Tensions surge after Gaza bombings By Wael al-Ahmed
Sun Jul 27, 3:24 PM ET
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Hamas and Fatah carried out tit-for-tat arrests of each other's followers on Sunday after deadly Gaza bomb attacks fuelled tension between the Palestinian factions. In the West Bank, security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas detained 20 Hamas activists in the city of Jenin. They netted 15 more in similar raids in Tulkarm.A security official in Jenin said the Hamas detainees would be interrogated about arms caches and militant activities.The arrests followed a crackdown in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where Fatah officials said their Islamist rivals had rounded up nearly 200 Fatah men after one of three bomb blasts killed five Hamas militants and a girl on Friday.Hamas policemen set up roadblocks across the Gaza Strip to check for guns, explosives and suspects, local residents said.One senior security officer loyal to Abbas fled across the border into Israel to escape arrest by Hamas forces, sources with the Islamist group said.Police seeking Fatah activists clashed with gunmen of the Army of Islam, an al Qaeda-inspired group, who feared they were being targeted. Two Army of Islam gunmen were arrested.Hamas blamed Friday's bombings on Fatah, which denied involvement.The factional flare-up sparked fears of more violence and was one of the gravest since Hamas routed its Fatah foes and seized control of Gaza a year ago, when hundreds died.We are afraid that the devil is pitting brothers against each other and they will shed one another's blood, said Fatima Ahmed-Salama, a 40-year-old mother of six in Gaza.Abu Adel, 65, said the internecine fighting harmed only Palestinians, not Israel. I ask God to calm them down and make them stop before we have more dead, he added.
ABBAS URGES DIALOGUE
Abbas renewed calls for dialogue with Hamas, which won a majority in a 2006 parliamentary poll, and said an independent Palestinian committee should investigate Friday's blast.Speaking in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas said the attack was regrettable and unacceptable, but rejected Hamas accusations that Fatah was behind it.He said Egypt would invite representatives of Palestinian factions within days to dialogue sessions in Cairo. Past attempts to mend fences between Hamas and Fatah have collapsed.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri rejected Abbas's call to form an investigative committee, and said it would bypass the legitimate government, and the Hamas security forces who are doing their job.
Abu Zuhri also said investigations into Friday's deaths showed senior Fatah officials were involved.The bombing and killings in Gaza proved that Fatah was not interested in dialogue with Hamas, and all they aspired to was to cause anarchy and chaos, the Hamas spokesman said. Hamas rejects demands by Abbas, who joined U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel last year, that it cede control of Gaza. An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect last month. It calls on Hamas to halt rocket fire in return for Israel easing its embargo of the poverty-stricken territory. The truce does not extend to the West Bank. Israeli troops killed a Hamas militant, Shihab al-Natsheh, in the West Bank city of Hebron. Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, vowed a swift and painful revenge. An Israeli army spokesman said Natsheh, 25, was killed during an exchange of fire with troops who came to arrest him. The army said he had made the bomb belt used in a suicide attack in the Israeli town of Dimona in February that killed an Israeli woman and the two Palestinian attackers. (Additional reporting by Haitham Tamimi in Hebron, Mu'een Shadid in Tulkarm and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Andrew Roche)
Palestinians call on Israel to rethink water deal By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 27, 1:43 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank - West Bank Palestinians are suffering a serious water shortage this year as a severe drought exacerbates supply problems, the head of the Palestinian Water Authority said Sunday. Shadad Ateli said since mid-May, many Palestinians have been going without water for hours, and sometimes days at a time as a regional drought enters its fifth year. He called on Israel, which controls some 90 percent of water sources in the West Bank to rethink its water policies.Water shouldn't be a part of the conflict. It should be divided according to human needs equally, Ateli said.Uri Shani, spokesman for Israel's Water Authority, says Palestinians are receiving more water than their agreed share under an interim peace deal. The drought has affected Israel as well, with fresh water supplies below their acceptable minimum, but there have been no cases of community water supplies being cut off.A recent report by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem described water distribution as unfair and called on Israel to rectify the built-in, constant shortage of water in the West Bank.In the city of Nablus, residents report only receiving running water once a week. In the nearby village of Salem, there hasn't been running water for months and a nearby well is going dry. Residents there say they pay for expensive water brought in by tanker truck.Most Palestinians have already used up water they conserve from rainfall in large rooftop barrels, B'Tselem reported.Under interim agreement signed with Palestinians in 1995, Palestinians receive an allocated supply from Israel.Palestinian negotiators had expected to work out a better water deal in a final status agreement that was meant to be concluded in 2000. Instead, fighting broke out between Israel and Palestinians, and eight years later, the water allocation system has remained as it was.West Bank residents use around 15 gallons of water a day, two-thirds of what the World Health Organization recommends for urban needs. In northern villages that number drops to 7 gallons a day.
Daily water consumption in Israeli cities is 60 gallons per capita, B'Tselem reported.Shani said the Palestinian Authority was not cracking down on herders who steal water supplies — a problem Palestinians acknowledge — and could recycle waste water for agriculture, as Israel does.The only solution to this problem is creating more water, Shani said.
Islamic group claims India blasts that killed 45 By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer JULY 28,08
AHMADABAD, India - An obscure Islamic militant group warning of the terror of Death claimed responsibility for bombings that killed at least 45 people and authorities stepped up security Sunday after India's second series of blasts in two days. The city's police commissioner, O.P. Mathur, said that 30 people had been detained for questioning, but there was scant information about the Indian Mujahideen, the little known group that took credit for the bombings in western India.In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death! said an e-mail from the group sent to several Indian television stations minutes before the blasts began.The e-mail's subject line said Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat, an apparent reference to 2002 riots in the western state which left 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. The historic city of Ahmadabad was the scene of much of the 2002 violence.Saturday's e-mail, sent from a Yahoo account and written in English, was made available to AP by CNN-IBN, one of the TV stations that received the warning.State government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said 45 people were killed and 161 wounded when at least 16 bombs went off Saturday evening in several crowded neighborhoods.The attack came a day after seven smaller blasts killed two people in the southern technology hub of Bangalore.
Investigators in Surat, a city about 160 miles south of Ahmadabad, found a car carrying detonators and a liquid that police suspect may be ammonium nitrate, a chemical often used in explosive devices, city police Chief R.M.S. Brar told reporters.The e-mail was sent by a group calling itself Indian Mujahideen that was unknown before May, when it said it was behind a series of bombings in Jaipur, also in western India, that killed 61 people.In its e-mail, the group did not mention the bombings in Bangalore and it was not clear if the attacks were connected. But both Ahmadabad and Bangalore are in states ruled by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as is Jaipur, raising suspicions that whoever was behind the attacks may have wanted to make a political statement.
There were reports the e-mail may have been sent from a suburb of Mumbai, India's financial capital. But the city's police chief, A.N. Roy, said, We are inquiring into that. We haven't traced it yet.The Saturday bombs went off in two separate spates. The first, near a busy market, left some of the dead sprawled beside stands piled high with fruit, next to twisted bicycles. The second group of blasts went off near a hospital.The side of a bus was blown off and its windows shattered, while another vehicle was engulfed in flames. Most of the blasts took place in the narrow lanes of the older part of Ahmadabad, which is tightly packed with homes and small businesses. Bomb-sniffing dogs scoured the areas.Distraught relatives of the victims crowded the city's hospitals. One of the wounded was a 6-year-old boy whose father was killed in the blasts. He lay in a hospital bed with his arms covered in bandages and wounds on his face.Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state where Ahmadabad is located, said the bombings appeared to have been masterminded by a group or groups who are using a similar modus operandi all over the country.India has been hit repeatedly by bombings in recent years. Nearly all have been blamed on Islamic militants who allegedly want to provoke violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority, although officials rarely offer hard evidence implicating a specific group.The perpetrators also rarely claim responsibility — a fact that raised doubts about the Indian Mujahedeen when it took credit in May for attacking Jaipur.
But fears that an attack could spark religious riots are real in India, which has seen sporadic violence between Hindus and Muslims since independence from Britain in 1947. Those fears were amplified by the recent history of the 2002 religious riots. The violence was triggered by a fire that killed 60 passengers on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims. Hindu extremists blamed the deaths on Muslims and rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, although the cause of the blaze remains unclear. Ahmadabad is also known for the elegant architecture of its mosques and mausoleums, a rich blend of Muslim and Hindu styles. It was founded in the 15th century and served as a sultanate, fortified in 1487 with a wall six miles in circumference. Associated Press Writer R.K. Misra contributed to this report.
Britain's first sharia-compliant insurance firm launched JULY 28,08
LONDON (AFP) - Britain's first sharia-compliant insurance company was launched Monday, offering motoring policies in line with the Islamic legal code. Salaam Halal insurance uses Takaful principles, whereby the risk is spread between all policy holders. In contrast, conventional insurance policies shift the risk from the policy holder to the insurance firm.People taking out a policy with Salaam Halal pay contributions into a pool, with that money then put into sharia-compliant investments -- avoiding companies that are involved in alcohol or pay interest.The central pool of funds is used to pay any claims that arise, and at the end of the year, if the pool is over-funded, the excess will be distributed back to policyholders through a discount on their next premium.The policies are aimed at Britain's 1.6 million Muslims, who constitute 2.7 percent of the total population, according to the 2001 census.The launch of Salaam insurance -- the first independent, fully sharia-compliant Takaful operator available in this country -- is a significant step for the growth of Islamic finance in the UK, said Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih, the chairman of Salaam insurance.The group, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, an independent watchdog, hopes to launch home insurance policies later this year.Their call centres in Britain can take calls in English, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati or Urdu.In 2004, Britain authorised a 100 percent Islamic bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain. And the traditional bank Lloyds TSB last year launched Islamic finance products targeted at businesses, and offered sharia-compliant bank accounts.
Israeli defence minister to visit US Sun Jul 27, 7:28 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is to travel to the United States on Monday for talks with senior officials expected to focus on Iran. Public radio said the talks are expected to focus on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which Israel views as a major strategic threat, and on preserving the qualitative advantage of the Jewish state's armed forces.A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the agenda of the talks, but said Barak planned to meet Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior military officials and members of Congress.Barak is also expected to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he said.In an interview with public radio Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defence minister would discuss the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.This is a very important visit. Israel cannot tolerate living under an Iranian nuclear threat, Gilad said. For the moment our priority is the diplomatic track, but Israel has to be prepared to use all options.Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister involved in US-Israeli strategic relations, is also expected in Washington on Wednesday, and he too will meet Cheney and Rice, his spokesman told AFP.The main subject under discussion will be the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme to the entire region, the spokesman said.Mofaz, who is expected to be a candidate to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a party primary in September, sparked a political firestorm in June when he said Israel would attack Iran if it did not halt its nuclear drive.Israel's army chief of staff said on a visit to Washington last week that he favoured a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Tehran's nuclear programme but that all options must be prepared.The United States and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear drive is aimed at developing an atomic bomb, a claim vehemently denied by Tehran which says its programme is designed for civilian use only.Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions by senior Iranian leaders of the Jewish state's demise.Public radio has quoted Olmert as saying that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the end of 2009, fuelling speculation that Israel may attempt to set its efforts back with a military strike.
Unexplained explosions kill 5, wound 20 in Gaza By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 25, 6:10 PM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A powerful explosion ripped through a car on a busy Gaza City beach Friday night, killing a Hamas field commander and three other people, security officials said. It was the third unexplained blast of the day in this coastal territory after a relatively calm period since Israel and the Islamic militants of Hamas agreed on a cease-fire last month. A total of five people died from the explosions, and 23 suffered injuries.No one in Gaza blamed Israel for the violence, indicating it was likely Palestinian infighting.The late night blast killed Amar Musubah, a Hamas military field commander, and another Hamas militant, Eyad Al-Hia, medical officials said. A child and a fourth unknown individual also died.Earlier, unknown assailants set off two bombs in Gaza City, killing one man.
The first explosion took place just after midnight outside the Al Jazera cafe. The cafe had been hit two other times this year in similar attacks presumably perpetrated by hard-line Muslims who target record shops and other sites they see as signs of Western influence.The powerful blast wounded three people and killed the man who set off the bomb, Hamas officials said.Another bomb exploded outside the house of a Hamas lawmaker, Marwan Abu Rass, not long afterward, causing light damage but no casualties, the officials said. An activist in the rival Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was arrested as a suspect.Hamas officials said police were investigating all the blasts.Gaza is the scene of regular bloodshed between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, though the territory has been quiet over the past month because of the truce between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers.Gaza is also a common site of internal Palestinian violence between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas fighters defeated Fatah forces during five days of combat in Gaza a year ago, and tensions remain high.Violence has also been blamed on Islamic fundamentalists who oppose what they see as signs of Western cultural encroachment.
In recent years, shadowy groups have firebombed internet cafes, music stores and Christian institutions. The bombings are typically carried out late at night and most have caused no casualties. But a Christian activist was murdered in one attack last October.
U.S. still hopes for Israeli-Palestinian deal By Sue Pleming Fri Jul 25, 6:56 AM ET
PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday there was still time for Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace deal by the end of 2008. Rice said trilateral peace talks in Washington next week between the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority should be closed to offer the best hope of progress.Rice said the latest round of talks which began in Annapolis in the United States in November 2007 had laid a firm foundation on which these two parties can finally end their conflict.There is still time for them, in accordance with the Annapolis, to reach agreement by the end of the year and we will keep working towards that goal, Rice told a news conference in Perth in western Australia on Friday.The United States revived Palestinian statehood negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November, with the hope of completing a deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office.But disputes over Jewish settlement expansion on occupied West Bank land, a corruption scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's own political troubles, and security issues have all undercut U.S. efforts.Rice plans to host peace talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie and his Israeli partner, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in Washington on July 30.Rice said the Washington talks should remain confidential.The most effective negotiations they probably ever had were Oslo and no one ever knew they were negotiating, said Rice.We won't be providing details of what goes on in the trilateral. The Israelis and Palestinians have their first serious peace process in seven years and they are discussing very sensitive and difficult issues, she said.The work now is to keep pressing ahead, but pressing ahead in a way that preserves the workability of this process and that really means preserving the confidentiality of this process.(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Still time for Mideast peace deal under Bush: Rice Fri Jul 25, 5:09 AM ET
PERTH, Australia (AFP) - There is still time for Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday. There's still time for them to, in accordance with Annapolis, reach agreement by the end of the year and we'll keep working towards that goal, Rice told a news conference in the West Australian capital Perth.At talks in Annapolis outside Washington last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations aiming at concluding a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of 2008.The Israelis and the Palestinians have their first serious peace process in seven years and they are discussing very sensitive and difficult issues, Rice said.She said details of a trilateral meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington next week would not be made public on a day-by-day basis.But the most important thing right now is to take note of how very seriously they are negotiating, to note that there was not even last year a peace process at this time, Rice said.Since this president came into office, the notion of two states living side by side in peace and security has just become kind of common wisdom. We all say it.
Well, in fact, in 2001, that was not the position either of the Likud Gvoernment of Ariel Sharon or of much of the international community.Bush had laid a firm foundation on which these two parties can finally end their conflict, she said.Rice was in Perth for a brief visit to the hometown of Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith before leaving for New Zealand.
Israelis, Palestinians: Mixed feelings about Obama By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 25, 1:24 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Both Israelis and Palestinians came away from Barack Obama's visit to the Holy Land with the feeling he would do more for Mideast peace than President Bush has. But neither side seemed fully convinced that Obama would have their interests at heart.
Israelis fear that an Obama administration would be too soft on Iran and too hard on them, and his visit didn't seem to fully dispel those concerns. And Palestinians spoke of a clear bias toward Israel.Instead of running away from the Middle Eastern issues, he intends to place them on the top of his diplomatic list of priorities, Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily.The Democratic presidential candidate toured Yad Vashem's Holocaust memorial, where he donned a skullcap, and he stopped in an Israeli town that has been barraged by Palestinian rocket fire. Obama also visited the Western Wall — Judaism's holiest site — where he touched it and prayed. His one stop in the West Bank was the headquarters of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.What if Obama had put a Palestinian headdress on his head, as he put on a Jewish skullcap yesterday? What if he took off his shoes and stepped into the Al-Aqsa mosque, as he did at the Western Wall? That would be balanced behavior, wrote editor Hafeth Barghouti in Thursday's edition of the West Bank newspaper Al-Hayyat al-Jedida.Still, Obama's stop in the West Bank stood in sharp contrast to a decision by Republican challenger John McCain to visit only Israel and not the Palestinian territories during a trip to the region in March.Israelis and Palestinians were in rare agreement on one point: Obama told each what they wanted to hear, but his real audience was Jewish voters back home in America.
He is here in order to impress the voters back home, said Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher. Israelis find him interesting, he says the right things carefully, but it's not the kind of visit that one can assess in any substantive or qualitative way.Obama's candidacy has raised concern among some in Israel and Jewish communities elsewhere because of his declared willingness to speak to Iran. His family's Muslim roots have added to the unease, even though Obama is a Christian.During his trip, Obama assured Israelis that if elected, he would not pressure them to compromise their security. He also backed Israel's right to defend itself against attacks. The special relationship between the U.S. and Israel would be preserved, he said.He told the Jerusalem Post daily that I will do everything in my power to stop Iran getting the bomb — a welcome statement in a country that considers Iran to be its fiercest enemy. Speaking to the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot, he said a military option must be on the table to make sure Iran takes diplomatic efforts to prevent it from building nuclear weapons seriously.Before dawn Thursday, Obama inserted a small written prayer into a crevice of the Western Wall — a common practice among visitors there — and bowed his head in worship.Orthodox men at the wall for morning prayers ran down the steps to get a look at the candidate. Many reached out to shake his hand, although one Israeli hard-liner called out in a booming voice, Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale! Hard-liners don't want Israel to cede to the Palestinians any part of east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war. But Palestinians want the eastern sector of the disputed city to serve as capital of a future state.
Obama had caused a flap over the issue days before his visit here when he said Jerusalem should not be divided — a statement that infuriated the Palestinians. Obama later said the city's fate should be negotiated.Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based Jewish organization, said he met briefly with Obama on Wednesday evening, and the candidate repeated his commitments to Israel. Foxman said he had heard Israelis express concerns earlier.To what extent he's laid them to rest, time will tell, he said, adding that Israelis were impressed with the depth of his knowledge, his understanding and his response.In his brief visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, Obama expressed strong support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, backed negotiations between Israel and moderate Palestinians and rejected talks with the violently anti-Israel Islamic Hamas group that overran Gaza last year. It was a campaign visit, but the positive thing for Palestinians was the pledge that Barack Obama will work from the first day in the White House, if he gets elected, to find a solution to the Palestinian issue, said Abbas political adviser Nimr Hamad. Because it was a campaign visit, it was focused much more on Israel, to attract the Jewish vote.Mansour Habayed, 28, who works for a Palestinian cell phone company, noted that Obama spent much more time in Israel than in the West Bank. I am not optimistic that Obama will be a different president of the U.S., in terms of finding a solution to our problem,he said.
Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israel revives plan to build new West Bank settlement Thu Jul 24, 6:35 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Ministry has revived a plan it had shelved under U.S. pressure to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, government officials said on Thursday.
A ministry committee approved the construction of 20 housing units in Maskiot, an abandoned military base in the Jordan Valley for some of the families removed from settlements in the Gaza Strip during Israel's pullout in 2005, the officials said.But the project cannot go ahead without approval from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.Such a move would probably draw further opposition from the United States, which is trying to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.We condemn this Israeli decision in the strongest possible terms, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. This is undermining us, and killing and destroying the peace process.Asked about the Maskiot plan, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said the prime minister had yet to receive any new request to build homes there.Israel will continue to honor our commitments. There will be no new settlements, there will be no expansion of existing settlements and there will be no expropriation of land for settlement construction, Regev said.
Olmert has continued to allow building within West Bank settlements that Israel considers to be part of Jerusalem and which it says it will keep in any peace agreement.The Palestinians say settlements, which the World Court has deemed illegal, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.In 2006, the United States pressured Israel to halt plans to build settler homes in Maskiot, saying it would violate the terms of a U.S.-backed peace road map.The road map calls for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and for Palestinians to rein in militants.Israel Radio said a revival of the Maskiot plan was part of a deal between the Defense Ministry and settler leaders under which settlers would agree to evacuate West Bank outposts they established without Israeli government approval.Twenty units in the Jordan Valley is significant, as there are only 1,000 (for Israelis) in the entire Jordan Valley, Dubi Tal, head of the area's local Israeli council, told Israel Radio.
Israel's Peace Now movement, which opposes Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said capitulation to the settlers would kill chances for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and eventually drag us to a bi-national state.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Ori Lewis, Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Mohammed Assadi, Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Obama visits Jerusalem's Western Wall Thu Jul 24, 4:44 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a surprise pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday, at the end of a trip aimed at showing his strong support for Israel. Obama, wearing a Jewish skullcap, placed a prayer he had written in the wall and bowed his head while a rabbi read a psalm calling for peace in the holy city.One worshipper chanted Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale and Jerusalem is our land as the Illinois senator stood at the wall, a relic of the ancient Jewish temple destroyed during Roman rule nearly 2,000 years ago.Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for concessions in peace talks with Palestinians that would compromise its security.Hailing Israel as a miracle, he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.Last month Obama dismayed Palestinians when he said Jerusalem must be Israel's undivided capital. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967, including the Old City where the Western Wall is situated, but Palestinians want it to be the capital of a future state.Obama later said he had used poor phrasing.He is due to fly on Thursday to Germany, where he will give the only public speech of his week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands.Highly popular in Germany, where he is often likened to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Obama will also meet for the first time Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed his initial plan to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.Instead, Obama will give his evening address at the Victory Column in Berlin's central Tiergarten park, down the road but still within sight of the Gate, a landmark that stood behind the Berlin Wall for decades as a potent symbol of the Cold War.(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Obama tries to balance solidarity and neutrality By Ilene R. Prusher Thu Jul 24, 4:00 AM ET
Ramallah, West Bank - US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, seeking to send signals of support to both sides of the conflict. But Senator Obama's latest stop in his multinational tour was a whirlwind primer in trying to simultaneously express solidarity and neutrality in the political minefield that is the Middle East. I'm here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States and my abiding commitment to Israel's security and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a US senator or as president, Obama said during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Such comments sound positive to Israelis, but are frustrating Palestinians and other Arabs, who were hoping that Obama's pledge for change would include a more evenhanded approach. Obama made a short visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but made no comments to the press. Obama has had difficulty balancing his statements, says George Giacaman, who teaches at Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah. He pointed to Obama's comments to AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], in which he said Jerusalem must remain undivided. He has since said that its status must be negotiated. I think his visit here is a courtesy visit, Mr. Giacaman says, noting that Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who gets higher ratings among Israelis than does Obama, made no trips to Palestinian Authority offices on a visit in March, but went to the rocket-pocked Israeli town of Sderot. The criticism between McCain and Obama over this is just a way for them to gain credit with one constituency or another. It's hard to judge what policy will look like....Obama is meeting with Israeli leaders – taking a helicopter tour of the country guided by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni – and visiting Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum and Memorial, and Sderot, close to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The area is in a rare lull since Israel and Hamas reached a temporary agreement for calm. And it opened its arms wide for Obama. The boulevard into the working-class town was lined with US and Israeli flags for the first time that locals could remember, despite the city being a regular stop for visiting foreign dignitaries. At the New Age hair salon, whose worn sign spoke to years of economic decline, hairdresser Yaffa Malka said Obama seemed trustworthy. He looks honest. He knows what pain and distress is, she said. He knows what it is to be part of a people who aren't liked.A lot of people are excited by his candidacy, she added, because he comes from below, not above.
In remarks given at the police station, with mounds of empty rocket casings stacked behind him, Obama offered his support to the town, which has been beleaguered by rockets fired from Gaza. I am here to say as an American and as a friend of Israel, he said, that we stand with the people of Sderot and all of the people of Israel.He also promised to push actively for peace, saying that he would not wait a few years into my term or my second term, if I'm elected, to press for a deal. We don't need a peace deal just to have a piece of paper, he said. We need something that's meaningful.Wednesday night, Obama was scheduled have dinner with embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and is expected to take a nighttime trip to visit the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism. Obama's statements of unshakable support for Israel's security has surprised some Palestinians, who thought his championing of the underdog and his criticism of White House policies in the region – especially in Iraq – would translate into a more outspoken backing for their cause. I'm demoralized about the position of Obama, because so far he's only expressed support for Israel and not Palestinians, says Jamil Fawzi, who lives here in Ramallah and has US citizenship. The only difference in him having made this adjustment is that it will make Arabs in America vote for him. I couldn't bear to elect him because if he attacks Muslims, I will feel responsible.A cafe owner here, where Mr. Fawzi is taking an afternoon break from the beating sun, says that Palestinians would be better off not pinning so much hope on US intervention. Palestinians should not place such an important role on the US. We should focus on the relationship with Israel, says Mohanned Koran.
Some here pointed to Obama's inexperience in the Middle East. He jumped into the Jerusalem issue immediately, without being cautious or careful, and that's not the way to please anybody, says Abdel Majid Sweilem, who teaches at Al-Quds University, headquartered in East Jerusalem. We don't demand the US ditch its support for Israel, but that it doesn't sacrifice its whole position in the Middle East for the sake of Israel. One man here, a hydrologist, has launched an Obama Fan Club. Omar Jibril, the founder of the group, read Obama's books and got inspired. Obama has written extensively about freedom and the underprivileged, and we fit into that category, Mr. Jibril said. After eight years of Bush and the ensuing oppression in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama will represent change, he asserted. He's here to pay his respect to our leaders, unlike John McCain, who only went to Israel.Michael Oren, a historian of the US-Israel relationship and fellow at the Shalem Center, says that polls of Israelis show McCain is more popular than Obama, in that he's seen as someone who is good for Israel.
The American election is covered minimally here, and, as result, Israelis are spectacularly uninformed of what's going on this election, and unforgivably, because this election will have acute impact on the future of the Middle East, says Mr. Oren, author of Power, Faith and Fantasy, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present.There is a substantive difference in their platforms and what to expect, and McCain is more line with Israeli thinking, Oren says. Most Americans aren't even aware of the differences. But there really is a choice here. You're really looking at two distinct visions of America's future in Israel.
Joshua Mitnick contributed from Sderot, Israel. Wire material was used.
Today on the presidential campaign trail By The Associated Press Thu Jul 24, 5:35 PM ET
IN THE HEADLINES
Obama tells enormous Berlin crowd there are more walls to be torn down in fighting extremism ... With Obama in Berlin, McCain visits German restaurant in Ohio ... Hagel calls on candidates to focus on Iraq's future over past war strategy ... Rice not worried by Obama's foreign policy forays overseas ... Poll: Obama builds support among Hispanic voters ... Police seek to soften protesters' disruptions at GOP convention.Obama addresses huge, adoring crowd in Berlin
BERLIN (AP) — Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics as the first-term U.S. senator sought to burnish his international credentials for the fall campaign at home. His remarks before a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan.The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand, Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand, he said.Obama's speech was the centerpiece of a fast-paced tour through Europe designed to reassure skeptical voters in the U.S. about his ability to lead the country and take a frayed cross-Atlantic alliance in a new direction after eight years of the Bush administration.The Illinois senator also met earlier in the day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a discussion that ranged across the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change, energy issues and more.
McCain visits German restaurant — in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican John McCain had his own German experience Thursday — at a restaurant in Ohio. He asserted that he was happy to devote his time this week to touring the nation's heartland rather than Europe and the Middle East.I'd love to give a speech in Germany. But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president, McCain told reporters after a meal of bratwurst with local business leaders at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus' German Village neighborhood.As his Democratic rival Barack Obama delivered a speech in Berlin, McCain said he was focusing his attention this week on economic issues, including soaring food and fuel costs. He has been busy campaigning and raising funds in key battleground states like Ohio.In what was clearly not a coincidence, McCain spoke with reporters shortly before Obama began his speech at Berlin's Victory Column.McCain is trying hard to get attention during Obama's week abroad. He had planned to visit an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, but rough seas leftover from Hurricane Dolly caused him to scrub that trip. He was to appear with famed cyclist Lance Armstrong later Thursday at a town-hall meeting here that is focused on cancer. And on Friday, he'll meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, in Aspen, Colo.
Hagel chides candidates on Iraq
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, fresh from an Iraq trip with Democrat Barack Obama, said the presidential candidates should focus on the war's future and stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge. Hagel mentioned both candidates, but his comments seemed directed at Republican John McCain. McCain, while Obama traveled the Middle East, attacked Obama for opposing the military escalation last year that increased security in Iraq.
Quit talking about, Did the surge work or not work, or, Did you vote for this or support this, Hagel said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. Get out of that. We're done with that. How are we going to project forward? the Nebraska senator said. Hagel, too, opposed the troop increase strategy, though he acknowledged Thursday it brought about positive changes. Though Hagel is a Republican, his name has been floated as a potential vice presidential running mate for Obama. Like McCain, he is a Vietnam war veteran, but Hagel is a fierce critic of the war in Iraq. He has said he would consider running with Obama on the Democratic ticket but that he doesn't expect to be asked. He is not running for reelection.
Rice unconcerned by freelance campaign diplomacy
PERTH, Australia (AP) — If Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is worried that Democrat Barack Obama is complicating the Bush administration's foreign policy with freelance campaign diplomacy, she isn't showing it. In her first public comments about Obama's overseas jaunt during which he has contrasted his international approach to that of President Bush in meetings with foreign officials, Rice said the trip was part of the election cycle and would not affect the administration. Everybody knows that we are in a presidential campaign, so this a part of America's democratic process, Rice told reporters aboard her plane as she flew from an Asian security conference in Singapore to Australia. Sen. Obama is a senator, let's remember. He sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and he is a candidate for president. He is all of those things, she said.
Poll: Latinos favor Obama by big margin
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama has opened a big lead among Hispanic voters, winning support from the vast majority of those who had voted for rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, according to a poll released Thursday. The national survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center, showed that 66 percent of Hispanic registered voters supported Obama, compared to 23 percent for Republican John McCain. The other 11 percent were undecided. More than three-quarters of Latinos who had voted for Clinton now say they are for Obama. Clinton carried the Hispanic vote, an important Democratic constituency, by about a 2-1 margin in the primaries. While Hispanics make up only about 9 percent of eligible voters, they could play an important role in four potential battleground states: Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.
Police reach out to those targeting GOP convention
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis and St. Paul police hope to quell any disruptions at this summer's Republican National Convention by exchanging cell phone numbers and offering other olive branches to demonstrators. About 10 police officers — all schooled in hostage negotiation techniques — met with Justice Department officials and a handful of community peace workers Wednesday at a police academy in north Minneapolis to review the strategies. The officers, dubbed dialogue officers or free speech liaison officers, have been asked to open communication lines with activist leaders at the convention, which will be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The hope, in part, is that the officers will be able to stay on top of any escalating violence or other problems.
DAILY TRACK
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are running about even nationally — 45 percent for Obama to 43 percent for McCain — among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.
THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama spoke at the Victory Column in Berlin.
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain holds a town-hall meeting on cancer with Lance Armstrong in Columbus, Ohio.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye towards the future, with resolve in our heart, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again. — Democrat Barack Obama, in a speech at Berlin's Victory Column.
STAT OF THE DAY:
Liberals are three times likelier than conservatives to be more excited about the presidential campaign than they were last fall, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll conducted in June. The poll has been measuring the political sentiments of the same 2,000 adults since November. Compiled by Ann Sanner.
