Jailed prof in terror case faces contempt charges By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 26, 6:49 PM ET
RICHMOND, Va. - A former professor who pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a Palestinian terrorist group was charged Thursday with refusing to testify before a grand jury in a related investigation.
A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted Sami al-Arian on two counts of criminal contempt. Arraignment is set for 10 a.m. Monday.Al-Arian has completed his nearly five-year prison term but remains in custody because he has refused to testify before a grand jury investigating Muslim charities and businesses. His attorneys had been negotiating his deportation, but the indictment puts that on hold.Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor, was taken into federal custody in 2003. Prosecutors alleged that he was a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a terrorist organization, but his 2005 trial in Florida ended in acquittal on some charges and a hung jury on others.The government decided to retry him, and he agreed to a plea bargain on lesser charges. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.Critics say the case reflects overzealous prosecution of Muslim-Americans. Earlier this year, al-Arian went on a 57-day hunger strike to protest his detention.After failing to convict Dr. al-Arian before a Florida jury, the government has continued to use any and all means to prolong his confinement, said al-Arian's attorney, Jonathan Turley.
He said the government has used similar tactics to confine others acquitted of terrorism-related charges. For example, former Howard University professor Abdelhaleem Ashqar was sentenced to 11 years in prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Chicago after he was acquitted on charges of aiding the Palestinian terrorist network Hamas.Turley said al-Arian has given two sworn statements to the government and volunteered to take a polygraph test to demonstrate he's told everything he knows about the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Va., which funded his Palestinian think tank in Tampa.This confirms that the government always intended to indict Dr. al-Arian regardless of his cooperation, Turley said.Jim Rybicki, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said he could not comment on a grand jury matter.
The indictment alleges that al-Arian knowingly disobeyed a judge's order to testify before the grand jury. Al-Arian has claimed that terms of his plea agreement exempt him from testifying, but two judges have rejected that claim.
Rocket hits Israel, second violation of Gaza truce By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 26, 3:35 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Gaza militants fired two rockets into southern Israel on Thursday, further straining a shaky, week-old truce as Israel kept vital Gaza border crossings closed in response. The rocket attack, the second since the cease-fire took effect, led to a call for retaliation by Israel's Foreign Minister while Palestinians charged that the continued closure of crossings violated terms of the cease-fire.Despite the breach, Israel dispatched an envoy to Egypt in hopes of negotiating a prisoner swap with Gaza's ruling Islamic Hamas.The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets Thursday. One exploded harmlessly in a field, the military said, refusing to disclose where the other landed. A statement from the militant group demanded that Israel halt its military operations in the West Bank.The truce, hammered out by Egypt over months of separate talks with Israel and Hamas, does not include the West Bank. On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad fired three rockets at Israel, wounding two people, linking the attack to an Israeli raid in the West Bank.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it should not matter who was behind the rocket attack.
I am not interested in who fired and who didn't fire at Israel, she told reporters. It is a violation, and Israel needs to respond immediately, militarily, for every violation.Previous truces have come apart quickly because Gaza militants claimed the right to retaliate for Israeli raids in the West Bank.Since the cease-fire agreement took effect June 19, Israel has responded to rocket attacks by closing crossings rather than retaliating with airstrikes at Palestinian rocket squads, as it did routinely since Hamas overran Gaza a year ago. Closure of the crossings, where vital supplies are shipped into Gaza, restores a blockade that has caused severe shortages.That hits at the main interest of Hamas — ending the blockade and easing the hardships facing the people under its control. Hamas officials charged that by restoring the blockade, Israel is violating the truce. Underlining the high level of distrust, Palestinians formed a committee to track Israeli violations.At a high-level security meeting late Thursday, Israel decided to keep the crossings closed Friday because of the latest rocket attack, defense officials said. A limited amount of fuel will be transferred, they said.At a meeting Wednesday, Israeli defense officials discussed how to proceed once the crossings are reopened. According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed, Israel might reset the truce clock each time it closes the crossings in response to a Palestinian violation.Israel had significantly increased the amount of supplies flowing into Gaza on Sunday, in accordance with the truce agreement, and was ready for another increase next Sunday. But the rocket attack stopped the process. Now Israel is considering counting three days from each reopening of the crossings before it reinstates the original increase.During a visit to Prague, Czech Republic, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Israel should reopen the crossings to preserve the truce.
(The reopening is) important because the closure ... of Gaza is actually producing a situation where you have 1.5 million of our people who live there with a sense of not much to lose, Fayyad said. That is a situation that's got to end.Hamas charged that the reimposed blockade is a violation, but Hamas official Taher Nunu said the group remains committed to the truce.The (Hamas) government will not allow anyone to violate this agreement, he said.
The rocket attack Thursday came as Israeli envoy Ofer Dekel headed to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials on the final stage of the truce — a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier Hamas has held for two years. Israel has balked at Hamas' demands, saying its list of prisoners includes militants involved in deadly attacks on Israelis. Hamas also has demanded that Israel allow reopening of Gaza's only border crossing with Egypt in the final phase of the six-month truce deal. The Rafah crossing has been sealed since the Hamas takeover, confining Gaza's people to the seaside territory. Israel has said it would not allow reopening of Rafah until the soldier is freed.
Israeli official to Egypt for Hamas prisoner swap talks Thu Jun 26, 7:05 AM ET
CAIRO (AFP) - An Israeli negotiator was due in Egypt on Thursday in a bid to speed up indirect negotiations with the Hamas movement for the release of an Israeli soldier as part of a prisoner swap. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's envoy Ofer Dekel was due to hold talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, an Israeli government official said.According to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, quoting trusted Egyptian sources, Corporal Gilad Shalit would be handed over to Egypt before heading home after two years in captivity.The prisoner exchange deal would see the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Shalit who will be handed over to Egypt, where he will stay for a week and see his family, a source said.He would then go to Israel and once there, another 300 Palestinian prisoners would be released. Two months later 550 prisoners would be released, mainly women and children, the source said.Israel has objected to many names put forward by Hamas because they have Jewish blood on their hands, the source said.Egypt has given Israel a list of 1,000 names, but (Israel) has reservations about 75 percent of them.Israel is willing to consider their release on condition they leave the Palestinian territories to guarantee that they will not carry out any operations against Israel, the source said, adding that Egypt had objected to this condition.Israel is eager to maintain this series of steps but there is disagreement over the names.Suleiman had already played a key role in mediating a truce that went into effect on June 19 in and around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Army radio said Dekel would seek to ensure Egypt does not open the Rafah crossing with Gaza until militants there release Shalit, who was seized in a bloody cross-border operation by Hamas and other Palestinian militants two years ago.Rafah, the only Gaza crossing that bypasses Israel, has been closed since 2006, although Egypt has allowed some medical cases in.Israel has allowed only a trickle of goods to pass through the other crossings as part of a blockade it imposes on Gaza in a bid to force militants to halt rocket attacks.On Wednesday -- the second anniversary of Shalit's capture -- Hamas insisted once again that Shalit's release was not related to the truce agreement and that he would only be freed in exchange for jailed Palestinians.Under the terms of the prisoner exchange a certain number of Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for the captive Zionist soldier, said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing.
Israel's embattled Olmert survives, for now By Ilene R. Prusher Thu Jun 26, 4:00 AM ET
Jerusalem - Only hours before the Israeli parliament had been poised to dissolve itself early Wednesday – the first step in a no-confidence motion to bring down the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – the unpopular Mr. Olmert secured himself a few more months in office by agreeing to hold primaries in his Kadima Party by late September. Many Israelis went to sleep Tuesday thinking that Wednesday would be the beginning of the end, and woke up the following morning to find that Olmert and the left-leaning Labor party, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, had reached a deal: They put the brakes on bringing the government down and Olmert would commit to stepping aside and allowing the Kadima, not yet four years old, to choose a new leader.Why did some of Olmert's toughest adversaries allow him to stay, following widespread calls for him to resign as details of a criminal investigation into a cash-taking scandal became apparent in the past month? Some cite fear of losing seats in the next parliament, while others say decisionmakers are convinced that Israel is in such a precarious place, with so much movement in various international and regional conflicts that throwing out the government now is too risky.The bigger parties – Shas, Labor, and Kadima – are not interested in early elections, because they don't think they will do better in early elections. About 80 or 90 of the 120 members of Knesset [Israel's parliament] can see that they won't be returning if there are early elections, says Peter Medding, an expert on Israeli politics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Both the Labor Party and the Likud feel that this is the last thing the country needs and wants at this stage – because you go into a limbo, a sort of domestic spin, and it's not as if we don't have a few other things to keep us busy.
In these, he listed Israel's shaky truce with Hamas, which is just six days old and already being tested by militants who fired rockets into Israel Tuesday; possible negotiations with Hezbollah over Israel's captured soldiers; indirect talks with Syria; and nuclear tensions with Iran.I think that the overwhelming position in the country is that the prime minister should step down because he's in an untenable situation. But how do you get him do that? adds Mr. Medding.That Olmert's departure as prime minister is now a question not of if but of when seemed apparent from the way the last-minute deal was interpreted by the local Israeli press.Olmert knows that his term is finished, Columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation paper, Yediot Aharonot. His enemies have beaten him. Even if he succeeds in surviving until next March, he has lost the ability to lead and the public confidence he needs to implement tough decisions. He clings to his hope for a miracle.... As long as he sits on the seat of the prime minister, he must create the impression that he will sit there forever. Otherwise he will be eaten alive.Right-wing parties were outraged that the pro-peace Labor Party backed out of its plans to bring down Olmert, following all-night mediation efforts. Rightist opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Labor Party chairman Mr. Barak for going easy on Olmert and said that the whole coalition had shown itself to be opportunist.Expectations that Mr. Netanyahu might be a formidable candidate for prime minister – he was premier from 1996 to 1999 – is a major factor in the political calculations of Labor and Kadima.Some analysts were concerned that the decision has the appearance of stability, but could backfire, and will certainly tie Olmert's hands from making any bold peace moves in the coming months.Anything he does in any direction, whether for peace or antipeace, he will be accused and suspected of doing it for political or personal motives, and of trying to distract people from all of the mounting evidence against him, says Medding.
Syria opens site to U.N. atom probe By Mark Heinrich
Wed Jun 25, 6:35 PM ET
VIENNA (Reuters) - Syria gave U.N. investigators a good look at the site of what Washington says was a secret nuclear reactor before Israel destroyed it, but initial checks were inconclusive and more are needed, they said on Wednesday. Chief U.N. inspector Olli Heinonen said his team was able to take extensive environmental samples at the remote desert location and the sensitive inquiry was off to a good start, with Syria's cooperation generally satisfactory at this stage.Heinonen, speaking to reporters on his return to Vienna after four days in Syria, said it was too early to draw conclusions about the nature of the site, bombed by Israel last September, and follow-up investigations could take some time.
Syria denies hiding anything from U.N. inspectors, saying Israel destroyed an ordinary military building and accusing the United States of spreading disinformation.Heinonen said his team gathered environmental samples of quite a lot of things in search of traces of material that might point to what Washington said was a nascent, plutonium-making reactor before it was flattened.To a great extent, we achieved what we wanted ... and agreed to do ... on this first trip, said Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director-general in charge of non-proliferation inspections worldwide.Pressed on whether his three-man team was able to see what it wanted to check and speak to relevant Syrian officials despite diplomatic reports its room for inquiry would be severely restricted, he said: Yes, quite a lot. But there is still work that remains to be done. It will take a while.The IAEA dispatched Heinonen's team after receiving U.S. photos of the al-Kibar site that prompted the U.N. watchdog to put Syria on its nuclear proliferation watch list in April.
SOME ANALYSTS SUSPECT SYRIAN COVER-UP
U.S. nuclear analysts say satellite images show the Syrians had removed debris and constructed a new building at the site destroyed by Israel in what they see as a possible cover-up.The initial scope of the inquiry was limited by what diplomats said was Syria's refusal to let the inspectors search three other sites for any evidence of a source of fuel for the reactor, or relevant processing equipment.Syria denied access on national security grounds, asserting such sites were conventional military bases only and off-limits.Asked about other sites of IAEA interest, Heinonen said: That (issue) will be something to deal with later.He said he did not know how long it would take to get results from the environmental samples.But the IAEA's inspectorate is expected to issue a detailed report on findings in Syria to the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors before its next meeting in September.The IAEA has criticized Washington for waiting until long after the Israeli raid to brief the U.N. nuclear watchdog about its suspicions that Syria, with North Korean help, had almost completed a reactor that could have yielded plutonium for bombs.IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said ahead of the inspectors' trip that he doubted they would find any useful evidence so long after the site's destruction.ElBaradei also said there was no evidence that Syria, whose only declared nuclear facility is an ageing research reactor under IAEA monitoring, had the skills or fuel to run a major nuclear complex. Washington disputes this. But ElBaradei said he took the U.S. accusations very seriously and demanded "absolute transparency from Damascus. Damascus has denied concealing anything from the IAEA in possible violation of its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. Syrian officials and state-dominated media maintained silence about the IAEA mission throughout. Syria, an ally of Iran whose secretive nuclear program has been under IAEA investigation since 2003, has accused the United States of doctoring evidence in collusion with Israel, believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power.(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Last-minute deal saves Olmert govt by Ron Bousso
Wed Jun 25, 11:22 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert averted a major crisis on Wednesday, after his Labour allies agreed to reverse a decision to vote on dissolving parliament -- a move which could have brought down the government. Under the accord, Olmert agreed to a demand that his Kadima party hold primary elections by September 25 and Labour undertook not to back opposition efforts to bring down the government, parliamentary sources said.The deal between Olmert's centrist Kadima party and Labour, which is headed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, was reached just hours before the motion to dissolve parliament was to be submitted in a preliminary reading.Kadima's leadership is now scheduled to meet by July 10 to fix a date for the primaries, which will choose a party chief and were expected to pit Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni against Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and possibly Olmert.On Monday, 15 of the 19 Labour MPs had voted in favour of Barak's decision to support the dissolution bill on Wednesday.Barak had also threatened earlier this month to quit Olmert's coalition government if the prime minister did not resign over suspicions he had illegally accepted cash from a US businessman.Labour is Olmert's key partner in government and without its support the prime minister's fragile coalition would not have the required 61 seats for a majority in the 120-member parliament.Opposition leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the decision.This is a government of failure. You simply don't care. Well, you do care, you care for your seats, Netanyahu said in parliament.
Olmert has not ruled out running in the primary, but political analysts doubt he would be able to draw enough support.He has lost popular legitimacy, said Hanan Cristal, a political commentator with Israeli public radio.But he pointed out Olmert did gain time at a crucial moment when Israel is involved in indirect negotiations with Syria and considering prisoner swaps with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
Olmert has denied any wrongdoing but has admitted receiving campaign donations from US financier Morris Talansky, who last month told a Jerusalem court he had given Olmert envelopes stuffed with large amounts of cash.Kadima's leadership meeting could take place just days before Talansky is scheduled to be cross-examined by the prime minister's lawyers.Olmert on Sunday had warned that any Labour minister who voted in favour of dissolution would be out of office within 48 hours, a Labour official said.But Labour's secretary general, MP Eitan Cabel, said then that Labour ministers were ready to lose their jobs and head for early elections.The current legislature is due normally to run until the end of 2010.
Israel investigates security scare at Sarkozy departure Wed Jun 25, 5:46 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli authorities on Wednesday were investigating the apparent suicide death of a policeman which stirred a security scare during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's departure ceremony. A police spokesman confirmed an investigation had been launched into the death of Raed Ranen, 32, who seemingly shot himself while standing guard during the ceremony at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on Tuesday.Authorities believe Ranen committed suicide, a version rejected by the man's family.After the shot that killed Ranen rang out, bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to their plane, while security officials whisked Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres into their armoured cars.Once it became evident there was no security risk, Olmert and Peres boarded the plane to bid farewell to Sarkozy, who had spent three days in Israel and the occupied West Bank.The policeman's brother Nayef made it clear he didn't believe in the suicide theory.He had no reason to take his own life. It may have been an accident or he was unwittingly killed by another Israeli guard, the Ynet news website quoted him as saying.His father Assad said his son was in good spirits when he left home to join his unit on Tuesday.He had a family, a house, friends and plans for the future, he had no reason to commit suicide, he said.The family hired a lawyer to ensure there is a complete and detailed investigation and to gain access to security video footage from the airport.
The shot was fired just as Olmert kissed the French first lady on the cheeks and President Shimon Peres bid farewell to his counterpart.The first lady, a model-turned-singer clad in a black pantsuit, rushed up the steps of the plane's gangway escorted by a bodyguard.The French president kept his composure, calmly walking up the steps and briefly raising his hand in a farewell gesture to his hosts.Police said Ranen hailed from the northern Israeli town of Beit Dajan and was a member of the Druze community, a minority group whose religion includes an eclectic mix of beliefs initially rooted in Islam.
Israel keeps Gaza crossings shut after rocket attacks: military Wed Jun 25, 3:26 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel kept three border crossings with the Gaza Strip closed on Wednesday following rocket attacks that breached a truce with the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, a military spokesman said. We are keeping the Karni, Sufa and Nahal Oz crossings closed for the time being following the firing of rockets in flagrant violation of the truce deal, the spokesman, Peter Lerner told AFP.He said however that one crossing, Erez, remained open.Three rockets slammed into southern Israel on Tuesday, slightly wounding two people. The Islamist Jihad movement claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Major powers fret over Israeli settlements, shaky Gaza truce by Lachlan Carmichael Tue Jun 24, 4:58 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - The United States and other peace brokers fretted Tuesday over the fragility of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by calling for a truce in Hamas-run Gaza to last and Israel to freeze settlements. The appeal from the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and United States followed international pledges of 242 million dollars to bolster the Palestinian police and justice system to help pave the way to a viable state.Following a series of meetings here, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that a peace agreement could still be framed before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.I continue to be hopeful that we can reach the solution by the end of the year as envisioned by Annapolis, said Rice flanked by her counterparts from the other members of the so-called quartet.At US-sponsored talks in Annapolis, Maryland last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations toward resolving core problems like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and refugees.But the quartet acknowledged difficulties by stressing the urgent need for tangible progress toward a deal this year for an independent and viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, and an end to the conflict.A senior US official told reporters that the negotiations remained complicated by both events in Gaza -- which is run by the extremist Hamas movement -- and by volatile Israeli domestic politics.There was a recognition throughout the conversations today that the situation on the ground is very fragile because of Gaza, he said.US Generals William Fraser and James Jones are expected to return to the West Bank and Israel to resume their roles in seeking to improve the security situation, the official said.Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel on Tuesday, the first such attacks since the truce came into effect on June 19.One landed in the courtyard of a house and caused some damage and the other landed in a field.
This came hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another young man in the northern town of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which was not included in the Egyptian-brokered truce.The quartet issued a statement urging that the calm be respected in full and expressed its hope that it would endure and lead to improved security for Palestinians and Israelis alike, and a return to normal civilian life in Gaza.European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana underscored the point later by saying to maintain the calm will be the most beneficial for everybody, adding it is the most important thing before them.And, reiterating their deep concern, the United States and fellow quartet members also called for an immediate freeze to Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and the dismantling of outposts built since March 2001.Israeli authorities said earlier this month that they had approved a plan to build 40,000 new homes in Jerusalem over the next 10 years, including in the annexed Arab eastern sector of the city.The move infuriated the Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem as their future capital, and drew international criticism.Actions on both sides undermine the roadmap which was launched by the quartet in 2003 to pave the way for a Palestinian state by first calling for a halt to both extremist violence and settlement building. The quartet said it planned to next come together in September at the UN General Assembly, where they would discuss plans for an international meeting in Moscow to bolster the Annapolis process. It would be the latest in a series of such meetings. Berlin played host Tuesday to a conference involving 41 countries which pledged 242 million dollars toward establishing a criminal-justice system based on the rule of law. The money will be passed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the next three years for measures such as putting more police on the beat, rebuilding destroyed courthouses and training judges, host Germany said. The cash comes out of 7.4 billion dollars already pledged by donors in Paris in December. On the sidelines of the talks in Berlin, Rice hosted a trilateral meeting with Israelis led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinians led by chief negotiator Ahmed Qorei, according to Palestinian and US officials.
Countries commit $242M to strengthen Palestinians By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 24, 2:50 PM ET
BERLIN - Countries at an international conference Tuesday agreed to commit $242 million to strengthen the Palestinian Authority's police and judicial systems, sending what Germany's foreign minister called a clear signal of support for building a Palestinian state. The money will go to projects that include police training, building a forensic lab and prisons, installing communications networks, and creation of courthouses.Organizers had hoped for commitments of $190 million going into the meeting, which brought together officials including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa.The result, I must say, is that a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state was sent from here today, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the conference host.Officials stressed that improving the civilian security infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority — which controls only the West Bank after last year's takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas — was essential to the creation of a Palestinian state.It is not enough to determine the borders of a future Palestinian state, Livni said as the conference opened. When handing over the keys to the Palestinians, we must know that our neighbor is not a failed state or a terror state but a partner in peace.International Middle East envoy Tony Blair said upgrading security was essential regardless of whether progress is made toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, a precursor to establishing a Palestinian state.It is important in any event that we build the capacity and the capability of the Palestinian Authority, Blair said at a news conference.Not only does it matter to Palestinians that there is a proper authority for law and order, he said, but having additional security capacity will make it easier to push for an end to Israeli occupation.
Fayyad welcomed what he called a strong expression of support for a Palestinian state and said that security is the most important service any responsible government must provide to its citizens. But he also stressed the need for Israel to comply with international demands for a freeze in building Jewish settlements and for a change in Israeli security behavior.He cited an Israeli raid Tuesday in Nablus in which a senior Islamic Jihad commander was killed and a bystander shot as an example of the kind of activity that has to stop immediately if, in fact, we are going to succeed in the provision of security to our people.To bolster the projects, the European Union plans to increase its 32-member police mission to provide 70 training personnel, including judges, prosecutors and other legal experts.The so-called EUPOL COPPS mission has been bolstering a now 900-strong civil police force. It plans to widen its focus to improving jails and how courts operate.
The mission's leader, Colin Smith, has said the court system is seriously backed up, with 80 percent of prisoners in Palestinian jails waiting to be sentenced.Smith welcomed the outcome of Tuesday's meeting, saying in a statement that the financial commitments that have been made today ... will be instrumental in turning words into palpable results.The conference was followed by a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers — the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia. The group stressed in a statement the urgent need for more visible progress on the ground in order to build confidence and support progress in negotiations toward peace launched at Annapolis, Maryland, in November.
Sarkozy speaks out in favour of Palestinian state by Philippe Alfroy Tue Jun 24, 1:01 PM ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday spoke out strongly in favour of a Palestinian state after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem. The security of Israel is non-negotiable for France, but the creation of a viable, democratic, modern state for the Palestinians is a priority for France, he said at a news conference with Abbas in the Biblical town.Later, preparing to head home from Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, his departure ceremony was disrupted by a security scare. A shot rang out when a member of the Israeli guard of honour killed himself in what police said was a suicide.Bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to their plane.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres were taken to their armoured cars, but later boarded the plane to bid farewell to the Sarkozys.Sarkozy, who spent three days in Israel and the occupied West Bank, pledged in Bethlehem to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
We will use the same strength, the same commitment we used in ensuring Israel's security, said Sarkozy, who on Monday had addressed the Israeli parliament.He reiterated his call for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank, widely seen as a major hurdle to already slowly moving peace talks.Israel in recent months announced the construction of hundreds of new settler homes in the West Bank, infuriating Palestinians and drawing sharp criticism from the international community.I told our Israeli friends the injustice done to the Jewish people can't be resolved by creating conditions of injustice for the Palestinian people, Sarkozy said.The French leader, who urged Israel to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank, said it was a pleasure to come here to Bethlehem to see what the checkpoints were like, the wall, the misunderstandings on either side. This must stop.Israel has set up hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints and erected a barrier separating itself from the West Bank, which often protrudes well inside the Palestinian territory.It claims the measures are vital to its security, but the World Bank says they are a major obstacle to Palestinian economic growth.Sarkozy also had sharp criticism for Hamas, the Islamist movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip last June and launched almost daily rocket attacks on Israel until a truce went into effect on June 19.Violence cannot solve the problems. Hamas is very wrong to have acted the way it did. You do not create peace through terrorism.As he spoke, another Palestinian faction, Islamic Jihad, claimed it had fired two rockets that slammed into southern Israel without causing any casualties.The attack from Gaza came after Israeli forces killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another man in the occupied West Bank, which is not part of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Abbas, who has had no control over Gaza since Hamas ousted his forces last year, praised Sarkozy, saying: Your positions, your initiatives are those of a friend. You are a friend, you have the interests of this region at heart.On Monday, Sarkozy had told Israeli MPs that a lasting peace would entail a future Palestinian state and Israel sharing Jerusalem as their capital. There can be no peace without recognising Jerusalem as the capital of two states and the guarantee of freedom of access to the holy places for all religions, he said. Israel occupied Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it -- a move unrecognised by the international community. It has since insisted it regards the whole city as its eternal, indivisible capital.
