New steps aimed at reaching Mideast deal By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer MAR 30,08
JERUSALEM - Israel pledged to remove some West Bank roadblocks as a start to concrete steps in an agreement Sunday with the Palestinians that is aimed at paving the way for a final peace deal this year. This is a program that will improve the daily lives of Palestinians and help make Israel secure, the U.S. said.Under the plan that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced, Israel will remove about 50 roadblocks and upgrade checkpoints to speed up the movement of Palestinians through the West Bank.The Israelis also will give Palestinians more security responsibility in the town of Jenin with an eye toward looking at other areas in turn. They also pledged to increase the number of travel and work permits for Palestinians and to support economic projects in Palestinian towns.In return, the Palestinians promised to improve policing of Jenin to provide law and order, and work to prevent terror, according to a State Department statement.Rice, visiting the region for the second time this month in hopes of energize faltering talks, said the moves constitute a very good start to improving a Palestinian economy crippled by the Israeli restrictions.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad consented what the U.S. termed concrete steps at a joint meeting with Rice. They agreed on points of special, immediate emphasis and work, the statement said.We've been told that this is going to start and, hopefully even be completed in a relatively short period of time, Rice told reporters. I am expecting it to happen very, very soon.We will be monitoring and verifying, she added.
The agreement includes:
removing 50 travel barriers in and around Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Ramallah; they are major Palestinian towns in the northern and central West Bank.
dismantling of one permanent roadblock.
deploying 700 Jordanian-trained Palestinian police in Jenin and allowing them to take delivery of armored vehicles. Jenin is known as a stronghold of Palestinian militants and has been a frequent site of clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen.
raising the number of Palestinian businessmen allowed into Israel to 1,500 from 1,000.
increasing the number of work permits for Palestinian laborers by 5,000 from its current number of 18,500.
building new housing for Palestinians in 25 villages.
connecting Palestinian villages to the Israeli power grid.
Israeli support for large-scale economic development programs and encouragement of foreign investment.
Neither Barak nor Fayyad commented on the developments when they appeared at a brief photo opportunity with Rice after their meeting. One Palestinian official said he welcomed any improvement, but that Israel's moves were too little, too late.We want Israel to move quickly in removing these obstacles that make no sense and make the lives of the Palestinians difficult, said Samir Abdullah, the Palestinian planning minister. Israel maintains hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks and other travel restrictions in the West Bank, and says they are needed to stop suicide bombers. The Palestinians say the restrictions are excessive and have stifled their economy. They have made removal of the checkpoints a priority as the two sides, with U.S. backing, try to negotiate a peace agreement by year's end. Rice had said she was looking for meaningful steps to put in place the stalled U.S.-supported plan that envisions the creation of an independent Palestinian state through concessions on both sides. There has not been enough momentum, she said. This is a start in terms of delivering on some of those obligations.
Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, restarted peace talks at a U.S.-hosted summit last November, after seven years of fighting. Despite the pledge to reach a final deal by year's end, negotiators have made no visible progress, and Olmert has warned that Israel cannot carry out any agreement as long as the Hamas militant group controls the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and opposes the peace talks, seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces last June. The Palestinians hope to establish an independent state that includes the West Bank and Gaza, which lie on opposite sides of Israel. From Jerusalem, Rice later went to Amman, Jordan, for separate sessions Sunday with Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah. On Monday, Rice planned a three-way meeting with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, who is leading the Israeli negotiating team, and the Palestinian's chief negotiator Ahmed Qureia. Rice later will head back to Amman for further talks with Abbas. On the Net:
State Department statement: http://tinyurl.com/yp432s
Israel tells Rice will ease some W. Bank restrictions By Arshad Mohammed MAR 30,08
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel announced plans on Sunday to ease some restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, responding to calls by visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take steps to bolster peace talks. After a three-way meeting in Jerusalem between Rice, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israel said it would remove about 50 dirt roadblocks and open a permanent checkpoint that obstructs the flow of travelers to the town of Jericho.I think it's a very good start, said Rice, who shuttled between Israel and Jordan to assess the state of U.S.-backed peace talks before President George W. Bush returns to the region in May.Israel has pledged in the past to remove West Bank barriers but failed to do so, Western and Palestinian officials said.Samir Abdallah, the Palestinian planning minister, said removing dirt mounds did not go far enough, saying major checkpoints, choking the West Bank economy, must be taken down as well. These are small steps,Abdallah said.
Citing security concerns, Israel has balked at Palestinian demands to dismantle major checkpoints.Long lines and strict security checks by Israeli soldiers have turned the checkpoints into hated symbols of occupation. Palestinians see them as a barrier to progress in talks that Washington hopes can achieve a statehood deal by year's end.The Israeli measures also included a promise to allow the construction of 5,000 to 8,000 Palestinian homes near Ramallah, and to let Fayyad deploy up to 700 members of a Palestinian security force in the northern city of Jenin, officials said.But Barak's office said in a statement that ultimate security responsibility will remain in Israel's hands even after Palestinian forces take up their positions.The State Department said a U.S. general would monitor implementation of the measures.I really do think that what we have to do is to have meaningful progress towards a better life for the Palestinian people, Rice told reporters.She said one reason previous efforts to improve Palestinian movement and access failed was that they were not tethered to a broader political process on creating a Palestinian state.It becomes a little bit chicken and egg. There are certain things that people are more willing to contemplate as it really does appear that statehood is possible, she said.
COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT
Israel has hundreds of barriers in the West Bank and says they help stop suicide bombers. Palestinians call the restrictions collective punishment.I am expecting it to happen very, very soon, Rice said about roadblock removals.Rice embarked on her second visit this month, four months after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched peace talks with the goal of reaching an agreement by the end of this year.There has been little visible progress on a deal. In addition to the dirt roadblocks, Israel said it approved the transfer of 125 vehicles and 25 out of 50 armored personnel carriers for Abbas's forces.
Israel also agreed to allow another 5,000 Palestinian construction workers into the Jewish state, on top of 18,500 who currently have permits, Barak's office said. An estimated 1,500 special permits will be given to Palestinian businessmen to travel more freely in the West Bank. Rice flew on Sunday to Jordan to meet Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah. She will later return to Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurie are leading the first serious negotiations since talks collapsed amid violence in 2001. But the push is hampered by internal divisions among the Palestinians. Abbas's Fatah movement holds sway in the West Bank while Hamas, an Islamist group officially committed to Israel's destruction, seized control of the Gaza Strip last year. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Adam Entous and Sami Aboudi)
Arab summit says peace offer is under review By Suleiman al-Khalidi Sun Mar 30, 9:47 AM ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - An Arab summit, subdued in the absence of leaders critical of Syria, told Israel on Sunday Arab countries would review an Arab peace offer unless the Jewish state changes its behavior. Arab leaders sent the warning at the end of the two-day meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus. It did not say what options were under consideration or when the review would take place.For the Arab side to continue to offer the Arab peace initiative is tied to Israel executing its commitments in the framework of international resolutions to achieve peace in the region, a Damascus Declaration said.The Arab initiative of 2002 offers Israel peace and normal relations with all Arab countries in return for withdrawal from all territory captured in the 1967 war.
Successive Israeli governments have either ignored or rejected the offer, which would require Israel to dismantle settlements which house hundreds of thousands of Jews.The statement, read by Arab League chief Amr Moussa, added: (The Arab heads of state decided) to evaluate and review Arab strategies and the plan of action regarding reviving the peace process as a prelude to decide on next Arab moves.Although it did not set a time frame, Moussa told a news conference later that Arab foreign ministers could start a review in the middle of the year.The language on the Arab peace plan was not a surprise as it was almost identical to that of a decision approved by Arab foreign ministers at a meeting in Cairo three weeks ago.
LEBANESE BOYCOTT
Moussa and other Arab officials have said that withdrawing the peace plan is not an option and in public they have not given details of alternative approaches.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told the news conference: The (peace) initiative is one thing and the strategy for activating the peace process is something else. We did not submit any proposal to amend the initiative.Moualem said the summit was a success because it had survived predictions that it would be a disaster if the Arabs did not solve the political crisis in Lebanon before it began.Lebanon boycotted the Damascus summit in protest at what it says is Syrian obstruction, through its local allies, of the process of electing a new Lebanese president.Three key Arab heads of state friendly with Washington -- from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan -- also stayed away from the meeting, in solidarity with the Lebanese government.
On Lebanon, the Damascus Declaration broke no new ground, saying the Arab leaders stand by an Arab initiative which endorses army chief Michel Suleiman as a consensus president.The Lebanese government and the opposition, which is allied with Syria and Iran, agree on Suleiman but disagree on whether the opposition forces should have veto power in a new cabinet.The declaration said: We declare that ... we stand by the Arab initiative to help Lebanon and support the efforts of the (Arab League) secretary general to encourage the Lebanese parties to reach consensus to resolve this crisis to preserve Lebanon's security, unity, stability and prosperity.The Iraqi government, embroiled in conflict with powerful Shi'ite militias opposed to its alliance with the United States, said it objected to omissions from the summit declaration.
The Iraqis said the summit had failed to express support for its U.S.-backed government or condemn operations by insurgents. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters that Iraq considered the paragraph on Iraq not positive and asked the Arab League to redraft it. Iran objected to the summit's support for the United Arab Emirates claim to three islands in the Gulf. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, quoted by the news agency IRNA, said the claim was vain and baseless as the islands were an inseparable part of Iranian territory.(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Writing by Jonathan Wright; editing by Samia Nakhoul)
Barak says talks with Syria a 'central objective' Sun Mar 30, 2:38 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the revival of peace talks with Damascus is a key foreign policy objective, according to a statement released on Sunday. Israel considers the launching of negotiations with Syria and its departure from the circle of extremists to be a central objective, Barak told a closed meeting of European ambassadors on Friday, the statement said.Barak warned, however, that Israel still considers Syria a threat to its security because of its support for the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, against which Israel fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006.Israel is following what is happening in the north, especially the reinforcements of Hezbollah with support from Syria, Barak said.But Barak declared that Israel is strongest country in the region and that gives it the possibility to make certain arrangements with Syria.The two countries have technically been at war since 1948 and peace talks last broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and annexed in 1981.Another senior minister hinted on Friday that Israel was seeking to revive negotiations with Damascus.There are attempts (to revive the peace talks) and I welcome them... both in recent days and days before that, Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told public radio.The Labour cabinet minister also said that Israel knows it will have to give up the the strategic Golan Heights in any peace deal.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had hinted on Wednesday that Israel and Syria might be holding secret peace talks.
I am prepared to make peace with Syria. I hope the Syrians are prepared to make peace with Israel. I hope the circumstances will allow us to sit together, but that doesn't mean that when we sit together you have to see us.
Israel splitting Palestinian territories into cantons: Abbas Sat Mar 29, 8:20 AM ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday accused Israel of splitting the Palestinian territories into isolated cantons to prevent the creation of a state. Israel is continuing its aggression, its occupation, the construction of settlements and the Judaisation of Jersualem, Abbas told the opening session of the Arab summit in Damascus.The solution which Israel is designing consists of a group of cantons on a land separated by settlements, the separation wall and roadblocks, he said.This type of solution only reinforces the occupation and colonisation and is aimed at preventing the creation of a independent Palestinian state, Abbas added.
Israeli Arabs mark Land Day by Majeda El Batsh
Fri Mar 28, 11:22 AM ET
JAFFA, Israel (AFP) - Chanting We are here to stay, more than 1,000 Israeli Arabs on Friday marched through Jaffa to commemorate the killing of six people during a 1976 protest against land confiscations. The demonstration, one of several Land Day rallies staged across the country, also aimed at denouncing alleged plans to move some 500 Arab families out of the port city just south of Tel Aviv.Many Arab Israeli residents believe the authorities are seeking to force them from their homes and bring in more Jews from abroad to the ethnically mixed port city, where estate agents are cashing in on a housing boom.We chose to hold one of the marches here this year because it is the government's policy to Judaize the city, said Abed Satel, who heads the League for the Arabs of Jaffa.
Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and banners in Arabic reading We are here to stay, we will never leave our homes and others in Hebrew reading Take your hands off our homes.Among the crowd was Raed Salah, the head of the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, who was welcomed with cheers and chants of Allahu akbar -- God is greater.
The rally was peaceful, but several demonstrators were visibly angry.I came to protest because they want to demolish my home, said Laila Anad, in her forties and wearing a traditional Islamic veil. They want to give my home to French Jews, she added.Israeli Arab deputy Jamal Zahalka told the crowd: The residents of Jaffa have the firm intention to resort to the justice system to defend their homes.Land Day has been observed by Israel's large Arab minority of 1.2 million every year since six Israeli Arabs were killed in clashes with security forces after a government decision to expropriate land in the Galilee 32 years ago.Rallies marking Land Day were also held in other Israeli cities and more protests were scheduled over the weekend.Despite several violent incidents during past Land Day events, police did not go on high alert this year, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP.As descendants of about 160,000 Arabs who remained in Israel following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, Israeli Arabs vote and have 10 representatives in the 120-seat parliament.Their standard of living is 10 times higher than that of Palestinians in the occupied territories, but they say they are treated as second class citizens.
In February 2006 the supreme court recognised that Israeli Arabs faced discrimination.People are very angry, Satel said on Friday. We remain peaceful, but if problems are not resolved there could be violence.In Bilin near the West Bank city of Ramallah, eight people were wounded when security forces fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas at a small crowd of protesters, Palestinian medics said.
The demonstration, which is staged every week to protest against the separation barrier Israel has built in the occupied West Bank, also marked Land Day, organisers said.
