IN THE RUSSIA - GEORGIA UPDATE: RUSSIA HAS ALREADY BROKE THE SO CALLED CEASE-FIRE THE EU SET UP BY GOING INTO GORI. WHAT ARE THE RUSSIANS AFTER? THAT OIL PIPELINE SO THEY WILL BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE 1 MILLION BARRELLS OF OIL THAT GO THROUGHT THERE EVERY DAY. LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS THE HOOKS IN THE JAWS OF THE RUSSIANS WILL BE OIL IN EZEKIEL 38. RUSSIA AND PUTIN WANT THAT ALMIGHTY OIL IN RUSSIAS HANDS SO THEY CAN CUT THE LINE FLOWING TO EUROPE AND THE U.S.A. IN THE FUTURE GOD FORCES THE RUSSIANS TO MARCH TO ISRAEL BY PUTTING HOOKS IN THEIR JAWS BECAUSE OF OIL THERE I BELEVE. I BELIEVE OIL WILL BE DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL AND RUSSIA - MUSLIMS WILL MARCH TO ISRAEL TO TRY TO CONTROL THAT PIPELINE JUST LIKE THEY ARE DOING IN GEORGIA. LIKE THE SAYING GOES WHOEVER CONTROLS THE MIDEAST CONTROLS THE WORLD.
Russian troops roll into key city despite truce By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer AUG 13,08
OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia - Russian troops and paramilitaries rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, apparently violating a truce designed to end the six-day conflict that has uprooted tens of thousands and scarred the Georgian landscape. Georgian officials said Gori, a central hub on Georgia's main east-west highway, was being looted and bombed by the Russians.Moscow denied the claim, but it appeared to be on a technicality: a BBC reporter in Gori reported that Russians tanks were in the streets as their South Ossetian separatist allies seized Georgian cars, looted Georgian homes and then set some homes ablaze.Russia has treacherously broken its word, Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said Wednesday in Tbilisi, the capital.To the west, Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists pushed Georgian troops out of Abkhazia and even moved into Georgian territory itself, defiantly planting a flag over the Inguri River and laughing that retreating Georgians had received American training in running away.The twin developments came less than 12 hours after Georgia's president said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Russia was halting military action because Georgia had paid enough for its attack last Thursday on South Ossetia.In Washington, President Bush announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. A U.S. C-17 military cargo plane loaded with supplies is already on the way, and Bush said that Russia must ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, roads and airports, remain open to let deliveries and civilians through.To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis, Bush said.The EU peace plan calls for both sides to retreat to the positions they held prior to the outbreak of fighting late Thursday. That phrasing apparently would allow Georgian forces to return to the positions they held in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and clearly obliges Russia to leave all parts of Georgia except South Ossetia and Abkhazia.Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili criticized Western nations for failing to help Georgia, a U.S. ally that has been seeking NATO membership.I feel that they are partly to blame, he said Wednesday. Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react. In a way, Russians are fighting a proxy war with the West through us.Russian at first denied that tanks were even in Gori but video footage proved otherwise.
About 50 Russian tanks entered Gori in the morning, according to a top Georgian official, Alexander Lomaia. The city of 50,000 lies 15 miles south of South Ossetia, where much of the fighting has taken place.Russian deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn admitted that Russians went into Gori, but not in tanks. He said Russians were looking for Georgian officials to talk to about implementing the EU truce but could not find any.A Russian government official who wasn't authorized to give his name said Russian troops checked a Georgian military base near Gori and found lots of abandoned weapons and ammunition, then moved the ordnance to a safe place as part of efforts to demilitarize the area.An AP reporter saw dozens of trucks and armored vehicles leaving Gori, roaring southeast. Soldiers waved at journalists and one soldier jokingly shouted to a photographer: Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi! But the convoy turned north and left the highway about an hour's drive from Tbilisi, and set up camp a mile off the road.Some Russian units were camouflaged with foliage. The convoy was mainly support vehicles, including ambulances, although there were a few heavy cannons. There were about 100 combat troops and another 100 medics, drivers and other support personnel. About six miles away from the camp, about 80 well-equipped Georgian soldiers were forming what appeared to be a new frontline, armed with pistols, shoulder-launched anti-tank rockets and Kalashnikovs. Sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia where Russians responded to Georgian snipers. We must respond to provocations, Nogovitsyn said.
Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has handed out passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and stationed peacekeepers in both regions since the early 1990s. Georgia wants the Russian peacekeepers out, but Medvedev has insisted they stay. In the west, Georgian troops acknowledged Wednesday they had completely pulled out of a small section of Abkhazia they had controlled. This is Abkhazian land, one separatist told an AP reporter over the Inguri River, saying they were laying claim to historical Abkhazian territory.
The fighters had moved across a thin slice of land dotted with Georgian villages.
The border has been along this river for 1,000 years, separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria told the AP on Wednesday. He said Georgia would have to accept the new border. Georgia insisted its troops had been driven out of Abkhazia by Russian forces. At first, Russia said that separatists had done the job, not Russian forces. Then Nogovitsyn admitted Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori — the same peacekeepers that Georgia wants withdrawn. The effect was clear. Abkhazia was out of Georgian hands and it would take more than an EU peace plan to get it back in. Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. Its Black Sea coast was a favorite vacation spot in Soviet times and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics.
For several days, Russian troops held the western town of Zugdidi near Abkhazia, controlling the region's main highway. An AP reporter saw a convoy of 13 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in Zugdidi's outskirts Wednesday. Later in the day, Georgian officials said the Russians pulled out of Zugdidi. At a huge rally Tuesday night, Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of the two disputed provinces but to destroy the smaller nation. They just don't want freedom, and that's why they want to stamp on Georgia and destroy it, he declared to thousands at a jam-packed square in Tbilisi. Leaders of five former Soviet bloc states — Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine — also appeared at the rally and spoke out against Russian domination. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree Wednesday saying that Russian navy ships deployed to the Georgian coast will need authorization to return to the navy base Russia leases from Ukraine.
In Brussels, Belgium, France sought support from its EU partners to deploy European peacekeeping monitors to the area. EU foreign ministers agreed Wednesday to expand the role of the EU in Georgia, but made no decision on dispatching monitors. The World Food Program sent 34 tons of high-energy biscuits Wednesday help the tens of thousands uprooted by the fighting. Georgian refugees have streamed into Tbilisi and the western Black Sea coast while South Ossetian refugees headed north to Russia. Those left behind in devastated regions of Georgia cowered in rat-infested cellars or wandered nearly deserted cities. Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died. Georgia says at least 175 Georgians have died in Russian air and ground attacks. The Russia-Georgia dispute also reached the international courts, with the Georgian security council saying it had sued Russia for alleged ethnic cleansing. The rights group Human Rights Watch said Wednesday it has witnessed South Ossetian fighters looting ethnic Georgians' houses and has recorded multiple accounts of Georgian militias intimidating ethnic Ossetians. The report was important independent confirmation of the claims by each side in the Russia-Georgia conflict. At the Beijing Olympics, Georgian women rallied Wednesday to beat their Russian counterparts in beach volleyball, the first head-to-head clash of the two nations. Russia and Georgia are actually friends. People are friends, said the Georgian beach volleyball team leader, Levan Akhtulediani. But you know, it's not, in the 21st century, to bomb a neighbor country, it's not a good idea.I say once again, its better to compete on the field rather than outside the field, he added.
Associated Press writers Christopher Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia, and near the Kodori Gorge; Matti Friedman and Sergei Grits from outside Gori, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili and David Nowak from Tbilisi, Georgia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov, Lynn Berry and Angela Charlton in Moscow; Pauline Jelinek and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.
EU diplomats keen to avoid Russia controversy
PHILIPPA RUNNER AUG 13,08 Today @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The French EU presidency is expected to endorse the Russia-Georgia ceasefire, offer humanitarian aid and urge EU unity in a statement after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday (13 August), with Paris keen to avoid controversy on who to blame for the crisis.Preparatory discussions by EU diplomats on Tuesday saw a group of former communist states speak in sharp language about Russia, but the tone was less radical than they used for their domestic press, one diplomat who attended the debates told EUobserver. The presidency thinks, right now, it's better to focus on problem-solving, rather than trying to go into characterisation of the war, who started what, who reacted, and the EU is united behind the idea, he added. The presidency wants to preserve as much room for manoeuvre for future mediation as possible.Wednesday's EU statement will probably be a French declaration rather than a formal joint position by all 27 countries, an EU official said. The situation is still evolving. It's not black and white. Of course, Georgia made some mistakes, Russia made some mistakes. But the idea now is to help mediation, to see what we can do from a humanitarian point of view.The declaration is likely to fall short of Georgian hopes, with Georgia's EU ambassador, Salome Samadashvili, saying she would like the EU to label Russia's behaviour as an act of aggression, condemn the bombing of the Georgian town of Gori, cast doubt on EU-Russia negotiations on a new strategic pact and reaffirm Georgia's territorial integrity.The foreign ministers meeting will begin with a briefing by France's Bernard Kouchner, who came to Brussels from Tbilisi on Tuesday night after taking part in talks between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.Russia and Georgia on Tuesday signed a Russian-drafted, six-point ceasefire plan which calls for troops to pull back and for international talks about the modalities of security and stability in Georgian separatist regions.
Shockwaves
The five day war erupted when Georgia fired on Russia-backed rebels in the Georgian province of South Ossetia last Friday (8 August) and Russia launched a massive retaliation, moving tanks deep into Georgian territory, mobilising its navy and ordering bombing raids.The fighting killed hundreds of civilians and shocked former communist EU states, as well as Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, some of which fear that a newly-assertive Russia will try to undermine other pro-western neighbours in future.The EU should say no [to Russia's subjugation of Georgia] and push Russia out. This means tough language, sanctions [against Russia] and quick EU humanitarian intervention, a diplomat from one of the former communist EU states said, looking at the EU's policy options down the line. The Russian incursion into Georgia was clearly military aggression and should bear costs in terms of EU-Russia relations, but a suspension of the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement or a symbolic arms export embargo would be ineffective, European Council on Foreign Relations analyst, Nicu Popescu, said.The EU's main focus should instead be the swift deployment of an impartial, international peacekeeping force made up of UN or EU soldiers and civilian monitors followed by a donors' conference to help rebuild the war zone, he advised.The first lesson of this crisis is that the old policy of EU non-engagement has encouraged both parties to escalate their actions. From an EU perspective, the first casualty is the theory that by getting more involved in Georgia, the EU will irritate Russia and provoke instability.Mr Sarkozy in Moscow on Tuesday spoke of the possibility of an EU peacekeeping mission, with Estonia quickly offering to send troops.
Peacekeeping conundrum
But creating a force that will be acceptable to all sides could prove hard, with Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, on Tuesday ruling out any Georgian component, while Ms Samadashvili said no Russian troops can take part. Last year, Russia and Estonia were involved in an ugly row over Tallinn's decision to move a Soviet-era statue from its city centre. And the current Russia-Georgia conflict has injected bitterness into international relations beyond Europe.Russia's Mr Rogozin at a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday complained that NATO had listened to Georgian delegates but failed to convene a NATO Russia Council as planned, implying that Georgia ally, the US, secretly knew about Georgia's plans to attack the South Ossetia rebels last week.I suspect the American allies will be ashamed to discuss this with their European colleagues, he said.
Bush demands Russia quit Georgia By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
AUG 13,08
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday he is skeptical that Moscow is honoring a cease-fire in neighboring Georgia, demanding that Russia end all military activities in the former Soviet republic and withdraw all its forces. The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected, Bush said sternly during brief remarks in the White House Rose Garden.To demonstrate our solidarity with the Georgian people, the president announced that he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Paris to assist the West's diplomatic efforts on the crisis, and then to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.He also announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. A U.S. C-17 military cargo plane loaded with supplies is already on the way, and Bush said that Russia must ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, roads and airports, remain open to let deliveries and civilians through.To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis, Bush said.The president spoke amid a fast-moving chain of events, with Rice canceling a planned morning news conference and the White House scrubbing its regular morning briefing with reporters. Despite extensive intelligence resources and deep ties to the Georgian military that the U.S. has trained, the administration has struggled to determine what's happening on the ground, for instance whether Russia is pushing deeper into Georgia or threatening Tbilisi.Neither the president nor his Cabinet has answered questions on the record about the 6-day-old crisis except for remarks that Bush made in a television interview on the sidelines of the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Bush spent the morning meeting with his national security team in the White House Situation Room, the nerve center for monitoring international developments. He talked by telephone with Georgia's embattled president, Mikhail Saakashvili and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who traveled to both Tbilisi and Moscow and is leading a European Union initiative to bring about peace there.The administration and its allies are debating ways to punish Russia for its invasion of Georgia, including expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations — the G-7 — and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise.But it has become increasingly clear that the West may have little leverage to influence Moscow's decisions. Bush held out no specific punishment.Russia has sought to integrate into the diplomatic, political, economic, and security structures of the 21st century. The United States has supported those efforts, he said. Now Russia is putting its aspirations at risk by taking actions in Georgia that are inconsistent with the principles of those institutions.Saakashvili called the Western response inadequate. I feel that they are partly to blame, he said. Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react.The tiny, poverty stricken nation of Georgia has staked its future on leaning West and joining NATO is one of its key goals. Bush has supported this move, but alliance leaders put the requests from Georgia, as well as another ex-Soviet republic, Ukraine, on hold in April for fear of upsetting relations with Moscow.Bush, during a 2005 visit to Tbilisi, personally assured the people of Georgia that the United States would be its unflinching ally.The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone, Bush said in an address to a crowd of thousands in Freedom Square. Americans respect your courageous choice for liberty. And as you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people will stand with you.The Russian operation began after Georgia last week tried to secure control over South Ossetia, a breakaway region loyal to Moscow. Russia's fierce military response expanded to Abkhazia, another separatist province, and ended up on purely Georgian soil.
On Wednesday, after Saajashvili said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France that called for both sides to retreat to their original positions, and after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia was halting military action, Russian tanks rumbled into the Georgian city of Gori. Georgian officials said Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians. An AP reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles leaving the city, roaring south and deeper into Georgia.Bush said the U.S. is concerned that Russian units have taken up positions on the east side of Gori, which allows Russia to block an east-to-west highway, divide the country and threaten the capital of Tblisi. The president said he's also concerned that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armored vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russia is blowing up Georgian vessels. Bush said this appears to contradict Russia's promise of a halt to military operations. Unfortunately we've been receiving reports of Russia actions that are inconsistent with these statements, he said. In addition, he said, We're concerned about reports that Georgian citizens of all ethnic origins are not being protected.
Leading MP backs Livni for Israel premiership Wed Aug 13, 5:54 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The chairman of Israel's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee pledged his support Wednesday for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a party primary to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. I have decided to choose from the many candidates on the list, all of whom are friends, Kadima MP Tzachi Hanegbi told public radio, saying he felt Livni embodied the necessity of a consensus on the centrist line of Kadima.The party will hold its first ever primary on September 17 to choose a new leader to replace Olmert, who in a shock announcement on July 30 said he would step down following the vote to battle corruption allegations.In addition to chairing the powerful committee which oversees Israel's most critical security decisions, Hanegbi is regarded as a senior official in the centrist party formed by former prime minister Ariel Sharon.A recent poll showed Livni leading with the support of 35 percent of Kadima members, followed by Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a hawkish former general, with 25 percent.
Israel reopens Gaza crossings Wed Aug 13, 2:30 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel on Wednesday reopened crossings into Gaza for the limited passage of people and goods after closing them in response to a rocket attack earlier this week, the army said. The Sufa, Nahal Oz, and Erez crossings were reopened this morning, an army spokesman told AFP, adding that limited amounts of goods, fuel, and people with permits would be allowed to pass.The defence ministry had ordered the crossings closed on Tuesday after a crude, makeshift rocket fired from the territory struck southern Israel in violation of a seven-week-old truce, causing no casualties or damage.Israel has kept the 1.5 million residents of the impoverished territory under a strict closure regime since the Islamist Hamas movement -- which is pledged to Israel's destruction -- seized power there in June 2007.An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and the main Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, has virtually halted the violence in and around Gaza, though militants still occasionally fire rockets and mortar rounds.Hamas's own fighters have kept to the truce and the Islamist movement has vowed to arrest and punish anyone caught violating it, accusing such people of collaborating with Israel to undermine the June 19 agreement.
Palestinians reject proposal by Israeli PM Tue Aug 12, 7:48 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli peace proposal because it does not provide for a contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, Abbas's office said on Tuesday. Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas's spokesman, told the official WAFA news agency Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan showed a lack of seriousness.Olmert's proposal does not offer a solution to competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem, and would only be implemented once Abbas reined in militants and re-established control of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas seized a year ago.Under the proposal, Israel would give to the Palestinians some 92.7 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip, according to Western and Palestinian officials briefed on the negotiations.
In exchange for West Bank land that Israel would keep, Olmert proposed a 5.3 percent land swap giving the Palestinians a desert territory adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Olmert's proposal first emerged several months ago and was published in detail on Tuesday by Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, prompting Abu Rdainah's response.
The Israeli proposal is not acceptable, Abbas's spokesman said. The Palestinian side will only accept a Palestinian state with territorial continuity, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, without settlements, and on the June 4, 1967 boundaries.
Abu Rdainah was referring to the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Middle East war in which Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.He called the Israeli proposal a waste of time.Launched in November with the goal of reaching a statehood deal in 2008, the U.S.-sponsored talks have shown little outward sign of progress and have been marred from the start by violence and disputes over Israeli settlement building.The chances of a peace deal faded further with Olmert's announcement last month that he would step down as prime minister once his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in September.
Olmert spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on any proposal, but said progress had been made in recent months, especially on the issue of borders.We are committed to continuing the effort to try to reach a joint Israeli-Palestinian document, he said.But another Israeli official said Olmert was merely trying to establish his legacy. There is going to be no agreement, period, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior leader from Hamas, the Islamist group that routed Abbas's forces to take control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, called the offer a political test balloon to ascertain the Palestinian reaction.Hamas will not busy itself much on this issue because the Palestinian people will never accept it, Zahar said.(Reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Kuwait donates 80 mln dlrs to aid Palestinians: World Bank Tue Aug 12, 2:37 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The World Bank said Tuesday that Kuwait has donated 80 million dollars to a trust fund in support of Palestinians, becoming the first Arab nation to contribute to the aid program. Kuwait signed an agreement Monday allowing the transfer of 80 million dollars to the World Bank-administered trust fund to support the ongoing Palestinian Reform and Development Program, the bank said.That contribution brings to 275 million dollars the amount of transfers available from the trust fund and the linked World Bank funds, of which 148 million dollars has already been disbursed.The financial resources will provide support for education, health care and other vital social services for the Palestinian people and for the economic reforms currently underway, the bank said.The other contributors to date are Australia, Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Norway and Poland.
Lebanese parliament approves unity Cabinet By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 12, 12:44 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese parliament overwhelmingly approved a national unity Cabinet on Tuesday that gives Iranian-backed Hezbollah a more powerful say in how the country is run. The Cabinet joins Hezbollah and its allies with supporters of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. For nearly two years, Saniora's government had rejected the militant group's demands for veto power in the Cabinet, but compromised after a wave of violence between rival factions in May.Hezbollah and its allies have 11 out of 30 seats in the Cabinet — enabling them to have veto power over major decisions, keep their weapons and prevent the government from moving too close to the United States.It took the two sides about 45 days of negotiations to name the new Cabinet and another three weeks to approve its policy platform, which in the end implicitly allowed Hezbollah to remain armed.The parliament also debated for five days over the weapons issue, which has long been a point of dispute. Many legislators in the Western-backed majority want to disarm the group, but the 128-member assembly approved the new Cabinet 100 to 5 with two abstentions. Only 107 lawmakers attended the session.Addressing the lawmakers minutes before the confidence vote, Saniora pledged to solve the country's political and economic problems and put Lebanon back on the road to prosperity.The tasks awaiting this government are many and the time we have is short. We are hoping to gain strength from your precious confidence to accelerate steps together on the road to stability, construction, reforms and prosperity, he said.Hezbollah and its allies were granted Cabinet veto power 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, more than 80 people died as Hezbollah militants and their allies battled supporters of Saniora's government in Beirut and other cities.
During Tuesday's session, legislator and former parliament speaker Hussein al-Husseini announced he was quitting his parliamentary seat to protest what he called a tearing of the constitution.Husseini, who backs Hezbollah and voted against the Cabinet, criticized the May deal because it prevents Cabinet members from resigning, which is what happened when Hezbollah's ministers and their allies quit the Cabinet in November 2006.I wonder whether we are still in a genuine democratic system. Who can restrict the will of a minister to resign or not resign? Husseini said. We have brought a Cabinet that restricts the minister's freedom. The policy statement is void of any meaning.The parliament vote came on the eve of a landmark trip by President Michel Suleiman to neighboring Syria, the first such visit by a Lebanese president in about three years.Lebanon and Syria have not had diplomatic relations since the two neighbors gained independence from France more than 60 years ago.
Relations between the two Arab nations have been lopsided since the 1970s, when Syria sent its army into Lebanon and retained control there for nearly 30 years. But ties unraveled when former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a 2005 car bombing that many Lebanese blame on Syria.After Hariri's assassination, Syria caved to U.S.-led international pressure and withdrew its troops from Lebanon after nearly three decades of domination.
Hamas blasts militants who break truce with Israel Tue Aug 12, 8:56 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Hamas rulers of Gaza on Tuesday lashed out at militants who fire rockets at Israel from the Palestinian territory in violation of a seven-week-old truce, calling them collaborators. About the rocket-firing, I think those who are responsible are those who collaborate with Israel because there is a consensus by all Palestinian groups to respect the truce, said Mahmud Zahar, the most influential leader of the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza.On Monday, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into an empty field outside the southern Israeli city of Sderot, causing no casualty or damage.Zahar told a Gaza radio station that the party which fired the rocket was linked to Israel as they provide a pretext to exercise pressure on the Palestinian people.After the latest firing, Israel on Tuesday closed the Nahal Oz crossing to Gaza that is used to ferry in fuel and the Sufa passage for food deliveries to the impoverished and blockaded territory.In all, 40 rockets and mortar rounds have been fired from Gaza since a truce between Hamas and Israel went into effect in and around Gaza on June 19, according to the Israeli army.Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in June 2007, insists it is respecting the truce and has vowed to crack down on smaller Palestinian militant movements which still fire at Israel.
Israeli PM offers Palestinians 93% of West Bank Tue Aug 12, 8:52 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered a peace plan giving the Palestinians 93 percent of the occupied West Bank, an Israeli newspaper said on Tuesday. But the Palestinians denied the report.Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the proposed border is at the heart of a broader plan that would compensate the Palestinians with the equivalent of 5.5 percent of the West Bank adjacent to the Gaza Strip and a route connecting Gaza to the West Bank itself.However, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would only receive the land and the overland connection once his forces retake the Gaza Strip from the Islamist Hamas movement, which seized power in the coastal territory in June 2007, the newspaper said.But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the report was baseless.These are half-truths used by Israelis as a test balloon so they can blame the Palestinian authority should the negotiations fail, Erakat told AFP.Haaretz said the proposal has been offered in the context of US-backed peace talks relaunched in November with the goal of resolving the decades-old conflict by the end of the year.The proposed agreement however would be a shelf agreement to be implemented in the coming months and years, and would not immediately include the thorny issue of the future status of Jerusalem, Haaretz said.
The Palestinians have demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in the 1967 Six Day War, as their capital, while Israel considers the entire Holy City its eternal, undivided capital -- a claim not recognised by the international community.The agreement would however include a complex solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, allowing some refugees from the 1948 war to return to Israel while settling most of the 4.5 million refugees and their descendants in the Palestinian state.The seven percent of the West Bank annexed by Israel would include the major settlement blocs around Jerusalem -- home to most of the 250,000 Israeli settlers in the territory -- and some settlements in the northern West Bank.
The final Palestinian state would be demilitarised.
Erakat dismissed the idea of a partial agreement. We are not a bazaar, he said. We want a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, and agreement on all the final status questions, he added.
Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on the report but told AFP the negotiations with the Palestinians are making progress on a number of subjects, particularly borders.These negotiations are serious and are aimed at a common objective, he added.The negotiations, which have shown little visible progress since they were formally relaunched after a seven-year hiatus, were dealt a further blow last month when Olmert announced he would resign later this year.The premier has been dogged by six corruption probes and in recent months, he had faced widespread calls to resign, including from members of his own fragile governing coalition.
Olmert announced on July 30 he would step down after his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in a vote set for September 17.
