Settlers clash with police, Palestinians in Hebron OCT 31,08
HEBRON, West Bank – Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli police and Palestinians Friday in the West Bank city of Hebron over the demolition of an unauthorized settler outpost.Settlers resisted the demolition of the outpost's single home, fighting police and throwing stones at a nearby Palestinian home.Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said four policemen were lightly injured and three settlers were arrested. A photographer for French news agency Agence France Presse was injured when he was hit in the head by a stone thrown by a settler.Hebron is home to several hundred of the most extreme Jewish settlers. They often clash with the town's Palestinian residents, as well as with Israeli forces they see as overly sympathetic to the Palestinians.In recent weeks, extremist settlers have attacked Palestinian farmers and their supporters elsewhere in the West Bank at the start of the important annual olive harvest.France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, condemned the attacks.It is not acceptable that the olive harvest, (which is) essential for the economy of the Palestinian territories, and the other activities of the Palestinians be hindered by the flourishing of violent and illegal acts, France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.It called on the Israeli government to take the necessary measures to put an immediate end to the violence.
EU presidency condemns Israeli settlers' attacks on Palestinians Fri Oct 31, 1:22 pm ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Union's French presidency called on the Israeli government Friday to take action to halt Jewish settlers from attacking Palestinians near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the presidency said in a statement.The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations, it said.
Dozens of Jewish settlers rampaged through the West Bank town of Hebron on Sunday after Israeli troops removed an illegal settlement outpost, according to Palestinian residents.Witnesses said the settlers hurled rocks at houses, vandalised several Muslim graves in a local cemetery and slashed the tyres of cars belonging to Palestinian residents near the Kiryat Arba settlement.A Palestinian photographer working for AFP suffered head injuries on Friday when settlers hurled rocks at journalists near Hebron, witnesses said.He was among a group of journalists who had gone to the house of a Palestinian that was damaged by settlers after Israeli security forces dismantled a nearby illegal Jewish outpost.Three Israelis were arrested after settlers clashed with police who dismantled the settlement on the outskirts of the flashpoint city of Hebron.
Lebanon says 12 Israeli jets fly over country Fri Oct 31, 11:42 am ET Play
BEIRUT, Lebanon – The Lebanese army says 12 Israeli warplanes have violated the country's airspace by flying reconnaissance missions over northern and southern Lebanon.The army says in a statement carried by the country's official news agency that six Israeli warplanes flew over the border village of Alma al-Shaab and other southern towns and villages for about 30 minutes Friday.The statement says six other Israeli warplanes flew over the Mediterranean off the coastal city of Batroun and over other northern towns for about an hour.There was no immediate statement from the Israeli army, which usually does not comment on flights over Lebanon.
Outgoing Israeli PM wants to renew Syria peace talks Fri Oct 31, 11:30 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering resuming indirect peace talks with Syria during his remaining three months in office, a senior official said on Friday.The Turkish-mediated peace talks were put on hold shortly after the premier announced on July 30 he would step down over a corruption scandal. Olmert will remain at the head of a transitional government until the February general elections.The prime minister is considering the possibility of renewing the indirect talks with Syria, the official told AFP.
According to another official, Olmert has asked the Turkish government to present the Syrians with the proposal. Olmert made the request during a meeting with visiting Turkish Defence Minister Vacdi Gonulto on Thursday.Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said that the prime minister sees importance in continuing the dialogue and talks on the Syrian track.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last month that the talks require more time and effort.The two sides have so far held four rounds of Turkish-brokered discussions. A fifth round had been scheduled for October 30 but was postponed at Israel's request.Direct negotiations were frozen eight years ago after Israel baulked at Syrian demands for the return of the whole of the occupied Golan Heights, right down to the Sea of Galilee, its main water source.Israel seized the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community.
Gaza militants fire rockets at Israeli army patrol Fri Oct 31, 2:56 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday fired two anti-tank rockets at an Israeli army patrol along Gaza's security fence, causing no damage, the army said, but again shaking a fragile truce.Two anti-tank missiles were fired at an IDF (army) patrol on the security fence in southern Gaza Strip, causing no casualties or damage, a spokeswoman said.The attack threatened a fragile June 19 truce brokered by Egypt between the Jewish state and Gaza's ruling Islamist Hamas movement after months of deadly violence in and around the territory.Israel has in the past responded to attacks by temporarily closing its crossings with Gaza through which badly needed foodstuff and supplies are imported into the impoverished territory.
Both sides have accused the other of violating the truce, with Hamas demanding that Israel lift its embargo of Gaza and Israel accusing the Islamist movement of using the period of calm to rearm.
Rice to make yet another push for peace in Middle East by Sylvie Lanteaume Sylvie Lanteaume – Thu Oct 30, 4:40 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week to pursue efforts for a deal on the contours of Israeli-Palestinian peace before handing over to a new US administration.Secretary of State Rice will travel to Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Egypt from November 5 to 9, just after US presidential election results are likely to be known, her deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.She will meet with her quartet counterparts and senior government officials to discuss efforts to achieve positive and lasting peace in the region, consistent with the Annapolis process and the shared goal of a two-states solution, Wood said.Rice helped revive the peace talks in November last year in Annapolis, Maryland, based on a road map launched in 2003 by the quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.The Israelis and Palestinians pledged last year to secure a deal enshrining the road map goal of a Palestinian state living in peace next to a secure Israel by the time President George W. Bush leaves office on January 20.Although both sides have begun tackling simultaneously the core issues of borders, the status of Jerusalem and refugees -- an adjustment to the roadmap -- they have made little visible progress toward achieving that goal.
Wood did not say exactly when the quartet would meet.
But an Egyptian official said the quartet will meet in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 9 -- the same day Palestinian groups begin reconciliation talks in Cairo -- to review the peace negotiations.And a European Union diplomat in Brussels said that the meeting would be held from November 8-9 and include Israeli and Palestinian delegates.On September 26, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the quartet members urged Israel and the Palestinians to make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008 on all the core issues.
The quartet said it would be informed of the progress in negotiations during a meeting with the parties in the region before the end of the year.The quartet has come under criticism from aid agencies, which warned last month that it was losing its grip on the peace process and must radically revise its approach.It will be Rice's 19th visit to the Middle East in two years, and the eighth visit since she and Bush hosted the international conference in Annapolis.The negotiations -- the first to take place since previous ones collapsed in bloodshed in 2000 -- have stumbled on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and Jerusalem.They are also complicated by the division of the Palestinian territories into a West Bank run by the US-backed Palestinian Authority and a Gaza Strip run by the Islamist movement Hamas, which seized power there in June last year.The negotiations are also hobbled by lame duck US and Israeli governments which will be replaced in the New Year by administrations infused with new popular mandates from national elections.With chances of a breakthrough appearing slimmer than ever, Rice has nonetheless pledged to leave no stone unturned in her quest for a deal defining the contours of peace by January 20.As time draws near for the end of this administration, I still believe that we must make every effort in the time that we have to lay this foundation for peace, Rice told a conference here two weeks ago.
Hamas carries out prisoner release in Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal Al-mughrabi – Thu Oct 30, 11:01 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas released 17 jailed members of the rival Fatah faction Thursday, describing the men for the first time as political prisoners and saying it set them free as a goodwill gesture before Palestinian unity talks.In order to provide a healthy atmosphere for the dialogue, we decided to free all political prisoners in our custody in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said during a graduation ceremony for police recruits.He put the number of those prisoners at nearly 20. Fatah, which lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in fighting in June 2007, has said dozens of its members have been jailed since the Islamist group's takeover of the territory.Several hours after Haniyeh spoke, Reuters correspondents saw 17 Fatah men walking out of prison.With the release of the 17 political prisoners, we declare an end to political detention in Gaza, said Taher al-Nono, spokesman for the Hamas government in the territory.Egypt has invited 13 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, to reconciliation talks in Cairo on November 9. Haniyeh said he was cautiously optimistic about prospects for success.Hamas had said that Fatah members taken into custody in the Gaza Strip had committed criminal acts and it had denied any political motivation in arresting them.Fahmi al-Zaarir, a Fatah spokesman, said Haniyeh had finally acknowledged that the group has been abducting Fatah men in Gaza because of their political opinions and nothing else.
Hamas says Fatah security services in the West Bank are holding 400 of its supporters.We urge Fatah to reciprocate and free Hamas members jailed there, Nono said.Hamas urged Egypt to amend a reconciliation proposal it had sent to all Palestinian factions ahead of the November 9 talks in line with reservations made by the Islamist group.The Egyptian paper is a proposal for discussion and not a final draft for signing and implementation. It has a positive goal but there are fundamental remarks on its content that must be taken in consideration, Hamas official Salah Al-Bardaweel told a news conference in Gaza.A Palestinian official, involved in the talks, said Cairo rejected to make amendments to its proposal, raising fears reservations by factions, including Hamas, could cast a shadow over chances of success.(Editing by Sami Aboudi)
Plans for Jerusalem Tolerance Museum spark outrage Thu Oct 30, 9:16 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Muslim authorities expressed outrage on Thursday after the Israeli High Court gave the go-ahead for the construction of a Museum of Tolerance on the site of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem.The Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, called the court ruling a grave decision which harms the Muslim holy sites.
He said it was difficult to believe the project's promoters would want to build a Museum of Tolerance whose construction constitutes an act of aggression.The High Court on Wednesday rejected appeals by two Muslim organisations which complained that the museum would be built over part of an ancient Muslim cemetery.We will mobilise in the Arab and Muslim world so that it puts pressure to halt the project, said Sheikh Raed Salah who heads Israel's Islamic Movement.Arab-Israeli MP Mohammed Barakeh called the decision an Israeli attempt to wipe out the Arab and Muslim character of Jerusalem.The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre is the main promoter of the museum, designed by renowned US architect Frank Gehry.Moderation and tolerance have prevailed, said Rabbin Marvin Hier, the dean of the centre, following the court's decision.All citizens of Israel, Jews and non-Jews, are the real beneficiaries of this decision, he said.
McCain faults paper for not releasing Khalidi tape By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 30, 5:48 am ET
CNN BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin accused the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday of protecting Barack Obama by withholding a videotape of the Democrat attending a 2003 party for a Palestinian-American professor and critic of Israel. The paper said it had written about the event in April and would not release the tape because of a promise to the source who provided it.McCain and Palin called Rashid Khalidi a former spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization, a characterization Khalidi has denied in the past. Both candidates said guests at the party made critical comments about Israel.Khalidi is a professor of Middle East Studies at Columbia University and a longtime friend of Obama's. Khalidi has publicly criticized Israel, but he and Obama have both said they hold very different opinions on Israeli issues.McCain also has ties to Khalidi through a group Khalidi helped found 15 years ago. The Center for Palestine Research and Studies received at least $448,000 from an organization McCain chairs.On Wednesday, McCain said 1960s radical Bill Ayers had attended the same party in 2003. McCain and Palin have criticized Obama for his ties to Ayers and questioned what the videotape of the party might show.Among other things, Israel was described there as the perpetrator of terrorism rather than the victim, Palin said at a rally in Ohio. What we don't know is how Barack Obama responded to these slurs on a country that he professes to support.In a story published in April, the Times said Obama spoke out at the event on the need for common ground on the Israel-Palestinian issue. Obama has said during the campaign that his commitment to Israel's security is nonnegotiable.More than six months ago the Los Angeles Times published a detailed account of the events shown on the videotape, Jamie Gold, the newspaper's reader's representative, said in a statement. The Times is not suppressing anything. Just the opposite — the L.A. Times brought the matter to light.Los Angeles Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan refused to elaborate on the paper's statement or respond to the criticism from the McCain campaign.She would not provide any details on further communication between Times' reporters and the source who provided the video.McCain and Palin cited the paper's position as evidence of media bias. The Times has endorsed Obama.If there was a tape of John McCain in a neo-Nazi outfit, I think the treatment of the issue would be slightly different, McCain said in an interview with Hispanic radio stations.
Palin said the Times should win a Pulitzer Prize for kowtowing.It must be nice for a candidate to have major news organizations looking out for their best interests like that. Politicians would love to have a pet newspaper of their very own, she said.
Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor dismissed the complaints as a recycled, manufactured controversy meant to distract voters.Barack Obama has been clear and consistent on his support for Israel, and has been clear that Rashid Khalidi is not an adviser to him or his campaign and that he does not share Khalidi's views, Vietor said.Khalidi taught at the University of Chicago until 2003. Obama and his wife, Michelle, often socialized with Khalidi and his wife, Mona, and the Khalidis hosted a political fundraiser for Obama in 2000.The Woods Fund charity gave money to the Arab-American Action Network, run by Mona Khalidi, while Obama served on the charity's board. Ayers also served on the board. The Center for Palestine Research and Studies conducted regular public opinion surveys in the West Bank and Gaza with financial support from various foundations and from the International Republican Institute, an organization that promoted democracy around the world. McCain was the IRI chairman when it gave $448,873 to the research group in 1998, according to IRI's tax return. Ayers was a founder of the radical group the Weather Underground, which set off bombs at the Capitol and the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. McCain has criticized Obama for having had a friendly relationship with Ayers, with whom Obama worked on two community organizations several years ago, and for downplaying their ties. Obama has noted that he was a child when Ayers, now a university professor, was with the Weather Underground. The Democratic candidate has condemned Ayers' radical past and violent activities.
Olmert to meet Bush by January Wed Oct 29, 12:50 pm ET
AFP JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet President George W. Bush in the United States before Bush leaves the White House in January, officials said on Wednesday.Olmert's office said in a statement that the prime minister, who is acting in a caretaker capacity since tendering his resignation last month over a corruption scandal, spoke with the president by telephone. The two discussed a range of issues.A White House spokesman said the meeting would be before the end of Bush's term and would be in the United States.Olmert is likely to be in his post until after Israel holds a parliamentary election, triggered by his resignation, that is expected to be held on February 10. Many Israelis question his authority to make binding agreements while acting as caretaker.Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas revived peacemaking under Bush's sponsorship a year ago, but progress has been bogged down by violence and mutual recrimination.
While Israeli and Palestinian leaders have cast doubt on the possibility of achieving an accord before Bush steps down in January, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this month his administration would pursue peacemaking to the end.Bush himself has urged the two sides to agree this year on a deal to create a Palestinian state. Many see his involvement in the conflict in his final year in office as partly aimed at improving a legacy in the Middle East that has been marked by the widespread unpopularity of his invasion of Iraq.(Jerusalem newsroom)
Prominent left-wing Israeli MP Beilin to retire Wed Oct 29, 6:34 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – MP Yossi Beilin, the dovish former head of the left-wing Meretz party, will retire from political life after the Israeli elections in February, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday.She declined to give details on what he will be doing after retirement but said he remained committed to advancing the Geneva Peace Initiative he developed in 2003 with former Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
The initiative put forth a plan for Middle East peace based on an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip and shared sovereignty over Jerusalem but was never officially adopted by either side.Beilin, 60, stepped down as head of Meretz in December 2007 and was replaced by MP Haim Oron. The party holds five seats in the 120-member Knesset.In the early 1990s, Beilin initiated unprecedented talks with the Palestinians that led to the Oslo autonomy process adopted by Israel's government under former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.Israel will hold early general elections on February 10 to replace the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who resigned amid a wave of corruption allegations.
Diplomats: IAEA says Syrian nuke info needs probe By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 28, 4:09 pm ET
AFP VIENNA, Austria – Freshly evaluated soil and air samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel on suspicion it was a covert nuclear reactor provide enough evidence to push ahead with a U.N probe, diplomats said Tuesday.The findings are important after months of uncertainty about the status of the investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency.Preliminary results regarding environmental samples collected from the site by an IAEA team and made public earlier this year were inconclusive, adding weight to Syrian assertions that no trips beyond the initial IAEA visit in June were necessary. But the diplomats told The Associated Press that the IAEA's final evaluation, completed a few days ago, has the agency convinced it needs to press on with its investigation.The agency feels there is enough evidence there to warrant a follow-up said one of the diplomats. He, and a colleague from another IAEA country demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential information, which is not meant to be made public until the IAEA's meeting of its 35-nation board of governors next month.Damascus denies running a covert program. On Tuesday, Ambassador Mohammed Badi Khattab — his country's chief IAEA delegate — told the AP he was unaware that the evaluation had been completed and could not comment until his country was told of the findings.Ibrahim Othman, Syria's nuclear chief, has said his country would wait for final environmental results before deciding how to respond to repeated IAEA requests for follow-up visits to the one in June, when the samples were collected. Khattab repeated that stance, saying further developments will depend on us receiving the final result.
In an oral report to an IAEA board meeting last month, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the board meeting that preliminary results from the environmental samples came up with no indication to back the claims that the destroyed target was a nuclear facility.Alluding to Othman's stance, he said Syria would decide on whether to provide more information and allow further IAEA visits depending on the results of the samples taken during the first visit — implying that Damascus could shut the doors on the probe if the all the samples came up empty.A diplomat attending that closed meeting told the AP Khattab suggested Syria would not allow further visits under any circumstances because it was still technically at war with Israel and was concerned any additional IAEA probe would expose some of its non-nuclear military secrets.Another cited ElBaradei as saying the corpse is gone — alluding to the difficulty of investigating the bombed site months after it was hit last year by Israel and subsequently cleaned up and altered by the Syrians.But — while the diplomats queried Tuesday had no specifics on what the samples contained — one of them said it convinced the IAEA it needs to press on with its probe.Another said that ElBaradei was planning a written report on Syria for the upcoming board meeting starting Nov. 27 — something he had said he would do only if he had substantive developments to share.Beyond wanting to revisit the site bombed nearly 14 months ago by Israel, IAEA experts also want to follow up on U.S, Israeli and other intelligence that North Korea was involved in building the alleged Syrian program.
As well, IAEA officials have been seeking permission to visit three other sites purportedly linked to the alleged reactor destroyed by the Israelis — although Syria has already said that those locations are off limits because they are in restricted military areas.Syria fears the IAEA probe could lead to a massive investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to for more than five years — and to related fallout. Iran is under three sets of U.N. sanctions because of its refusal to heed Security Council demands to curb its nuclear activities.IAEA experts came back June 25 from a four-day visit carrying environmental samples from the Al Kibar site hit by Israel. But intelligence suggests that radioactive material had not yet been introduced into the alleged reactor before it was destroyed, so swipes taken in search of radioactive traces were unlikely to have been of use.That left the inspectors looking for other components, including minute quantities of graphite, a cooling element in the type of North Korean prototype that was allegedly being built with help from Pyongyang. Such a reactor contains hundreds of tons of graphite, and any major explosion would have sent dust over the immediate area.But — if the Syrians were interested in a cover-up — they would have scoured the region to bury, wash away and otherwise remove any such traces.
Abbas, Saudi king meet Tue Oct 28, 3:42 pm ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas briefed Saudi King Abdullah Tuesday on preparations for talks next month aimed at reconciling Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist group Hamas, his spokesman said.President Abbas informed the Saudi sovereign about efforts underway to launch an intra-Palestinian dialogue on the basis of a plan proposed by Egypt that the Palestinian factions have accepted, Nabi Abu Rudeina said.The two men also discussed the US-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which has come to a virtual standstill as the US presidential election looms and Israelis prepare for polls of their own in February.Abbas frequently travels to Saudi Arabia for consultations, and his latest trip comes just two weeks before King Abdullah is due to travel to the United States.The two main Palestinian movements have been bitterly divided since Hamas drove Abbas's security forces from the Gaza Strip in a week of fierce street clashes in June 2007, cleaving the territories into hostile rival camps.Both sides have been invited to meet in Cairo on November 9 to discuss the Egyptian plan, which is aimed at restoring unity.
