Egypt finds weapons caches in Sinai JULY 5,08
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Egyptian authorities have found weapons and explosives in the Sinai desert they believe were destined for the Gaza Strip, a security official said Saturday. Security forces found eight plastic bags containing 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of TNT explosives in a warehouse near the town of El-Arish, the official said.We believe the explosives were headed for the Gaza Strip.The official said that nine automatic weapons were also found in another warehouse in central Sinai after a tip-off from Bedouins.
Israel and the United States have repeatedly accused Egypt of not doing enough to stop arms smuggling into the neighbouring Gaza Strip, which has been under the control of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for the past year.Cairo has strongly denied the charges.
Under an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire deal for Gaza that came into effect last month, Israel insists that Cairo do its utmost to halt weapons smuggling from the Sinai peninsula into the Palestinian territory.
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.
Israel closes Gaza crossings in response to rocket By RASHED RASHID, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 4, 11:23 AM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel crossings with the Gaza Strip were closed Friday in retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire that has violated a rocky truce as Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers responded by suspending talks on freeing a long-held Israeli soldier. Under the terms of the June 19 cease-fire, Palestinian militants were to have halted all assaults on southern Israel and Israel was to have eased its bruising blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip. In the final stage of the six-month truce, efforts were to be intensified to win freedom for Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit and to open Gaza's chief gateway, the Rafah crossing with Egypt.But since the truce took hold, 11 rockets and mortars have been fired toward Israel, including a rocket attack on Thursday, the military said. As a result, Israel's crossings have been closed for seven days since June 19.Military spokesman Peter Lerner said the latest closure was provoked by the attack Thursday.Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza, accused Israel of not living up to its part of the truce.We still say that maintaining the calm is a national interest, but the Israelis must commit to lifting the siege and opening the crossings, Haniyeh told reporters after Muslim prayers at a Gaza mosque.And Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said talks on freeing Schalit were frozen.
The Hamas movement has decided to suspend the talks on the captured soldier Gilad Schalit because Israel has violated the calm agreement by closing the crossings, Abu Zuhri told Associated Press Television News.Hamas-affiliated militants captured Schalit two years ago in a cross-border raid and have demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his freedom. Israel has been reluctant to free many of the prisoners on Hamas' list because they were involved in deadly attacks on Israel.
The prisoner exchange talks, like the truce, have been mediated by Egypt because Israel has no ties with Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's existence.The agreement for calm in the south stipulated that there would be a cessation of rocket fire on Israel, as well as expedited progress on the Gilad Schalit issue, an Israeli government official said in response to Hamas' decision to suspend talks on freeing Schalit. The rocket fire has not ended, and we hope that there will be progress on Gilad Schalit.He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss government policy.Israel imposed, then progressively tightened economic sanctions on Gaza's 1.4 million people after Hamas violently wrested control of the territory a year ago. The sanctions were meant to pressure Hamas to put an end to the rocket fire, but have hurt ordinary Palestinians who now receive only food and other humanitarian supplies through crossings with Israel. Severe shortages in everything from gasoline to cement to shoes have been reported.Much rests on the truce because Israel has warned it might launch a large-scale operation in Gaza if the rocket attacks do not cease. An invasion would likely bring large numbers of casualties and prompt the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to call off peace talks with Israel.
Israel, Syria agree to extend Turkish-sponsored talks: Ankara Thu Jul 3, 4:22 PM ET
ANKARA (AFP) - Israel and Syria have agreed to extend indirect talks under Turkish mediation, Ankara's foreign ministry said Thursday. The parties have indicated their shared willingness to pursue negotiations on a regular basis, said a statement which outlined a constructive and positive atmosphere at the Istanbul meeting.The conference, which began on Tuesday, was the third set of Turkish-sponsored talks in the city, which Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on Wednesday marked an initial stage in resumed diplomacy.Babacan had expressed the hope that the Middle Eastern powerhouses would get round the same table for direct negotiations.
The renewal of political dialogue between Israel and Syria was announced simultaneously in March after an eight-year hiatus.Syria said at the time it had received Israeli commitments for a full withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights, seized four decades ago, though Israeli officials have been tight-lipped on the controversial issue.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was willing to make major concessions in what was seen as a reference to the Golan Heights, which were seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 -- a move never recognised by the international community.A large group of Israeli lawmakers, meanwhile, are pushing a bill to block an eventual return of the Golan Heights to Syria, and the proposal passed its first reading in parliament Monday.The two countries have been officially at war since 1948, although armistice and ceasefire agreements have been signed in the interim.
