elections, will be hosting talks with Biden and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev following a military parade on Thursday.Israeli military radio also reported the possibility of an impromptu summit in the Italian capital between Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Biden.Peres said he was prepared to meet Abbas but acknowledged his visit came as part of Israeli efforts to convince European nations to oppose Palestinian plans to seek UN membership as a state in September.There are differences of opinion between European countries. Europe is not united on this issue. That's why the moment has come to try to wield influence,Peres told Israeli radio.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who met Abbas in Rome on Wednesday ahead of a two-day visit to Israel.Juppe said France was ready to host a peace conference before the end of July to kickstart stalled negotiations.Air space over Rome was closed off for the parade, which featured a fly-past by the Frecce Tricolori air force aerobatic team as well as an array of military hardware from the early 20th century to the present day.The event took place along Via dei Fori Imperiali -- a spectacular avenue through the ancient Roman Forum leading to the Colosseum that was built by Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.After the end of World War II and the killing of Mussolini, Italians voted in a popular referendum on June 2, 1946 to abolish the monarchy. The yearly Feast of the Republic celebration is a public holiday in Italy.This year the celebration is particularly significant and is the first time that so many foreign officials have been invited because 2011 is also the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.Many foreign dignitaries are housed in luxurious hotels along the Via Veneto -- a famous street seen as the epitome for Rome chic as captured by Federico Fellini's cult 1960s film La Dolce Vita.

Closing Gaza gap, Israel posts Iron Dome in Sderot
By Ran Tzabar – Thu Jun 2, 6:44 am ET


SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) – Israel has deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor outside a Gaza border town that has borne the brunt of Palestinian shelling attacks, posing a new test for the fledgling system underwritten by Washington.Rolled out in March after a rushed production, Iron Dome won plaudits from U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon for downing eight out of nine Katyusha-style rockets launched at two southern Israeli cities over the course of a day.The movement this week of an Iron Dome unit to Sderot, just 4 km (2 miles) from the Gaza Strip, signaled readiness to deal with shorter-range rockets and mortars in the face of skepticism from some independent experts about the system's capabilities.Iron Dome has passed field trials for threats with ranges of between 4 kilometers to 40 kilometers, so this deployment tests the lower-most end of that spectrum, said Uzi Rubin, a missile designer who consults for Israel's Defense Ministry.Noting the recent ebb in violence along the frontier of Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza, Rubin said: Let's hope action by Iron Dome is not required. But as a rule, Israel does not bring systems that are not operational into a war zone.Disclosing the deployment on Thursday, a military source said it was part of a rotation of Israel's two Iron Domes while more of the $50 million batteries are prepared.Israel wants between 10 and 15 units to defend its Palestinian and Lebanese fronts.The Pentagon said last week it planned to help Israel buy four new Iron Domes after the U.S. Congress budgeted $203.8 million in funding assistance for the system in fiscal 2011.

15-SECOND PROBLEM

Seeing Iron Dome sent first in March and April to Beersheba and Ashkelon, residents of Sderot had accused the government of neglecting their defenses in favor of the industrial cities, whose inland locations were harder to hit from coastal Gaza.It makes me feel safer, no question there, because I've seen how the rockets explode above,a Sderot shop-keeper, who gave his name only as Rami, told Reuters on Thursday, referring to television footage of Iron Dome's shoot-downs on April 7.But another resident, Sasson Salah, doubted whether Iron Dome's radar-guided interceptor missiles would be quick enough to solve the 15-second problem -- the flight time of a mortar bomb or crude Qassam rocket fired at Sderot from northeast Gaza.Hamas joined smaller guerrilla groups in the recent round of fighting with Israel, but has largely held fire since signing a power-share accord a month ago with the rival, Western-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Seeking to play down Iron Dome's enhancement of Israel's already superior arsenal, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: The new Israeli technology to fight the rockets of the resistance will fail. The militants are able to face any Israeli security measure.(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Mideast talks must resume by September: France
– Thu Jun 2, 4:26 am ET


ROME (AFP) – French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks by September or face consequences, after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Rome on Wednesday.If nothing happens by September, France... has already said that there will be consequences,Juppe told reporters at the close of the talks.The deadline is September. Something absolutely must happen by September.The talks have been on hold since September 2010, when they ground to a halt over Israeli settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land.
Juppe is to travel on to Israel and the Palestinian territories with a message from President Nicolas Sarkozy telling both sides that peace is now within reach and that the current Middle East stalemate is untenable.We French -- and with us the whole of Europe -- are convinced... that maintaining the status quo in the Middle East would be an error,he said.Everything is changing in the region, in Egypt, Syria... it's time to take the initiative again,he added.Juppe stressed that the talks would be based on the 1967 borders, the recognition of Israel and its right to live in peace and security.Perhaps at a later point of the talks we can address the difficult question of refugees and Jerusalem,he said.

The Palestinians' key negotiator Saeb Erakat, who was present at the meeting between Juppe and Abbas, said that the priority for Palestinians was to restart talks with Israel.We hope that the Israeli government can announce its acceptance of two states on the basis of '67 borders, he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already rejected the suggestion.If it cannot do that then... we are left with no alternative but to go to the (UN) Security Council for admittance,he said.

Palestinians mobilizing support for statehood
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press – Wed Jun 1, 7:13 p ET


UNITED NATIONS – The Palestinians hope to mobilize countries, political leaders and millions of supporters to back their demand for recognition as an independent state in September, the Palestinian's top U.N. diplomat said Wednesday.Riyad Mansour told a group of reporters Wednesday that the Palestinian people are ready to take to the streets peacefully as they did in 1987, and follow in the footsteps of Tunisians and Egyptians earlier this year, to demand an end to Israel's occupation and independence.The United States, Israel's ally, is the main stumbling block to U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state because of its veto power on the Security Council. The 15-member council must recommend statehood, and only then can the 192-member General Assembly vote on membership, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority.Mansour indicated that a key Palestinian goal in the coming months is to increase the number of states recognizing Palestine from 112 at present to 130 or 140, more than the two-thirds required, and to increase pressure on President Barack Obama's administration.I need to mobilize the largest number of forces, whether in the ground or in the political front or in the recognition, where I make it possible to prevail on our agenda in September,Mansour said.This battle is not a battle of a few diplomats and a few politicians. This is a battle of the entire Palestinian people.He said the readiness of the Palestinian people is extremely high — it's exactly like the Egyptians, the Tunisians and other Arabs who are taking their cause in their hands.Mansour wouldn't say exactly what would happen between now and September in the Palestinian territories, but he indicated that there could be protests that spread elsewhere.

If hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are in the streets for weeks and weeks before D-day in September ... supported by millions of Arabs in the Arab capitals and cities ... what would be the argument of President Barack Obama in trying really to disregard this wish? he asked.Mansour said if diplomacy and peaceful protests aren't sufficient, we have other tactics that we can use in order to flex additional muscles in order to make it very, very difficult for anyone to obstruct our effort. But he refused to elaborate on what those tactics might be.After two decades of on-and-off Israeli-Palestinian talks that have produced few results, the frustrated Palestinians have set September as their goal for statehood.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he prefers to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Mideast war — through negotiations. But he said he is being pushed into unilateral steps by Israel's refusal to engage in talks on terms backed by the international community.

Obama called for a peace settlement by September.Mansour said every country that recognizes the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders is investing in peace and expediting the date when two independent states, Israel and Palestine, can live side by side in peace.He also noted that Israel did not negotiate its independence in 1948 and the United States didn't negotiate its independence in 1776.Our independence is a natural right of the Palestinian people alone ... as part of our right of self-determination, Mansour said.We will never negotiate our independence with anyone, nor will we ask for permission from anyone to be independent.

Promised donor aid not arriving: Palestinian PM
– Tue May 31, 12:44 pm ET


RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority is facing a financial crisis because funds pledged by donor nations are not arriving on time, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday.Speaking at a press conference with Japan's representative to the Palestinian Authority, Fayyad said the slow delivery of promised aid was putting pressure on the government.The financial crisis continues until now, to varying degrees, and has continued alongside the work of the Palestinian Authority since mid-2010,Fayyad warned, saying the government was facing a serious shortfall.We need to see an acceleration in the receipt of aid that has been committed,he added, stressing that the Palestinians are not asking for anything more than what we need.In 2011, we have been receiving $52.5 million dollars a month from the Arab countries, which is much less than the amount they committed to deliver,he said.The Palestinian Authority is largely reliant on foreign donors to make up its yearly budget. It also receives tax and tariff revenue that is collected by Israel and delivered periodically.Earlier this month, Israel halted the payments temporarily in response to a reconciliation deal between the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, and rival Islamist group Hamas, which runs Gaza.

The move, which violates international accords signed by Israel, provoked international criticism and Israel agreed shortly afterwards to resume the funds transfers.

Israeli military says will stop new Gaza flotilla
– Tue May 31, 12:38 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's top general said on Tuesday the military is making preparations to stop a new aid flotilla that pro-Palestinian groups plan to dispatch in late June to the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.In the Gaza Strip, its Hamas rulers marked the first anniversary of a deadly Israeli raid on a convoy bound for the enclave by unveiling a memorial to the nine Turks killed by navy commandos who clashed with activists wielding clubs and knives.We are preparing for the flotilla in accordance with the orders of the Israeli government, Lieutenant-General Benny Ganz, the military's chief of staff, was quoted by an official as telling a parliamentary committee.We are preparing to stop it.The official, who briefs reporters on the deliberations of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, did not elaborate on Ganz's testimony.Israeli media have reported that commandos were revising their tactics in the wake of the May 31, 2010 raid that strained Israel's relations with Turkey and drew international criticism that led to an easing of its land blockade of Gaza.

At a news conference in Turkey on Monday on the deck of the Mavi Marmara, the vessel where the confrontation occurred, a coalition of 22 pro-Palestinian activist groups called on governments to press Israel to avoid a repeat of the bloodshed.The groups said 15 ships, including the Mavi Marmara, would be in the new flotilla, carrying 1,500 people from around 100 countries, humanitarian aid and construction materials.
Turkish leaders and the activists have termed Israel's blockade illegal. Israel says the restrictions help prevent more weapons from being smuggled into Gaza, where Hamas, which has called for its destruction, has been in control since 2007.Egypt eased travel restrictions for Gaza residents on Saturday, eroding the blockade, but a spokesman for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II vowed to keep challenging it.At the Gaza memorial ceremony, Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal to governments to discourage activists from sending a new flotilla.We deplore these comments and we demand they be withdrawn, Haniyeh said, urging the United Nations to carry out its duties and commitments toward an occupied people.Organizers of the convoy, he said, must press ahead and not hesitate, for the sake of their brothers in Gaza.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)

WE IN CANADA WILL BE IN TROUBLE FOR JOINING THIS ISRAEL HATER MURDER CREW.GOD WILL NOT STAND FOR US GOING AGAINST ISRAEL.

Canadians to join Gaza flotilla despite warnings
– Mon May 30, 4:40 pm ET


OTTAWA (AFP) – A group representing 200 Canadian organizations vowed on Monday to send a boat to the Gaza Strip as part of the second Freedom Flotilla despite Ottawa's warnings against provocative aid deliveries.The Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) is dismissing Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird's misinformation about the upcoming flotilla, and is promising to sail with the Freedom Flotilla II next month, the group said in a statement.CBG views Minister Baird's statement as an attempt to abdicate the Canadian government?s obligation to ensure the safety of the Canadians who will be on board the flotilla, including the Canadian boat Tahrir and to justify, in advance, any crimes Israel may commit against peaceful unarmed civilians from Canada and all over the world, as it did a year ago tomorrow,it added.CBG claims to have the support of thousands of Canadians and some 200 local non-profit organizations.Baird warned Sunday against Canadian involvement in the flotilla that organizers say will leave in June for the blockaded Gaza Strip, saying he urged those wishing to deliver humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip to do so through established channels.Unauthorized efforts to deliver aid are provocative and, ultimately, unhelpful to the people of Gaza,he said.On May 31, 2010, Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of an international aid flotilla bound for Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists in international waters and drawing international condemnation.Israel has long claimed that attempts to breach the naval blockade are political rather than genuinely humanitarian.It has also offered to transfer any bona fide aid shipments directly to Gaza, provided it can inspect the cargo to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas and other militant groups.

Palestinian government deal by June 6: Shaath
– Sun May 29, 1:00 pm ET


GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas expect to agree the make-up of a transitional government of independents by June 6, senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said on Sunday.Speaking at a news conference after meeting Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, Shaath declined to discuss potential ministers in the new government, which is mandated by a surprise unity deal signed by the two groups last month.It's not my role to talk about the candidates,he said, pointing out that a joint committee was studying potential ministers.There will be agreement between the parties on all the names by June 6, he said.Bitter rivals for decades, Hamas and Fatah are working to overcome their differences under the terms of a surprise reconciliation deal signed in Cairo last month.The accord calls on the two sides to work towards integrating their rival security forces and reforming the Palestine Liberation Organisation.It also mandates legislative and presidential elections within a year, with a transitional government of independents being formed to lay the groundwork for the votes.Shaath said on Sunday that the two sides were close to resolving another thorny issue -- political prisoners.

Hamas and Fatah have routinely arrested each other's members, with each side accusing the other of mistreatment and arbitrary detention.The reconciliation deal calls for the release of all political prisoners from the two sides, and Shaath said political arrests had already been halted.He said he expected that the two groups would close the political arrests file soon.There is full agreement on that, he said.The number of prisoners remaining in detention has shrunk and the file will be closed in upcoming days in accordance with the (unity) agreement,Shaath said.He gave no details about any planned prisoner releases.The reconciliation deal signed by the two parties aims to end years of bitter rivalry that boiled over in 2007, a year after Hamas won a surprise victory in legislative elections, culminating in street battles between the two groups in Gaza.Hamas routed Fatah, seizing control of the Gaza Strip and leaving Abbas's party to run a parallel government unable to extend control beyond the West Bank.

Arab League backs Palestinian statehood bid
– Sun May 29, 3:05 am ET


CAIRO – The Arab League has endorsed a Palestinian bid to seek recognition at the United Nations of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.The League says it will prepare documents to support the bid at the next General Assembly meeting in September in New York. Egypt's official MENA news agency says the announcement came after an Arab ministerial meeting in Qatar late on Saturday.The move pits the League against the United States and Israel, which oppose the Palestinian bid. The idea for the Palestinian push came after the collapse of the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.The Palestinians now hope for a U.N. recognition this fall of a state that would include the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Mideast war.

Egypt eases travel restrictions for Gaza travelers
By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Sat May 28, 6:27 pm ET


RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – Egypt eased travel restrictions for residents of Gaza Saturday, eroding a blockade of the Palestinian territory imposed by Israel to isolate its Islamist Hamas rulers.Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979 but whose interim military rulers want to improve relations with Palestinians, allowed nearly 300 Gazans to enter its territory at the Rafah crossing in the first hour after it opened.By the end of the day, 450 travelers had crossed into Egypt. Only 23 were turned back because of Egyptian security concerns, a Palestinian border official said.The official said 450 was the total number of people able to cross in a day and a half last week.The Rafah crossing, Gaza's only door to the outside world not controlled by Israel, will operate six days a week instead of five and will open two hours longer per day.I believe this a unique move and positive development, said Ghazi Hamad, Hamas's deputy foreign minister.Israel maintains a tight blockade of the Gaza Strip because Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state and calls for its destruction.Israel allows most commercial goods to be brought into the Gaza Strip through land border crossings but limits the import of construction material it says could be used by Hamas to produce weapons or fortifications. It lets out a small number of Gazans, mainly for medical treatment.Weapons and consumer goods have been smuggled for years through tunnels that run under the Gaza-Egypt border.

LOOSER TRAVEL RULES

Under Egypt's new travel guidelines, women, minors and men over 40 no longer require a visa to enter the country, meaning hundreds more passengers will be able to cross every day.Previously, the terminal could cope with no more than 300 outgoing passengers per day and Hamad said with streamlined coordination he expected the daily numbers to triple.We will cooperate with Egyptian brothers to make sure the new arrangements get implemented smoothly and accurately ... We even hope that 1,000 people will be able to cross every day,Hamad, who oversees work at the crossing, told Reuters.Palestinians say the Egyptian move marks a new era in relations after the February removal in an uprising of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who helped preserve the blockade and sided with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's rival.Egypt brokered a reconciliation pact between Hamas and Fatah signed earlier this month to end a four-year feud in a move which Palestinians hope will lead to the formation of a unity government and elections within a year.Nabil Shaath, a senior Fatah official visiting the Gaza Strip, said the easing of travel for Gazans came as a result of the reconciliation deal which has made the job easier for Cairo ... as now they are dealing with one (Palestinian) entity.We are very happy, it was a brave decision by Egypt to open the crossing and to dismantle the prison imposed by Israel on the people (of Gaza),he said.The blockade has compounded poverty in the territory of 1.5 million. It was eased by Israel in the wake of an international outcry a year ago after it killed nine pro-Palestinian Turks in confrontations during a commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.Israel has said it hopes Cairo will not heed Hamas demands to allow commercial goods through the crossing, saying it fears more arms will be smuggled into the territory.Shaath rejected the fears: Opening this door does not mean Egypt wants to allow bombs and explosives ... Egypt wants to allow safe passage of individuals who want to conduct their lives.(Additional reporting by Ahmed El-Shemi in Rafah, Egypt; Editing by David Cowell)