GAZA INFIGHTING
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VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN GAZA CITY
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Hamas arrests Fatah men sent back to Gaza by Sakher Abu El Oun AUG 3,08
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel on Sunday began sending Fatah members who had fled deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip back to the territory, where they were immediately detained by Hamas-run security forces, officials said. The return of around 180 Gazans who fled to Israel on Saturday was at the request of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party, Israeli security officials said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas had received dozens of returnees and had detained them for questioning.Those who are accused of breaking the law will be investigated and if found to be guilty they will be brought to justice. Those who are proved innocent will be released, Abu Zuhri told AFP.By Sunday afternoon, 32 people had been sent back, and the remainder of those who fled were expected to be returned later in the day, officials said.More than 20 people who were evacuated from Gaza and hospitalised for wounds inflicted in the fighting will remain in Israel until they recover.Abu Zuhri earlier said that the decision of the Fatah supporters to flee confirms these people are breaking the law, because they prefer to surrender themselves to the (Israeli) occupation than to stay in their homes.Abbas had asked Israel to allow his supporters to leave Gaza after 11 people -- mainly Fatah members -- were killed in Saturday's clashes, which marked the deadliest internal fighting since the Islamists seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.The bloodletting was sparked when Hamas forces attempted to arrest suspects they claimed were behind a beachside bombing more than a week ago that killed five senior Hamas militants and a little girl.Yesterday evening Abu Mazen (Abbas) and (Palestinian prime minister Salam) Fayyad made a request for Israel to allow them to cross into Israel and then to hospitals and the West Bank, a senior Israeli official told AFP.
Shortly afterwards (Israeli Defence Minister Ehud) Barak was contacted again by Abbas who asked him to allow all of them to return to Gaza, the official said on condition of anonymity.Another security official said the decision was taken by Abbas following assurances given from a foreign party -- a reference to Egypt which has brokered indirect negotiations between the rival Palestinian factions.Abbas, who was Sunday in Jordan, said Egypt plans to invite representatives of the rival Palestinian factions for talks in Cairo.Dialogue is important. We have called for it. Egypt has agreed to invite Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo, he said in a statement issued in Amman after talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.We can't lose hope. We disagree and fight, but we have to work together to bridge the big gap created unfortunately by Hamas.Abbas urged the Islamists to resort to reason and logic and accept the law.King Abdullah II, meanwhile, warned Abbas that Palestinian infighting threatens their efforts to form an independent state, the palace said.Continued factional infighting harms the Palestinian cause and threatens efforts to help establish an independent Palestinian state, the king said according to a palace statement. The Fatah supporters had fled Gaza after 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Saturday's clashes between Hamas-run security forces and the pro-Fatah Helis clan, according to three Gaza-based human rights groups. The groups identified those killed as eight members of the Helis family, two Hamas gunmen and a man caught in the crossfire. The clashes followed a week in which the Islamist movement cracked down on its Fatah rivals, detaining upwards of 300 people. Tensions have been high in the impoverished coastal strip of 1.5 million people since Hamas blamed Fatah for the beachside bombing. On Saturday Hamas accused members of the Helis clan over the attack. Fatah denied any involvement in the beach bomb, but in an apparent tit-for-tat arrest campaign Abbas's security forces detained dozens of Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the past week.
Jordan tells Abbas infighting threatens Palestinian state AUG 3,08
AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II warned visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday that Palestinian infighting threatens their efforts to form an independent state, the palace said. Continued factional infighting harms the Palestinian cause and threatens efforts to help establish an independent Palestinian state, the king said according to a palace statement.The king also expressed concerns about developments in the territories, saying that the Palestinians should resort to dialogue to resolve their differences.Palestinian unity is key to tackling the current challenges, he added.Israel on Sunday began returning Fatah members who had fled deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip to the Hamas-ruled territory following a request by Abbas.On Saturday Abbas had asked that about 180 people be allowed out of Gaza after nine people were killed during the day in the deadliest internal fighting with Hamas since the Islamists seized power in June 2007.It followed a July 21 bombing that killed five Hamas militants and a little girl, which the Islamists blamed on Fatah's Helis clan.Abbas said meanwhile that Egypt plans to invite Palestinians for talks in Cairo.Dialogue is important. We have called for it. Egypt has agreed to invite Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo, he was quoted in the statement as saying.We can't lose hope. We disagree and fight, but we have to work together to bridge the big gap created unfortunately by Hamas.Abbas urged the Islamists to resort to reason and logic and accept the law.
Top Syrian general assassinated: reports AUG 3,08
BEIRUT (AFP) - Arab media reported on Sunday that a brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated. The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Sunday quoted informed sources in London as saying that a senior Syrian officer had been found dead.The circumstances of the incident are not clear, the London-based paper said in its report, which said the sources suggested that the slain officer had been in charge of sensitive files and closely linked to the Syrian top brass.Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman and said he was Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.It said he was killed by a sniper in the northwest Syrian town of Tartus and would be buried in his hometown of Driekesh on Sunday.The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's right-hand man.The paper made no mention of Hezbollah in its report.
A Hezbollah official told AFP in Lebanon that he did not know Mohammed Sleiman and had not heard about any killing.Israel has denied the Hezbollah charge that it was behind the assassination of Mughnieh in the Syrian capital on February 12.
Israel to free Palestinians in Hezbollah deal Sun Aug 3, 6:03 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of five Palestinian prisoners as part of a swap deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home. Israel is expected to free the prisoners, none of whom were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis, in the coming weeks following a review period, Israeli officials said.Israel freed five Lebanese prisoners and returned the bodies of nearly 200 Arab fighters last month as part of the deal with Hezbollah. The two Israelis were killed in a Hezbollah raid that triggered a 34-day long war in 2006.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
Nine killed, 95 hurt in Hamas-Fatah violence in Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi Sat Aug 2, 4:56 PM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - Three Hamas policemen and six pro-Fatah gunmen were killed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in the deadliest confrontation between the rival factions since Hamas seized control of the coastal territory a year ago. The fighting erupted when Hamas gunmen surrounded the Shejaia suburb in Gaza City to arrest 11suspects, who the Islamist group believes were behind bombings that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl last Friday.Members of the Helles clan, affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, surrendered to Hamas after clashes that also wounded five Hamas policemen and 90 other people, including 16 children, a Hamas official said.Clan leader Ahmed Helles and 179 of his men escaped to the border with Israel. An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers allowed all 180 men to cross the border and some were evacuated to Israeli hospitals for treatment.Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyam, speaking in Gaza City, said police arrested dozens of gunmen, including four of the 11 men Hamas believes were behind the bombings, and confiscated large quantities of arms and explosives.We can confirm that Fatah are implicated in the bombings, Seyam said, accusing pro-Fatah cells of inciting violence against the Hamas government. Fatah denies the charges.The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had telephoned Ahmed Helles, a senior Fatah representative in the Gaza Strip, to express solidarity. Abbas called Hamas's campaign unacceptable and a blow to his call for national dialogue.The violence could hamper Egyptian efforts to reconcile Fatah with Hamas. Tension between the two spiked last year after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from pro-Abbas forces.Ehab al-Ghsain, a spokesman for Hamas's Interior Ministry, said: The Helles family has become a military force and its members have been attacking, abducting and even killing people. We must put an end to their attacks on innocent citizens.
ARRESTS, KIDNAPPING
Last week's blasts touched off tit-for-tat crackdowns by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians have since been arrested.On Thursday, Abbas ordered his Fatah-dominated security forces to release all pro-Hamas detainees in the West Bank. Twenty were released on Friday but dozens remained in custody, a security official in the occupied West Bank said.In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah militants kidnapped Mohammed Ghazal, a Hamas official, but released him hours later.Hamas said it had released more than half the hundreds of Fatah activists in its custody, including Ibrahim Abu an-Naja and nine other Fatah officials.As part of its crackdown, Hamas closed down a radio station run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group allied with Fatah.An official said the station's broadcasts were inciting violence against Hamas's forces and government in the Gaza Strip. The PFLP confirmed the station had stopped broadcasting.In the West Bank city of Ramallah, pro-Abbas forces clashed with supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group whose goal is to establish a pan-national Muslim state including the Palestinian territories and Israel.Witnesses said policemen were trying to prevent the group from holding an illegal gathering at a school in the city. The Palestinian Authority refused the group permission to hold the gathering, citing its links to Hamas. (Additional reporting by Atef Saad in Nablus, Mohammad Assadi and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Joseph Nasr in Jerusalem) (Writing by Joseph Nasr and Avida Landau in Jerusalem; editing by Tim Pearce)
Lebanese reach draft on Hezbollah arms By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 1, 8:35 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese political factions reached a compromise on Hezbollah's arsenal, the information minister said Friday, releasing a vaguely worded draft statement that implies the militant group can keep its weapons. The position paper must now be approved by Parliament, whose vote will decide whether to accept a unity government that includes Hezbollah. The new Cabinet was formed after Hezbollah gunmen routed armed supporters of the previous pro-Western administration earlier this year.Hezbollah's arms have long been a point of dispute, with many legislators in the Western-backed majority in Parliament wanting to disarm the group. Hezbollah rejects the demand, and it will hold veto power in the new government.The draft statement announced by Information Minister Tarek Mitri is deliberately vague, saying only that the committee agreed on the right of Lebanon's people, the army and the resistance to liberate all its territories.Resistance is Lebanon's jargon for Hezbollah, which is admired by many in Lebanon for its stand against Israel. All territories alludes to Lebanon's territorial claim on the Chebaa Farms area that Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war.After Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, militias were ordered dissolved, but Hezbollah fighters were allowed to keep their weapons because they were considered a resistance group fighting Israeli troops that occupied part of southern Lebanon until 2000.Many officials in the pro-Western bloc had argued that statement should not include the word resistance and that it should make liberating the occupied lands solely the national army's responsibility. But Hezbollah and its allies strongly opposed those demands.Lebanon has been rife with tensions as the pro-Western Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has struggled to form the national unity government in which Hezbollah will have veto power in all government decisions.The Hezbollah-led opposition won the concession in May as part of an Arab-brokered deal to end months of political stalemate that had escalated into violence and raised fears Lebanon's sectarian factions could plunge into a new civil war.Before the agreement, 81 people died and more than 200 were wounded as Hezbollah militants and their allies battled supporters of Saniora's government in Beirut and other cities. Sectarian violence since the deal has killed 29 people.
Israeli warns Iran is heading toward nuclear breakthrough Fri Aug 1, 5:43 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iran is heading towards a major breakthrough in its nuclear weapons capability, Israel's deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz warned Friday. Iran is continuing to advance toward a military nuclear capability and is heading towards a major breakthrough, the Iranian-born Mofaz told a think tank after talks in Washington with US officials.For us such a situation that Iran will have a nuclear power is an existential threat and from the state of Israel point of view, it is unacceptable, Mofaz told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Our estimation is that already by (2009) Iran will reach enrichment capability and as soon as 2010 will have option to reach (uranium production) at military levels, he said in broken English.He charged that Iran was playing for time in talks aimed at halting uranium enrichment with the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- the permanent UN Security Council members -- and Germany, the so-called P5-plus-1.
One thing is clear is Iranians are continuing their policy of buying time and so far they are succeeding, he said.We all know time is a decisive element in our ability to change the picture and remove the Iranian threat, Mofaz said.And the window of influence is becoming smaller and I believe about to close, he said. It's a race against time and time is winning.He said he favored a diplomatic solution to the showdown with Iran over its nuclear program but refused to rule out all options, including the military option, to stop Iran.
Israel's foreign minister has edge in party race By Adam Entous Fri Aug 1, 3:39 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has a clear edge in the Kadima party race to replace scandal-hit Ehud Olmert, polls showed on Friday, but officials questioned her ability to form a coalition and become prime minister. Two of the three polls published in major Israeli newspapers also showed Livni running nearly neck-and-neck with rightist Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu should snap parliamentary elections be called.
Olmert threw Israel into political turmoil that could hamstring Middle East peacemaking by announcing on Wednesday that he would stand down as premier after a September 17 Kadima leadership contest.Israeli police questioned Olmert for three hours on Friday over allegations he took bribes from an American businessman and made duplicate claims for travel expenses when he was trade minister and mayor of Jerusalem. Police plan to question Olmert again in the near future, officials said.Olmert, who has denied any wrongdoing, would remain caretaker prime minister until his successor builds a new coalition government, a process that could take months.That will give him some time to continue peace talks with the Palestinians and indirect negotiations with Syria, but politicians and analysts said he would lack the mandate to make commitments that would be honored by his successor.Polls in all three major newspapers showed Livni, a former intelligence agent, with a wide lead of 8-18 percentage points over her closest Kadima rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz.
EARLY ELECTIONS
Kadima officials questioned the ability of Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, to build a coalition between the country's fractious parties, increasing the chances of early parliamentary elections.Mofaz, a former defence chief known for his tough tactics in crushing a Palestinian uprising, may have an easier time winning over the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to secure the 61 seats needed in parliament to form a stable government, they said.One top Kadima official said he feared the battle to succeed Olmert will tear Kadima to apart.Speaking in Washington, Mofaz said peace talks with Syria should continue, without preconditions, after Olmert steps down.Former prime minister Netanyahu, a vocal critic of Olmert's peace moves, could try to thwart Kadima's plans to form the next government by mustering a majority in parliament, either to form his own coalition or to move up elections scheduled for 2010.But two surveys published on Friday suggested Netanyahu would face a tighter-than-expected race if Kadima picks Livni as its new leader.A poll in the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper showed Netanyahu would win 30 seats over Livni's 29. Left-leaning Haaretz had Livni on 26 seats to Netanyahu's 25.Maariv showed Netanyahu clearly ahead, with Likud winning 33 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, and Kadima taking 20.Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the Labor Party leader, is widely seen as backing Livni, the most powerful woman in Israeli politics since Prime Minister Golda Meir in the 1970s.In a statement on Friday, he said Labor would consider joining a new coalition but added: If we need to go to elections, then we will be ready.(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Dan Williams in Washington; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Oil prices end higher on Iran nuclear worries By STEVENSON JACOBS, AP Business Writer Fri Aug 1, 4:42 PM ET
NEW YORK - Oil prices ended slightly higher Friday, pushing back above $125 a barrel as the threat of a conflict with Iran rattled energy markets after a week of wild swings. The gains, however, were limited by lingering beliefs that fuel prices are still too high for cash-strapped Americans who are already cutting back on driving to save money.In another sign of waning demand for gasoline, U.S. filling stations hungry for business lowered the price of a gallon of regular overnight by just over a penny on average to $3.898, according to auto club AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Gas is down 5.2 percent from record high of $4.114 a gallon reached July 17.Oil market traders grew jittery after news reports quoted Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying that Iran's nuclear program was nearing a major breakthrough and that his country must be prepared for every option.Mofaz, a hawkish former defense minister and military chief, is a top contender to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who announced Wednesday he will resign in September amid a corruption probe.
Light, sweet crude jumped more than $4 to a high of $128.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level in nine sessions, before easing back later to settle at $125.10, up $1.02. Prices fell $2.69 to settle at $124.08 on Thursday.Mofaz's comments scared investors who fear that an attack on Iran would plunge the Middle East into more turmoil and threaten oil shipments at a time on increasingly tight world supplies.The Iranian situation is still the wild card, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. We're simply going to see this geopolitical item come into play and give us these price spikes from time to time.Friday's session capped a week in which crude swung sharply between large gains and losses. Analysts say they expect more volatility as traders wrestle over whether prices will surge on threats to supplies in places like Nigeria and Iran, or whether falling demand will continue to push prices lower.Crude has dropped $22 — or about 15 percent — since reaching a record high of $147.27 on July 11, as high prices force people and businesses to scale back on energy consumption.
The demand destruction theme is definitely still intact, said Ritterbusch, who predicted prices will fall to $117 in the coming days.Concerns of falling U.S. energy demand were boosted by more weak U.S. economic news. The Labor Department said jobs fell for the seventh straight month, while General Motors Corp. reported its third-worst quarterly loss ever.U.S. government data showed employers cut 51,000 jobs in July against an expected loss of 72,000 — but the July unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent from 5.5 percent in June, a five-year peak and slightly higher than forecast.
In addition, the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index fell slightly from June's reading, but came in better than economists expected.The dollar gained slightly against the euro Friday, a move that normally would have fed selling of crude by traders who bought the contracts to hedge against inflation and weakness in the U.S. currency.Worries about Iran's nuclear ambitions will likely influence trading next week. A deadline expires Saturday for Tehran to show it will stop expanding its uranium enrichment program, at least temporarily, or face the threat of new U.N. sanctions.Earlier this week, Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pledged to continue the country's nuclear program.In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell about 2.25 cents to settle at $3.437 a gallon while gasoline futures added 1.34 cents to $3.0843. Natural gas futures added 27 cents to settle at $9.389 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, September Brent crude rose 62 cents at $124.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
