HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH (HAPPY NEW YEAR) TO ISRAELIS AROUND THE WORLD AT 6PM ISRAEL TIME, 11AM EST.
AS OF 10AM THE STOCK MARKET IS DOWN 286 POINTS, WOULD IT NOT BE INTERESTING IF THE STOCK MARKET WOULD CRASH ON THE ISRAELI NEW YEAR OR JUDGENMENT DAY AS THE ISRAELIS BELEVE THIS DAY IS.
Israel police denies settlers killed Palestinian shepherd SEPT 29,08
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli police on Monday denied claims that Jewish settlers shot a Palestinian shepherd, saying the teenager found dead in the West Bank was killed by shrapnel from a grenade that he was handling. The autopsy showed the shepherd was killed from shrapnel from an explosion and not from gunshots, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.Investigations at the scene confirmed that the young man was killed by the explosion of a rifle grenade which he handled and that he either found there or was given to him, Rosenfeld said.He ruled out the possibility that the grenade, of the type used by the Israeli army, was fired by residents of a nearby Jewish settlement.Palestinian security officials said on Sunday the shepherd, identified as Yehia Apa Riham, 18, was shot dead by Israeli settlers.The young man was among a group of shepherds grazing flocks south of the city of Nablus and near Itamar settlement on Saturday when they were attacked by settlers, the security sources said.Several violent attacks by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been reported in recent months.
Olmert says Israel must give up almost all West Bank by Patrick Moser
SEPT 29,08
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel must give up virtually all the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem, insisting in an interview published on Monday this was key to achieving peace with the Palestinians. We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the meaning of which is that in practice we will withdraw from almost all the territories, if not all the territories, said Olmert, who now heads an interim government following his September 21 resignation.We will leave a percentage of these territories in our hands, but will have to give the Palestinians a similar percentage, because without that there will be no peace, he told the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper.Including in Jerusalem, he said in reference to the predominently Arab eastern part of the Holy City which Israel occupied and annexed after the 1967 war and which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.His comments are expected to stir deep controversy. Israel officially considers Jerusalem its eternal, undivided capital, a view Olmert -- a former mayor of the city -- said he shared for many years.I am not trying to justify retroactively what I did for 35 years. For a large portion of these years, I was unwilling to look at reality in all its depth, said Olmert.But he stressed that giving up parts of the city is key to Israel's security, pointing to deadly July attacks by Palestinians from east Jerusalem who ploughed through crowded streets with bulldozers.Whoever wants to hold on to all of the city's territory will have to bring 270,000 Arabs inside the fences of sovereign Israel. It won't work, Olmert said.
A decision has to be made. This decision is difficult, terrible, a decision that contradicts our natural instincts, our innermost desires, our collective memories, the prayers of the Jewish people for 2,000 years.Reacting to the interview, Palestinian negotiatiator Saeb Erakat said Israel must translate these statements into reality if it is serious about wanting to achieve a peace accord.We haven't seen these statements translated into a piece of paper, into a concrete offer, he told AFP, stressing that the road to peace is through ending the occupation and (Israeli) settlements in the West Bank.Long-dormant negotiations were revived at a US-hosted conference in November, with both sides pledging to reach a peace deal by the end of the year.While little visible progress has been achieved since, Olmert expressed the conviction that we are very close to reaching agreement.He said that also applied to indirect negotiations with longtime foe Syria which were relaunched in May after a eight-year hiatus, with Turkey acting as a go-between.He made it clear peace would come at a price for both sides, with Israel giving up the annexed Golan Heights and Syria ending its current ties with Iran and no longer backing the Hamas terrorism, the Al-Qaeda terrorism and the jihad in Iraq.He warned however that there was no risk-free solution, without ruling out military confrontation in Syria in the coming years or renewed bloodshed in the West Bank.We don't know, for example, what will happen in the Palestinian Authority after January 9, 2009, he said.On the one hand, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose term ends that day, could remain in power with some manipulation, he said.
But we believe that there is a very great danger that there will be a bloody clash, which will thwart any possibility of continuing negotiations and perhaps will force us to be involved in the confrontation, with bloodshed, with everything that could happen as a result.Olmert formally submitted his resignation on September 21 amid deep political turmoil over a series graft allegations that caused police to recommend criminal indictments. He will remain interim premier until a new government is formed. The governing Kadima party's newly elected leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is scrambling to put together a coalition in order to avert snap elections that could put the right-wing Likud party in power.
Israel should quit most occupied land: Olmert By Jeffrey Heller
SEPT 29,08
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel should withdraw from nearly all territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace with the Palestinians and Syria, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted on Monday as telling a newspaper. Olmert, in a caretaker role since quitting on September 21, said he was breaking new ground in calling for a broad pullback from the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians hope to establish a state, and in the annexed Golan Heights, which Syria wants back.(I am saying) what no previous Israeli leader has ever said: we should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including in East Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights, Olmert, who resigned over corruption allegations, told Yedioth Ahronoth.The Israeli daily called it a legacy interview, published on the eve of the Jewish new year, in which Olmert went further in making offers for peace than he ever did publicly when he was in active office, with greater power to see them carried out.We wish we had heard this personal opinion ... (before) he resigned, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki. It is a very important commitment but it came so late. We wish this commitment can be fulfilled by the (next) Israeli government.According to Western and Palestinian officials, Olmert has proposed in peace talks with the Palestinians an Israeli withdrawal from some 93 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip, from which Israel pulled out in 2005.Olmert has said repeatedly that Israel intends to keep major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.A peace agreement, Olmert has said, would mean Israel would have to compensate the Palestinians for the land it hopes to retain by close to a 1-to-1 ratio.In exchange for the settlement enclaves, Olmert has proposed about a 5 percent land swap giving the Palestinians a desert territory adjacent to the Gaza Strip, as well as land on which to build a transit corridor between Gaza and the West Bank.The negotiations, which Olmert has vowed to continue until he leaves office when a new government is formed, have shown few signs of progress and both sides acknowledge chances are slim of meeting Washington's target of a deal by the end of the year.
VIABLE STATE
Palestinian chief negotiator Ahmed Qurie, speaking before Olmert's interview, said annexation of settlements would prevent the Palestinians from creating a viable and contiguous country.We can't have a state with settlements dividing the land, Qurie said.Another senior Palestinian negotiator said tracts Olmert proposed to exchange in a peace deal are lands we don't want.Olmert has also engaged Syria in indirect negotiations with Turkish mediation. In the interview, he said peace would be impossible without eventually giving up the Golan Heights.He has so far put off talks on sharing Jerusalem and ruled out a so-called right of return for Palestinian refugees, a central Palestinian demand. On both issues, there is strong opposition in Israel to significant concessions.Olmert, who could face criminal indictment in a corruption investigation, will remain prime minister until a new government is approved by parliament. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is trying to form a coalition.
(Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah; Editing by Dominic Evans)
UN nuclear inspector urges more openness from Iran By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer SEPT 29,08
VIENNA, Austria - A six-year probe of Iran has failed to rule out the possibility that the country may be running clandestine nuclear programs, the chief U.N nuclear inspector said Monday, urging the country to end its secretive ways. Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also warned a 145-nation conference that his organization is increasingly stretched in trying to monitor responsibilities that include nonproliferation in countries like Iran and preventing terrorists from acquiring the bomb.All is not well with the IAEA, ElBaradei said, asking the opening session of the agency's general conference for more money and authority.The meeting has traditionally been an annual chance for the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency's member countries to plan general nuclear policies that range from strengthening nonproliferation to programs of medical and scientific benefit.Decisions have been traditionally made by consensus, a practice that had led all sides to bridge sometimes substantial differences and compromise on most issues for most of the general conference's 52-year history. A vote on any topic is unusual and considered a huge dent in the meeting's credibility.But Arab countries, backed by Iran and frustrated over Israel's refusal to put its nuclear program under international purview, are pushing to force a vote for the third year running.After losing the vote two consecutive years, Islamic nations are threatening to up the ante this year, warning they will call for a ballot on every item, no matter how uncontroversial.As in the past two years, Islamic IAEA members are expected to put forward a resolution urging all Mideast nations to refrain from testing or developing nuclear arms and urging nuclear weapons states to refrain from any action hindering a Mideast nuclear-free zone.
Israel, widely considered the only Mideast nuclear weapons state, objects to being singled out as it was in a separate Arab-backed resolution that was defeated last year and is pursuing a vote on the more general nuclear-free zone measure.Focusing on Israel by name is substantially unwarranted and flawed, said a letter prepared for review by the conference from Israel Michaeli, the Jewish State's IAEA representative.Sponsors of the item should instead address the most pressing proliferation concerns in the Middle East, the letter said, alluding to Iran's refusal to stop uranium enrichment in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and allegations that Iran once planned to make nuclear weapons.On Saturday, the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution critical of Iran and in his comments Monday, ElBaradei urged the country to implement all transparency measures ... required to build confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program.This will be good for Iran, good for the Middle East region and good for the world, he said.
Iran, along with ally Syria, figures directly at the Vienna conference because they are among four nations seeking their region's nomination for a seat on the IAEA's decision-making 35-nation board.Iran is running to counteract a U.S. push to have Afghanistan or outsider Kazakhstan elected over Syria, which is under IAEA investigation for allegedly hiding a secret nuclear program, including a nearly completed plutonium producing reactor destroyed last year by Israel.Afghanistan has so far refused to bend to pressure to withdraw from the race, diplomats told the AP. Without agreement, it will come to another — almost certainly divisive — vote.On the Net: http://www.iaea.org
Little holiday joy in Gaza, but tunnelers thrive By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Mon Sep 29, 5:32 AM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - There was little joy in the Gaza Strip on Monday as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan drew to a close and 1.5 million Palestinians scraped together their meager resources to celebrate the feast of Eid al-Fitr. Sealed off by Israel since it pulled out troops and Jewish settlers three years ago, and now run by the Islamist group Hamas, Gaza displays classic symptoms of a land under siege.
Border crossings to Israel and Egypt are as good as closed. No freighters anchor off the Mediterranean shore. Israel controls, and has shut down, air and sea approaches. Goods are scarce, prices high, and smuggling thrives no matter the danger.At least 43 people have been killed this year in the collapse of secret tunnels to Egypt that provide a precarious lifeline for traders and intrepid travelers with cash to spare.
The crossings have been closed and the siege has been tightened and there is no other way, said Sami Bashir, foreman of a tunneling crew.Without the tunnels we would have been strangled by the Israeli siege, said clothing merchant Khaled Adna.
Tunneling has flourished since Hamas took over in Gaza in a week-long Palestinian civil war last year and the Israeli blockade hardened. There are hundreds of makeshift earthworks barely concealed behind tents along the border.A six-month ceasefire agreed in June by Hamas and Israel permits limited trade of mostly food and tiny amounts of construction materials. Hamas and its allies have largely held off firing rockets into Israel. Israel has held off its raids.Gaza markets were crowded ahead of Eid but demand was weak and choice very limited, merchants and buyers agreed.Faced with a choice between buying new clothes or food for their children, people buy food, said Ehab Qassem, a 25-year-old university student selling clothes in Palestine Square. The mood is not joyful, it is sad and tragic.As with other dates in the Muslim lunar calendar, the end of the Ramadan fast and start of the Eid feast is timed according to sightings of the moon. It may be as early as Monday evening.
DIVIDED HOUSE
Residents of Gaza blame their predicament in part on the deep split in Palestinian ranks, between Hamas and the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He runs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, about an hour's drive to the west of Gaza -- if such a drive were possible for local people.The two sides should be ashamed of themselves, said Ibrahim Abu Amra, an employee of the Health Ministry.
They should sit together and form a unity government. Unless they do that, we will get lost, the Palestinian people will get lost, said Abu Amra, a father of seven.
Israel tightened the blockade after Hamas, which wants to destroy the Jewish state and had led a government after winning an election in 2006, routed Fatah forces in June 2007. Political and social divisions have since worsened. Failing a breakthrough in unity talks sponsored by Cairo there may be further violence.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman conducted separate talks with the two sides throughout September. He met Fatah last week and will see Hamas officials on October 8. A Fatah official said on Monday that all factions may convene in Cairo on November 4.Either Hamas and Fatah are reconciled this time or we may be going to hell, commented Gaza taxi driver Ali Hassan. Meanwhile, the tuneless get rich. It costs about $250 to traverse approximately 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) underground from Gaza to the Sinai border zone, or $1,000 for the VIP tunnel fare which includes electric lighting and a mobile phone signal. The typical caller is probably saying: I'm half-way through and I'm still alive joked one Gaza resident. Gaza's border with Egypt is only 14 km long (9 miles), coming inland from the sea, and the tunnel builders make no great effort to conceal their diggings. Gazans say Egyptian officials take their cut of the underground trade in bribes. As with its conventional border crossing at Rafah, Egypt has come under pressure from Israel also to close the tunnels down, and Hamas has accused Egypt of causing the deaths of several Palestinians by pumping gas into the tunnels or blowing them up. Bashir, supervising diggings at a tunnel, said his crew knows the risks: They have no choice, he said. There is no work in Gaza and death is a destiny and it will not happen until someone's time is up.
Syria, Iran and Israel in focus at IAEA conference by Simon Morgan
Mon Sep 29, 5:02 AM ET
VIENNA (AFP) - The UN nuclear watchdog's annual conference started Monday with a showdown looming over efforts by Syria and Iran to get a seat on the IAEA board and Islamic countries railing against Israel's nuclear programme. The International Atomic Energy Agency's 145 member countries gathered in Vienna for the 52nd general conference, an annual week-long meeting for drawing up general policies on a whole range of issues, from non-proliferation, nuclear terrorism to medical applications of nuclear technology.This year, however, proceedings look set to be dominated by two key issues: the possible candidature of either Syria or Iran for a seat on the IAEA's 35-member board; and Islamic countries' anger over Israel's nuclear weapons.
Israel is widely believed to be the only country in the Middle East to possess nuclear arms, but it refuses to open up its programme to international inspections.In the past two years, Islamic countries have put a resolution urging all Middle East nations to refrain from testing or developing nuclear arms. It urges nuclear weapons states to refrain from any action hindering a Middle East nuclear-free zone.Last year, they even singled out Israel as a nuclear threat in a separate resolution.Angered at the move, Israel put the resolution to a vote and the resolution was duly defeated.Nevertheless, the issue could come to a head again this year, since Arab states have again tabled an item this time entitling it Israeli nuclear capabilities.Diplomats said Israel could again force a vote on the Middle East nuclear-free zone resolution unless the second item is withdrawn.The next key issue looks set to be the candidature of Iran and Syria for a possible seat on the IAEA board, much to the consternation of Western states.Board members are designated and elected each year by the general conference.And a seat is set to become free this year with the expiry of Pakistan's one-year term.The seat is to be allocated to another country within the so-called Middle East and South Asia (MESA) group. Diplomats close to the IAEA have told AFP there are four possible candidates: Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.MESA has until the end of the general conference to decide on a single candidate and the choice is normally adopted by consensus.
The problem is that both Iran and Syria are currently in the dock over their purported clandestine nuclear work. Their nomination would almost certainly run into resistance if MESA decided to choose either of them, diplomats said.And that could mean that a vote would have to be called at the conference, unprecedented in the IAEA's history.The IAEA has been investigating Iran's contested nuclear programme for the past five years, but has so far been able to determine whether the activities are entirely peaceful as Tehran claims.Western powers accuse the Islamic republic of using technology for nuclear energy as a guise to build an atomic bomb.
The United Nations Security Council has slapped three rounds of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to come clean about its nuclear programme and its refusal to cede to international demands to cease uranium enrichment. This process can be used to make the fissile material for a nuclear bomb. Syria, which last sat on the IAEA's board in 2006, is also at the centre of controversy. The United States has alleged it was building a covert nuclear facility at a remote desert site called Al-Kibar until it was destroyed by Israeli bombs in September 2007. Damascus allowed a three-member team from the IAEA to visit Al-Kibar in June, but has since refused any follow-up visit. A diplomat close to the IAEA told AFP on Friday that an official request to visit three or four other sites allegedly involved in clandestine nuclear activities had so far gone unanswered. Speaking on condition of anonymity, diplomats said that the United States would not be happy if MESA decided to name either Syria or Iran as their candidate for a seat on the board. Thus, Western states were hoping that MESA would choose a candidate that would allow the nomination to be adopted by consensus, that is to say, neither Syria nor Iran, one diplomat said.
Israel orders closure of West Bank ahead of Jewish New Year Sun Sep 28, 7:44 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel closed the West Bank on Sunday at midnight ahead of the celebration of the Jewish New Year festival of Rosh Hashana, amid fear of attacks by Palestinian militants. An army spokesman said in a statement that the measure would be lifted on Wednesday at midnight (2100 GMT).The Israeli army believes that the Jewish New Year is a very sensitive moment, the spokesman said.Therefore the Israeli army will raise its alert level to make sure people are safe while keeping the daily life of the Palestinian population as normal as possible.The West Bank is routinely closed before Jewish holidays for fear of attacks.Since the start of the second intifada in September 2000, the West Bank has been partially blocked off, with Israel authorising only tens of thousands of Palestinians to travel to the Jewish state every day.The Gaza Strip has been cut off since the Islamist Hamas movement took over the region in June last year.
Olmert blames extreme right for historian attack Sun Sep 28, 11:37 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday blamed an extreme right-wing group for an attack on an Israeli peace campaigner and warned that the country was facing an ill-wind of extremism. Police and interior security were given orders to do their utmost to arrest the culprits as soon as possible, he told journalists after historian Zeev Sternhell was wounded by a pipe bomb at his home in Jerusalem on Thursday.This appears to be the work of a clandestine group (from the extreme right), Olmert said.He said there was a direct link between the attack on Sternhell and the assassination of former premier Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down by a right-wing Jewish extremist in 1995 for his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.An evil streak of radicalism, malice, hatred and disregard of state law is threatening Israeli democracy, he told a cabinet meeting.The Maariv newspaper said that the attack on Sternhell was carried out by a clandestine right-wing group which has carried out four other attacks using the same methods and explosive devices.Sternhell suffered light injuries to his right leg when the bomb exploded as he was trying to close the door of his house. Fliers found in nearby streets called for the killing of left-wing activists.Sternhell frequently contributes to the liberal Haaretz newspaper, writing columns critical of Israel's right-wing settlement movement and in favour of a negotiated peace with the Palestinians.On Friday he himself blamed Jewish extremists, saying only the extreme right could have perpetrated this crime, either an individual or a cell.A delegation of rabbis visited Sternhell on Sunday charging that the attack was against democracy and Judaism, public radio said.
Hamas releases Fatah prisoners Sun Sep 28, 9:13 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Hamas rulers of Gaza said on Sunday they released five leaders of the rival Fatah faction as well as 30 other prisoners ahead of celebrations marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. We are releasing these men as we hope the leaders in the West Bank will do the same for the Hamas prisoners, a spokesman for the Islamist movement told AFP.The release comes ahead of Wednesday's Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.Hamas-led security forces in July rounded up Fatah members after a deadly beachside bombing, but released 150 of them a few days later.Hamas had blamed the bombing on Fatah, which denied any involvement in the attack and later launched its own tit-for-tat arrest campaign in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Hamas ousted troops loyal to secular Palestinian president Mahmhoud Abbas from the Gaza Strip when it seized power in the coastal enclave in June 2007.
Israel's Olmert to visit Russia next week Sun Sep 28, 6:23 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will travel to Moscow next week for talks about Iran's nuclear programme and other issues, a government official said on Sunday. Olmert, who stepped down on September 21 but remains at the helm of a transitional government, will start his two-day trip on October 6, the source said.
Olmert and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss Iran and other issues, the official said.Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat because of Tehran's accelerating nuclear programme.Both Israel and the United States accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran has insisted its atomic programme is entirely peaceful.Media reports on Sunday said the United States recently deployed an anti-missile radar system in Israel mainly aimed at warning of incoming Iranian ballistic missiles.Israeli officials have also expressed concern at reports that Russia was willing to sell weapons to Syria, a long-time foe of the Jewish state.
During a telephone conversation last month, Olmert told Medvedev it would be a waste for Syria to spend billions of dollars on buying weapons that Israel would eventually destroy, Israeli media reported.
US operates anti-missile radar in Israel: report Sun Sep 28, 1:40 AM ET
JERUSALEM, (AFP) - The United States has recently deployed an anti-missile radar in Israel that is mainly to warn of incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, Israeli state radio reported Sunday. The radar with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) is sited in the south of the country, the radio added.It is operated by a permanent 120-strong US army staff.Questioned by AFP, a defence ministry spokesman said he did not know about such a deployment.A senior Pentagon official had said in late July that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to explore deploying a powerful missile defense targeting radar in Israel.The idea here is to help Israel create a layered missile defense capability to protect it from all sorts of threats in the region, near and far, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Besides the radar, Gates also agreed to explore sharing missile early warning launch data, as well as US funding for two costly Israeli projects designed to counter short-range rockets and mortars, he said.The official said deploying the X-band radar was a near-term proposition, adding all this is moving pretty quickly.We are going to station this land-based system there, and the Israelis would plug into it, said the official.An X-band radar is a powerful phased array radar that can target the warhead of a long or medium range missile in space. The United States has deployed one in Japan and plans to install a larger X-band radar in the Czech Republic.The official linked the assistance to the US administration's push for progress on a roadmap for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.But it appeared to be more directly related to Israel's concern about Iran's nuclear program.
No interim peace deal with Israel, Saudi says By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 27, 8:53 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS - Arab nations will totally reject any partial or interim solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because historically such arrangements have become permanent, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Saturday. While supporting current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to reach a comprehensive final solution, Prince Saud Al Faisal said the least that we expect from Israel during these negotiations is that it should halt all settlement operations.The continuation of settlement activity in the occupied Arab territories renders the negotiations meaningless and makes it difficult for us to convince our peoples of the feasibility and benefits of achieving peace, he said.At a Security Council meeting Friday on Israeli settlements, held at Saudi Arabia's request, Saud said the settlement problem is the one issue that threatens to bring down the whole peace process.He said that addressing it was the only way to save the peace deal brokered in Annapolis, Maryland, early this year by President Bush's administration, which set the goal of achieving a substantive peace accord by January 2009 when he leaves office.Saud took up the issue again in a speech he was scheduled to give to the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting. He did not deliver the speech and it was distributed to all U.N. members, said Brenda Vongova, the assembly president's assistant spokeswoman.The foreign minister said Arabs have affirmed their commitment to a just and comprehensive peace based on international law and have not yet received the same commitment from Israel.
Please allow me, on behalf of the Arab Group, to make it absolutely clear that we will totally reject any partial or interim solutions, because history has taught us that such solutions tend to become permanent, he said.While peace negotiators representing Israel and the West Bank's moderate Palestinian leadership privately report progress, the talks are taking place in a vacuum, and haven't been accompanied by serious goodwill gestures that could help them succeed.Israel's corruption-tainted prime minister Ehud Olmert, who launched the talks together with the Palestinian president, has stepped down, the Palestinians remain deeply divided, and time is running out.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reminded the Security Council on Friday that just one year ago, there was no peace process, and noted that Israel and the Palestinians continue their negotiations, along with many other partners.In his speech to the General Assembly, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said it was time for the Mideast to develop new regional frameworks to overcome our long-standing challenges and ensure stable and lasting peace.He said it was time to consider the possibility of creating an organization that would include all states in the Middle East, without exception, to discuss long-standing issues openly and frankly to reach a stable and durable understanding between all parties.U.N. diplomats pointed to the words without exception as significant because that would mean Israel's inclusion.Many Arab leaders called for a peaceful solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran insists it is purely peaceful and aims to produce nuclear energy but the U.S. and many Western nations suspect Iran's goal is producing nuclear weapons.Saudi Arabia's Saud expressed hope that Iran will take practical steps to ensure a peaceful and rapid solution to the problem of the Iranian nuclear program and save the region from devastating conflicts, futile arms races and serious environmental hazards.
Rice and Syria FM hold talks on regional peace efforts Sat Sep 27, 6:26 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed on Saturday she met her Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem, to discuss Middle East peace efforts despite renewed criticism from Washington over Syria's policies. Muallem told the Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya that the meeting in New York on Friday was positive and marked the start of an upcoming dialogue.He said the US secretary of state had voiced optimism about regional developments, particularly the resolution of the longstanding deadlock between pro- and anti-Damascus factions in Syria's smaller neighbor Lebanon.Syrian and US diplomats said the talks touched on Iraq, Lebanon and Middle East peace negotiations.Rice said she held a brief meeting with Muallem at the Iftar evening meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast.I did on the margins of the Iftar last night have an opportunity to speak with my Syrian colleague for about, I think, 10 minutes, just to talk a little bit about the regional situation and some of the emerging efforts there, she said.Rice, speaking before a meeting with Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said the United States remained ready to assist in securing a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The United States has always said that at the time when it would be helpful, the US would of course be willing to play a role, Rice said.We recognize that a comprehensive peace has to have moving along all tracks, but of course, our focus is on the Israeli-Palestinian track. We believe that it is the one that is the most mature.
Muallem said Rice had expressed hope that indirect contacts between Syria and Israel on resuming peace talks would continue and said Washington was prepared to have an input in them.Syria has held four rounds of preliminary contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators since May. A fifth round was postponed at Israeli request earlier this month.Muallem reiterated Syria's longstanding position that a US role will be required if and when the two sides eventually relaunch direct negotiations broken off eight years ago.In Damascus, the official SANA news agency said that the meeting with Rice had been held at her request.It was her second with Muallem since November 2007 when they held talks on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq. The two first met in May last year during another gathering on Iraq.Their latest talks came after US President George W. Bush slammed Syria in his farewell address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.A few nations -- regimes like Syria and Iran -- continue to sponsor terror, Bush charged.Washington has also accused Damascus of failing to give adequate cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Agency in its investigation into a mystery facility bombed by Israel in September last year that US officials have charged was a nuclear plant.Chilly relations between Syria and the United States grew more tense after the United States accused Damascus of being behind the assassination of Syrian Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and recalled its ambassador from Syria.
Hamas says Mideast Quartet is pro-Israel Sat Sep 27, 3:10 PM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Islamist Hamas movement on Saturday denounced statements made in New York by the Middle East Quartet, claiming the diplomatic group is biased towards Israel. The position of the Quartet reflects a pro-Israeli bias, the Palestinian movement that rules the Gaza Strip said in a statement.Hamas also criticised the diplomatic group, made up of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, for calling on Palestinians to put an end to acts of terrorism against Israel.It is perfectly unjust to qualify as terrorism the Palestinian resistance, which is perfectly legitimate, the movement said.A ministerial session of Quartet members ended on Friday with a call for Palestinians and Israelis to make every effort to conclude a peace agreement before the end of the year.Quartet members also expressed deep concern about increasing (Israeli) settlement activity, which has a damaging impact on the negotiating environment and is an impediment to economic recovery and called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity.Hamas said that didn't go far enough.It is not enough for the Quartet to express its concern over settlements, action is needed the statement said.Continued construction of homes for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank is seen as a major obstacle to reaching a peace deal.
Quartet urges Israel, Palestinians to seal peace deal this year by Ezzedine Said Fri Sep 26, 6:57 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The Middle East diplomatic quartet on Friday pressed Israel and the Palestinians to seal a peace deal this year and expressed deep concern over continuing settlement expansion by the Jewish state in the West Bank. A ministerial session of quartet members -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- ended with a call on the parties to make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008.Quartet members expressed deep concern about increasing (Israeli) settlement activity, which has a damaging impact on the negotiating environment and is an impediment to economic recovery and called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity.They also reiterated that the parties must avoid actions that undermine confidence and could prejudice the outcome of the negotiations.In August, Israel approved construction of 400 new homes in a Jewish neighborhood in annexed east Jerusalem and invited bids for construction of another 416 settler homes in the occupied West Bank.The construction of settlements -- viewed as a major obstacle to reaching a peace deal -- has nearly doubled since 2007, despite Israel's pledge to freeze such activities, the Israeli watchdog Peace Now said last month.At a Security Council debate specially convened on the issue, Arab countries earlier Friday slammed Israel over its settlement expansion policy.
Settlement makes the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible, Prince Saud al-Faisal said during the council debate.The only path to Israel's security is peace and it is time for Israel to understand that it cannot continue to exempt itself from behaving in accordance to international law, said the Saudi foreign minister, whose country formally called for the debate Monday.Meanwhile UN chief Ban Ki-moon pointed out that the quartet noted with appreciation the parties' suggestion to brief the quartet on their ongoing negotiation process with due regard for the confidential and bilateral nature of the discussions.The quartet expressed its interest in coordinating such a meeting in the region at a date to be determined, the text said. We welcome, and we are going to determine the date in the region later, sometime this year.The quartet also condemned acts of terrorism against Israelis, including any rocket attacks emanating from the Palestinian territories, and stressed the need for further Palestinian efforts to fight terrorism.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told the council that the Israeli settlement blocs will not allow for the emergence of a viable Palestinian state because they divide the West Bank into at least four cantons.How can I convince my people of the necessity of peace with Israel when settlement construction continues? he added.But Israel's new UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told council members that while the settlements are a delicate issue, they are not an obstacle to peace.They have been used here as another instrument to bash Israel instead of addressing the realities on the ground, she added.
There is much that those in the region can do to support that (peace) process, but it is not about more UN meetings, Shalev said. It is, first and foremost, about commitment to prepare the people of the region for the price of peace, to accept the true meaning of peace.In her remarks to the Council, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shifted the focus from the settlement issue and instead urged Arab countries to consider ways they might reach out to Israel.She added that the Arab world needed to fully understand that Israel belongs to the Middle East and will remain in the Middle East. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country currently chairs the European Union, meanwhile restated the EU view that Israeli settlements, wherever in the occupied Palestinian territories, are illegal under international law.In Annapolis, Maryland last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations toward resolving core problems like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and refugees. The parties set the goal of a peace deal by the end of 2008, but that target is looking increasingly difficult to meet.
Iranians mock Holocaust on annual Jerusalem Day Fri Sep 26, 4:25 PM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranians chanted Death to Israel on Friday as Islamist students unveiled a book mocking the Holocaust in an Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day annual parade to show solidarity with the Palestinians. And in Gaza City, the Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled the impoverished Palestinian territory since June 2007 marked the day by calling for more suicide attacks on Israel.The book Holocaust, published by members of Iran's Islamist Basij militia, features dozens of cartoons and sarcastic commentary.Education Minister Alireza Ali-Ahmadi attended the official launch of the book in Tehran's Palestine Square.The cover shows a Jew with a crooked nose and dressed in traditional garb drawing outlines of dead bodies on the ground.Inside, bearded Jews are shown leaving and re-entering a gas chamber with a counter that reads the number 5,999,999.Another illustration depicts Jewish prisoners entering a furnace in a Nazi extermination camp and leaving from the other side as gun-wielding terrorists.Yet another shows a patient draped in an Israeli flag and on life support breathing Zyklon-B, the poisonous gas used in the extermination chambers.Iran does not recognise the Jewish state, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attracted international condemnation by repeatedly predicting Israel is doomed to disappear and branding the Holocaust a myth.
The commentary inside the book includes anti-Semitic stereotypes and revisionist arguments, casting doubt that the massacre of Jews took place and mocking Holocaust survivors who claimed reparations after World War II.One comment, in a question-and-answer format, reads: How did the Germans emit gas into chambers while there were no holes on the ceiling? Answer: Shut up, you criminal anti-Semite. How dare you ask this question? In 2006, the Islamic republic hosted a conference of Holocaust deniers and revisionists and a mass-circulation Iranian newspaper held a cartoon competition on the subject.On Friday, tens of thousands of Iranians marched in Tehran, chanting Death to Israel, declaring solidarity with the Palestinians and calling for Jerusalem and Israel to be handed to the Palestinians.Demonstrators carried placards bearing slogans including Israel will be destroyed, Palestine is Victorious and Holy war until victory, and they also torched American and Israeli flags.In Gaza, a Hamas parliamentarian called for more suicide attacks against Israel as thousands of Palestinians marched to mark Al-Quds Day.We call on all the factions to undertake efforts to contain the enemy and halt its aggression by planning martyrdom operations, Ahmed Abu Helbiya told a crowd of more than 2,000 protesters.Friday's Iran protest follows a fresh verbal attack on Israel by Ahmadinejad.In an address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, he said the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters.Quds Day was started by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic republic, who called on the world's Muslims to show solidarity with Palestinians on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan. The demonstration was held under an official slogan: The Islamic world will not recognise the fake Zionist regime under any circumstances and believes that this cancerous tumour will one day be wiped off the face of the earth.
Russia renews push for pan-European security pact
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today SEPT 29,08 @ 09:26 CET
Russia has reiterated its call for a pan-European summit aimed at creating a reliable collective security system in Europe, arguing that existing structures did not pass the strength test during the conflict in South Caucasus last August.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly ministerial meeting on Saturday (27 September), Russian foreign minister Sergej Lavrov claimed such a new system was needed to guarantee equal security for all states.The solidarity of the international community fostered on the wave of struggle against terrorism turned out to be somehow privatised, he said in a reference to the post-9/11 war on terror and the United States, AP reports. The minister added that it was impossible or even disastrous to try to resolve the existing problems with the blindfolds of the unipolar world.It is not the first time that Moscow raised the idea of providing a pan-European security shield.In June, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a legally-binding European Security Treaty that should handle arms control, drug trafficking, organised crime, terrorism and irregular immigration. Such agreement would embrace the whole Euro-Atlantic space from Vancouver to Vladivostok, including Russia, the EU, all of Europe's non-EU states, the US and Canada, Mr Medvedev said at the time. According to minister Lavrov's own words, the pact should be a kind of Helsinki 2 - referring to an accord signed in the Finnish capital by 35 nations in 1975 to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West. At the time, it was seen as an important step towards reducing Cold War tensions as well as a diplomatic boost for the Soviet Union due to the documents' clauses on the inviolability of national borders and respect for territorial integrity. It is a process involving all participants who would reaffirm their commitment to fundamental principles of international law such as the non-use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes, sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference in the internal affairs and inadmissibility of strengthening one's own security by infringing upon the security of others, Mr Lavrov said about the security pact idea, AFP reports.
Russia has been complaining about US missile shield plans in Poland and the Czech Republic as well as about NATO expansion to the East. The recent conflict in South Caucasus is seen as another signal that Moscow wants to play a major role on the world stage and is prepared to take unilateral action if the West does not take note.
In a sign of thawing relations with post-Georgia war Russia, the so-called Middle East "quartet" - counting Russia, the EU, the US and the UN - on Saturday agreed to hold an international conference on the region in Moscow next Spring, Russian newswire Ria Novosti reports.
