Rice embraces Mideast errands By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer MAY 5,08
JERUSALEM - Seems no job's too small for Condoleezza Rice when it comes to the Middle East these days. After initially resisting the idea, the top envoy for a Bush administration that once sniffed at Mideast peacemaking as a fool's game is shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and getting into nitty-gritty obstacles that have blocked progress and dimmed hopes for a peace deal this year.It's been five months since President Bush heralded the first substantive peace talks between the two sides in more than seven years. Yet the secret talks have yielded no obvious successes, and the novelty has worn off.Some of Bush's optimism that the U.S. could referee from the sidelines seems to have worn off too.Rice left the region Monday without a clear accomplishment. She plans to return in less than two weeks.Rice has made four trips to Jerusalem and the West Bank in those five months and with each visit her job gets less lofty but arguably more important. She's deep in the Mideast weeds now, tossing off jargon about roadblocks and checkpoints and asking for assessments of whether if Israel lifted this roadblock instead of that one it might help Palestinian farmers get vegetables to market.You may think to yourself, What in the world am I doing spending time on these things? Rice acknowledged Monday.Those sort of detailed questions smothered Bush's first-term peace proposal, a step-by-step program called the road map. Similar small-bore issues have undermined peace talks past, and every effort has ultimately foundered on a basic lack of trust or will.It's always been a system in which one side had a view, and the other side had, if not 180 degrees the opposite view, pretty close to it, Rice said, and it takes an objective monitor to sort things out.
This time, the United States has agreed to judge whether both sides are meeting their obligations under the road map, which says that Palestinians must disarm and corral militants while reforming a historically corrupt leadership. Israel agreed to stop new settlements on land the Palestinians claim for an eventual independent state and ease movement for Palestinians.The reason they both agreed there should be an impartial U.S. role is they could accept if the United States is saying, Here are the obligations you need to meet and here are the obligations you need to meet, and you have or have no met them, she said.Bush and Rice reject previous administrations' conclusion that it will take the United States to write much or all of any workable peace deal, but Rice's analysis acknowledges a central and decisive role.Rice sat first with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, then with Olmert for breakfast before she left on Monday. In between she saw numerous other officials on both sides and huddled with her own advisers, including an Air Force general named to oversee road map compliance on both sides. He's been making lists, and Rice told reporters she went over the findings with each side.I found it useful to go back and forth a little bit — not to just do one meeting and have that be the end, Rice told reporters traveling with her.Shuttle diplomacy got a bad name early in Bush's presidency, when advisers said it rarely amounted to much and made a superpower look small.
Perhaps more significant than her individual meetings, Rice has twice held sessions that included both Israelis and Palestinians, including one with the top negotiators for both sides. Hard to be more in the middle than that.But time is running out and nerves are fraying, particularly on the Palestinian side.Just after she left, a top aide to Abbas sharply criticized Rice and the administration for constant visits that produce no visible results. That's why there should be American pressure on Israel, instead of continuous visits and statements, the aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said. Settlements are continuing, the siege is continuing, and Israelis aren't serious enough.Abbas aides said the Palestinian president is giving the negotiations two or three more months to produce progress. Abbas retains the option of walking away from the talks if he believes progress is impossible, Abu Rdeneh said. In that case, the president will take a dramatic decision, he'll inform the Palestinian people of the complete story of negotiations, and he'll take the right decision at the right moment, the aide said. In some ways, Rice may be on a fool's errand. The situation on the ground makes the goal of a deal by year's end look somewhat absurd, with the sides failing to enact basic trust-building measures necessary for negotiations to succeed. Israel has failed to dismantle roadblocks, halt settlement activity, release Palestinian prisoners, take down illegal West Bank outposts and call off military raids in cities where Abbas is deploying his own forces.
The Palestinians, while stationing police in key cities to keep down crime gangs, have done little to dismantle what Israel calls the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The Israeli leader finds himself weakened by corruption scandals, including a new police investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing announced this past week. Abbas, too, has seen his popularity plummet because of the lack of visible progress, and the 73-year-old leader's health was called into question after he underwent a sudden heart test last week. Bush has only a few months left in office — making the goal of suddenly solving one of the world's most intractable problems look increasingly unrealistic.
Even if the parties could overcome these obstacles, the big elephant in the room is Hamas. The militants' control of the Gaza Strip makes implementing any peace deal extremely problematic. After Hamas capitalized on Israel's 2005 Gaza withdrawal to launch rocket attacks on southern Israel, the Jewish state is highly unlikely to evacuate any more territory unless it can be assured against a repeat. Olmert himself has said no deal will be implemented until Abbas regains control of Gaza. Associated Press Writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this story from Ramallah, West Bank. EDITOR'S NOTE — Anne Gearan covers diplomacy and foreign affairs in Washington.
Israeli president likens Iranian nuclear threat to Hitler By STEVEN GUTKIN and AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writers MAY 5,08
JERUSALEM - In sweeping comments Monday before Israel's 60th anniversary, Israeli President Shimon Peres compared the Iranian nuclear threat to Hitler's Germany and said engaging Gaza's Hamas rulers would be like talking to a wall. His birthday wish for Israel, he said, would be to have it lead the world in science.I would like that it should be as old as the Ten Commandments and as new as nanotechnology, Peres said.The 84-year-old president appeared before foreign reporters at his official residence in Jerusalem — musing on everything from the U.N. resolution leading to Israel's creation to his plans for a country-wide network of electric cars to the seven wars fought by the Jewish state.Though Israel's presidency is largely ceremonial, Peres plays a unique role in the country and on the world stage — one of the few leaders remaining from Israel's founding generation, a three-time prime minister and a vocal proponent of peace.
As for Iran, Peres said the combination of fanatic leadership and a nuclear bomb would be a nightmare for the world.In a way it's more complicated than in the time of the Nazis, he said. Hitler didn't have a nuclear bomb.Still, Peres said that if the world unites to block Iran's nuclear ambitions, no military action would be necessary. Tehran denies its nuclear program is meant to develop a bomb — something Peres said should not be believed.You don't develop long-range missiles unless you plan to arm then with nuclear warheads, he said.Peres' secret talks with Yasser Arafat's PLO movement in the 1990s led to the so-called Oslo accords, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize along with Arafat and then-Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin.Asked on Monday if he could be a pioneer for similarly audacious talks with Hamas, he replied, It would be like asking if I will be a pioneer in having a dialogue with the wall.
The Palestinians would have already had a state had it not been for Hamas' refusal to accept Israel, Peres said.Israel and the West have been boycotting Hamas since the militants violently seized control of the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago. The takeover paved the way for peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank but at the same time complicated prospects for carrying out any eventual peace deal.With Hamas exploiting Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza to pound southern Israel with rockets, a similar evacuation of the West Bank — an essential element of a future accord — would be unlikely.Peres called Hamas' vague indications that it might accept a state alongside Israel without actually recognizing Israel not even a beginning.Despite the obstacles, Peres said Israel and the Palestinians could still achieve their declared goal of forging a peace deal by the end of the year. However, he said it would be essential to show Palestinians that peace will ease their hardship.The problem is people lost their trust in speeches. The only voice that people will trust, in my judgment, is the voice of a tractor and a Hummer, Peres said, emphasizing his belief that the best way to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace is to promote economic development in the Palestinian territories.Peres said Israelis and Palestinians will have to move quickly to divide the land, saying we don't have time.
To mark Israel's 60th, Peres is organizing a three-day conference this month focusing on Jewish and Israeli contributions to humanity. Israel will celebrate its independence day this Thursday, just before the Jewish calendar date for Israel's declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948. Among the hundreds expected to attend the conference are President Bush, Tony Blair, Rupert Murdoch, Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and the founders of Google and Facebook.
Hezbollah training Iraqi fighters: report MAY 5,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Fighters from the Lebanon-based pro-Iranian Hezbollah group have been training Iraqi militia members at a camp near Tehran, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing US interrogation reports, the newspaper said the account of Hezbollah's role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and separately questioned by US interrogators.The State Department neither confirmed nor denied the report.Information gleaned from the questioning was given to the Iraqi government before Baghdad sent a delegation to Tehran last week to discuss allegations of Iranian aid to militia groups, the paper said.It is not known if the delegation confronted its Iranian hosts with the information, or how the Iranians responded, The Times noted.We have experienced in the past that Iran interfered and has special groups in Iraq, but Iran also had evidence that they were participating in positive ways in security, Ali al-Dabbagh, a senior Iraqi government spokesman, was quoted in the report as saying.We would like the Iranians to keep their commitment, the commitments they made in meetings with the prime minister and with other groups that have visited them, Al-Dabbagh said.They had made the promise that Iran would be playing a supportive role.Militiamen mostly loyal to Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who according to his Najaf-based office is currently in Iran, have been battling US troops in Baghdad's Sadr City.Sadr's Mahdi Army militants have fought running streetbattles with US and Iraqi forces since late March in the district, killing hundreds of people.State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said: I'm not sure where that story came from, adding: I'm neither confirming nor denying any of the individual elements of it.He referred reporters to the multinational forces in Iraq.
Israel greets 400 immigrants ahead of 60th birthday MAY 5,08
TEL AVIV (AFP) - Four hundred new Jewish immigrants from 23 countries landed on Monday on Israeli soil, as part of special events this week to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. The minister of immigrant absorption, Yaacov Edery, and Jewish Agency chief Zeev Bielsky met the new arrivals who arrived on flights from Moscow and Paris at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.I am moved to be able to celebrate the 60 years of the state of the Israel by welcoming hundreds of new immigrants, said Edery, who himself immigrated from Morocco in 1959.Children from a Jerusalem school greeted the immigrants with red roses.
I have had a dream since childhood when in 1948 my parents told me about the possibility of living in Israel and 60 years later, here I am, said Richard Dana, a retiree from Corsica who plans to live in Ashdod, a coastal town south of Tel Aviv.It is the most wonderful moment of my life, said another immigrant from France, David Benhamou, 27, who is a singer with the stage name Shai.The chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar, offered words of welcome before breaking a hala bread and dipping it in salt, according to an ancient Jewish tradition, and then handed out pieces to the new arrivals.The 400 immigrants will take up residence in about 50 towns around Israel, according to the Jewish Agency, a governmental organisation charged with immigration.In the past few years, the immigration of Jews to Israel has been in decline, hitting the lowest level in 20 years in 2007 with fewer than 20,000 new arrivals.Since the founding of Israel six decades ago, three million immigrants have come to settle in Israel, more than one million of them from the former Soviet Union.Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, but the event will be officially celebrated on Thursday in line with the Hebrew lunar calendar.
Israel army promises fun for all the family Mon May 5, 10:54AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli military on Monday announced it will celebrate the country's 60th anniversary with displays of military prowess and magic for the whole family. Israel's vaunted army would normally be busy seizing suspected militants in the West Bank and launching air strikes at rocket launchers in Gaza, but on Wednesday it promises shows and events for the entire family.Various weaponry and other military equipment will be on display as well as displays by security forces, the military said of the planned events for Independence Day celebrations.The doors to several Israeli bases will be open to the public -- no cameras or weapons allowed -- while the army, air force and navy exhibit their vast arsenals.A base near the southern town of Beersheva will offer an exhibition of tanks, Hummers and weapons of different kinds, the army said.
There will be shows for children as well as magicians, clowns and telepathy, it added.Another event promises a tour of the army intelligence school involving displays of special satellite equipment, visual, spying, listening as well as stations manned by the censorship, information security and localisation.There will also be guided tours of model tunnels similar to those used for weapon smuggling in Gaza, as well as a tour of a model nature reserve used by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia with which Israel fought a bloody war in 2006.The Israeli military has long been considered the region's strongest but was heavily criticised following the bloody 34-day stalemate in Lebanon and has since struggled unsuccessfully to halt rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza.Israel has planned several events in honour of its 60th anniversary and a number of world leaders, including US President George W. Bush, are expected to visit the country in honour of the occasion.
Mideast talks make significant progress on borders: Israel Mon May 5, 9:16 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel said on Monday it had made significant progress on the issue of the future borders of a Palestinian state following a top-level meeting between the two sides. We have made significant progress on the two issues of outlining the borders of the future Palestinian state and the security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinian state, a senior Israeli official said.
The official was speaking after a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at which he was present.The two leaders met hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up her latest visit to the region during which she pressed the two sides to advance US-brokered peace talks launched five months ago.
Documents show UK post-WWII dilemma over Jewish refugees By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer Sun May 4, 7:05 PM ET
LONDON - Documents released Monday show how the British government tried to send thousands of Palestine-bound Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide back to postwar Germany without inflaming world opinion. Could it be done? The answer was no. It was just two years after the end of the war and the world was outraged by the systematic murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in what became known as the Holocaust.Despite the best efforts of early spin doctors to portray the move in the most sympathetic light, the decision to turn away the more than 4,500 Jews on board the Exodus refugee ship turned into a humanitarian and public relations debacle for Britain.The story is detailed in more than 400 pages of formerly secret documents at Britain's National Archives made available to the public on Monday.The Jews aboard the Exodus were trying to enter Palestine illegally during the tumultuous months in 1947 before the United Nations voted to create a Jewish homeland in part of Palestine.Britain was still governing Palestine and the British government felt it had to keep the immigrants out to preserve the demographic balance between Arab and Jew. But Britain did not have a safe place to send the Jews from the Exodus, who were placed on three smaller British steamers.
After much agonizing, the British concluded that the only place they could send the Jews was to the British-controlled zone of postwar Germany, where the Jews could be placed in camps and screened for extremists.After Germany, many of the passengers were eventually detained in military camps in Cyprus along with other Jews deported from Palestine. When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, the Exodus' passengers were able to move there.The Exodus' ordeal focused world attention on the British blockade of Palestine and the plight of Jews fleeing Europe after World War II.The documents show that diplomats and military officers knew that sending Jews back to Germany and putting them in camps so soon after the Holocaust would set off protests.These documents show the British perspective for the first time, said Mark Dunton, contemporary history specialist at the National Archives. It's obvious in the files the British were sensitive to the claim they were putting Jews into concentration camps.A British diplomat in France sent a coded warning to the Foreign Office in London in August 1947.You will realize that an announcement of decision to send immigrants back to Germany will produce violent hostile outburst in the press, he says.He suggests an early measure of spin control — telling the press that the Jews will enjoy some freedoms even though they will be confined.An unsigned cable from the Foreign Office on Aug. 19, 1947, explains that the decision to land the Jews in Germany has been made because it is the only suitable territory under British control that can handle so many people at short notice.Three days later, a follow-up Foreign Office cable warns diplomats that they should be ready to emphatically deny that the Jews will be housed in former concentration camps after they are offloaded in Germany.The Aug. 22 cable states that German guards will not be used to keep the Jews in the refugee camps and adds that British guards will be withdrawn once the Jews have been screened.But security concerns were heightened on Aug. 30 when a secret telegram from the British Embassy in Washington warned of a possible terrorist attack by the Irgun and Stern gangs, two Zionist extremist groups determined to prevent the forced offloading of the Jews in Germany.
The Exodus passengers were successfully taken off the vessels in Germany, although a number were injured in confrontations with British troops that involved the use of batons and fire hoses. An officer identified as Lt. Col. Gregson, in a formerly secret report, said he considered using tear gas to subdue the Jews but decided not to risk inflaming the situation.
The Jew is liable to panic, he wrote.
Security fears seemed justified after the Jews were removed when a large, homemade bomb with a timed fuse was found on one of the three ships. It was apparently rigged to detonate after the Jews had been removed, the cables indicate. The postscript on the operation comes from the British regional commander who says that the disembarkation could be regarded as successful because it was carried out with only minimal casualties. But he says Britain's reputation was damaged by the highly critical press coverage of OASIS, as the operation was known in diplomatic and military circles. It is impossible to deny that among the Hamburg population OASIS was one additional cause for reduction in British prestige, he ruefully concludes. Associated Press Writers Mark Lavie in Jerusalem and Meera Selva in London contributed to this article.
