Mideast Quartet kicks off UN meet Mon Dec 15, 4:08 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The diplomatic Middle East Quartet kicked off talks here Monday on the eve of a Security Council ministerial session as part of renewed efforts to give fresh impetus to the peace process.UN chief Ban Ki-moon huddled in his office with his Quartet partners -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner -- beginning at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has served for 15 months as Middle East envoy for the Quartet, took part in the meeting by video link from Jerusalem.A press conference was due later in the day before talks with an Arab League contact group.The group comprises Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen plus Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.The Quartet's meeting comes as Security Council ambassadors resumed discussions on a US draft resolution endorsing principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Relatives cheer freed Palestinian prisoners by Hossam Ezzedine – Mon Dec 15, 10:52 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Hundreds of people gave a heroes' welcome on Monday to more than 200 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel as a goodwill gesture towards Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Sporting traditional black and white chequered scarfs and caps stamped with the Palestinian flag, the released inmates got off five buses in the centre of the West Bank town of Ramallah to cheers from the crowd.
Abbas, who led the welcoming ceremony, kissed and hugged the prisoners, most of whom are members of his secular Fatah movement. Israel released 210 prisoners from the occupied West Bank as well as 17 Gazans.Our joy will not be complete until all 11,000prisoners are freed, Abbas said in reference to the Palestinians still held in Israel.I promise you that there will be other groups like the one today until there is an end to the suffering of all our detainees, Abbas told the crowd in the courtyard of his headquarters.The release came just hours after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected attempts by two organisations to block the move by arguing that the freed prisoners would resume their terrorist activities.Israel's cabinet last month approved the release as a gesture to Abbas, whose West Bank-based administration is leading the peace talks with the Jewish state. None of those freed are accused of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.Olmert told Abbas at their last meeting in November of his plan to release 250 prisoners, but a government committee approved only 230 names.The committee ruled out freeing prisoners who belong to radical groups such as the Islamist Hamas movement or those implicated in deadly attacks.
The decision to free the Palestinians was widely seen as an attempt to strengthen moderate Palestinians against Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas.Since the Islamists ousted his forces from the impoverished coastal territory after days of ferocious clashes, Abbas has held sway only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.In a statement issued in Gaza, Hamas welcomed the release of the prisoners, while urging Abbas's Palestinian Authories not to boost its security cooperation with the Zionist occupation.Several Israeli officials have criticised the release, including Trade and and Industry Minister Eli Yishai from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who called the gesture dangerous, strange and dubious.In August, Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners but more than 11,000 Palestinians are still held in its jails. Since Abbas took office in 2005, Israel has released a total of 2,100 Palestinian prisoners.Ironically, as the prisoners were set free, former Palestinian minister and Hamas member Omar Abdelrazzek was being taken to the Ofer prison.Released in August after serving 26 years behind bars, Abdelrazzek is to spend another five months in prison after a military court ruled in favour of an appeal by the military prosecutor's office which objected to his release.What a coincidence to see those young people leave prison as I enter it, he told AFP.
Former US President Carter meets Hamas leader Sun Dec 14, 2:48 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with the exiled leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for the second time this year.Sunday's meeting in Damascus is part of Carter's regional discussions on Middle East conflicts.Hamas officials kept reporters away from the venue and no news conference was scheduled. Hamas issued a statement but provided no details about what they talked about.Carter first met with the head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, in April. That meeting drew sharp criticism from the Bush administration, which labels Hamas a terrorist group and contends such meetings give credibility to militants.Carter said Saturday that he intends to continue meeting with Hamas because peace requires dialogue.
In Jesus' town, Christmas looking cheerful again By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 14, 2:22 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – After eight bleak years, Jesus' birthplace finally has a Christmas season to cheer about.Hotels are booked solid through January, Manger Square is bustling with tourists, and Israeli and Palestinian forces are working to make things go smoothly.Elias Al-Araj's 200-room hotel is fully booked for the season, and he plans to open a 100-room annex. He says he already has bookings through July.This year, business was great, he said.Bethlehem's economic fortunes are closely tied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tourism blossomed in the 1990s, when peace hopes were alive, but was crushed by the outbreak of fighting in 2000. Christmas after Christmas, tourists were scared off by Palestinian violence and Israeli travel restrictions.With calm gradually returning to the West Bank, Bethlehem has again become a magnet for Christmas pilgrims.It's a difference between heaven and earth, said entrepreneur Mike Kanawati, who is so optimistic he's opening a new restaurant near the Church of the Nativity.Palestinian officials say 1.3 million tourists have visited the West Bank this year, nearly double last year's level. The total for 2008 could rise to 1.6 million. The tourism boom has created 12,000 new jobs, said Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki.Bethlehem's 19 hotels are fully booked through January, said Mayor Victor Batarseh. He said he expects 30,000 visitors on Christmas Eve alone, compared with 22,000 last year, with about 5,000 more expected during Orthodox rites in January.Batarseh said he hopes the signs of recovery will persuade more Bethlehemites to stay in their town. In recent years, growing numbers, particularly Christians, have emigrated.
Calm and an increase in tourism will create more job opportunities and encourage families to stay in the city, said Batarseh, who is Christian. Officials say 40 percent of the town's 32,000 residents are Christian, down from 90 percent in the 1950s. The rest are Muslim.Christmas decorations should be up by Monday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will light the Christmas tree, a large cypress, in Manger Square. Bands of yellow lights are already strung across the main road at the entrance to Bethlehem.Bethlehem is a typical West Bank town, with congested streets and noisy markets, very different from the biblical idyll visitors might imagine.
It's fascinating to see the place I heard about all my life, said Michael Creasy, 30, a software engineer from San Francisco, after emerging from the Church of the Nativity that stands over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. He said he'd love to stay for Christmas, but has to get back to work.The upbeat mood contrasts sharply with the dismal Muslim holiday season in the Gaza Strip. Because of an Israeli economic blockade imposed in response to repeated rocket attacks, the coastal strip is acutely short of sheep and cattle needed for the Muslim feast of the sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Bethlehem is being turned into a showcase for Palestinian security forces, who have been gradually expanding areas under their control in the once unruly West Bank.Some 1,500 Palestinian police officers will be deployed in Bethlehem during the holiday.They are trying to look reassuring, though the dozens of armed officers who recently stomped in unison across Manger Square might have scared some tourists. Suleiman Emran, a security official, said officers are to greet the visitors with roses, candy and holiday greeting cards that include emergency phone numbers in case of trouble. Israeli security officials say they are working with their Palestinian counterparts to ensure easy access to Bethlehem.
Bethlehem is ringed on three sides by a barrier which Israel says is meant to keep out Palestinian militants. A large gray wall separates the city from nearby Jerusalem, and tourists entering Bethlehem must pass through a military checkpoint with barbed wire and watchtowers. Late last month, at a meeting of Palestinian military chiefs to discuss Christmas preparations, the Palestinians asked Israel to speed tourists through its army checkpoints and not carry out arrest raids in Bethlehem during the holidays, Emran said. We are afraid it would terrify the visitors, he said.
Israel ready to renew Gaza truce with Hamas: official Sat Dec 13, 3:24 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is willing to renew a six-months old ceasefire deal with Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip if militants halt all attacks against the Jewish state, a senior defence official said.Top defence ministry official Amos Gilad will head to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and senior officials to discuss the renewal of the Egyptian-brokered deal which is set to expire on December 19, the official told AFP.If Hamas is ready to maintain the calm and return to the situation as it was a few weeks ago Israel will be willing to continue the truce, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The olive branch comes six days after interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had told security chiefs to make plans for military action against militant groups in Gaza and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the government should respond militarily, economically and politically.The ceasefire agreement has been rattled since November 4 by a string of tit-for-tat attacks between the Israeli army and militants, who fired dozens of rockets against southern Israel.In response, Israel regularly sealed off all its crossings into Gaza, raising international fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory, where 1.5 million people live and which has been controlled by Hamas since the Islamist group seized power in June 2007.Olmert said last Sunday the government would announce its proposed action against Gaza within the next week.
Livni, who will lead the ruling Kadima party's campaign in next February's general election, said: The truce has not been respected by the other side. They are firing on our citizens. That is enough.Recent days have seen a return to relative calm and the reopening of the crossings.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP last week: Discussions have taken place recently with the various parties about the truce but it seems difficult to agree an extension and Hamas is ready for all eventualities.
Security Council mulls joint US-Russian initiative in support of Mideast peace by Gerard Aziakou Gerard Aziakou – Sat Dec 13, 2:00 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN Security Council envoys on Saturday weighed a US draft resolution endorsing principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace which their ministers hope to adopt here next week.US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad circulated the draft to his colleagues during closed-door consultations in what was presented as a joint US-Russian initiative to fully involve the Security Council at a crucial moment of transition in Middle East peacemaking.We think this is an important for the council to express itself" on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, he told reporters after the meeting, referring to upcoming Israeli elections, the arrival of a new US administration and possible Palestinian polls.Khalilzad said discussions on the text would continue Monday ahead of a vote by ministers expected Tuesday.The US text, which received strong backing from Russia, France and Britain, endorses principles agreed by Israelis and Palestinians for the bilateral negotiating process and their determined efforts to reach their goal of concluding a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception.It calls on both parties to fulfill their obligations ... and refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations.
It also urged stepped-up diplomatic efforts to foster in parallel with progress in the bilateral process mutual recognition and peaceful coexistence between all states in the region in the context of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.And it welcomed the diplomatic quartet's consideration, in consultation with the parties of an international meeting on the Middle East in Moscow next year.The Middle East diplomatic quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations -- has put forward a roadmap for the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.Monday, a quartet meeting here will bring together US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.The quartet is also to confer with an Arab League contact group comprising Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen plus Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, diplomats said.Rice is to be in New York Monday and Tuesday for UN talks that will also focus on Zimbabwe's crisis and piracy off the Somali coast.
This draft is providing good ground to solidify the efforts of the past few months, said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, referring to the US-sponsored negotiations launched in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 after a seven-year hiatus.We believe it is very important to continue the momentum, he said.But no visible progress has been made on ending the core issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and security between the Palestinians and Israelis since the Annapolis process was launched.France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose country currently holds the European presidency, also hailed the US draft and the Security Council's involvement.The text is a very good basis to get a consensus on principles" for a lasting Middle East solution, he said. I am optimistic that it will be adopted by consensus on Tuesday.His Libyan counterpart, the lone Arab member of the council, however told reporters that he would relay the draft to his capital for instructions and said he wanted a paragraph inserted demanding an end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is set to travel to Washington on December 19 for Middle East peace talks with US President George W. Bush, and fly to Moscow three days later to confer with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Gates warns enemies not to test Obama Sat Dec 13, 2:59 am ET
MANAMA (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned the United States' enemies on Saturday against trying to take advantage of the early months of the new Washington administration to test U.S. resolve.Gates also said the United States would stay deeply involved in the Middle East and the Gulf under Barack Obama's administration.I can assure you that a change in administration does not alter our fundamental interests, especially in the Middle East, he told a regional security conference in Bahrain.Asked about Iran, he said the United States was not seeking to oust the country's leaders but did want to see a change in Iranian policies.Nobody is after a regime change in Iran. What we're after is a change in policies and a change in behavior, Gates said.The president-elect and his team are under no illusions about Iran's behavior and what Iran has been doing in the region and is doing in terms of its own weapons programs.Many foreign policy experts, including vice-president elect Sen. Joe Biden, have suggested enemies of the United States will try to provoke a crisis early in Obama's term while the new administration is still finding its feet.Gates, who will stay on under Obama, said extensive planning has gone into preparing for the transition.Anyone who thought that the upcoming months might present opportunities to test the new administration would be sorely mistaken, he told the Manama Dialogue conference, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.President Obama and his national security team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the United States and our friends and allies from the moment he takes office on January 20th.
Gates, a former CIA director, said the security of the Gulf had long been a central concern for Washington and he brought a message of continuity and commitment from Obama to U.S. allies in the region.He repeated longstanding appeals for Sunni Arab states to support Iraq's U.S.-backed government with full diplomatic relations and forgiveness of Saddam Hussein-era debts.Sunni Arab powers have harbored deep reservations about the Baghdad government, believing it to be sectarian and too close politically to Shi'ite-dominated Iran.Gates said Sunni states should welcome a chance to forge close relations with Iraq, partly to prevent Iran from doing so.
There is no doubt that Iran has been heavily engaged in trying to influence the development and direction of the Iraqi government -- and has not been a good neighbor, he said.Iraq wants to be your partner, he told his audience. And, given the challenges in the Gulf, and the reality of Iran, you should wish to be theirs.
Gates restated U.S. complaints that Iran supports groups such as Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon and said its nuclear program was almost assuredly meant to lead to atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran disputes.(Editing by Matthew Jones)
Rice to tackle Mideast peace, Zimbabwe, Somalia Fri Dec 12, 4:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to New York next week for UN talks on Palestinian-Israeli peace, Zimbabwe's crisis and Somali pirates, her spokesman said Friday.Rice will visit New York on Monday and Tuesday for a lot of activities over at the UN. Topics to be discussed: Middle East, Zimbabwe, Somalia and pirates, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.He gave no further details.UN chief Ban Ki-moon will huddle on Monday with Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss the Middle East peace process, officials of the international body announced earlier.The United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union make up the Middle East quartet, which has endorsed a roadmap for a Palestinian state to coexist peacefully alongside a secure Israel.But no visible progress has been made on ending the core issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and security between the Palestinians and Israelis since Rice and President George W. Bush relaunched the negotiations in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 after a seven-year hiatus.McCormack said Rice hopes that the UN Security Council will work more forcefully to end the multiple crises in Zimbabwe.Rice wants President Robert Mugabe to step down from power, a move backed by Bush and other world leaders. The US blames Mugabe for Zimbabwe's political deadlock, economic meltdown and humanitarian crisis, including a cholera outbreak.
We're in discussions with members of the Security Council as to what the Security Council as a body might do, McCormack said. And what we want to do is to start a process that will bring an end to the tragedy that is unfolding in Zimbabwe.The United States is talking to South Africa, seen as having the most influence with Mugabe, as well as other countries about finding a solution, McCormack indicated.A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, proposed Thursday that Zimbabwe's neighbors, particularly South Africa, close their borders with the country so that it yields to international demands.Rice and her counterparts might also vote on a UN Security Council resolution aimed at curbing a surge in piracy off the Somali coast.The United States has circulated a draft resolution allowing to chase offenders even on Somali soil, diplomats said.At least 17 ships are currently held by Somali pirates, including an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo vessel and a Saudi supertanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
