WELL RUSSIA SURE BROKE THAT EU CEASE-FIRE, WE WILL SEE WHAT THE DICTATOSHIP DOES TO GEORGIA FROM HERE ON IN. GET READY FOLKS THE BEARS CLAWS ARE OUT FOR WESTERN BLOOD.
Small Russian convoy leaves key Georgian city AUG 19,08
RUISI, Georgia - A small column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles has left the strategically key Georgian city of Gori and an officer says they are headed back to Russia. The column, which also included what appeared to be a mobile rocket-launcher, passed the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia on Tuesday afternoon.Col. Igor Konoshenkov, a Russian military officer on the scene, told The Associated Press that the unit was headed for South Ossetia and ultimately back to Russia.Konoshenkov said the movement was part of the Russian pullback mandated by the cease-fire.It requires both sides to return troops to the positions they held before the Aug. 7 outbreak of heavy fighting in South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist region of Georgia.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
IGOETI, Georgia (AP) — Russia and Georgia on Tuesday exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war, a move that may reduce tensions and, Georgia hopes, hasten the promised withdrawal of Russian troops.Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia said the swap removes any pretext for Russians to hold positions in Igoeti. The village is the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, about 30 miles away.Yet as NATO foreign ministers prepared to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels over a unified response to Russia's invasion of its tiny neighbor, there still was no sign of the Russian troop pullout from Georgia that was supposed to have begun Monday.A Russian defense official indicated Tuesday that a complete withdrawal from Georgia proper was not imminent.Rear units, as well as second- and third-echelon units are being pulled back first. The vanguard units will be pulled back at the final stage, Col. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia's land forces, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.Tuesday's prisoner exchange, witnessed by Lomaia and Russian Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov, included 15 Georgians and five Russians, Lomaia said.It went smoothly, he said.
The swap began when two Russian military helicopters landed in Igoeti. Two people in stretchers were unloaded and handed over to Georgian officials.Georgian ambulances later brought two people to the scene and took them to the Russian helicopters. One was on a gurney.Russian troops last week drove Georgian forces out of the Russian-backed separatist region of South Ossetia, where Georgia on Aug. 7 launched a heavy artillery barrage.At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed NATO allies to step up political and military ties with Georgia and to consider scaling back high-level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if its military does not abandon positions across Georgia.Rice said the U.S. supports a permanent NATO-Georgia Commission that would solidify ties between the western alliance and the Black Sea nation, and supports increasing training for the Georgian military. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on arrival that the allies must ensure Russia does not learn the wrong lessons from the events of the last two weeks. Force cannot be the basis for the demarcation of new lines around Russia.NATO was also expected to discuss support to efforts to send in an international monitoring mission being set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a security grouping that includes Russia, Georgia and western nations. Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, whose country holds the OSCE presidency, said Russia had agreed on a plan that would send 20 unarmed military observers there, besides nine already in place. The total could later go up to 100, the OSCE says. The United Nations has estimated the fighting displaced more than 158,000 people. U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Tbilisi on Tuesday to meet with government representatives to discuss the plight of tens of thousands of South Ossetians uprooted by Georgia's conflict with Russia. Guterres will then travel to Moscow to meet with Russian officials, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Andrej Mahecic said. Mahecic told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR, like other aid agencies, has not been able to reach the civilian population in much of South Ossetia because of security issues there. The area is now controlled by Russia.
We have seen media reports indicating that people are being shot at while trying to leave the area, he said. With Western leaders anxiously watching for a withdrawal and puzzling over how to punish Moscow for what they called a disproportionate reaction to the Georgian offensive, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev defended Russia's actions and warned against any aggression. Anyone who tries anything like that will face a crushing response, he said Monday. On the ground, the lack of troop movement raised questions about whether Russia was fulfilling its part of the cease-fire meant to end the short but intense war that has stoked tension between a resurgent Russia and the West. Russian troops restricted access to Gori, where most shops were shut and people milled around on the central square with its statue of the Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin. The city is a cold place now. People are fearful, said Nona Khizanishvili, 44, who fled Gori a week ago for an outlying village and returned Monday, trying to reach her son in Tbilisi. Four Russian armored personnel carriers, each carrying about 15 men, rolled Monday afternoon from Gori to Igoeti, a crossroads town even closer to Tbilisi. Georgia's Rustavi-2 television showed footage of a Russian armored vehicle smashing through a group of Georgian police cars barricading the road to Gori on Monday. One of the cars was dragged along the street by the Russian armor. Georgian police stood by without raising their guns. Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Russian forces had blown up the runway at a base in the western city of Senaki on Monday. There was no confirmation from Russian military officials. Russian troops and tanks have controlled a wide swath of Georgia for days, including the country's main east-west highway where Gori sits. The Russian presence essentially cuts the small Caucasus Mountains nation in half. It also threatens pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili's efforts to keep his country from falling apart after the war bolstered the chances of South Ossetia and another Russian-backed separatist region, Abkhazia, of remaining free of Georgian rule. According to the European Union-brokered peace plan signed by both Medvedev and Saakashvili, both sides are to pull forces back to the positions they held before the fighting broke out. But the deputy chief of the Russian general staff, Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said the Russian troops were pulling back to South Ossetia and a security zone defined by a 1999 agreement of the joint control commission. The commission had been nominally in charge of South Ossetia's status since it split from Georgia in the early 1990s.
Georgian and Russian officials could not immediately clarify the dimensions of the security zone, but Georgian government documents suggest it extends more than four miles into Georgia beyond the administrative border of South Ossetia. French President Nicolas Sarkozy — who brokered the cease-fire deal — has said the operations it permits by Russian peacekeepers until an international mechanism is in place cannot be conducted beyond the immediate proximity of South Ossetia.Associated Press writers David Nowak, Jim Heintz and Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Bela Szandelszky in Senaki, Georgia, contributed to this report.
EU-Russia business as usual impossible, Lithuania says.The TV tower memorial in Vilnius where Soviet forces killed 13 civilians in a 1991 uprising - Lithuanian memories are raw (Photo: wikipedia)ANDREW RETTMAN AUG 19,08 Today @ 12:50 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU should consider diplomatic sanctions against Russia and speed up Georgia and Ukraine's EU and NATO integration to show Moscow that muscle-flexing does not work, Lithuanian foreign minister Petras Vaitiekunas, said in an interview with EUobserver.We cannot and will not pretend that the EU will continue doing business as usual with Moscow. This aggression has damaged the EU-Russian partnership, the minister said on Tuesday (19 August), as Russian tanks remained parked 45 kilometres from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, despite a Franco-Russian agreement for troops to pull out.The Russian army entered Georgia on 7 August after Georgia fought back against Russian-backed rebels in its breakaway South Ossetia region. Germany and France have refused to strongly condemn Russian actions so far, but former communist EU states such as Lithuania have lined up on Georgia's side.Mr Vaitiekunas said there will be a substantial discussion of potential EU sanctions at an EU foreign ministers meeting on 5 September and predicted the EU will find common ground despite its internal east-west divide.The EU should evaluate whether it is possible to continue in an unaltered way the post-PCA talks [negotiations on a new EU-Russia treaty], visa dialogue or other cooperation activities, he explained. We have seen some disagreements between EU member states on many occasions, including the Georgia issue. Still, it does not create a deep rift.
In the short-term, he urged the EU to take part in an international mission to monitor the ceasefire agreement, and to push for the return of refugees and displaced populations, alongside humanitarian action.The UN estimates the conflict has created 150,000 refugees, amid reports that South Ossetian paramilitaries have burned ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia to stop Georgian people from coming back. A previous war in the 1990s saw over 200,000 ethnic Georgians flee from another Russian-backed separatist province, Abkhazia, with Russia last week indicating it will help keep Georgians out of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for good.
Frozen conflicts
In the longer-term, the Lithuanian foreign minister - who was in Tbilisi during the duration of the recent five-day war - said the EU must speed-up Georgia's integration with the EU and NATO to show Russia it cannot sabotage pro-western governments in its near-abroad by military force. He also urged the EU to pull Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan closer, to reduce the risk of South Ossetia-type scenarios in other disputed regions: Russian-backed separatist movements also exist in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, Moldova's Transdniestria province and Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh republic.NATO refusing to grant a MAP [Membership Action Plan] for Georgia and Ukraine at the Bucharest summit made a principle mistake. We can say that it partly led to the situation that we have in Georgia today, Mr Vaitiekunas said, after France and Germany blocked the MAP move at a NATO meeting in Romania in April.By giving a MAP to Georgia and to Ukraine we [would] clearly show to Russia how unhelpful it is to even try flexing its muscles, he added. The [EU] visa facilitation issue for Georgia will have to be raised further, as well as a preparation of a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.The EU and NATO should be much more involved in the resolution of frozen conflicts, especially in Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniestria, in order to reach peaceful solutions.
Germany calls for EU neighbours meeting on Georgia
HONOR MAHONY AUG 19,08 Today @ 09:25 CET
Germany is calling for an EU neighbours meeting on Georgia to try and bring stability to the volatile region, amid conflicting claims from Moscow about whether it had promised to pullback or withdraw its troops from the small South Caucasus country.The conference - tentatively named reconstruction and stability in Georgia and the region - would include many of the countries already involved in the EU's neighbourhood policy, a mechanism aimed at binding countries to the bloc through trade and economic ties.German chancellor, Angela Merkel, mentioned deepening the EU's contacts with these neighbouring countries following a meeting with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday (17 August).She particularly mentioned countries which haven't been directly included in the [EU] neighbourhood policy so far, German government spokesman, Thomas Steg, said, according to Reuters. Berlin's aim is to extend the neighbourhood policy's coverage. At the moment, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are involved in Brussels' neighbourhood policy, but gas-rich Turkmenistan - mentioned specifically by Ms Merkel on Sunday - is not.We will suggest that the EU presidency arranges for a conference of the EU and, within the framework of the neighbourhood policy, the neighbouring states in the south Caucasus and the region, the spokesman said, referring to the current French EU presidency.
Germany's proposal comes as the European Union attempts to work out as a whole what its response to the Georgia-Russia war should be.On Monday, French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said that EU governments were not ready to issue an ultimatum to Moscow, with national capitals remaining divided about how strongly to chastise Russia and how to apportion blame.
No ultimatums, yet
We don't want to threaten, Mr Kouchner said at a news conference, reports AFP. We are serious. There is a red line. The red line is the withdrawal of the troops. They must withdraw the troops.At a given moment, we will be faced with ultimatums, said Mr Kouchner, but noted We are not there at all.Paris is deliberating whether to call a meeting of EU leaders, something that is set to depend on the way and the speed with which Russia removes its troops from Georgia.But Moscow is already sending a muddy message on what it is doing with its military.On Monday, it said it had begun to withdraw troops. Today, in line with the plan, the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers has begun, said the deputy head of Russia's general staff, general Anatoly Nogovitsyn. But he added that there had been a misunderstanding about Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's promise to pull forces out of Georgia.There is a distinction between the understandings of a pullback and a withdrawal... In the conversation with French president Sarkozy, the discussion was about a pullback of forces, not a withdrawal, he said, reports Sky News.According to general Nogovitsyn, the troops would pull back to the borders of South Ossetia, the breakaway region that sparked off the conflict on 7 August. But he did not say how many troops would remain in Georgia.
NATO debate
The EU's difficulty in finding a united line on Russia is likely to be echoed in NATO on Tuesday with foreign ministers from the organisation gathering in the Brussels headquarters to discuss the crisis.While eastern European states, the US and the UK are expected to push a tougher line on Russia, western European countries such as Germany and France are expected to be reluctant to be too openly hard on Moscow.
Lisbon treaty would have helped in Georgia crisis, says France
HONOR MAHONY 18.08.2008 @ 09:19 CET
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has used the ongoing crisis between Russia and Georgia to put the case for the EU's new treaty, currently facing ratification difficulties. In an opinion piece in Monday's edition of French daily Le Figaro, Mr Sarkozy, who currently holds the EU's six month presidency, wrote that the Lisbon Treaty would have given the bloc the tools it needed to handle the Moscow-Tbilisi war.It is notable that had the Lisbon Treaty, which is in the process of being ratified, already been in force, the European Union would have had the institutions it needs to cope with international crises.He named the most important innovations as being the stable European Council President - instead of the current half-yearly system - a High Representative endowed with a real European diplomatic service and considerable financial means in order to put decisions into force in coordination with member states.The short pitch for the Lisbon Treaty also revealed a little how the French president views the role of the EU's first longterm president of the EU - a post that can be held for up to five years.The treaty itself is ambiguous about the president's exact role with the potential for conflict rife with member states and EU officials divided about whether the position should be ceremonial or have real teeth.Entwined in this question is how much the president should represent the EU in external policy, a policy area that is foreseen for the EU's foreign policy chief.In the Figaro article, Mr Sarkory suggests that the president's position in such crises as the Russia-Georgia one would be one of acting in close consultation with the heads of state and government most affected.This would very much put the President in the foreign policy field. It would also foresee a formal hierarchy among member states as it would give priority to those considered most affected.
This kind of scenario has been predicted by some smaller member states who fear that the president would have an all-powerful role, reducing the say of certain governments, although the working principle of the bloc is that member states are equal.But Mr Sarkozy's words of support for the Lisbon Treaty come amid doubt that it will ever come into force. Although ratified by the vast majority of national parliaments, it was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum in June.All member states need to ratify the document for it to go into place. At the moment, Dublin is considering its options. It could either put the treaty to another referendum or try and figure out a legal contortion allowing it to use parliamentary ratification only. But the January 2009 deadline by which governments had hoped to have the treaty in place is certain to be missed.
Israel warns activists against breaking Gaza blockade AUG 19,08
ATHENS (AFP) - Israel has warned a group of pro-Palestinian activists sailing for the Gaza Strip to break a year-long blockade to steer clear of the territory, the Israeli embassy in Athens said on Tuesday. The area to which you are planning to sail is the subject of an (Israeli Navy) advisory notice which warns all foreign vessels to remain clear of the designated maritime zone, the Israeli foreign ministry said in an open letter to the participants of the Free Gaza Boat Expedition.
We assume that your intentions are good but, in fact, the result of your action is that you are supporting the regime of a terrorist organisation in Gaza, the ministry said.Ruled since June 2007 by Hamas, an Islamist movement that is considered a terrorist organisation by the West, the Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for the past year except for humanitarian aid.But the California-based Free Gaza Movement says Israel's aid supply record is deplorable.Israel's deplorable track record of delivering supplies is, in fact, the very reason for our mission, the group said in a letter to the ministry.The group plans to sail two Greek caiques, or fishing boats, into Gaza carrying 40 human rights workers from 16 different nations.
The mission includes an 81-year-old Catholic nun, an 84-year-old Nazi concentration camp survivor, Palestinians from Gaza and Israeli citizens, organisers said.They will also deliver hearing aids for children who have lost some or all of their hearing from Israeli sound bombs and sonic booms.The caiques on August 13 sailed from the Greek island of Crete for Cyprus, their last port of call before reaching Gaza.Formed two years ago, the Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org) is composed of human rights activists, aid workers and journalists.
Israel to free long-serving Palestinian prisoners By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 11:44 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Israel said Monday it will free two of its most prominent Palestinian prisoners — a militant mastermind from the 1970s and a gunman elected to parliament while behind bars — among 199 inmates to be released as a goodwill gesture to embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. While the move will give an important boost to the moderate Abbas, it drew fierce criticism from some Israeli politicians, who said it could undermine attempts to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.Israel's prisons service said the upcoming release would include Said al-Atba, who has served 32 years of a life sentence for planting a bomb, illegal military training and belonging to a banned group. Al-Atba, 57, is the longest serving prisoner held by Israel and he is widely seen by the Palestinian public as a symbol for the prisoners.The fate of the roughly 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails is highly emotional, as many Palestinians either know someone in prison or have served time themselves. Abbas, who is struggling to show his people the fruits of drawn-out peace negotiations with Israel, has repeatedly urged Israel to carry out a large-scale release.Solving the prisoner problem paves the road to solving other issues in (peace) negotiations, said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a spokesman for Abbas. He said the inclusion of long-serving prisoners would bolster the president's credibility with the public, which has grown skeptical over the slow pace of peace talks.Israel has released prisoners to Abbas in the past, most recently last December. But it has balked at releasing Palestinians serving time for deadly attacks. It appears to be easing its criteria following last month's prisoner swap with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
Under that deal, Israel exchanged a Lebanese man convicted in a notorious triple murder for the remains of two Israeli soldiers. Eager to bolster Abbas in his rivalry with Hamas, Israel says the latest release is meant to show the Palestinians that dialogue, not violence, is the best way to win concessions.Also on the list Israel released Monday of the 199 prisoners set to be freed was Mohammed Abu Ali, jailed in 1980 for killing an Israeli settler in the West Bank and later convicted of killing a Palestinian in jail he accused of collaborating with Israel. Abu Ali also serves as a lawmaker from Abbas' Fatah party.The list also included at least a dozen people serving time for violent crimes like shootings, planting explosives and attempted murder, as well as a former Fatah lawmaker accused of accepting funds from Hezbollah.At Al-Atba's home in the West Bank city of Nablus, his 75-year-old mother, Widad, said neighbors were already coming over to congratulate her on her son's impending release.I'm afraid to close my eyes. I haven't slept, waiting for him to come through the door. I can't wait to hold him, she said.Israel's Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of the prisoners. A smaller ministerial committee on Monday followed up by choosing the names of those to be freed. Al-Atba and Abu Ali were included after security officials concluded they are unlikely to return to violence.
However, two senior officials, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, voted against the measure.They said the release would undermine negotiations over the return of an Israeli soldier held captive in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Negotiations have stalled because of Hamas demands to release convicted murderers.When Israel releases prisoners, it is not seen as a concession, but as a weakness, Mofaz said. This is a decision that broadcasts weakness and complacence with the current situation.Dichter is a former director of the Shin Bet internal security service, and Mofaz is a former military chief. Both men hope to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has said he will step down to battle corruption allegations.Sahar Francis, a prominent lawyer for Palestinian prisoners, said the planned release of Al-Atba has given hope to 300 other long-serving prisoners with similar sentences that they too might be freed in the future.Prisoners are happy for everybody who is released, especially if they conducted attacks inside Israel and killed people, she said. Although Hamas welcomed the prisoner release, it is unlikely the group will ease its demands. The government will make every possible effort for the release (of prisoners) from Israeli jails, said Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman. Hamas may well now feel pressured to harden its position to show weary Gaza residents that it can still obtain more from Israel through kidnapping its soldiers, rather than peaceful negotiations.
Associated Press correspondents Ali Daraghmeh in Nablus, West Bank, and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.
Israel approves release of 200 Palestinians by Charly Wegman
Mon Aug 18, 11:44 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli ministerial commission on Monday approved the release next week of about 200 Palestinian prisoners, including at least two implicated in deadly attacks in Israel three decades ago. Government spokesman Mark Regev said the prisoners were to be released as a goodwill gesture toward (Palestinian) president Mahmud Abbas.Prison authorities later the same day published a list of the 199 Palestinians, many of whom are serving long sentences for armed attacks against Israel.Virtually all of them belong to groups linked to Fatah, the secular movement led by Abbas. The list does not include members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, both of which Israel brands as terrorist organisations.The full Israeli cabinet had voted on Sunday to free the prisoners in a move aimed at bolstering the slow-moving US-backed peace negotiations with the Palestinians.The list includes two veteran prisoners implicated in deadly attacks on Israelis in the 1970s, a rare exception to Israel's general policy of not freeing those with blood on their hands.Israelis can appeal against the freeing of individual prisoners before the actual release takes place on August 25 and at least two members of the powerful security cabinet voiced their concern over some names on the list.Among those to be released is Said al-Attaba, 56, who has been serving a life sentence since 1977 for the death of an Israeli woman in an attack.Also on the list is Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Ali, known as Abu Ali Yatta, who has been behind bars since 1979 for killing an Israeli student.While serving a life sentence, Abu Ali Yatta of Fatah was elected to the Palestinian parliament in January 2006.Interior Security Minister Avi Dichter made it clear he opposed the release of prisoners involved in deadly attacks, telling public radio: Israel has crossed a red line by deciding to release the perpetrators of murders against Israelis.
Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz voiced similar objections.
Both ministers are candidates in the September Kadima party election to choose a successor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who announced he would step down after the vote amid mounting pressure over allegations of graft against him.But Housing Minister Zeev Boim insisted it was crucial to make a gesture to Abbas rather than be intransigent, which would strengthen Palestinian extremists.Israel first announced the decision to release the prisoners on August 6 following a face-to-face meeting between Olmert and Abbas, the latest in a series of discussions since they relaunched peace talks at a US-hosted conference in November.A spokesman for Abbas on Sunday called the planned prisoner release a step in the right direction, but said the Palestinians had hoped to see more freed.The release next Monday could coincide with a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced by the Palestinians, although there has not yet been any confirmation of the trip from Washington.More than 11,000 Palestinians are currently behind bars in Israel, including 11 seriously ill people, according to the Palestinian Authority. A number of them have been held without charge or trial under what Israel calls administrative detention.Defence for Children International said on Monday that 691 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, including 13 who are under 18 years of age. It also said that at any given point during 2007, between 310 and 416 Palestinian minors were being held in Israeli prisons and detention centres.
Rice set for another Mideast visit Mon Aug 18, 4:32 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week in another attempt to achieve progress towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, officials said on Monday. The United States has said it hopes to conclude a framework peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. But the talks have stumbled over disputes over Israeli settlement building and the future of Jerusalem.She is coming on the 25th and 26th of August for a series of trilateral and bilateral meetings, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.An Israeli Foreign Ministry official confirmed the dates for the talks in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.In a declared bid to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an Israeli cabinet committee approved on Monday a list of 200 Palestinian prisoners to be released on August 25.The committee said two of the longest-serving prisoners, Said al-Atabeh and Mohammad Abu Ali, would be among those freed.Atabeh, 57, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), was arrested in 1977, accused of organising attacks on Israeli troops.Abu Ali, 52, was jailed in 1980 for killing a leader of Jewish settlers near Hebron, in the West Bank. Though in prison, he was elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006.Erekat said Rice had originally planned to visit the region on August 20. She is also expected to go to Brussels next week to meet NATO foreign ministers and European Union officials on the Georgia crisis.Rice last held meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington on July 30, the same day Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, hit by a corruption scandal, said he would step down after his party chooses a new leader in September.(Reporting by Mohammed Assadi, Ori Lewis and Adam Entous, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Giles Elgood)
Big stink as Israel unleashes skunk on protestors by Joseph Krauss
Mon Aug 18, 3:03 AM ET
BILIN, West Bank (AFP) - The Palestinian protestors massed at the fence expected tear gas and rubber bullets; what they got instead was a putrid yellow wind, Israel's newest weapon against West Bank demonstrators. The noxious mist, which Israeli police refer to as skunk, was used for the first time earlier this month, when a truck-mounted cannon sprayed it over the heads of protestors, sending them racing down the hillside, retching and tearing off their shirts to try to escape the stench.Dozens of Palestinians from the village of Bilin, along with international and Israeli activists, had marched to a nearby segment of Israel's controversial separation barrier to demand its removal, just as they have done every Friday for the last three and a half years.No, no to settlements; no, no to the wall! they shouted, as they waved Palestinian flags and posters of Yusef Amira, a 16-year-old shot dead by Israeli police at a protest in a neighbouring village last month.
The Israeli border police called on them to disperse through loudspeakers, warning them they were near a closed military zone.Then the skunk truck arrived, spraying a cloud of yellow mist and filling the air with the suffocating stench of faeces and urine.More than one demonstrator said he preferred the tear gas Israeli troops usually use for crowd control, which sears the skin, nose, throat and eyes.Israeli police say skunk is more effective at dispersing crowds than tear gas or the more lethal rubber-coated bullets, which killed Amira.It's the start of a change in tactics in dealing with crowd control and dispersing violent demonstrations and violent instances, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.It protects the protestors because it doesn't require us to use tear gas and rubber bullets.It was inevitable, perhaps, that Israel would unveil the skunk in Bilin. The small West Bank village has recently spawned a growing protest movement pitting local farmers and international activists against Israeli police on a weekly basis.border They use all kinds of violence against us but we have to get our land back. We are willing to sacrifice ourselves, says Ahmed Abu Rahma, a Bilin resident who has marched in the protests since they began more than three years ago.The farmers have been galvanised by Israel's controversial separation barrier, a projected 723 kilometre (454 mile) stretch of concrete walls, barbed wire fence, and closed military roads that snakes across the West Bank.Israel says the barrier is necessary to prevent attacks on its cities and Jewish settlements while Palestinians say the fence, most of which is built on occupied territory, undermines the viability of their future state.
The protest organisers say their aims are purely local. They ban the carrying of the flags of any Palestinian faction and have steered clear of the increasingly toxic internal politics in the occupied territories.Anyone who wants to can live in this country. The problem for us is that they took our land, Abu Rahma says, adding that his family has lost some 400 hectares (988 acres) of olive orchards to the barrier.
In September 2007 Israel's high court ruled in favour of village residents and ordered the barrier to be re-routed, but the military has yet to act, and the protests have since spread to neighbouring villages.In the nearby village of Nilin, demonstrators clash with Israeli troops weekly, with local youths bounding through the terraced orchards near the fence construction site, hurling rocks and scattering before tear gas grenades. But in late July the violence spiked, with Israeli troops shooting dead a 12-year-old boy, Hamad Musa, and 16-year-old Amira within a few days. In Bilin demonstrators handed out posters with the picture of Amira, who was shot twice in the head by rubber-coated bullets when clashes erupted at the funeral for Musa, which was attended by thousands of people. Israel is investigating both incidents, and the deaths appear to have pushed the security forces to look into less-violent means of dispersing the protests. Rosenfeld would not say what exactly goes into the pungent mixture used last Friday but insisted it is not dangerous. It's not a chemical, it is a smelling liquid. It doesn't cause any harm or any physical damage whatsoever, even if it gets in people's eyes.
The protestors were not so sure -- many suspected it was toilet water.
This is the first time they use this water. It is going to make everyone sick, Abu Rahma said. I saw one boy who couldn't breathe, and a lot of other people were throwing up.The new dispersal methods, no matter how unpleasant, do not appear to deter the protestors. One of those marching on a recent Friday was Ashraf Abu Rahma who was shot in the foot with a rubber bullet in July by Israeli soldiers who had detained him. He was bound and blindfolded at the time. The incident, captured on video by a fellow protestor, was widely condemned in Israel and seen as a further embarrassment for its security forces. Abu Rahma, a relative of protestor Ahmed, said he had been hospitalised after taking three rubber-coated bullets to the same leg during a previous protest. On Friday he limped up the hill, carrying a Palestinian flag into battle yet again. I am not afraid of anything, he says with a smile. Not even death.
Rocket fired from Gaza: Israeli police Sun Aug 17, 10:23 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Palestinian militants launched a makeshift rocket from the Gaza Strip at Israel in violation of a near two-month-old truce, without wounding anyone, Israeli police said Sunday. At least 43 rockets and mortar rounds have been launched from Gaza since an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and several Palestinian armed groups came into force June 19, according to the Israeli army.The overall level of violence in and around the impoverished territory has sharply declined, however, and the Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled Gaza since June 2007 says it is doing everything possible to halt the rocket fire.Both sides have accused the other of violating the truce, with Hamas demanding Israel lift its embargo of Gaza and Israel accusing Hamas of using the calm to rearm with weapons smuggled under the Egypt-Gaza border.
Israel's Barak meets with Palestinian prime minister Sat Aug 16, 4:32 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak held talks Saturday evening on security and political matters, officials from both sides said. The two men meet at Barak's residence in Tel Aviv for discussions on security and political questions according to a defence ministry statement.The talks touched on the expected release of more than 150 Palestinian prisoners Sunday, along with the deployment of new Palestinian police forces in the West Bank, military radio reported.Barak and Fayyad met in Jerusalem in June with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Iran training Iraqi hit squads: US military by Jim Mannion
Fri Aug 15, 12:05 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah for attacks in Iraq, a US military official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Shiite special groups were being trained in Qom, Tehran, Mashad and Ahvaz in assassination and bombing techniques to target specific Iraqis as well as US troops and Iraqi security forces.We have intelligence reports confirming Iranian-sponsored groups are planning to return back to Iraq and are targeting specific coalition forces, ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) and Iraqi citizens, the official said.The intelligence, if it proves out, raises the prospect of a deadly new security challenge at a time when the US military is hoping to make further cuts in its forces.The official, who spoke from Iraq, said the information has been turned over to the Iraqi government and they are taking the lead in handling the situation.The groups were being trained in reconnaissance, small arms, small unit tactics, cellular operations, EFPs and other IEDs, RPGs and assassination techniques, the official said.EFPs, which stands for explosively formed projectiles, are armor-piercing bombs that have proven highly effective against US armored vehicles. The US military charges that components for the bombs are made in Iran.
The official said the special groups were being deployed to carry out terrorist acts against specific individuals as well as US and Iraqi forces.The special groups have been associated in the past with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, but the official would not link those being trained to Sadr.Among the Iraqi groups identified as involved in the training were Kitaib Hezbollah, which he described as a criminal group supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that has claimed a number of sophisticated attacks since 2005.The official identified a second Iraqi group as As Said Al-Haq.They are being trained by Quds Force under the leadership of Qassim Suleimani and Lebanese Hezbollah, the official said.The US military many times in the past have accused Iran of fomenting violence in neighboring Iraq, supplying Shiite groups with arms and training for attacks on US forces.But the violence has fallen off sharply in the wake of a US surge strategy that helped turn Sunni tribes against Al-Qaeda and Iraq's Shiite led government against Shiite militias and the so-called special groups.US military officials have said many special group leaders fled to Iran, but were believed to be biding their time for a return.Also contributing to the drop in violence has been a unilateral cease-fire declared a year ago by al-Sadr, who the US military believes is in Iran.Sadr announced in June that he would replace the 60,000-strong Mahdi Army with a smaller fighting force to target the US-led occupation.
Israel puts off evacuating illegal wildcat settlement by Marius Schattner
Fri Aug 15, 5:15 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli government has decided to put off for the time being its promised evacuation of the largest Jewish wildcat settlement in the occupied West Bank, the defence ministry said on Friday. The ministry told the Israeli High Court the Migron settlers -- about 200 people living on private Palestinian land -- can remain until new homes are built for them on public land.We have told the court we will announce within 45 days the new location of Migron, a ministry spokeswoman said. The ministry did not say when the settlers would be moved.In January the government told the court it would evacuate Migron by August.The government's new plan to move the settlers later has the backing of the main West Bank settlers' organisation, but the Migron residents, some right-wingers and anti-settler activists reject it.The government caved in to settlers who threatened to use violence if they are evacuated while they illegally occupy private Palestinian land, said Yariv Oppenheimer of the Peace Now group, which had filed a petition before the High Court seeking the evacuation.The Yediot Aharonot daily quoted the Committee of Settler Rabbis as saying: The thought of evacuating Migron is against the Torah and basic human morals.Some ultra-orthodox Jews believe they have a divine mission to settle the whole of the Biblical land of Israel, including the Palestinian territories.But other right-wingers believe that the Migron settlers would benefit from the legal recognition they would get by moving.Migron is the largest of some 100wildcat settlement outposts dotted around the West Bank that were erected without Israeli government authorisation.Most consist of just a few trailers but Migron has several houses, dozens of mobile homes, a synagogue, a ritual bath, a kindergarten and greenhouses.The international community regards all West Bank settlements as illegal, regardless of whether they were built with Israeli authorisation.
Washington has exerted particular pressure on Israel to dismantle the wildcat outposts.A lawyer who in 2004 assessed the legal situation of the settlements on behalf of the government called the Migron decision strange, to say the least.Migron was erected in a fraudulent manner on private land taken from Palestinians. The same settlers who violated the law are now seeing their actions sanctioned by the law, Talia Sasson told Israeli public radio.In another development, an internal police report cited by Haaretz says the number of settler attacks against Palestinians and clashes with police have increased significantly.The daily cites the report as saying there were 429 such incidents in the first six months of the year, compared with 551 in all of 2007.More than 260,000 Israelis are estimated to live in government-authorised settlements across the West Bank, with another 200,000 in settlements in annexed east Jerusalem.
Is freedom near for captive Israeli soldier? By Rafael D. Frankel
Fri Aug 15, 4:00 AM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza - More than two years after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid, he is being used more than ever as a pawn in the battle between Israel, Hamas, and Fatah over the future of the impoverished coastal strip. On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the recent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that calmed fighting along Gaza's border should be used to push for Mr. Shalit's return. And the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said a prisoner swap in exchange for Shalit, believed to be alive and held inside Gaza, could conclude within a week.But the reality remains complex and ever-changing. Hamas vacillates between suspending and reopening Egyptian-led negotiations over the fate of the soldier, and talks are now caught up in the terms of the Israel-Hamas truce and stymied by the internal Palestinian power struggle between rivals Hamas and Fatah.As part of the cease-fire deal, Israel was to gradually open Gaza's borders in return for progress on the repatriation of Shalit. But, until Shalit is released, there won't be anything even close to normality with Gaza's [border] crossings, says Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.That creates problems for Hamas, which is trying both to improve conditions for Gazans while maintaining its hard line against Israel. Hamas is demanding the release of some 450 Palestinian fighters – many serving time on murder charges – in return for Shalit. And in a July 28 interview with the Monitor, Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar says Hamas would have no problem closing the file on Shalit permanently if Israel did not improve its offer.After making progress, negotiations hit a snag following the July 16 Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap in which Israel turned over the remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters plus five Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. Since then, speculation rose that either Israel lowered the price it would pay to retrieve Shalit because it did not want to be seen losing in both deals, or Hamas increased its demands after Israel released the terrorist Samir Kuntar as part of the Lebanon trade.An agreement was further complicated when Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas threatened to dissolve the PA if Israel released jailed Hamas ministers in an agreement over Shalit.
Mr. Abbas is concerned that a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas would aid the Islamist group in consolidating its hold over Gaza, as well as making inroads toward controlling the West Bank. Dissolving the PA, and returning to Israel total responsibility for the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, is perhaps the one trump card Abbas can still play in his negotiations with Israel as he is increasingly viewed by Palestinians as ineffectual.But Abbas's poor standing has not translated into Hamas popularity gains in Gaza. Nearly two months after the cease-fire with Israel, little has improved in the lives of Gazans.As part of the June 19 cease-fire agreement, Israel was to gradually ease its blockade of Gaza. But since then, the quantity of fuel, cement, food, and other raw materials has seen only a marginal increase, says Phillippe Lazzarini, the head of office for the United Nations agency that coordinates humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza.
There is a growing frustration among the population because they cannot feel the dividend of the truce on their daily life, Mr. Lazzarini says. The one significant improvement, he added, was the security situation, as both sides were holding their fire for the most part.Though fuel imports have increased, the amount of gasoline flowing into Gaza is only 18 percent the estimated need, according to the UN. The amount of diesel fuel available is 55 percent of the estimated need.The fuel and material shortages in Gaza, along with the lack of access to the outside world, have contributed to the 45 percent unemployment rate reported by the UN for July – the highest in the world.Nothing has changed, says Eyad Jamal Roopa, who previously imported perfumes from Lebanon but is now unemployed. Mr. Roopa spends his days sitting with two friends in front of his closed shop in the al-Shati Refugee Camp on the northern Gaza coast. We expected the crossings would be open, the siege would be lifted, and we would have a life. And none of that happened.Israeli authorities say they were slow in ramping up deliveries of goods because rockets were still being fired from Gaza in the early days of the truce. We chose closings as a nonviolent response to the violations of the quiet, says Mr. Regev. The agreement reached with Hamas via Egypt outlined steps that Hamas continues to violate by smuggling qualitative military materials into Gaza from Egypt, he says.Though primarily blaming Israel and the United States for the worst living conditions anyone can remember, Gazans unaffiliated with Hamas charge that the Islamist group has failed to deliver an improvement in their lives.There is no freedom to talk or to work because of the Hamas security forces, says Zuhir al-Najjar, a documentary filmmaker from Rafah. If I say something [Hamas] doesn't like, it's a big problem for me.… Every day, every moment, Hamas gets stronger.
Lawyers to US witness against Olmert: Stay home By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 14, 5:16 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Lawyers for an American businessman have recommended he refuse to testify again before an Israeli court in a corruption case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to a letter released Thursday. Morris Talansky already gave direct testimony and was questioned at length by Olmert's attorneys. Talansky told the court he gave Olmert envelopes stuffed with tens of thousands of dollars before he became prime minister.Olmert has not been charged but has announced he will resign because of several corruption investigations.The letter from Talansky's American lawyers, Bradley Simon and Neal Sher, noted the Israeli investigation mirrors a probe in the United States, and by testifying further, Talansky could incriminate himself.We have advised him not to appear for further examination in Israel until ... the U.S. grand jury matter is resolved, read the letter, supplied to The Associated Press by Simon's office. Talansky's response was not immediately available.Legal experts told Israeli media that all of the businessman's testimony so far remains admissible, even if Olmert's lawyers are unable to complete their questioning, set for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.Olmert is facing several corruption cases, none of them covering his time as prime minister. He has not been indicted and has denied all wrongdoing. Even so, Olmert announced on July 30 that he will turn in his resignation after his party, Kadima, chooses a new leader in primary elections next month.Because of Israel's complex electoral system, Olmert could still remain in office until next spring.
Syria, Lebanon to work towards drawing border By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Thu Aug 14, 7:39 AM ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to resume work towards formally demarcating their borders but Damascus said the boundaries of the disputed Shebaa Farms would not be drawn until Israel withdrew from them. Demarcation of the borders between Syria and Lebanon would be a major step towards meeting international demands on Damascus to formalize ties with its smaller neighbor.
President Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad also agreed at a two-day summit to establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level, a move that underlined thawing of ties between the two neighbors.Opening diplomatic ties was another step which countries including France and the United States had demanded of Syria, which dominated its neighbor until 2005 when the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri forced it to withdraw troops from Lebanon.The two presidents agreed on ... the resumption of the work of the joint committee to define and draw the Syrian-Lebanese borders, said a joint statement read at the end of the summit.Asked whether that would include the Shebaa Farms, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said: The definition of the Shebaa Farms cannot happen under occupation.Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, cites the occupation of the Shebaa Farms as one reason for keeping its arsenal.Israel considers Shebaa Farms part of the Golan Heights, which it occupied in 1967. Syria and Lebanon say the land is part of south Lebanon, from which Israel withdrew in 2000.The United Nations declared Israel's withdrawal complete. A 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution urged Syria to demarcate borders, especially in areas where the boundaries are uncertain.Officials did not say how long the process would take. Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, speaking alongside Moualem, pointed out that the border committee had been established in the 1940s.Demarcating borders has also been a demand of Lebanese leaders who have sought to curb Syrian influence in the country since the Hariri killing -- which they blame on Damascus. Syria has denied involvement.Saad al-Hariri, Rafik al-Hariri's son and political heir, welcomed the establishment of diplomatic ties, describing it as an accomplishment for the Lebanese people.The presidents also pledged to step up the efforts of a Lebanese-Syrian committee tasked with determining the fate of Lebanese who went missing in the 1975-90 civil war and whose relatives say were taken to Syria.Suleiman's election was sealed as part of a Qatari-mediated deal that ended 18 months of bitter political conflict between Hariri and his allies and an alliance led by Hezbollah.Suleiman, who was army chief before his election, has good ties to Damascus.(With additional reporting by Beirut bureau; Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Sami Aboudi)
