Abbas sends forces to north West Bank By Adam Entous and Wael al-Ahmed Sat May 3, 3:01 PM ET
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Hundreds of forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deployed to the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday for a law-and-order campaign meant to show the government is laying the ground for statehood. In a campaign dubbed Operation Smile and Hope, jeeps and buses, which commanders said carried up to 600 security men, arrived in the city in coordination with Israel. Another 150 men already in Jenin, long a militant bastion, will join them.Washington, whose efforts for a deal on a Palestinian state this year have shown little sign of progress, sees the Jenin push as a chance for Abbas to prove he can rein in militants -- Israel's main condition for implementing a peace agreement.The deployment of the men, some of whom receive U.S.-funded training in Jordan, coincides with the start of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region on Saturday.In comments to reporters travelling with her, Rice urged Israel not to undermine the Palestinian security efforts.
There have to be very insistent efforts to make sure that they are not being undermined, Rice said.General Diyab al-Ali, head of national security forces in the West Bank, told reporters in Jenin the deployment would lead to a Palestinian state.This is our country, our land and we will do our jobs regardless of what the Israelis do until we establish our own state, he said.A similar security push last year in Nablus was marred by Israeli army raids, travel restrictions and Israel's refusal to let the forces have certain equipment such as body armour.Western officials hope the Jewish state will be more cooperative in Jenin, but Ali said he had not received any assurances from Israel.The Israeli government has emphasized that ultimate security responsibility will remain in Israel's hands.
MILITANTS
A senior Palestinian security official said the forces would target criminals such as car thieves, and had orders to confiscate illegal weapons, but stopped short of explicitly saying the campaign would target militants.
Security men gave out leaflets to residents asking for help on tackling troublemakers and underlining that they alone have the right to carry guns.U.S.-backed peace talks were launched in November with the goal of reaching a deal before Bush leaves office in January, but Washington says neither side is doing enough to meet their obligations under a 2003 peace road map.Under the road-map, Israel is meant to halt settlement activity and remove Jewish outposts. The Palestinians are meant to combat militants in the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, and in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas Islamists.Washington is keen to show security and economic progress in the West Bank before U.S. President George W. Bush visits Israel later this month. The Jenin operation will be accompanied by a series of economic development projects.
Rice arrives on Saturday for meetings with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A senior Abbas aide said the two men would also meet on Monday and that the Palestinians expected Israel to produce maps showing the borders of a future state. The Jenin forces are expected to take up positions on Sunday. The campaign is supposed to last three months. Israel reoccupied West Bank cities -- seven of which had been under Palestinian control after the 1993 Oslo peace accords -- after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000. One Palestinian security source in Jenin said Abbas's forces would be authorized to enter Jenin's volatile refugee camp and other areas that have been off-limits to Palestinian forces. Security has improved in Jenin over the last six months as militants from Abbas's Fatah faction turned in weapons as part of an amnesty program coordinated with Israel. (Editing by Matthew Jones)
Egypt intelligence chief to Israel after 60th celebrations MAY 4,08
CAIRO (AFP) - Egyptian intelligence supremo Omar Suleiman will head to Israel after its 60th anniversary celebrations to discuss a truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, President Hosni Mubarak told reporters on Sunday. Omar Suleiman will head to Israel after the celebrations to discuss the truce with the Israelis, Mubarak said in response to a question during a visit to an industrial complex.
The visit comes after we agreed with Hamas, the PLO and other Palestinian factions like (Islamic) Jihad, he said.Israel celebrates 60 years of existence on Thursday.On Wednesday, 12 Palestinian groups meeting in Cairo agreed to a proposal for a truce with Israel that Egyptian mediators will now try to sell to the Jewish state.A deal for a six-month period of calm had already been accepted by the Islamist movement Hamas, while Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, from rival Fatah, gave the negotiations unconditional support.Egypt's intelligence chief has been serving as a go-between in the truce negotiations, as Israel refuses any direct contacts with organisations it considers terror groups.
WHEN WILL AMERICA EVER TAKE A HINT TO LAYOFF PRESSURING ISRAEL. THE DEMISE OF AMERICA IS CLOSE DUE TO PRESURRING ISRAEL TO DIVIDE JERUSALEM. I CAN GUARENTEE A BAD HURRICANE SEASON THIS YEAR. AS IF ALL THESE TORNADOES ALREADY ARE NOT A HINT TO AMERICA.
Rice pushes for Mideast peace progress By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer MAY 4,08
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that a year-end goal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is still achievable, even though both sides question whether the target is realistic. Rice made the comments after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has sounded increasingly pessimistic about reaching an agreement with the Israelis. Abbas accuses Israel of undermining talks by continuing to build Jewish settlements on lands the Palestinians claim for a future state, and refusing to remove hundreds of military checkpoints that dot the West Bank.At a news conference with the Palestinian leader, Rice urged Israel not to prejudice a final deal — a reference to the settlement construction. And in unusually pointed criticism, Rice suggested the Israeli government could do more to improve life for West Bank residents.She said Israeli gestures in the West Bank must have a real effect on the lives of people there. We are trying to look not just at quantity, but also quality of improvements, she said.Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert relaunched peace talks at a U.S.-hosted conference last November and set a December 2008 target for a peace deal.Their talks are to be based on the U.S.-backed road map, a peace plan that sets out a phased process leading to the formation of an independent Palestinian state. As interim measures, Israel is supposed to halt settlement activity and take steps to improve the freedom of movement for Palestinians, while the Palestinians are supposed to dismantle militant groups. Neither side has fully met these obligations.
Rice said carrying out the roadmap is very painstaking work, but noted that President Bush believes the time has come for the establishment of the Palestinian state.That is why we are working so hard on the roadmap simultaneously with the negotiations. And we continue to believe that it is an achievable goal to have an agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis by the end of the year and by the end of President Bush's term, she said.Rice arrived on her latest peace mission on Saturday night, and spent Sunday in a series of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. With no concrete signs of progress, Rice is seeking to breathe new life into peace talks before a visit to the region later this month by Bush, who is joining Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.Rice said that during talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, there was an extensive discussion of the checkpoints.Israel maintains hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank, saying they are needed to protect settlements and prevent would-be attackers from crossing into Israel. The Palestinians claim the travel restrictions have stifled their economy and made free movement in an area they claim for their independent state extremely difficult.It was the first time that I had raised this issue, and so it will be now a discussion as to how to carry out that concern, or how to address that concern, Rice said.
At the same time, she acknowledged there is a real security dimension for the Israelis. She praised the Palestinians for their move over the weekend to deploy hundreds of security forces in the West Bank town of Jenin — a onetime stronghold of militant groups.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad toured Jenin on Sunday, meeting with Palestinian police who had deployed there a day earlier. Fayyad said that during a joint meeting with Rice and Barak, they discussed the future deployments of Palestinian police in other West Bank areas.After a White House meeting last month, Abbas was critical of the U.S. for not pushing Israel harder to create conditions that he thinks are more conducive to peacemaking. But on Sunday, he praised the U.S. involvement and said failure is not an option.We want to achieve success, and we need to reach a comprehensive agreement, he said. If we don't reach an agreement, we have to think about what the next step will be. Now, let's not think about failure.Later Sunday, Rice was to meet the chief negotiators, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.Despite Rice's optimistic comments, the sides face new obstacles unrelated to the substance of peacemaking. Abbas, 73, underwent an unannounced heart test last week, raising new questions about his health, while Olmert has become the subject of a new police investigation, the fifth since he took office two years ago. A gag order has been imposed on the Olmert case. But speaking to his Cabinet on Sunday, Olmert said the case has unleashed a wave of malicious and wicked rumors and pledged to push forward with his agenda.
He also confirmed reports that he would meet with Abbas on Monday. The two leaders meet regularly to assess progress. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a peace deal is the Hamas militant group's continued control of the Gaza Strip. The Islamic group violently overtook the area last June from Abbas' forces, leaving the Palestinians with two rival governments. The Palestinians want to build an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza — which lie on opposite sides of Israel. But Olmert says that even if a peace agreement is reached, Israel cannot carry it out until Abbas regains control of Gaza. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group because of its history of suicide bombings and commitment to Israel's destruction.
Israel's Olmert says he will meet Palestinian president Sun May 4, 7:47 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he will meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Monday. Olmert made the announcement Sunday at the regular weekly meeting of his Cabinet. Palestinian officials had previously said the meeting would take place Monday in Jerusalem.Abbas visited Washington last week and has complained that months of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have yielded no progress.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the region for talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials. She is trying to nudge the two sides toward an agreement by the end of this year.
