Hamas and Egypt to discuss truce, prisoner swap deal By Nidal al-Mughrabi JULY 8,08
GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas leaders plan to hold talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo on the future of a ceasefire with Israel that has been marred by violations since it began nearly three weeks ago. In the latest challenge to the Egyptian-brokered truce, militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired two mortar bombs at Israel on Tuesday, causing no casualties, the Israeli military said.
Similar attacks since the truce went into effect have led Israel to close crossings with Gaza that had been reopened under the truce deal to the limited entry of goods into the territory.Officials in Gaza familiar with the Egyptian-Hamas dialogue said the talks would get under way on Wednesday.We will evaluate the Israeli commitment. They are opening the crossings partially and that was against the agreement, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, told reporters.
Zahar said he and other Hamas officials would urge Egypt to press Israel to stop the repeated closures.Hamas has called on all militant groups in Gaza to abide by the truce, but some factions have vowed to respond militarily to Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank, which is not covered by the truce.In response to mortar bomb attacks on Monday, Israel said it would keep Gaza crossings closed on Tuesday, but reversed the decision after a special request by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the Israeli Defence Ministry said.Though Israel has responded to cross-border rocket attacks by frequently closing Gaza's goods crossings, records show up to a 44 percent increase in total goods imports in recent weeks.This includes a nearly 30 percent rise in petrol supplies and a 40 percent increase in diesel imports, the records show.Zahar said the discussions also would include prospects for a prisoner swap with Israel.Gaza militants have been holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for the past two years and hope to trade him for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.Accusing Israel of a lack of commitment to the truce, Hamas last week declared talks on an exchange suspended. Zahar said Egyptian mediators would brief the group on Israel's position.He voiced few hopes that Egypt could succeed in efforts to reconcile between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah in fighting a year ago.(Editing by Diana Abdallah)
Israel orders Hamas-linked shopping mall closed JULY 8,08
NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - The Israeli army on Tuesday ordered the closure of a shopping mall in the West Bank, saying the company that runs it is linked to Hamas, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said. Computers, furniture and documents were seized in the pre-dawn raid on Al-I'itiman Investment Co in the city of Nablus's only mall, with soldiers posting a closure notice.After August 15, anyone running a store in the five-storey mall which has dozens of shops could face five years in jail, the order reads.
A military spokesman said the army was acting against charitable organisations acting on behalf of Hamas.He charged that the organisations sought to strengthen the Islamist movement, to encourage terrorist attacks against Israel, and to give financial support to terrorism infrastructure.Directors of Al-I'itiman were not available for comment on the accusations.Nablus mayor Jamal Muheissen slammed the closure, saying the mall belongs to the people and not to Hamas, and it operates in accordance with Palestinian Authority regulations.Many of the shopkeepers staged a march in Nablus to protest the action.But an Israeli security source claimed that the profits generated by these boutiques are used to sponsor terrorism.Soldiers also searched the offices of several charitable organisations in the Nablus area, Palestinian officials said.And they searched the municipal offices of the West Bank town of El-Bireh, whose council is controlled by Hamas, seizing computers and documents, Palestinian security sources said.
Israel, like the European Union and the United States, blacklists Hamas as a terrorist organisation despite its upset victory in 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections.On Monday, troops searched the offices of the Al-Tadamon (Solidarity) charitable association in Nablus, confiscating documents and computers before posting a sign stating the facilities were part of terrorist infrastructure.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the army has decided to intensify its campaign against charities and other civil associations linked to Hamas, an Islamist movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.Earlier this year the army shut down several warehouses and offices of the Islamic Charity Movement and the Islamic Youth Association in the southern West Bank town of Hebron, saying they were used to funnel funds to Hamas's military wing.
Israel reopens Gaza border, mortar fire continues By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer JULY 8,08
JERUSALEM - Israel agreed to an Egyptian request and opened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday despite Palestinian mortar fire that violated a shaky three-week-old truce. Egypt's unusual request appeared to be an attempt to prod forward the truce deal, which was designed in part to ease Israel's crushing blockade of the coastal strip.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to the request by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who mediated the truce, Israeli defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss communications between the two men.Barak's accession to the Egyptian request suggests Israel might be open to relaxing its response to the occasional attacks that have persisted since the truce took effect. There have been no serious injuries.Hours after the crossings opened at noon, militants fired another shell into Israel, causing no casualties or damage, the Israeli military said. No Palestinian group immediately claimed responsibility. Israel kept the crossings open. Earlier, two mortars exploded near the Sufa crossing, where Israel allows transfer of humanitarian supplies into Gaza. One fell just inside Gaza and the other in Israel, the military said.In all, 15 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza, the latest a mortar shell fired on Monday. Israel has responded automatically by snapping shut the crossings, which have been closed about half of the time since the truce took effect June 19.
Under the first phase of the cease-fire, Gaza militants were to halt their assaults on southern Israel, and Israel was to gradually allow more supplies to enter impoverished Gaza, home to 1.4 million Palestinians.For months, the crossings have been cracked open only for humanitarian shipments, in an effort to pressure militants to stop barraging southern Israel with rockets and mortars. So far the truce has not eased conditions in Gaza because of the frequent closures.Should the truce take root, its final stage calls for stepped-up talks on opening a major Gaza border passage with Egypt and releasing an Israeli soldier Hamas has held for two years. Hamas officials were headed to Cairo on Tuesday to discuss opening the Gaza-Egypt passage.In Cairo, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said his group will resume talks with Egyptian mediators on the truce with Israel and a possible prisoner swap. He said talks will also address the fate of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, whom Hamas wants to trade for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.Egypt mediated the truce because Israel has no contacts with Hamas, which does not recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.
In related news, an explosion went off early Tuesday at a Hamas military training camp in Gaza, killing two members of the Islamic militant group and wounding three, both health and Hamas officials said.Hamas' military wing said in a statement that the two were killed while carrying out a holy mission, suggesting explosives were mishandled and went off prematurely.The Israeli military said it was not involved.While trying to cement a truce with militants in Gaza, Israel is also cracking down on the movement's operations in the West Bank.For a second straight day Tuesday, the Israeli military ordered the shutdown of facilities affiliated with an Islamic charity in the West Bank town of Nablus. The military accused the Islamic Charity Movement of being a front for Hamas.
There was no immediate comment from the charity.
Hamas violently wrested control of the Gaza Strip a year ago, and Israel doesn't want it to also take over the West Bank. In recent months it has gone after West Bank charities, moneychangers, media and schools with suspected ties to militants. Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Israeli military lifted a two-day curfew that confined residents of a Palestinian village to their homes and barred movement in and out of the community. The army imposed the curfew on Naalin on Sunday after violent protests against Israel's West Bank separation barrier. The barrier, designed to keep Palestinian attackers out of Israel, dips into the West Bank at points and is designed to cut through village land. Officials at local hospitals said two people were hospitalized during the unrest. One man was shot in the leg and another in the stomach, hospital officials said. Maj. Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman, said soldiers opened fire overnight when dozens of people staged a violent riot against the barrier, throwing rocks at soldiers. She said the soldiers attempted to disperse the crowd, then opened fire at three protest leaders, hitting them in the legs. The curfew was lifted after army commanders met with local village leaders, who promised future protests would be peaceful, an army statement said. Palestinians denied they had reached an agreement with the military. In Syria, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ended a visit without meeting officials from Hamas. Abbas on Tuesday called on Palestinian factions to take part in talks to restore unity, and he did meet with Hamas allies in Islamic Jihad during his three-day visit. But Abbas has said he will not talk to Hamas until it gives up power in Gaza.
Tiff over term could hurt Palestinian president By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 8, 5:38 AM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank - A debate over when Mahmoud Abbas' term expires is threatening the Palestinian president's ability to head off a permanent split between Gaza and the West Bank — and Washington's goal of forging some sort of Mideast peace deal by year's end. Gaza's Hamas rulers say their recognition of Abbas' presidency — a key ingredient for any future reconciliation — will end in six months. After that, they say, Abbas' term ends and they plan to hold elections for a new leader.Abbas aides maintain he can stay in office until 2010.The debate is not just about fine print. The Hamas deadline coincides with President Bush's target date for at least the outline of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Few expect Bush's Mideast peace initiative to bear fruit unless Abbas can restore his rule in Gaza — an outcome that would probably require renewed deal making with Hamas.Abbas has been in control of only the West Bank since Hamas seized Gaza by force a year ago, and he'll probably keep his truncated job no matter what Hamas decides. But failure to lead his people to independence, along with a decision by Hamas to withdraw its recognition, would further weaken an already unpopular president and cement the rift between Hamas and Abbas' pragmatic Fatah movement.If the year ends without a peace deal, as people were promised, then Abbas and the entire Palestinian Authority, which was established to bring about this solution, would come under a big question mark, said political analyst Ali Jerbawi.
The dispute stems from conflicting interpretations of legislation.
Abbas was elected president in January 2005, winning 62 percent of the vote in the West Bank and Gaza. A year later, Hamas defeated Fatah by a landslide in parliamentary elections. The Basic Law, a forerunner to a Palestinian constitution, says both president and parliament are elected to four-year terms.Before Hamas was elected, parliament passed a law stipulating that future presidential and parliamentary elections be held simultaneously. However, the subsequent Hamas-controlled parliament never amended the Basic Law to include this new clause. The upshot: Fatah believes Abbas has the right to stay in office an extra year.Until now, Hamas has not challenged Abbas' position as president — even allowing him to negotiate peace with Israel.But in recent days, Hamas officials have said publicly that they consider Abbas' term over in January. After that, they plan to install Deputy Parliament Speaker Ahmed Bahar as interim president for 60 days before calling presidential elections, said Faraj al-Ghoul, a Hamas legislator in Gaza.Hamas is determined to fulfill the law, added Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.Such elections would presumably only be held in Gaza, without Fatah participation, because Abbas would refuse to go along.The Hamas threat may be part of an attempt by the group to pressure Abbas into negotiating a power-sharing deal. Abbas has repeatedly said he will not talk to Hamas until it gives up power in Gaza. Last month, he expressed a willingness to resume dialogue, though he has been vague about whether his preconditions remain.
Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said he is not surprised by Hamas' threats, saying they are consistent with their coup in Gaza. He said the election law is clear that presidential and legislative elections must be held together.In recent weeks, Abbas aides have hinted that the Palestinian leader might resign by the fall if negotiations with Israel don't move forward. Since peace talks were launched at a U.S.-hosted conference last November, the sides have reported no breakthroughs.Bush called Abbas last week, promising to become more engaged if asked. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to host the two negotiating teams three times by the end of the year.If there's no peace deal, it's unlikely Abbas would call elections anytime soon. He'd have nothing to run on as a candidate, and he has no apparent successor who could easily defeat a Hamas candidate. As the default option, Abbas would remain in office but in a diminished role with continued Western support.
Israel police to quiz Olmert again over graft scandal Tue Jul 8, 5:06 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli police said on Tuesday they will question Prime Minister Ehud Olmert again this week over a corruption scandal that has rocked his government and which could lead to early elections. Anti-fraud squad officers will question Olmert on Friday for the third time over suspicions he had unlawfully taken cash-stuffed envelopes from US financier Morris Talansky before becoming premier in 2006, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP.The interview will be held at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem, he said.The graft investigation, the fourth to embroil the premier, led to a chorus of calls for Olmert's resignation from the opposition and from coalition members who threatened to topple his government.Olmert, who has denied any wrongdoing and refused to step down, weathered the political turmoil after agreeing to hold a primary vote in September to elect a new leader of his centrist Kadima party.The centre-left Labour party, Olmert's key coalition partner, has said it will quit the coalition if the premier is not replaced.Talansky testified in May that he had given Olmert at least 150,000 dollars in the 14 years to 2006, some of which might have been used to fund Olmert's taste for luxury goods.Olmert's lawyers are to cross-examine Talansky on July 17.
Assad wants French role in Syria-Israel talks Tue Jul 8, 4:38 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, expected in Paris this weekend, has welcomed a break in France's policy toward Damascus and invited Paris to play a role in possible direct negotiations with Israel. In an interview published in French newspaper Le Figaro Tuesday, Assad said: We are witnessing a break between the current policy of France and the policy of the past.
This new policy is more realistic and better suited to the interests of both our countries. It is a solid basis to renew healthy relations.French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited Assad along with some 40 foreign leaders for the launch Sunday of a new Union for the Mediterranean, aimed at boosting cooperation between European Union and southern Mediterranean states.Sarkozy, who decided to renew high-level contacts with Damascus following the breakthrough in Lebanon's drawn-out political crisis, is to meet Assad in Paris on July 12. The Syrian leader will stay on for France's Bastille Day ceremonies on July 14.Former president Jacques Chirac cut off official contacts with Syria following the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, who was a personal friend, in a February 2005 bombing in which Syria has been implicated.This visit is for me a historic visit: an opening up to France and to Europe, Assad told Le Figaro.Asked about the resumption of indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel under Turkish auspices, he said it was natural that there should be a lack of trust, considering the stymied peace process.The two countries have been officially at war since 1948, although armistice and ceasefire agreements have been signed in the interim.
For the moment the two parties are testing their intentions... We now need to find a common basis to start direct negotiations, Assad said.Concerning the international sponsorship of such talks, he said he was counting on the next American president, saying that the United States' role was essential.But Assad also invited the French president to get directly involved.My impression is that (Sarkozy) is enthusiastic about these negotiations and wants France to play a direct role, Assad declared. If he confirms it to me, I will immediately invite him to support directly this peace process.
Turning to Lebanon, Assad said preparations were under way to organise a meeting in Paris with President Michel Sleiman. I've known President Sleiman for about 10 years ... our relations are good, he said.Asked about the international tribunal seeking those responsible for Hariri's death, the Syrian president stressed that his country was cooperating and would continue to do so.On the question of human rights in his country, Assad said: We do not say that we are a perfect democratic country. We say that we are taking this road and it is a long road that can last for one or several years.Calling on Europe to back peace and development in Syria, Assad said: This is the role that we ask Europe to play, and not to give us lessons in morality.
Nearly billion dollars in direct aid disbursed to Palestinians in six months Tue Jul 8, 12:57 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) - The international community has paid out nearly a billion dollars in direct aid to the Palestinians in six months, officials of the International Donors' Conference for the Palestinian State said here late Monday, while hitting out at Israeli restrictions on movement by Palestinians. The chair and the co-chairs of the Paris conference, which last December came up with pledges of donations totalling 7.7 billion dollars over three years, strongly welcomed the process of disbursing the funds.The international community has paid out more than 920 million dollars in six months in direct budgetary support and signed for one billion dollars of bilateral agreements with the Palestinian Authority for development projects, according to a communique from the chair and co-chairs released by the French foreign ministry.
This unprecedented level and rapid disbursement of contributions demonstrates the strong support of the international community to the Palestinian government, said the statement by Quartet special Middle East envoy Tony Blair, European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and a Norwegian representative who met at the French foreign ministry.The priority over the coming months will be to secure contributions of Arab League members. These will be crucial to finance the budgetary gap and to support the Palestinian institutions, it went on.The chair and co-chairs said it was essential that the Palestinian government maintains a rigorous fiscal policy in relation with the future disposable revenues and contributions.But restrictions by the Government of Israel on Palestinian movement and access continue to weigh heavily on the economic outlook.
Without a significant lifting of such barriers in the West Bank, and a relaxation of the restrictions on humanitarian and commercial flows to the Gaza Strip, there is a much-reduced prospect for private sector recovery, public and private investment programmes will continue to be delayed, and consequently any economic recovery will continue to be inhibited.The Paris conference was aimed at boosting still fragile hopes for peace launched at the latest Palestinian-Israeli peace process in Annapolis, Maryland in late November 2007, aimed at working for a Palestinian state by the end of 2008.
Palestinians say Israel's barrier stealing land By Rebecca Harrison Mon Jul 7, 6:22 PM ET
BILIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian farmer Suleiman Hussein peers through the electrified barbed wire fence that snakes around three sides of his home and points to the olive trees he once tended. It makes me feel sick, he mutters, retreating as a bulldozer rumbles past on the other side of Israel's West Bank barrier, about 25 meters (yards) from Hussein's home near the village of Bilin, its driver checking for holes or tunnels.On July 9, 2004, the World Court in The Hague ruled that Israel's construction of its proposed 720-km (430-mile) barrier on occupied Palestinian land was illegal.The United Nations says Israel has ignored that ruling. So does Hussein.Israel began building the section of the barricade that virtually encircles his modest concrete home, separating it from his family farmland, three and a half years ago, he says.It has not been moved, despite an Israeli Supreme Court ruling last September that part of it should be re-routed to circumvent agricultural land belonging to residents of Bilin, which lies about 25 km (15 miles) east of Tel Aviv.
Israel argues the barrier, a mix of wire fence and concrete walls, keeps suicide bombers out of its cities. This fence saves lives, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.Palestinians call it a land grab which loops around Jewish settlements and slices through swathes of Palestinian farmland.At Bilin, it curves 3 km (2 miles) inside the Green Line, established by a 1949 ceasefire, which divides Israel and the West Bank -- it does so to ensure Jewish settlements, including Modiin Illit, lie on the Israeli side of the barrier.This is not about a wall, it's about land, said Hussein, 76, angrily jabbing his finger toward the barrier. They say it's about security, but are my olives and goats really a security threat? They just want to steal our land.
PROTESTS
Israeli security forces and protesters, including left-wing Israelis and pro-Palestinian activists from abroad, square off in weekly confrontations in Bilin. Demonstrators hurl rocks and soldiers fire tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades.Last week, clashes erupted outside Hussein's house. A pile of tear gas canisters lay in his garden and the soil was black where soldiers razed several trees.Gas bomb, says his granddaughter Mayadah, a toddler, pointing at one. Who fired it? Army, she replies.
Protesters have in recent months taken their fight to the nearby town of Nilin, hoping to disrupt construction of another section of the barrier. The army has kept the town under curfew for four days since those protests turned violent.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hopes the West Bank will form the main part of a future state. But activists say the barrier and dozens of fortified Jewish settlements are carving it into scattered bantustans, like areas set aside for blacks in apartheid South Africa, and undermining hopes for peace.What we are seeing on the ground is ghettos for the Palestinian people, said Jamal Juma, campaign coordinator for the Stop the Wall group. They are making peace impossible.(Additional reporting by Hamuda Hassan; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
Israel: Prisoner swap deal signed with Hezbollah By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 7, 5:02 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Israel's military said it began digging up the bodies of Lebanese fighters Monday after the government struck a deal with Hezbollah guerrillas to swap five living prisoners and dozens of bodies for two Israeli soldiers captured in 2006. Israel said in a statement that the swap agreement was signed in the presence of a U.N. representative. Implementation of the deal depends on carrying out further steps, the statement said without providing specifics.
Hezbollah officials refused to comment.
Israel approved the swap June 29. It will hand over Samir Kantar, serving multiple life terms for a 1979 attack in Israel's north, as well as four Hezbollah prisoners and dozens of bodies of fighters. In return, Israel is to receive two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a 2006 cross-border raid that set off a fierce 34-day war.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared the two soldiers dead before his Cabinet approved the deal, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who has not allowed Red Cross visits or given any sign that the two are alive, called the declaration speculation.Israeli military officials said the exchange was likely to take place sometime during the four days beginning Sunday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because final arrangements had not been made.
Kantar is serving multiple life sentences for one of the most gruesome attacks in Israeli history. He was convicted of shooting a policeman and then killing an Israeli man in front of his 4-year-old daughter before beating the girl to death. Kantar denied killing the girl.On Monday, the family of the police officer appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to block the exchange.Don't release Kantar. He is a despicable mass murderer, and Israel will be sorry in the end, the slain officer's daughter, Keren Shahar, told reporters.
The court is not expected to intervene in the deal.
The military confirmed that the process of exhuming bodies had begun at the Amiad cemetery for enemy combatants, not far from the Israel-Lebanon border. It was declared a closed military zone to prevent reporters from witnessing the process. The military rabbinate called up reservists to help with identifying the bodies before the exchange.Channel 10 TV showed video of about a dozen workers in white protective suits digging in the cemetery, before a soldier put his hand in front of the camera lens and stopped the filming.In another aspect of the agreement, mediated by a U.N.-appointed German official, Hezbollah has compiled a report on the fate of Ron Arad, an Israeli airman captured alive after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986.Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel was in Europe on Monday to pick up the report, the military officials said.However, in announcing the signing of the swap agreement, government spokesman Mark Regev added, so far we have not received the report concerning the fate of our missing navigator, Ron Arad. When that report is received, we will have discussions inside the government on how to move forward.
Regev would not say where the signing took place.
In exchange for the report on Arad, Israel is to provide information on four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982.Iran, which supports Hezbollah, claims the officials were kidnapped by Lebanese militiamen allied with Israel and delivered to Israeli troops. Israel has long denied holding them, and Samir Geagea, former head of the disbanded Lebanese Forces, has said militiamen killed them. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, taking over large areas as part of a military sweep to expel Palestinian guerrillas.
Victims of attacks in Israel sue Lebanese banks Mon Jul 7, 4:45 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Victims of bombings and rocket attacks in Israel sued several Lebanese banks on Monday for helping fund Hezbollah militants who the lawsuit said orchestrated the attacks.
The lawsuit seeks damages from the banks for more than 50 Israeli citizens injured or relatives of those killed by missile attacks fired from Lebanon's southern border at Israeli targets during July and August, 2006, the suit said.It said the banks provided services to the Islamic Resistance Support Organization (IRSO), which the lawsuit accused of raising funds for terrorist activities for Hezbollah as well as dealing with various U.S. banks.The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, said the Lebanese banks processed funds and cleared U.S. dollars for the IRSO's benefit through the United States and that the IRSO's activities had violated international as well as U.S. federal and state laws.Through dealing with the IRSO, the banks provided Hezbollah with regular, systematic and unfettered access to U.S. currency, thus enabling Hezbollah to rapidly access funds to purchase missiles and weapons that could terrorize civilians.Attacks cited in the suit include two from 2006 -- a July 13 missile attack on the Israeli city of Safed and a July 16 missile that struck the Haifa Train Depot.
The named banks, including Lebanon's Bank of Beirut, Fransabank, BLC Bank, Banque Libano-Francaise, Middle East Africa Bank, violated the Alien Tort Claims Act, the suit said.
It said Fransabank, BLC Bank and the Bank of Beirut also provided services to Lebanon's television network al-Manar.The U.S. government considers Hezbollah and al-Manar terrorist organizations.
Representatives for the banks could not be immediately reached for comment.(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by David Wiessler)
Israeli demo calls for razing of bulldozer attacker's home Sun Jul 6, 12:26 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Around 30 right-wing Israelis staged a demonstration at the east Jerusalem home of a Palestinian man who killed three people in a bulldozer rampage last week to demand its destruction. Israeli police said meanwhile that the man had acted alone and had no links to any Palestinian organisation.Right here, right now, destroy this house, the protestors chanted as they gathered in the Arab village of Sur Baher outside the house of Hossam Dwayyat, 30, who was shot dead Wednesday after ploughing through a busy Jerusalem street.Another 45 people were wounded in the attack in which Dwayyat smashed an earthmover into two buses, overturning one, and crushed several cars.The protest in occupied east Jerusalem was held without incident as police deployed in force around the home, a police official said.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that Dwayyat acted alone.According to the investigation, he acted alone, Rosenfeld said.He also ruled out that Dwayyat was on drugs when he went on the rampage.
Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have mulled destroying Dwayyat's house, even though a previous military inquiry found the practice was ineffective in deterring militant attacks.On Friday, Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to prepare to raze the house but it was not clear if the order had been actually given.Olmert has threatened harsh measures against Palestinians in the occupied and annexed eastern part of the city who carried out attacks, saying If we need to destroy houses, we will destroy houses.Attorney General Menahem Mazuz said on Thursday that demolishing homes in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, would not be illegal but would carry unspecified problems.According to Haaretz newspaper, the authorities could wall up Dwayyat's room rather than destroy the whole family home.Israeli politicians and media have characterised Dwayyat as a terrorist, but his family denies he had any political ties and has suggested he had become mentally unbalanced.Some 250,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem. While they are not Israeli citizens, they have Israel identity cards, have freedom of movement around the country and receive social welfare benefits.
Israeli curfew in West Bank village over barrier protests Sun Jul 6, 11:38 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel enforced a curfew in the West Bank village of Nilin on Sunday after dozens of people were wounded in weeks of protests against a proposed extension of its controversial separation barrier. Since this morning there has been a curfew in Nilin due to the significant rise in violence near the Palestinian village, a military spokesman said. For over two months violent riots have taken place in Nilin.The spokesman added that there was no time limit on the curfew and that it would remain in effect until the violence stopped.Dozens of demonstrators have been wounded during protests in recent weeks, and on Sunday alone 13 Palestinians were treated for rubber bullet wounds and dozens more for tear gas inhalation, according to local medics.During the last two months at least 10 Israelis have been wounded, including three soldiers, five border policemen, and two maintenance workers, and several vehicles have been damaged by rocks, the army said.
Israeli troops on Sunday placed concrete blocks and signs reading closed military zone across roads leading into town and prevented local reporters and photographers from entering.The protests have been aimed at a proposed extension of Israel's controversial separation barrier, which villagers say will rob them of some 2500 dunams (250 hectares) of land near the proposed route.The demonstrations have been modelled on those of the nearby village of Bilin, where residents have protested the barrier on a weekly basis for over two years and in September won a court injunction against its proposed route.Israel says the 650-kilometre (405-mile) barrier is necessary to protect it from terrorist attacks. The Palestinians call it an apartheid wall and complain that large chunks of the West Bank are cut off as a result.In 2004 the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding ruling declaring parts of the barrier illegal because they were built inside the occupied West Bank, but Israel has pressed ahead with its construction.
Olmert to meet Abbas at Paris conference: Israel Sun Jul 6, 5:10 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at an international conference in Paris later this month, a senior Israeli official told AFP on Sunday. The two are expected to attend a July 13 summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to launch a new Mediterranean Union aimed at boosting cooperation between the European Union and north African and Middle Eastern states.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders would hold one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the meeting.Olmert, Abbas and their respective negotiating teams have met regularly since a US-hosted conference last November formally relaunched the Middle East peace process after a near seven-year hiatus.Both leaders, along with US President George W. Bush, have vowed to reach a comprehensive agreement resolving the decades-old conflict by 2009, but the negotiations have so far shown little sign of progress.
Israel successfully tests missile interceptor: report Sun Jul 6, 3:34 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel has successfully tested a new defence system designed to intercept rockets fired from southern Lebanon and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, public radio reported on Sunday.
The Iron Dome system is expected to be fully operational within a year and will be able to intercept the military-grade Katyusha rockets used by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and the cruder Qassam rockets favoured by Hamas.Citing Israeli security officials, public radio said the system would also be effective against mortar fire which has a much smaller window of warning.In January Prime Minister Ehud Olmert viewed a prototype of the 200-million-dollar (140-million-euro) system, which is being developed under contract by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer.
Iron Dome is part of a multi-layered defence system aimed at protecting Israel from both short-range missiles fired by militants in Gaza or Lebanon and longer-range missiles in the arsenals of regional foes Iran and Syria.Since the outbreak of the latest Palestinian uprising in 2000 Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip have come under frequent rocket and mortar attack, leaving them in a constant state of fear.The attacks have slowed since a truce between Israel and Hamas came into force on June 19, but the fragile Egyptian-brokered agreement has been tested by occasional rockets and mortar rounds fired by smaller armed groups.Israel also came under sustained attack during its 2006 war with Hezbollah, when more than 4,000 Katyusha rockets were launched at northern Israel in 34 days, sending hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing south.
Sarkozy vows to press Syria to help free Israeli soldier hostage Fri Jul 4, 5:18 PM ET
PARIS (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday he would press his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad to use all the power of his country to free a French-Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants. Sarkozy has invited Assad to Paris along with some 40 foreign leaders for a summit on July 13 to launch a new Mediterranean Union, aimed at boosting cooperation between European Union and north African and Middle Eastern rim states.I will have the opportunity, when I see ... President Bashar Al-Assad, to ask him to use all Syria's power so that the soldier (Gilad) Shalit is freed, said Sarkozy, who is to meet separately with Assad on the eve of the summit.He made his comments in a speech welcoming the Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a joint French national who was released this week after six years as a hostage of rebels in the Colombian jungle.Shalit was seized by militants in Gaza in June 2006.
