Russia accuses West of warship provocation SEPT 6,08
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the West on Saturday of acting provocatively in and around the Black Sea, where the United States is using warships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.I wonder how they would feel if we now dispatched humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean, suffering from a hurricane, using our navy, Medvedev said, adding that a whole U.S. fleet had been dispatched to deliver the aid.The United States has used warships to ferry relief supplies to Georgia after the brief but intense war with Russia in early August, in part to send a signal to Moscow.Its biggest ship yet arrived on Friday, when the USS Mount Whitney dropped anchor off Georgia's Russian-patrolled port of Poti.NATO has also rejected talk of a buildup of its warships in the Black Sea, saying their recent presence in the region was part of routine exercises.Russia has accused U.S. warships of rearming Tbilisi's defeated army, a charge dismissed as ridiculous by Washington.Medvedev was speaking at a meeting of his advisory state council, which meets regularly and comprises regional governors.Medvedev said he had summoned the state council to discuss changes in Russia's foreign and security policy after the conflict in Georgia.The South Ossetian conflict showed that Russia will not allow anyone to make an attempt on the lives and dignity of its citizens, its peacekeepers, he told officials gathered in the gold-and-white St Alexander Hall in the Kremlin palace.Russia is a state (whose interests) will now be taken into account, he added.
READY FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW
Medvedev had earlier set out five principles of Russia's foreign policy, including a readiness to abide by international law and a claim of special interests in specific areas around the globe.Medvedev said Russia was disappointed with the concerted Western condemnation of its operation in South Ossetia.We haven't heard words of support from those who, in similar situations, spoke broadly of freedom of choice, national dignity and a right to use force to punish an aggressor.Medvedev did not go into detail, but was clearly referring to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and to Western support for the self-proclaimed independence of Serbia's breakaway region Kosovo. Russia bitterly opposed both.Russia will not back down under international pressure and will not row back on the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Medvedev added.We are under political pressure, but this is not something new for us, he said.He urged the regional governors to offer comprehensive assistance to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, including the shaping of their statehood.The new states should become examples of civil peace, national accord and commitment to democratic principles, he said.(Reporting by Oleg Shchedrov, editing by Tim Pearce)
Hamas breaks up Islamic Jihad protest in Gaza SEPT 06,08
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Hamas-run security forces dispersed some 150 teachers loyal to the Islamic Jihad movement who had gathered on Saturday to protest against the politicisation of the civil service in the Gaza Strip. Hamas police forcibly dispersed the teachers in Gaza City to protest against both the Islamist-run government's sacking of loyalists of the rival Fatah party and the resulting strikes by teachers and medical workers.They also prevented photographers from approaching the demonstration, witnesses said.Senior Islamic Jihad member Nafid Azam slammed the dispersal of what he said had been a peaceful and non-political protest, calling it a dangerous and unacceptable situation.The teachers did not demand anything beyond insulating public education from political differences, he told AFP, referring to the rivalry between Hamas and the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The two main Palestinian movements have been bitterly divided since Hamas seized power in the impoverished territory of 1.5 million people after routing Abbas's security forces in a week of bloody street battles in June 2007.Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions have remained mostly neutral in the Hamas-Fatah dispute while calling for national unity.Regrettably (police) attacked some of the teachers who were participating in the demonstration, which was entitled Preserving the Unity of the Teachers and was not allied with any party at the expense of another party, Azam said.
A spokesman for the Hamas-run interior ministry said the demonstration was illegal because the teachers had not obtained a permit, but Azam said the organisers had informed police of their plans.Thousands of doctors and teachers across the isolated territory have been on strike for more than a week in protest at the Hamas-run government's firing of dozens of civil servants belonging to Fatah.In recent days Hamas security forces have shut down private clinics and dragged doctors from their homes to force them to go to work.Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which has been confined to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the Hamas takeover but continues to pay civil servants workers in Gaza, has denied any involvement in the strikes.
Abbas says doubts peace deal possible this year Fri Sep 5, 12:54 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying on Friday that he doubted a full peace deal with Israel could be reached this year and urged the next U.S. administration to continue negotiations. Launched last November with the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January, the peace talks have been marred by violence and disputes over Jewish settlement building.It appears as if we will not be able to reach full agreement on the issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and water by the end of the year,Abbas told Israeli President Shimon Peres, Peres's office said in a statement.
But we are determined to continue accelerated diplomatic negotiations concurrently with the change of administration in the United States, Abbas was quoted as saying. Abbas and Peres were attending a conference in Cernobbio, Italy.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, in Cernobbio with Abbas, told Reuters officials still held out some hope that an agreement could be reached this year.We do not give up the possibility of an agreement this year but if we don't reach an agreement, we are going to continue negotiating uninterrupted, Erekat said.Ehud Olmert left the peace talks in limbo by announcing that he would step down as Israeli prime minister once his centrist Kadima party had chosen a new leader later this month.But Olmert will remain caretaker premier until a new government is formed, a process that could take months.
Both sides say some progress has been made.
Under one recent Olmert proposal, Israel would hand over to the Palestinians some 92.7 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all 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.But Olmert's proposal did not offer a solution to competing claims on 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.Abbas has in recent days rebuffed any partial agreement with Israel.(Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Ninety thousand throng Jerusalem mosque for Ramadan Fri Sep 5, 10:47 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Ninety thousand Muslims attended the first prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday amid tight security, police said. The Israeli authorities deployed thousands of police but reported no incidents in the Holy City.Everything was calm, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.He said, however, that a few dozen Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli security forces who refused to let them through a checkpoint between the occupied West Bank to Jerusalem.
No one was injured in the incident, Rosenfeld said.
Palestinians from the West Bank are generally not allowed to enter Israel or east Jerusalem, which was seized and annexed by the Jewish State in 1967.The defence ministry has eased the restrictions to allow Palestinians to pray in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound during the fasting month of Ramadan.Married men over 50 and women over 45 have free access to the mosque compound, and those aged 30 to 45 can join them if they obtain a special permit issued by Israeli military authorities.The compound is known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif to Muslims and is Islam's third holiest site after the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina.Jews refer to the same area as the Temple Mount, the location of the Second Jewish Temple razed by the Romans in 70 AD and Judaism's holiest site.
Israel allows weapons transfer to Palestinians By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 5, 8:26 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Israel allowed Palestinian security forces in the West Bank to receive a shipment of about 1,000 Kalashnikov rifles and tens of thousands of bullets in a step aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian government there, an Israeli defense official said Friday. Shipments of this type remain sensitive for Israel because weapons provided to Palestinian security forces during peace talks in the 1990s were used against Israelis when those talks broke down in violence in 2000. But balancing those concerns are fears that if moderate forces are too weak they might lose control of the West Bank to Hamas, the hardline Islamic group that seized power in the Gaza Strip last year.The weapons shipment reached the Palestinians through Jordan about one week ago, the Israeli official said. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arranged the transfer when they met August 31, he said.The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make the shipment public, though it seemed likely Israeli authorities wanted the information in the open.Israel is under pressure to at least appear to be supporting Abbas as part of U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations. However, critics both at home and abroad say Israel has not carried out key confidence-building measures, such as halting settlement activity and dismantling roadblocks, that could help the negotiations succeed.
The Palestinians, for their part, have been criticized for not doing enough to crack down on militants — which is also seen as key to the talks' success.Abbas adviser Nimr Hamad and Diab Ali, a West Bank security commander, denied knowledge of the weapons transfer.Israel has approved similar shipments in the past, and is allowing Abbas' security forces to assume a larger role in some parts of the West Bank. But Israel's military maintains overall control of the West Bank and of its border crossings with Jordan, including the Allenby Bridge terminal where the weapons crossed into the territory, according to the Israeli official.In current peace talks between Israel and Abbas' government, Israel is insisting that a future Palestinian state be demilitarized. The Palestinians are balking, and the issue is emerging as one of a number of sticking points in the negotiations, according to Palestinian officials close to the talks.Also on Friday, around 90,000 Muslims congregated at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem for the first communal prayers of the holy month of Ramadan, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. He said thousands of police were deployed around the city to prevent any disturbances.Citing security concerns, police restricted the entry of Palestinians, banning men under 45 and requiring many women to produce valid entry permits. In the past, some Friday services at the site —sacred to both Muslims and Jews — have ended in riots.At one checkpoint north of Jerusalem, Palestinians threw stones at troops, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. No injuries were reported.
Blair to AP: West Bank downward spiral halted By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 5, 7:24 AM ET
BEIT IBA, West Bank - Tony Blair toured a Palestinian aluminum factory and was told it runs at one-third capacity because of Israeli import restrictions. He promised he'll take it up with Israeli authorities. It's a typical encounter in the Mideast envoy's yearlong push to boost the West Bank economy.In an interview summing up his efforts, Blair said Thursday he'd like to see much quicker progress toward freedom of movement for Palestinians. Israeli roadblocks and obstacles, set up after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000, keep disrupting life and trade.After years of downward spiral, the situation stopped going down in the West Bank, it started to go back up again, but not nearly fast enough, the former British prime minister told The Associated Press.Despite the slow pace, Blair said he'll stick with the assignment and keep slogging through the mundane details of the conflict, such as negotiating with Israel over the fate of individual checkpoints.For me, I'm content to work on it as long as I can and as long as I'm useful, he said, sitting in an office in the aluminum factory, NAPCO, in the village of Beit Iba, just outside the West Bank city of Nablus.Blair became envoy of the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — in June 2007, but was given only a limited assignment. He was asked to prepare the ground for a Palestinian state by encouraging reform, economic development and institution-building, while Israeli-Palestinian peace talks remained under Washington's sole purview. Peace talks resumed in November but have made no apparent progress.
Perhaps his biggest achievement was a conference in which donor countries promised $7.7 billion in aid to the Palestinians over three years. The idea was that Palestinians would gradually become less dependent on aid, as the private sector drove an economic recovery.However, the World Bank said in a report in April that the Palestinian economy won't grow this year, largely due to Israeli movement restrictions.Nablus, once the West Bank's commercial center and during the uprising a militant stronghold, remains hard hit by travel restrictions. Roadblocks ring the city, and only one access road is open to motorists. At Nablus' southern entrance, the Hawara checkpoint is a major bottleneck, especially during rush hour when thousands cross on foot. Waiting times can range from a few minutes to an hour.The Israeli military said it's sprucing up Hawara to ease the flow, but would not give details. One of the Nablus checkpoints was removed several months ago, opening access to parts of the northern West Bank.During Thursday's visit to Nablus, Blair met with Palestinian business leaders, who announced the city would host an investment conference in October.Monib al-Masri, one of the West Bank's wealthiest men, said the group hopes to draw 200 to 300 investors, but added that removing checkpoints is vital.I told Mr. Blair today that nobody will come here if Hawara and other checkpoints are there, he said.Blair said he's pushing to get checkpoints removed, but that it requires patience. Israel has genuine security concerns, he said, and more time is needed to rebuild trust destroyed during years of violence.
What we are saying is that in time they (checkpoints) have got to be removed, but in the meantime, for goodness' sake, make them work effectively, he said.Blair met Tuesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who said that while Israel is working to improve life in the West Bank, its main commitment is to the security of Israeli citizens. Israel says checkpoints are key to preventing attacks by Palestinian militants who killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings and shootings during the uprising.Naim Aker, who sells bathroom tiles in Nablus, said he's running out of time. Sales are down and transportation costs up because of the checkpoints, he said, adding that he's been dipping into his savings and plans to move to the Gulf if the situation does not improve within a year. The aluminum factory in Beit Iba, which employs 140 people, has been operating at 27 percent capacity, mainly because Israel banned the import of a key ingredient, sulfuric acid, said technical manager Jamal Daraghmeh. The factory needs the chemical, which can also be used in bombs, for most of its products. Blair said the factory could employ another 100 people if it got the necessary raw materials. He also pointed out the bumpy access road to the plant, noting that Israel has not granted permission to pave it. The envoy said he'd raise both issues with the Israeli authorities. Blair said he remains motivated to help resolve the Mideast conflict, despite slow progress. I think it is ... the single most fundamental issue for us to resolve, in terms of peaceful coexistence, not just between Israelis and Palestinians, but between the West and Islam, the world and Islam, he said. Additional reporting by Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah.
Syria makes peace proposal to Israel By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 4, 5:04 PM ET
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's leader said Thursday he offered a proposal for peace with Israel but also refused to break off ties with Hezbollah and militant Palestinians — a key Israeli demand. President Bashar Assad also said indirect negotiations with Israel were on hold until that country chooses a new prime minister and that direct talks would have to wait until a new U.S. president takes office.Assad's comments came after meetings with France's leader and regional mediators in talks focusing on Mideast peace and Iran's nuclear program. France hopes that warmer relations with Syria, Iran's ally, could help the West in its efforts to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program.Assad said his proposal for Israel was intended to serve as a basis for direct talks. He said he would wait for a similar document laying out Israel's positions before any face-to-face talks. So far, negotiations between the two foes have been held indirectly through Turkish mediators.Although Assad didn't divulge details of his proposal, the move reflected a desire to break with Syria's past policies. The quest was given a boost by France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Damascus on Wednesday and Thursday, becoming the first Western leader in several years to come to Syria.Sarkozy has encouraged face-to-face Syria-Israel negotiations and offered to sponsor such talks in the future. The French president has been trying to forge better relations with both Syria and Libya, a longtime international pariah that has significantly improved ties with the West.
Assad and Sarkozy were joined Thursday in a four-way summit by Turkey's prime minister and the leader of Qatar, a key broker in inter-Arab disputes, to discuss Mideast stability and peace.Washington made clear it expects more from Syria before any warming of ties. Overall what we'd like to see out of Syria is for it to play a much more productive role in the region. It hasn't until now. We'd like to see it not meddle in the affairs of the sovereign government of Lebanon, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. He said the U.S. would like to see Syria reach a peace with Israel and establish diplomatic relations.In an interview with French television, Assad ruled out any recognition of Israel before a peace deal. But when there is a peace accord, of course there will be reciprocal recognition. This is natural, he said.Syria and Israel have held four rounds of indirect talks through Turkish mediation in the last year.Assad said at the summit that in the peace proposal, given to Turkish mediators, Syria outlined six points on the issue of the withdrawal line — a reference to the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.This has been a major sticking point in the previous talks, causing the collapse of U.S.-brokered direct negotiations in 2000. Syria has long demanded the complete return of the heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel has sought to keep a strip of land around the Sea of Galilee.Assad did not say whether the six points changed the demand for a full withdrawal.Assad said a fifth planned round of indirect talks with Israel had been postponed until after Israeli leadership elections and that the future of negotiations rested on whether a new prime minister in Israel will be committed to pursuing peace with Syria.Any direct talks would also have to wait until a new American administration is in place, Assad added, acknowledging the importance of strong U.S. backing for such an effort.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the target of several corruption investigations, has announced he will step down after his party chooses a new leader this month. That has left peace prospects with both Syria and the Palestinians uncertain.We want the support of all states, basically France, Qatar and Turkey in order to be assured that the next (Israeli) prime minister will follow the same direction Olmert had followed through his readiness for complete withdrawal from the occupied territories in order for peace to be achieved, he said.In Israel, an official said contacts were already being made to set up more talks. He said Israel has a genuine intention to reach an agreement. The official declined to be identified because the diplomatic efforts are ongoing. Israeli officials have insisted that Syria also must end its support for militant groups opposed to Israel, namely Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. But Assad on Thursday sought to reassure the groups that he would continue to back what he described as the resistance against Israeli occupation. We don't see any interest in abandoning the resistance, he told Hezbollah's Al-Manar television. Our position has always been clear. Our position toward the resistance against any occupation in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine is firm and has not changed.Associated Press writer Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Emmanuel Georges-Picot in Paris contributed to this report.
Israelis warned of very high risks in Egypt and Jordan Thu Sep 4, 11:34 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel on Thursday warned its citizens of a very high risk of kidnapping or acts of terror if they travel to Jordan or Egypt, the two Arab countries which have made peace with the Jewish state. The anti-terrorist office's report listed several countries where it said Israelis were at risk.The report, published twice a year, said those risks were very high in Egypt and Jordan.The warning came just weeks before the Jewish New Year holiday, which falls on September 30.Every year, several thousand Israelis travel to resorts along the Red Sea in Egypt's Sinai region during the holiday.In Egypt, the risk of kidnappings and terrorist attacks is particularly serious in the Sinai, the report said.It also warned that the Lebanese Hezbollah militia continues blaming Israel for the assassination of one of its top commanders, Imad Mughnieh, in Damascus in February.
This, the report said, increases the Hezbollah terrorist threat against Israelis abroad.
Police to decide on Olmert indictment in days Thu Sep 4, 9:13 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli police said on Thursday they will decide within days whether to recommend that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be charged in several different cases of suspected graft. Senior police officials met on Thursday to examine the evidence in three probes against Olmert, who announced in July he would step down following a public uproar over the graft suspicions.The material will be examined by the head of the investigation department. The police opinion (on the indictment) will be brought together with all the findings before the state prosecution, a police source told AFP.We will decide whether to recommend indictments in several or all of the cases within days, he said on condition of anonymity.Israeli media said that police was likely to recommend indicting Olmert on a number of charges, including bribery and money laundering.While police and the state prosecution can recommend legal steps against a premier, it is the attorney general who decides whether to press formal charges.Olmert has been questioned several times in past weeks over suspicions he had accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from a US businessman to finance election campaigns and a lavish lifestyle before he became premier in 2006.He is also suspected of having billed the same overseas trips several times over, allegedly using the ill-gotten gains to finance private trips for himself and his family.In the third case, Olmert is suspected of trying to steer the sale of Bank Leumi towards a friend, Australian real estate magnate Frank Lowey, when he was trade and industry minister between 2003 and 2006.Olmert, 62, insists he is innocent of the allegations of wrongdoing in the 13 years before he took office in 2006, when he also served as mayor of Jerusalem.But he announced on July 30 that he would step down after his centrist Kadima party holds an internal leadership election in mid-September.
Attack on Israeli aircrew in Canada thwarted: report Wed Sep 3, 2:30 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Plans by an unknown group to attack staff of Israel's national carrier El Al in Canada have been thwarted, Israel's private Channel Two television reported on Wednesday. Without giving the nationalities of the alleged attackers, it said they had monitored the comings and goings of El Al aircrew at a Toronto hotel.
Security procedures for crews overnighting at the hotel between flights have now been changed, it added.On Tuesday, Israeli newspapers reported that at least five attempts by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia to abduct Israeli businessmen in Africa, Asia, and South America had been foiled.Each time, Hezbollah -- which fought a bloody war against Israel in the summer of 2006 -- tried to use sleeper cells embedded in far-flung Shiite Muslim communities, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot reported.It and other newspapers cited unnamed Israeli security officials and said further details about the plots remain under official censorship.Israel has been on high alert since senior Hezbollah commander Imad Mughnieh was assassinated in a car bombing in Damascus in February, in an attack welcomed by the Jewish state but for which it denied any responsibility.Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel and has repeatedly vowed to avenge the killing.Last month Israel warned its citizens living and travelling abroad to take extra precautions against possible Hezbollah attacks or abductions.The warning came at peak travelling season, and the Jewish state has urged Israeli tourists and businessmen to take special care in hotels, restaurants and recreational spots.They were also urged to spurn unexpected and alluring proposals in both business and recreation and to alter routines and habits.
In July 2006, Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid, sparking a 34-day war in which more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.The bodies of the two captured soldiers were returned to Israel as part of a prisoner swap in July.
