Canada condemns Jerusalem attack Fri Mar 7, 8:56 AM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada Thursday firmly condemned the school shooting in Jerusalem that killed eight people and demanded that Palestinian leaders reject terrorist tactics that threaten the peace process.
Canada is saddened and concerned by the shootings that took place in a Jerusalem school, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said in a statement extending his condolences to the victims' families and Israel's government.Canada condemns this terrorist act in the strongest possible terms. It does nothing to advance the Palestinian cause, he said.Canada calls on all Palestinian leaders to reject such atrocious terrorist tactics, which are contrary to the peace process, Bernier added.Eight students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in predominantly Jewish west Jerusalem were killed and another nine wounded late Thursday when a Palestinian from east Jerusalem entered the building and started shooting, Israeli police said.The attack, Israel's worst in four years, came after more than a week of flaring Israeli-Palestinian violence in and around the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where more than 130 Palestinians have been killed in eight days.
Hamas claims Jerusalem school attack Fri Mar 7, 9:41 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Islamist Hamas movement on Friday claimed responsibility for a gun attack which killed eight Jewish teenagers at a Jerusalem religious school the night before. Hamas is responsable for the attack. The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades will officially claim the attack at the right moment, a senior Hamas official told AFP, referring to the group's armed wing.
ITS ABOUT TIME............?????????????
World disgusted by attack on Jerusalem school Fri Mar 7, 11:56 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - World governments issued a fresh wave of condemnation Friday of a gun attack in a Jerusalem religious school, after the Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the shooting. The strongest language came from Washington, where there was anger over the scenes of joy in the streets of Gaza, where crowds of Palestinian gunmen fired into the air to celebrate Thursday's murder of eight teenagers.It was extremely disheartening to see people in the streets in Gaza and elsewhere celebrating such an attack. That is fairly disgusting, actually, White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.This was a vicious attack, there is nothing that can explain away this kind of attack. But the most important thing is that the peace process continues and that the parties are committed to it, he added.Already on Thursday, US President George W. Bush had branded the attack barbaric and vicious, leading a chorus of outrage from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and governments around the world.Condemnation continued to roll in from all quarters on Friday, but Hamas was unmoved, and a senior official in the movement told AFP that it was preparing to formally claim responsibility for the attack.Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, which in the recent weeks has seen a surge in violence and more than 130 Palestinians have died as Israeli forces respond to the firing of makeshift rockets at Jewish communities.
Earlier, Lebanese Hezbollah had said Thursday's school killings were carried out in reprisal for the death of one of the anti-Israeli militia's senior commanders, who was assassinated in a Damascus bombing on Februaury 12.But whoever sent the Palestinian gunman, 25-year-old Alaa Hisham Abu Dheim, to kill students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, a theological school in mainly Jewish west Jerusalem, the reaction from around the world was similar.The fatal shootings in Jerusalem are an unacceptable terrorist attack and I condemn them in as strong terms as they have been condemned by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and others, said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.But while the condemnation of the attack was very clear, Bildt and others urged the parties in the Middle East peace process not to allow their anger to further disrupt attempts to push forward with dialogue.After the recent events in Gaza, we are in a very sensitive situation. It is therefore important that both parties -- despite what has happened -- are firmly determined to move the peace negotiations forward, he said.Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi also urged Israel to pursue peace talks with the Palestinians despite attacking the cowardly shooting.And a statement from the Turkish foreign ministry echoed this message, saying: We sincerely hope this hateful attack will strengthen both sides' determination to achieve peace.
Human rights group Amnesty International also condemned the school attack as a gross abuse of international humanitarian law but urged Israel not to react with more military action in the Palestinian territories.The lives of Palestinian civilians, who bear no responsibility for yesterday's attack in Jerusalem, should not be put in jeopardy as a result, said Malcolm Stuart, Amnesty's chief for the Middle East and North Africa.Attempts Thursday by the UN Security Council to agree a statement on the shootings fell apart amid an angry row between Israel and Libya, which wanted to also condemn Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets.But individually, most leading nations were forthright in their response. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: This is clearly an attempt to strike a blow at the very heart of the peace process.He added: I think it's very important to emphasise that those people who want to stop the peace process should be stopped from doing so by the combined determination of the whole world.German Chancellor Angela Merkel was devastated by the attack and condemned it in the strongest terms, a government spokesman said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned what he called a cowardly and barbarous act, his spokesman said. He would insist on the importance of continuing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks when he meets Israeli President Shimon Peres in Paris next Monday, the spokesman added.
We strongly and unreservedly condemn this terrorist act which has no justification, a statement from the Russian foreign ministry said.
Israeli warplanes fly over Beirut By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 7, 12:22 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes flew over Beirut on Friday, the Lebanese army said, a day after a Palestinian gunman killed eight Jewish seminary students in Jerusalem. Two enemy Israeli warplanes flew over the southern city of Tyre, Beirut and the port town of Jounieh, north of the capital, before heading back to the occupied territories, the army said in a statement. The Israeli army said it knew of no activity in Beirut.Hezbollah's Al-Manar satellite TV station said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the attack on the Jewish seminary — a claim that could not be verified.Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed in a car bomb in Syria last month. The militant Shiite group has blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed retaliation.Israeli warplanes frequently fly over south Lebanon in what Israel says are reconnaissance missions. The overflights have drawn ground fire from Lebanese troops on at least two occasions since an Aug. 14, 2006, cease-fire ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.They have occasionally flown over Beirut.Three Israeli reconnaissance planes violated Lebanese airspace in southern Lebanon Thursday, the Lebanese army said in an earlier statement.
Latin patriarch in Holy Land set to retire Fri Mar 7, 1:41 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, announced on Friday he will retire on March 19 at the age of 75. Patriarch Michel Sabbah will be replaced by Fuad Twal, the 67-year-old bishop who has assisted him since 2005.On March 19, 2008, I shall reach the age of 75, the age of retirement according to the Church's tradition, Sabbah said in his last pastoral letter.Sabbah was named Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope John Paul II in 1987, becoming the first Palestinian to hold the position since the Crusades.Like all the Palestinians, we are victims of the occupation, he said of Christians in the Holy Land.Like all the Palestinians, we have to pay the price in order to again find our political and economic freedom as well as in some ways, our religious freedom where access to the Holy Places and to Jerusalem itself is concerned.Sabbah called for a non-violent resistance that would lead Israel and the Palestinians to enjoy their freedom, sovereignty and security.The Christian vision in the ongoing conflict is of a land that belongs to two peoples but that first of all is the land of God, Sabbah said.His successor, Twal, was born on October 23, 1940 of a Christian Bedouin tribe in Jordan.
Israel say peace talks to continue By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 8, 4:29 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will proceed within days despite a shooting attack that killed eight students at a Jewish seminary, Israeli officials said Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity since there has been no official announcement regarding the talks. The comments came hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for Israel not to abandon peace efforts after a recent escalation of violence.The attack in Jerusalem on Thursday and the continuing violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel had threatened to stall the U.S.-backed talks that aim for a peace deal by the end of the year.
Abbas had briefly called off the talks after the recent killing of more than 120 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, in Israeli military operations in Gaza. The Israeli incursion was in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.But on Saturday, Abbas urged a continuation of the negotiations.Despite all the circumstances we're living through and all the attacks we're experiencing, we insist on peace. There is no other path, Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in his first response to the Jerusalem shooting attack, called the attack horrible and compared it to the Gaza militants' rocket attacks.The perpetrators of both intend to make our lives unbearable, he said Saturday. This won't happen.He did not speak about the peace talks with the Palestinians. But the Israeli officials on Saturday reiterated previous comments that the attack would not bring a halt to the talks, which they would continue sometime in the coming week, which begins Sunday.Israel and Abbas' West Bank government renewed negotiations in December after a meeting hosted by President Bush in Annapolis, Md.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel remains committed to the Annapolis framework.Israel and the Palestinians were slated to resume talks Thursday in a meeting with a U.S. general assigned to monitor progress, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Saturday. Regev said the meeting was not definite.The Israeli officials said the talks would be held on several levels.
Abbas also voiced support Saturday for Egyptian efforts backed by the United States to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic rival to Abbas' Fatah government that wrested control of the Gaza Strip in June.Hamas is demanding that Israel stop military operations in the Gaza Strip and open crossings with the territory, which have largely been closed since the Hamas takeover. Israel insists that Hamas stop the rocket fire.So long as there is an assault, there will be resistance, said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.Regev declined to discuss the Egyptian mediation efforts. But in a sign that Israel could be considering a truce, Israel Radio reported that Amos Gilad, a senior Defense Ministry official, would head to Egypt on Sunday to discuss Gaza. Israeli defense officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.Those killed in the Jerusalem attack were students at a Jewish seminary, one 26 years old and the others between the ages of 15 and 19. Israeli police have arrested eight people in connection to the attack, they said Saturday. The gunman did not meet the typical profile of Palestinian attackers, police said.
He is not known to the security forces, Jerusalem police commander Aharon Franco told Channel Two TV. He was a normal man, who worked as a driver, who was going to wed soon.Relatives of the man, Alaa Abu Dheim, said he had been distraught over the violence in Gaza.
Hamas radio had said Friday the militant group took responsibility, but later retracted the report. A previously unknown, Lebanese-based group, the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh — after a senior Hezbollah commander killed in Syria last month — claimed responsibility, the Al-Manar satellite TV station reported. But the claim could not be independently confirmed. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for Mughniyeh's assassination and vowed revenge. About 208,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem. The gunman, like many Palestinians in the sector of the city Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed, had an Israeli ID allowing him freedom of movement within Israel. Israeli officials, including a Cabinet minister, have called since the attack for restrictions to be imposed on Palestinians in east Jerusalem. But such measures would be virtually impossible to enact since the city's Arab and Jewish neighborhoods are not separated by any barrier. Israel indefinitely closed the West Bank over the weekend, barring most Palestinians from entering Israel.
