OLMERT PM TO STEP DOWN
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Israeli prime minister to resign in September By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer JULY 30,08
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts. Olmert's brief address included harsh criticism of police investigations of corruption allegations against him. He said he was choosing the public good over his personal justice. He has denied wrongdoing but pledged to resign if indicted.Olmert said he would not run in his party's primary election, set for Sept. 17, and would step down afterward in order to allow the chairman to be elected and form a different government quickly and efficiently.His decision not to run in the Kadima Party primary sets in motion a process to choose a new prime minister.If Olmert's successor as party leader can form a coalition, Israel could have a new government in October. If not, an election campaign could take several months.Olmert, 62, served as Jerusalem mayor for 10 years until 2003, when he was appointed trade minister in former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government. He held that position until he became prime minister in 2006 after Sharon suffered a devastating stroke.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts.Olmert's brief address included harsh criticism of police investigations of corruption allegations against him. He said he was choosing the public good over his personal justice. He has denied wrongdoing but pledged to resign if indicted.Olmert said he would not run in his party's primary election, set for Sept. 17, and would step down afterward in order to allow the chairman to be elected and form a different government quickly and efficiently.His decision not to run in the Kadima Party primary sets in motion a process to choose a new prime minister.If Olmert's successor as party leader can form a coalition, Israel could have a new government in October. If not, an election campaign could take several months.
Israel's Olmert to quit after September Kadima vote JULY 30,08
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Dogged by corruption scandals, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday he would resign after his ruling Kadima party chooses a new leader in a September 17 internal election. Olmert's decision not to run in the upcoming leadership election and then to step down throws Israeli politics into fresh turmoil and may cast into limbo peace talks that he launched with the Palestinians and Syria.I have decided I won't run in the Kadima movement primaries, nor do I intend to intervene in the elections, Olmert said in a surprise announcement from his official residence in Jerusalem.When a new (Kadima party) chairman is chosen, I will resign as prime minister to permit them to put together a new government swiftly and effectively, Olmert added.Four Kadima ministers, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, have already launched campaigns to replace Olmert as prime minister.Political analysts say the process of replacing Olmert could drag on for months and could lead to early national elections. Polls suggest that right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu would win such a contest.Olmert's successor as Kadima party leader would not automatically take over as prime minister.He or she must first cobble together a coalition government, a challenge that could prove time-consuming and complicated because of bitter divisions within parliament.The two most prominent investigations against Olmert involve suspicions that he took bribes from an American businessman, and that he double-claimed for travel expenses when he was trade minister and mayor of Jerusalem.
Olmert has denied wrongdoing.
I will step aside properly in an honorable and responsible way, and afterwards I will prove my innocence, he said.(Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
US set for three-way talks in quest for Middle East peace deal by P. Parameswaran JULY 30,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States was set Wednesday for three-way peace talks with top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators amid pessimism President George W. Bush can bag a comprehensive Middle East peace deal before he leaves office in January. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni separately Wednesday before holding trilateral talks later in the day with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qorei and Livni at the State Department.Qorei and Livni have been meeting at least once a week for several months since the Israelis and Palestinians committed to forging a comprehensive deal by the end of 2008 during a conference Bush hosted in Annapolis, Maryland in November.The objective in bringing them together in a trilateral format is to help them to bridge differences, perhaps highlight areas of convergence or agreement where it may not be apparent to them, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters ahead of the talks.The focus is on the substance, he said. In trying to move the process forward, the two parties are intensely engaged with one another and all of the core issues in trying to bridge differences.
Rice herself acknowledged difficulty in achieving a peace deal by the end of the year as targeted under the US-brokered talks, but noted growing recognition that the Palestinian question should be resolved swiftly for regional security.The Middle East is not going to get better without the creation of a Palestinian state to live side-by-side with Israel in peace, security and democracy, she said on Tuesday.It simply isn't going to get better. And so the question is, if not now, when? she said amid growing pessimism about a breakthrough before Bush leaves the White House in January 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threw cold water this week on hopes of a quick deal when he said Monday that he did not think the two sides could agree on the crucial issue of Jerusalem this year.
Qorei also highlighted the importance of the Jerusalem question, saying there could be no deal without its resolution.There's no (Palestinian) state without Jerusalem and no agreement without Jerusalem, he told reporters Tuesday.Rice, who the White House said will be travelling to the Middle East pretty soon, is reportedly anxious to get the two sides to agree on a document of understanding on other key issues, such as borders for a Palestinian state and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.Such a document is in the cards ahead of the United Nations General Assembly session in September, some reports suggested.When asked to comment, McCormack said, I like all of this talk about memorializing and documenting and what format it will take.I tell you the Secretary is focused on the substance and helping these two parties come to an agreement, he said.Meanwhile, tensions ran high in the occupied West Bank amid a 3,000 strong funeral Wednesday for a Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest against Israel's separation barrier.Olmert will also make a special announcement on Wednesday, his office said in a statement, amid speculation he may be preparing to stand down.
Israeli military radio, citing political sources, said Olmert, 62, was preparing to announce that he would not run in a leadership election for his Kadima party scheduled for September.
Palestinian security forces unleash wave of abuses: rights group JULY 30,08
NEW YORK (AFP) - Security forces on both sides of the internal Palestinian conflict have unleashed a wave of illegal arrests and torture, a leading rights group said Wednesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW), based in New York, said in a report that forces run by Hamas and its rival Fatah were committing serious abuses.The political fight between Hamas and Fatah is claiming more and more victims of serious human rights violations every day, said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy director for the Middle East.The rights organization called on international backers of Hamas and Fatah to condition support, including financial aid, on the Palestinians taking concrete and verifiable steps to end serious human rights abuses.According to HRW, Hamas forces in Gaza have recently arrested about 200 people. Many were reportedly released shortly after, but Hamas also raided more than 100 civic organizations and charities, HRW said.
Meanwhile, Fatah forces in the West Bank detained as many as 100 suspected Hamas sympathizers, the report said, including academics and local officials.Both sides were accused of using torture.West Bank security forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, using mock executions, beatings, and stress positions causing intense pain and sometimes internal injury.Meanwhile, Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses. Security forces there also conducted arbitrary arrests of suspected political opponents, tortured detainees, clamped down on freedom of expression and assembly.Several detainees are believed to have died in custody, HRW said.The two main Palestinian factions have been bitterly divided since Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007 and drove Fatah from the impoverished territory.The rift deepened when Hamas blamed Fatah for a beachside Gaza City bombing last week that killed five senior Hamas militants and a five-year-old girl, the deadliest attack on the Islamist movement since it seized power.
Fatah has denied any involvement in the attack, which it said was part of an internal Hamas conflict.HRW's Stork said at least some Hamas leaders apparently prefer to use these crimes as a pretext to eliminate Fatah.
Lebanon ministers to meet in 13th bid to draft manifesto by Rima Abushakra JULY 30,08
BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese cabinet ministers are set to meet again on Thursday to try to reach accord on a policy statement that will allow government to take office, after a twelfth attempt failed on Wednesday. A new national unity cabinet was formed two weeks ago but negotiations on a manifesto have been hampered by disputes on the issue of weapons held by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim political movement and militia.Ministers met on Wednesday for the twelfth time but again failed to reach agreement, with Information Minister Tarek Mitri saying the discussions revolved around the phrasing of the document.Hopefully I will read a statement to you that is as clear as sunshine, Mitri said adding that the committee would meet again on Thursday.The government will take office only after a parliamentary vote of confidence on the policy statement.
The cabinet, in which the Hezbollah-led opposition has the right of veto, was formed on July 11 after weeks of bickering despite a May power-sharing agreement struck in Qatar that ended a protracted political dispute.The socio-economic issues have been settled, the stumbling block is the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, said a member of the ministerial drafting committee that was meeting on the policy statement.The Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, insists on the right to resist Israel, while the ruling bloc, supported by the West and most Arab states, insists that only the state can make decisions of war and peace.No single party has a monopoly on the right (to resist), or imposing its own methods and choices without taking into account the principle of preserving the state, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in a statement.The controversy over Hezbollah's weapons intensified after its guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006 that sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.The issue boiled to the surface again when Hezbollah led an armed takeover of large swathes of predominantly Sunni west Beirut in fierce fighting in May that left 65 people dead and sparked fears of a return to all-out civil war.The situation has become more dangerous because the weapons were used domestically in clashes between Lebanese, majority MP Elias Atallah told AFP.
But Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, remains adamant it will not give up its weapons.We have not made any concessions on the resistance in the past and we will not under any pretext do so in the future, said Hashem Saifeddin, the head of Hezbollah's executive council.Oussama Safa, who heads the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said he expected the policy manifesto would only be agreed once Hezbollah gets its way.They are going to have to find a way to accommodate Hezbollah whether they like it or not... Hezbollah feels triumphant. It feels victorious and it will get what it wants, he said.The Western-backed parliamentary majority has 16 cabinet seats, and the opposition 11, including the post of labour minister held by a Hezbollah MP, while three are held by people nominated by President Michel Sleiman was allocated three seats, considered to be neutral.
Israeli-Syrian talks to continue in August Wed Jul 30, 11:05AM ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) - Israeli and Syrian officials completed a fourth round of Turkish-mediated indirect talks here on Wednesday and agreed to resume negotiations in August, a Turkish diplomat said.
The talks were held in a constructive atmosphere, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told AFP after the negotiations, which he said began on Monday, were wrapped up.The two sides agreed to hold a fifth round of talks in August, again indirectly, he said.Under the format of the talks, which started in May after an eight-year freeze, Israeli and Syrian officials do not see each other and Turkish diplomats shuttle between the two sides.Turkish officials have said that face-to-face talks would become possible if sufficient progress is recorded.Syria said in May that it had received an Israeli commitment for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which it seized four decades ago. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped on the controversial issue.Olmert has said Israel is willing to make major concessions, seen as a reference to the Golan Heights, seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 -- a move never recognised by the international community.
Hamas and Fatah both violate human rights: report By Adam Entous Wed Jul 30, 10:00 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas and Fatah have both carried out serious human rights abuses over the past year, including arbitrary arrests and torture, according to a report on the bitter power struggle. Human Rights Watch, in the report released on Wednesday, cited a pattern of politically motivated arrests, mock executions and severe beatings in detention centers run by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in the West Bank.It faulted the United States and other donors, who have bankrolled Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Fatah-dominated security forces, for not paying adequate attention to the systematic abuses by those forces.
Hamas, which receives support from Iran and other Islamist allies, routed Fatah in the Gaza Strip a year ago, seizing control of the coastal enclave after months of fighting that killed hundreds. Abbas and his Fatah-led security forces still hold sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Internal tensions spiked again after a bomb blast killed five Hamas militants and a girl in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Hundreds of Hamas and Fatah supporters have since been detained in both territories in tit-for-tat crackdowns.The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip declined to comment on the Human Rights Watch report, but the group says those who commit abuses are punished.Abbas's Interior Ministry said arrests by West Bank forces were in accordance with Palestinian law and that it does not condone some individual practices during interrogation.
Most abuse cases documented by Human Rights Watch in the West Bank involved Abbas's General Intelligence and Preventive Security services, which Abbas has granted broad law enforcement powers to protect his West Bank-based government.
SERIOUS ABUSES
Joe Stork, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said Western powers should make support conditional on Abbas's security forces stopping torture and other serious abuses.Washington helps train and equip Abbas's National Security force and Presidential Guard, while the European Union provides training to Abbas's civil police. The funding sources for General Intelligence and Preventive Security remain unclear.Stork said money and training should not go to forces that ignored Palestinian or international human rights law, adding that Hamas's backers should likewise make aid conditional on reforms to avoid complicity with human rights violations.Dov Schwartz, spokesman for U.S. Security Coordinator Keith Dayton, said training for the National Security force and Presidential Guard, conducted by Jordanian police near Amman, emphasized human rights and the proper use of force.According to Human Rights Watch, masked Fatah security men in the West Bank have arrested hundreds of Hamas members and supporters without warrants.
The report said Fatah forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, apparently resulting in one death. Torture methods included mock executions, kicks and punches, and beatings with sticks, plastic pipes and hoses, it said.The most common form of torture was forcing detainees to stay in stress positions, a practice known in Arabic as shabah, which causes intense pain and sometimes internal injury but leaves no physical mark, Human Rights Watch said.Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses, including arbitrary detentions accompanied by severe beatings and, in two cases, multiple gunshots at close range to the legs, Human Rights Watch said. In at least three cases, individuals died in custody, apparently from torture, the report said.Human Rights Watch said Hamas and Fatah have both largely failed to hold accountable security men implicated in abuses. Hamas officials in Gaza told Human Rights Watch that they had punished or disciplined more than 700 police officers for rights abuses, but provided few details. West Bank officials told the group they had disciplined or punished officers for abuses, but provided no cases or numbers.
(Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Israeli PM's Kadima faction sets September 17 primary Tue Jul 29, 1:44 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's ruling Kadima party announced that primary elections that could replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be held on September 17. Olmert is facing a police investigation that could force him out of office. Several Kadima leaders, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, have already stepped up campaigns to replace him as prime minister.In the event of a run-off, a second round of elections would be held on September 24, Kadima said in a statement.
Palestinian PM seeks emergency funds from World Bank Tue Jul 29, 12:46 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday requested emergency funding from the World Bank to pay Palestinian Authority staff, one of his aides said. Prime minister Fayyad requested emergency funding from the World Bank's trust fund, the aide told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the amount requested was 120 million dollars.Since president Mahmud Abbas appointed the former World Bank economist as premier following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Fayyad has struggled to resurrect the economy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The international community has pledged over 7.4 billion dollars in reconstruction aid to underpin US-backed peace talks but economic development has been stymied by Israeli restrictions on movement and access.The Palestinian Authority has struggled to bridge massive budget shortfalls and pay its 160,000 civil servants in the West Bank and Gaza.
ARABS TO BE EVICTED - COURT
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Israeli foreign minister admits she was Mossad agent Tue Jul 29, 5:46 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a contender to replace Ehud Olmert as prime minister, publicly acknowledged on Tuesday she had been an agent for the Mossad spy agency. I served for four years within Mossad, she told army radio. I also followed training courses and worked overseas.Livni decline to discuss any missions she may have conducted for the agency.I quit Mossad when I married because I could not continue to lead this kind of life, she said.Israeli and foreign media had previously said Livni worked for Mossad between 1980 and 1984 but she had not publicly confirmed the reports.Livni, 49, is a candidate in a leadership election that Olmert's centrist Kadima party is scheduled to hold by September 23. Olmert, who is dogged by a series of graft scandals, is yet to announce whether he will compete.
Israeli, US defense chiefs meet Mon Jul 28, 4:46 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Monday with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates for talks that an Israeli adviser said would focus on the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed that Gates and Barak met at the Pentagon but would provide no details on the substance of the discussions.They met for about an hour, he said. The meeting was part of standard defense consultations.The meeting comes amid a continuing diplomatic impasse with Iran over its nuclear program and just two days after Tehran announced that its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz has now expanded to 6,000 centrifuges.In an interview with Israeli public radio, Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defense 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.
Barak also was expected to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and members of Congress, according to Israeli officials.Barak's visit to the Pentagon was held without the usual honor cordon or other trappings of a typical ministerial visit to the Pentagon.He's come here several times, and we haven't done honor cordons before. He has a longstanding relationship with the secretary, Whitman said of Barak.In another low-profile visit, the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, met Thursday at the Pentagon with Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Mullen's spokesman said they had cordial and candid discussions of issues of mutual concern, which included a wide array of security issues in the Middle East.
Olmert sees no deal on Jerusalem before year-end Mon Jul 28, 6:05 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Israel and the Palestinians would not be able to agree on the final status of Jerusalem by the end of the year. I don't believe that we can reach an understanding that will include Jerusalem by the end of the year, Olmert told parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee, according to a senior official.He expressed optimism the two sides could bridge their differences on other core issues in the decades-old conflict. But he seemed to rule out a comprehensive deal by year-end, despite a commitment by the two sides made at a US-sponsored conference last November that revived peace talks.There is no practical possibility of reaching an overall understanding on the issue of Jerusalem at this time, Olmert said.But there is an intention to create a mechanism that will continue to deal with the issue for a much longer period until we reach understandings that we can live with.Israel captured mostly Arab east Jerusalem -- including the Old City with its holy sites sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews -- in the 1967 war and annexed it shortly afterwards.
It declared the whole city its eternal and undivided capital, a claim never recognised by the international community, and the Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.The two sides launched their latest round of peace talks after a seven-year hiatus, vowing to try to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.The talks have made little tangible progress since then, but Olmert said the gaps on other core issues, including the fate of 4.5 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees and final borders, could be bridged by the end of 2008.On the other core issues the gaps are not dramatic. On the issue of refugees we can reach an understanding that will not make us assume responsibility or have to solve the issue within Israel's borders, he said.On the question of the borders there is a gap that is not unbridgable.Olmert has vowed to put any agreement to a national referendum.
