Israel downplays Hamas truce offer by Patrick Moser APR 25,08
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel dismissed as not serious on Friday a Hamas proposal for a six-month truce in the Gaza Strip, where UN agencies have suspended aid distribution and warned that shortages hurt the peace process. Unfortunately, this appears not to be serious at all, government spokesman Mark Regev said after the Islamist movement that controls Gaza told Egypt on Thursday that it agreed to implement a ceasefire.Hamas called for a six-month truce in Gaza, stressing that the move must be reciprocal, simultaneous and comprehensive and that Israel must end its crippling blockade of the impoverished territory.Israel responded by saying it would only stop military raids on Gaza after Hamas gives up terrorism and after militants in the territory stop attacking the Jewish state and smuggling in weapons from Egypt.But an official close to Defence Minister Ehud Barak suggested the two sides could still reach some form of tacit truce.In a first stage we demand all groups stop firing rockets. Israel would then be willing to reduce its operations if the calm continues, he told AFP.Hamas said a truce could eventually extend to the occupied West Bank, but Israel has insisted in the past its operations in that region are essential to prevent militants from launching attacks inside the Jewish state.
On Friday, security forces were hunting for a Palestinian militant who killed two guards on the border with the West Bank in an attack jointly claimed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.Egypt has been serving as a go-between in the truce negotiations as Israel considers Hamas a terror group and refuses any direct contacts.The Hamas proposal also states that if Israel rejects a truce, Egypt would open its border with Gaza, which has been mainly closed since Hamas seized control of the territory in June.Cairo has not commented on that assertion.On January 23, Palestinian militants demolished border barriers, allowing hundreds of thousands of Gazans to flood into Egypt and stock up on vital supplies.Egyptian and Hamas forces resealed the frontier on February 4.A week later, Foreign Minister Ajmed Abul Gheit said Egypt would no longer tolerate Palestinians infiltrating the country from Gaza, and threatened to break the legs of anyone crossing the Rafah border illegally.
Israel allows only limited humanitarian aid into Gaza as part of a blockade aimed at forcing militants to stop rocket attacks.On Friday, thousands of Hamas supporters massed near border crossings in Gaza to protest the embargo.Hamas is working in a positive manner to end the siege and achieve a truce, Hamas official Yussef al-Shrafi told a crowd of about 5,000 people in the northern town of Jabaliya.Humanitarian organisations say the embargo has left Gaza teetering on the brink of disaster. On Thursday, UNRWA halted food distribution to 650,000 people there, saying it no longer had any petrol for its aid trucks. The big picture is there is a peace process going on and this is extremely unhelpful, said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency. Hungry, angry people do not serve the interests of peace; neither do they serve Israel's security interests, he told AFP. Israel accused Hamas of stage-managing the crisis in a bid to stir international condemnation of the Jewish state. On Thursday, a demonstration in Gaza prevented tankers from picking up fuel for UNRWA at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, UN and Israeli officials said. Nahal Oz, which supplies all of Gaza's fuel needs, has opened only a few times since Gaza militants attacked the border installation on April 9, and it remained closed on Friday. Israel accuses Hamas of preventing the distribution of a million litres (260,000 gallons) of fuel stored on the Palestinian side of the terminal. UN special envoy Robert Serry on Friday urged Hamas and Israel to act to avert further suffering of the civilian population.
Hamas ... must ensure conditions to enable the distribution of supplies at Nahal Oz, he said, adding that the Islamists must also end attacks on crossings into Gaza. Israel must restore adequate supplies of diesel and benzene for the civilian population of Gaza in accordance with international law, Serry added.
Israeli military says Palestinian militant kills 2 Israelis By AMI BENTOV, Associated Press Writer APR 25,08
NITZANEI SHALOM, Israel - A Palestinian militant shot and killed two Israeli security guards early Friday at a factory along the divide between Israel and the West Bank, the military said. Medics pronounced the two middle-aged guards dead at the scene, rescue services said. Troops began combing surrounding areas for traces of the assailant.Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki condemned the attack, saying it was meant to undermine the efforts by the Palestinian government to undertake full security responsibilities in the West Bank. The attack was also meant to embarrass Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas while he is in Washington for meetings with U.S. officials, al-Malki said.Any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will have to include an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank to make room for a Palestinian state. For that to happen, Israel says the Palestinians must keep their gunmen in check. Israel has argued that attacks like Friday's prove Palestinian authorities are not yet capable of controlling militants.
This was a clear example of extremism and terrorism by those seeking to foil any prospects for advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli government spokesman David Baker said.
Israel's military regularly carries out arrest raids targeting militants in the West Bank, and Israel has refused Palestinian calls to cease such operations and allow Palestinian security forces to take control.A violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to a Palestinian news agency. Two militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said in a phone call and text message to The Associated Press that they had carried out the attack jointly. It's not uncommon for several militant groups to claim responsibility for the same attack, hoping to strengthen their hardline credentials among their people.Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad in the West Bank city of Jenin, said in a phone call that Friday's attacker crossed into Israel several days ago dressed as a woman and then pretended to be a worker to get close to the factory. He then began shooting and was lightly wounded in an exchange of gunfire but managed to escape, said Abu Mujahed, who gave only his nom de guerre because he is wanted by Israel.The military said the gunman approached the two guards while they were screening workers entering the small industrial zone of Nitzanei Shalom, opened fire and then escaped, the military said.
The industrial zone is located on the line between Israel and the West Bank. It contains five Israeli factories that employ Palestinians.Palestinian security officials in the nearby town of Tulkarem said soldiers moved into the West Bank in force after the attack and set up a checkpoint. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
The West Bank is controlled by Abbas' moderate government, which is negotiating a peace deal with Israel. There have been few shooting attacks in the area in recent years.Most current Israeli-Palestinian violence is limited to the Gaza Strip, ruled by Abbas' rivals from Hamas. Israeli troops regularly clash in the coastal territory with militants who attack border positions and fire rockets at Israeli towns.Hamas announced Thursday that it would be prepared to accept a cease-fire with Israel in Gaza, dropping an earlier demand that any truce immediately include the West Bank as well.Hamas wants Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza's border crossings, imposed to weaken Hamas' rule and end the ongoing rocket fire. But Israel fears such a move would allow Hamas, which seized control of Gaza last June, to smuggle in weapons and expand its already considerable arsenal to prepare for a future round of fighting.
Israel expressed skepticism on Friday about Hamas' announcement.
To Israel's dismay, Hamas is not serious. It's playing games, trying to buy time in order to regroup and rearm, said Baker, the government spokesman.There would be no need for Israel's defensive measures if Hamas discontinued its terrorist activities against Israel. Israel will continue to take all measures to defend its civilians, he said. Also Friday, the International Monetary Fund said the Palestinian government was making strides toward fiscal sustainability. The Abbas government has promised international donors to try to reduce spending, especially on the government payroll. The praise came in one of the agency's regular progress reports on the government's performance. The reports are part of a Palestinian development plan underwritten by $7.7 billion in international aid.
Thousands in Gaza protest against Israeli blockade APR 25,08
GAZA (AFP) - Thousands of Hamas supporters on Friday demonstrated in Gaza to demand that Israel lift its crippling blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. The protesters massed in the north and the south of the narrow strip of land near border crossings into Israel and Egypt.In Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, some 5,000 people waved Hamas flags and brandished banners proclaiming No to the siege! Hamas is working in a positive manner to end the siege and achieve a truce, Hamas official Yussef al-Shrafi told the crowd.In Rafah, about 1,000 people called for Egypt to open its border crossing, the only one that bypasses Israel.We do not represent a threat to Egypt's security but we ask our brothers to open Rafah and break the siege, said Abu al-Sibbah, a Hamas leader.
Israel imposed its blockade after Hamas seized power in the territory last June.On Thursday, UN agencies suspended aid distribution to Gaza saying they had run out of fuel. A UN envoy urged Israel to allow fuel supplies in and called on Hamas not to prevent its distribution.
IAEA chief hits out at US, Israel over Syrian reactor claims by Simon Morgan APR 25,08
VIENNA (AFP) - The UN atomic watchdog hit out Friday at the United States for withholding intelligence that Syria had been building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korea's help. The International Atomic Energy Agency also criticized Israel for acting on the allegations and bombing the purported reactor in a raid last September without giving IAEA inspectors an opportunity to investigate.The agency insisted it was taking seriously the allegations that were passed on by the United States on Thursday.
(We) will treat this information with the seriousness it deserves and will investigate the veracity of the information, it said in a statement.Syria has an obligation under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA to report the planning and construction of any nuclear facility.Nevertheless, the watchdog was critical of both the US and Israel for their handling of the matter.IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei deplores the fact that the information was not immediately passed on the the Vienna-based watchdog in accordance with the guidelines of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),the statement said.Under the NPT, the agency has a responsibility to verify any proliferation allegations in a non-nuclear weapon state party to the NPT, the statement said.In light of the above, the Director General views the unilateral military action by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime, it added.
On Thursday, the US accused Syria of building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korea's help, charging that the facility had a military purpose until Israel destroyed it in a September raid.
Damascus immediately rejected the allegations as ridiculous.
The construction of this reactor was a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the region and the world. The Syrian regime must come clean before the world, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.In a two-page statement, released after top US national security officials briefed US lawmakers on the issue Thursday, Perino said: We have good reason to believe that reactor ... was not intended for peaceful purposes.A senior US intelligence official said the reactor was destroyed in an Israeli air strike on September 6, 2007 as it was nearing completion, although it had not been loaded with uranium fuel.Israel felt that this reactor posed such an existential threat that a different approach was required, the official said.In a briefing for reporters, senior officials said Israel and the United States had discussed what steps to take, but Israel acted on its own with no green light from Washington.None was asked. None was given, said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A senior intelligence official said that before it was destroyed the reactor was ready to go into operation in weeks and possibly months.US intelligence examined but rejected the possibility that plutonium produced by the Syrian reactor was intended for North Korea. Our judgment, based on the overwhelming body of evidence, was this was in Syria for Syria, a senior intelligence official said. Among the evidence displayed were photographs taken inside the reactor showing construction of the shield for the reactor core, and control rods and refueling ports on top of the reactor.
The reactor and the building that housed it were similar in design to the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, which produces plutonium, the officials said. The Syrian embassy charged that the United States may have helped execute the Israeli air strike and pointedly tied the charges to the widely discredited weapons-of-mass-destruction case for invading Iraq. The Syrian government hopes that the international community and the American public, particularly, will be more cautious and aware this time around in facing such unfounded allegations, it said. The revelations could upset six-country talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, although chief US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said the intelligence suggested there was no ongoing cooperation between Pyongyang and Syria.
Sarkozy vows no talks with Taliban, Hamas, Iran Fri Apr 25, 1:39 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Thursday that he would not hold talks with Taliban militia in Afghanistan, Hamas in the Palestinian territories nor Iran's president. Signalling a tough stance on some of the world's troublespots and defending his decision to send extra troops to Afghanistan, Sarkozy said that if France abandons the Afghan government Pakistan will fall like a house of cards.We are in Afghanistan next to the Afghans, Sarkozy said in a primetime television interview.Next to Afghanistan there is Pakistan, there is an atomic bomb, he added. If we let Afghanistan fall, Pakistan will fall like a house of cards.
Sarkozy this month announced that France would send an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan but he said this is not a war, as the immense majority of Afghans need the coalition that is there.Sarkozy rejected calls from some quarters for a dialogue with the Taliban, which has fought back against international forces since it was forced from power in late 2001.Opening a dialogue with people who amputate the hand of a woman because she had varnish on her nails, who have stopped millions of little girls from going to school, who brought down Buddhas with hundreds of years of history, who stone a so-called adulterous woman, if it means talking with this outfit, I don't think we have a lot to say.Sarkozy had a similar message for the Hamas leadership and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.I don't think I can speak to Hamas ... because I do not have the right to speak to an organisation which announces that it wants to wipe Israel off the map, he said.I cannot speak with the Iranian president who has announced that he too wants to wipe Israel off.
There are a minimum of principles in our diplomacy, the French leader declared.Sarkozy said that EU aid and money should be given to Palestinian authority president Mahmud Abbas and not to Hamas which rules Gaza.We have to give it to people who understand that there is no future without the recognition of Israel (as) there is no future for Israel without the recognition of a modern, democratic and secure Palestinian state.
President Bush Meets with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority Oval Office APR 24,08 TEXT
Focus: Global Diplomacy 1:51 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thanks for coming. Mr. President, I appreciate a chance to talk about peace. I assured the President that a Palestinian state is a high priority for me and my administration -- a viable state, a state that doesn't look like Swiss cheese, a state that provides hope. It's in -- I believe it's in Israel's interest and the Palestinian people's interest to have leaders willing to work toward the achievement of that state.
The people that can deliver that state, that vision, to the Palestinian people were sitting right here in the Oval Office, led by the President. The President is a man of peace. He's a man of vision. He rejects the idea of using violence to achieve objectives, which distinguishes him from other people in the region. I'm confident we can achieve the definition of a state. I'm also confident it's going to require hard work.
To that end, I'm going back to the Middle East. I'm looking forward to meeting you, sir, and thank you for making time. I consider you a friend. I also consider you a courageous person. And I'm also will -- believe strongly that when history looks back at this moment and a state is defined, that the Palestinian people will thank you for your leadership.
There are a lot of issues we discussed, issues of importance: the security of the Palestinian people and the Israeli people, the economic advancement of the Palestinian people. The thing that I'm focused on, and you are, is how to define a state that is acceptable to both sides. I'm confident it can get done. I want to thank you for coming. I appreciate your time.
PRESIDENT ABBAS: Thank you. (As translated.) Mr. President, thank you very much for receiving us here at the White House these days. And I also would like to thank you very much for the initiative that was launched during the Annapolis Conference.
We believe that you actually are truly seeking a true, genuine and lasting peace in the Middle East. And I am certain that you would like to see an agreement and settlement before the end of your term. And at the same time we are doing everything we can in order to seriously negotiate and reach a peace that will be satisfactory to both the Palestinian side and the Israeli side, a peace that would be promoted around the world.
There are many parties also that are working very hard to support our efforts and to help us reach that peace. When I talk about your initiative, Mr. President, I also have to praise the Arab peace initiative, an initiative that simply states that peace will be achieved after the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab and Palestinian Territories. As a result of that, I believe strongly that more than 57 Arab and Islamic countries will normalize their relations with Israel.
I believe very strongly that time is of the essence; we are working very hard and hope not to waste any time and continue these efforts to achieve peace.
Mr. President, your efforts, the efforts of your administration, the various visits -- your previous one and your upcoming visit to Sharm el-Sheikh and to the region, all of this is a strong indication that you are very keen to continue to work very hard and to achieve your vision.
I cannot say that the road to peace is paved with flowers. It is paved with obstacles. But together we will work very hard in order to eliminate those obstacles and achieve peace.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir. Thank you, all. Shokren (inaudible). END 1:58 P.M. EDT
