Olmert's party considers ballot over scandal By Joseph Nasr
Fri May 30, 12:10 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Leaders of Israel's governing Kadima party plan to meet in as little as a week to decide on an internal ballot that could replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, senior Kadima members said on Friday. Olmert has so far defied a demand by his main coalition partner, Defence Minister Ehud Barak's left-leaning Labour Party, to leave office over a growing corruption scandal.
A poll by Israel's mass circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper found Olmert's deputy, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, would win an internal vote to find a new leader for their centrist party.Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, garnered the support of 39 percent of Kadima members, according to the poll. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz came in second with 25 percent.
But a poll by the Maariv daily found that Livni, as Olmert's successor, would lose to Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud Party if a general election was held today.Lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Kadima's central committee, told Israel Radio on Friday that Kadima delegates would convene a meeting on a leadership ballot after Olmert returns from a visit to the United States at the end of next week.Kadima sources said Olmert wants his centrist party to put off any such vote for months, hoping to ride out the police investigation into allegations he accepted envelopes filled with cash from a Jewish-American businessman.Olmert has denied wrongdoing but has said he would resign if indicted. The turmoil threatens to derail U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.Sixty percent of Kadima's members believe Olmert does not have to resign at this stage in the investigation, the Yedioth Ahronoth poll found.Olmert has responded to the crisis with a business-as-usual approach. He will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
Israel's attorney-general, Menachem Mazuz, said on Thursday the investigation would be accelerated in order to complete it as soon as possible. He gave no precise timeframe for a decision on whether to indict the prime minister.Olmert has survived corruption scandals in the past.(Additional reporting by Adam Entous; editing by Jon Boyle)
Beleaguered Olmert's party eyes succession by Patrick Moser
Fri May 30, 10:44 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert up against the ropes, members of his Kadima party are already jockeying for position in anticipation of his downfall and possible early elections. The Kadima party primary began yesterday, even if nobody declared this officially. Even the prime minister realises that he cannot prevent it from taking place soon, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot wrote in an editorial.Olmert suffered a stinging one-two blow when his deputy challenged his leadership right after a key ally demanded he quit over a corruption scandal.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the number two in the government and in Kadima, on Thursday called for unprecedented primary elections in the centrist party, hinting strongly that the scandal-tainted Olmert must go.She dropped the political bombshell just one day after Defence Minister Ehud Barak, whose Labour party is a key partner in the government coalition, demanded that Olmert step down or face early election.The scent of elections is in the air, the Haaretz newspaper said, echoing the prevailing view of political experts.A poll published by Haaretz said that while Livni is the favourite among Kadima voters, the opposition right-wing Likud party of former premier Benjamin Netanyahu would emerge the winner if an election were held now.
The hawkish Netanyahu vocally rejects any suggestion of a withdrawal from the Golan Heights that was raised when Olmert announced earlier this month his government was involved in Turkish-mediated indirect talks with Syria.Addressing Israeli settlers in the area which Israel occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981, Netanyahu said on Thursday that an early election would allow the people to say no to a withdrawal from the Golan.Israeli voters believe Olmert, who has weathered political crises, corruption scandals and single-digit popularity ratings since he took office in 2006, must go.An opinion poll on Thursday found that 70 percent of people surveyed thought he should step down.Pressure against Olmert, 62, reached boiling point after Jewish-American financier Morris Talansky testified before a Jerusalem court on Tuesday that he had given Olmert vast amounts of cash stuffed into envelopes.
Talansky said he had given at least 150,000 dollars in the 14 years before he became prime minister in 2006, some of which might have been used to fund Olmert's taste for luxury goods.Olmert has denied any wrongdoing over the allegations that have been simmering since police first questioned him in the affair on May 2. He has, however, acknowledged receiving campaign donations.The prime minister, who flies to Washington on Monday for a three-day visit and a meeting with US President George W. Bush, has asked Kadima MPs not to do anything until his return, Israeli media said.A growing number of Israeli lawmakers have said Olmert cannot devote the necessary energy to US-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians, as well as indirect negotiations with Syria, while at the same time fighting for his own political survival.But Olmert aides insist it is business as usual in the premier's office.
The prime minister is scheduled to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday before leaving for Washington. The meeting will focus on the ongoing negotiations, the situation on the ground and the truce talks between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza, which are being mediated by Egypt, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said. Olmert and Abbas will meet at the premier's official residence in Jerusalem, Erakat said. In Washington, officials stressed that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's travel plans to the Middle East are unaffected by the corruption scandal. I'm not aware that anything that's occurred in Israeli politics in the last few days has made any change in our plans necessary, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Thursday.
Israeli poll finds Netanyahu would win elections Fri May 30, 4:16 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Hardline Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu would win national elections if a corruption probe topples Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, an Israeli poll showed Friday. The Dialog poll indicates that popular Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would come in second and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would come in third.The corruption probe involves a Jewish-American businessman who testified he had given Olmert about $150,000 that was used in part to fund a lavish lifestyle.The poll, published in the Haaretz daily newspaper, surveyed 467 people and has a margin of error of 5.1 percentage points.
U.S. presses Israel on Gaza students' exit visas By Arshad Mohammed Fri May 30, 3:10 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States pressed Israel on Friday to let seven Gaza Strip Palestinians travel to the United States to study on coveted U.S. government Fulbright fellowships and Israel said it was working on the issue. Israel tightened its cordon of the Gaza Strip after the Hamas Islamist group took over the coastal Mediterranean territory nearly a year ago and it gives few Palestinians, besides some who are gravely ill, permission to leave.
The U.S. State Department this week told the seven that their Fulbright grants had been withdrawn and it has taken steps to be able to direct the money to other Palestinians in the West Bank because of the trouble getting the exit visas from Gaza.However, after The New York Times published a report on the issue on Friday, U.S. officials said they were redoubling their efforts to get the Israeli exit visas for the students.Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, the third-ranking U.S. diplomat, spoke to the Israeli ambassador to the United States on Friday to emphasize the U.S. desire to see the matter resolved, the State Department said.Frankly, a decision to let people that have been vetted for what is perhaps the most prestigious foreign educational program run by the United States ... it ought to be falling off a log for them to be able to do this, said U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey.I expect that we'll have some positive outcome for this in the not-too-distant future, he told reporters.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said a few of the Fulbright students had recently left Gaza through the Erez crossing but Casey said he could not verify this. It was not immediately possible obtain independent confirmation.
We're trying to get them out, Mekel said. Obviously the situation, with Hamas shooting at the border crossings, it is not such an easy thing to do.There are regular rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and the Israeli government argues that its travel restrictions are designed to prevent suicide bombings or other attacks.
PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS
The State Department spokesman said the money for the Gaza residents had not been given to other students and that if the seven received their exit visas, they would be given the Fulbright fellowships.Top U.S. officials appeared to have been taken by surprise by the incident and embarrassed that their initial efforts to get Israel to allow the students to leave had not worked. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested she disapproved of the move to reallocate the money for the seven Gaza students, who hope to pursue advanced degrees at American institutions in the fall.It was a surprise to me and I am definitely going to look into it, Rice said at a news conference with Iceland's Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Gisladottir in Reykjavik. I am a huge supporter of Fulbrights.Fulbright grants are the U.S. flagship program in international educational exchange and are used to help promote a better understanding of U.S. values abroad.Rice is expected to return to the Middle East next month to continue the Bush administration's uphill push to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year. (Additional reporting Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Joseph Nasr and Adam Entous in Jerusalem and Susan Cornwell in Reykjavik; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Vicki Allen)
Israel seeks international peace talks amid political uncertainty by P. Parameswaran Fri May 30, 6:20 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Amid political uncertainty in Israel and the United States, the Jewish state's deputy prime minister Haim Ramon called Friday for an international conference to forge an interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Ramon, a close associate of embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said he was confident the two sides could reach a parameters agreement on such key issues as refugees, Jerusalem, borders and security.The international conference could be a sequel to peace talks formally relaunched in November at a US-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland, he said at a forum of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Ramon said it was critical to review the progress achieved since Annapolis in view of the political uncertainty in the United States, which faces presidential elections in November, and Israel, where he predicted polls could also be held in the same month.
There is intense pressure on Olmert to resign over suspicions he unlawfully took large sums of money from a US millionaire before becoming premier.I believe because of these political circumstances... now let's come together and report to the Annapolis process what was achieved until now in the negotiations between us and the Palestinians, Ramon said.He said any framework peace agreement supported by the Arab world, by the Palestinians and the current US and Israeli administrations would come in handy for any new administration in Washington or Israel.Progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essential, especially when the gap between Israelis and Palestinians is quite narrow, he said.While Ramon believed issues such as the future of Palestinian refugees, the borders of a Palestinian state and Jewish settlements, the security of Israel and the status of Jerusalem could be ironed out, he said Israel should not compromise on the Gaza strip seized by the Hamas group.I believe that in Gaza, we have to bring the end of the victory march of radical Islam. It is possible and it can be done and I hope that is what will happen in the near future.The Hamas Islamist movement seized control of Gaza from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas about a year ago.
Ramon's push for a Gaza takeover from Hamas prompted former US State Department Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, who was chairing the forum, to ask whether it was viable in the context of Ramon's parameters agreement plan.Will you be able to convene an Annapolis-type arrangement if you go into Gaza in the way you seem to be implying, Ross asked.I believe that we can do it, Ramon shot back, explaining that any Israeli seizure of Gaza would see the territory eventually handed back to the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas through an arrangement with the Arab world or the international community.Abbas and Olmert are scheduled to meet on Monday before the Israeli Prime Minister leaves later that day to Washington for talks with President George W. Bush.
Iran's foreign minister slams US foreign policy By LOUISE NORDSTROM, Associated Press Writer Fri May 30, 7:43 PM ET
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Iran's foreign minister said Friday that the United States should conduct a serious review of its foreign policy after the presidential election — a signal that Iran is leaving open the possibility of improved relations with Washington. The comments by Manouchehr Mottaki — in an interview with The Associated Press — extended no clear offer for greater dialogue and included numerous jabs about the U.S. role in the Middle East and its global standing.But the undertones of statements are often just as relevant in the nearly three-decade diplomatic freeze between the two nations. Mottaki's suggestion that the November election could signal a new course for U.S. views on the Middle East could also hint that Tehran may be ready to soften its stance.We don't want to make a problem for the American presidential candidates, but this election is among a limited number of American presidential elections where foreign policy plays a key role, Mottaki said a day after a U.N. conference on Iraqi reconstruction held outside Stockholm.The American people need change, he added.
Mottaki did not go deeper into Iran's impressions of the remaining candidates seeking the White House. But Barack Obama has expressed a willingness to open new channels with Iran — a position that has drawn fire from Republican John McCain and Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.Speaking through an interpreter at the Iranian Embassy in Stockholm, Mottaki said Iran was less concerned with parties and people than the course of U.S. policies after the election.The United States of America needs a serious review of its foreign policy toward the Middle East, he said. These policies in ... Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and generally speaking the Middle East are mistaken policies.The estrangement between Washington and Tehran stretch back to the seizure of the U.S. Embassy shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A slight thaw began following the 1997 election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who opened the door to greater cultural exchanges and other contacts.
But opportunities for greater breakthroughs were dashed after President Bush in 2002 included Iran as an axis of evil along with Iraq and North Korea. The 2005 election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad further widened the gulf with his biting rhetoric that included vows to wipe out Israel.Recently, however, chances for new outreach appear to be gaining ground in Iran — which holds presidential elections next year.On Wednesday, Iran's parliament selected conservative Ali Larijani as speaker, boosting one of Ahmadinejad's likely challengers. Larijani, the nation's former top nuclear negotiator, is perceived as a more moderate leader who could seek less confrontation with the West.But few expect any rapid steps to smooth relations between Washington and Tehran — whose interests and ambitions collide on many levels.
Washington has led the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program — which the West and others worry could be used to make atomic weapons. Iran says it only seeks power-generating reactors.The United States' closest Sunni Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, also worry about the expanding influence of Shiite Iran in neighboring Iraq. Washington, meanwhile, accuses Iran of backing Shiite militias in Iraq.But Iraq also has opened some room for contact. U.S. and Iranian envoys have held three rounds of talks since last year on efforts to stabilize the country.
Mottaki said the next resident of the White House must break with the mistaken and failed policies of the Bush administration or risk a further decline of the United States' standing in the Middle East.
American politicians, he said, are spending taxpayer money to buy the hatred of other people in other parts of the world.In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey was dismissive after a reporter described Mottaki's comments. Gee, an Iranian foreign minister criticizing U.S. policy. There's a real man bites dog story for you, huh? he said. Casey added that the Iranian government is pursuing policies that are inimical to the interests of the Iranian people and isolating the country from the international community by the standoff over its nuclear program.
I would also hope that those in the Iranian government who might wish to have a more responsible leadership might also turn that mirror back up to him to take a very hard look at the unproductive, unhelpful and destabilizing policies that Iran is pursuing, he said. On Thursday, Mottaki was among delegates from more than 90 countries and organizations who gathered to review security and economic progress in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mottaki ignored each other at the meeting. Rice was seen on live television snickering as Mottaki told delegates that the the occupiers of Iraq — the United States — were pursuing mistaken policies that are responsible for violence there.
Rights groups tells Hamas to probe abductions By Nidal al-Mughrabi MAY 31,08
GAZA (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch has urged the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip to investigate the abduction and alleged torture of three Palestinians by an Islamist militant group that accused them of spying for Israel. The three were seized on May 20 by Islamic Jihad, which said they had helped Israeli forces kill several militants, including one of its leaders. After making taped confessions, the men were handed over to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry for prosecution.A ministry spokesman, Ehab al-Ghsain, said the detainees bore signs of torture. Islamic Jihad denied having abused them.The New York-based rights group issued a statement on Friday calling on Hamas, which took over Gaza a year ago after routing the forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to exercise sole responsibility for law enforcement.An armed group like (Islamic Jihad's) al-Quds Brigades has no legal right to arrest, detain or interrogate suspects, said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division.The Hamas authorities in Gaza, who control the governing institutions there, have a duty to prosecute those responsible for these abductions and apparent use of torture, Stork said.Hamas should charge the three suspected spies with a recognizable criminal offence and try them in accordance with international standards or free them, Human Rights Watch added.
Ghsain said Hamas had rebuked Islamic Jihad over the abductions, but no legal action against the group was planned.There were marks of torture (on the suspects) and we expressed our displeasure to Islamic Jihad and told them what happened must not be repeated, he said.We have warned all parties against carrying out such act in isolation from the official agencies.Islamic Jihad, which like Hamas has spearheaded an almost eight-year-old uprising against the Jewish state but lacks Hamas's political profile, defended its actions.While we fight the Israeli occupation we must fight collaborators who endanger the lives of leaders and society in general, said Daoud Shehab, the group's spokesman.We have acted legally and fairly, he said. The three collaborators were not tortured by any means and they gave full confessions of their own free will.Several suspected spies for Israel have received death sentences in Palestinian courts and dozens of others have been executed by armed militants in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The phenomenon has been condemned internationally.Ghsain said the three detainees were being interrogated by Hamas authorities and could be prosecuted if convicted. Dozens of suspected spies are in Gazan prisons awaiting trial, he said.(Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Lebanese troops shoot suspected suicide bomber By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer MAY 31,08
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A senior military official says troops shot and killed a suspected suicide bomber near Lebanon's largest Palestinian camp. The official says a man suspected of wearing an explosive belt approached an army checkpoint just outside the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian camp on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon.Troops opened fire and killed the man instantly, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.The army position had previously been targeted by Palestinian militants.
