West Bank settler eviction offers warning, hope By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 21, 12:59 pm ET
HEBRON, West Bank – Israel's swift eviction of Jewish zealots from one of the most volatile West Bank flashpoints offers encouragement to people both inside and outside Israel who hope it is still possible to uproot settlers to make room for a Palestinian state.Israeli police and soldiers encountered little resistance this month when they expelled some 200 extremists from a contested house in Hebron, near the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of Muslims and Jews.But the shooting and arson attacks by settlers on Palestinians following the eviction were a reminder of how quickly the West Bank could plunge into violence, taking down any hopes of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.Removing tens of thousands of Jews from the West Bank as part of a peace accord is becoming an increasingly difficult proposition as radicals resort to violence to keep land they believe God promised them.An increasingly alienated minority of the 280,000 Jews who have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured it from Jordan in 1967 is taking matters into its own hands. They attack Palestinian civilians and Israeli troops every time the government acts against them, calling the operation price tag — meaning the toll they would exact in resisting evacuation.Some settlers worry that the extreme violence — including hurling rocks and bleach and firing weapons — could backfire, making it easier for Israelis to see them as the enemy and stomach using force against them.I believe that if Israel hates us, then they'll give up Judea and Samaria, settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.Still, settlers have been pushed back before, most notably when Israel evicted 8,500 from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Ephraim Sneh, former top military administrator of the West Bank, said settlers have used the threat of violence to compensate for weakened political influence.I believe that most Israelis understand that more than 90 percent of the West Bank should be evacuated. So in this sense, the political influence of the settlers is diminished, Sneh said.On the other hand, a very small but militant and fanatic group of settlers is trying to create a balance of horror vis-a-vis the government, he said.Many Israelis see a pullout of these settlers as their only escape from a demographic race they are bound to lose to the faster-growing Arab population.The fact that outposts haven't been evacuated in any serious way is a clear sign that the government is really afraid of the violent confrontations that would be involved, said Gershom Gorenberg, who has written extensively about the Jewish extremists who settle in West Bank territories.In March 2007, settlers moved into a house in the middle of a heavily populated Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron and defied government eviction orders for over a year.The only way security forces could remove them was to operate by stealth and strike when they thought they were on the verge of an agreement with the government, settler leader David Wilder said.Next time authorities might not find it so easy, he said.Rocket attacks on Israeli towns from Gaza, and Hamas' takeover of the territory following Israel's withdrawal, have emboldened those opposing further concessions.Also, Israel's removal of the settlers in West Bank territories might become harder if the nationalist Likud Party is returned to power in elections Feb. 10. Several of its candidates for parliament are ardent supporters of the settlers. Israeli governments are always reluctant to use guns or clubs on settlers, seeking instead to overwhelm the settlers in numbers. Three years ago, it took thousands of soldiers and police to knock down nine houses in the unauthorized outpost of Amona. More than 200 people were wounded, most of them soldiers and police. To empty the house in Hebron, hundreds of border police were mobilized. If it takes 2,000 cops to demolish nine houses in Amona, a huge contingent to evacuate a house in Hebron, how are you going to evacuate Ofra or Beit-El? Gorenberg asked, referring to older settlements with populations of 3,000 and more than 5,000 respectively. The settlers are trying strategic deterrence, he said, and he believes it's working. Would settlers who use weapons against Palestinians do so against their own army? No one can be sure, but Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's internal security service, has warned of a very high willingness among this public to use violence — not just stones, but live weapons — in order to prevent or halt a peace process.
Kuwait's Global says creditor response very good By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer – Sun Dec 21, 10:08 am ET
CAIRO, Egypt – The managing director of Global Investment House, Kuwait's largest investment bank, said Sunday its lenders were responding positively to debt restructuring efforts begun after two international agencies downgraded its credit rating on default worries.Samir El Alaily, Global's vice chairman, said the investment firm was meeting with about 20 banks in an effort to restructure short-term loans into medium-term positions that would enable us to weather the storm.The overall debt level in question was about 800 million Kuwaiti dinars ($2.86 billion) —far more than the single maturing loan of $200 million that resulted in the downgrades last week by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's.Global's downgrades were but one of several such moves in the oil-rich Gulf Arab nations as concerns mounted that the region's companies were overextended after years of spending and development fueled by hefty oil revenues in the region.Fitch had downgraded Global's long-term rating from BBB to C, and its individual rating from C to E after the firm missed the Dec. 15 repayment of the loan. S&P quickly followed suit, lowering the company's rating to SD/SD from BBB-A 3. The downgrade to selective default meant that some payments may not be made on some financial obligations, the rating agency said.Global scrambled to cover its position, appointing the Commercial Bank of Kuwait as an adviser while the Central Bank of Kuwait was working to secure a $1 billion loan for the investment bank, which manages assets totaling $10 billion.
We are sitting with the banks today, El Alaily told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an investment conference in Egypt. We think we will reach the settlement agreement with the banks very soon.It was a very good response, he said. Most of the banks have come, and most of them are willing to speak to us.El Alaily said the debt issue emerged from the bank being very active in treasury.About 60 percent of our profits are coming from proprietary investments, he said. Those investments are either trading on the secondary markets with shares, or we are leveraging ourselves when we invest in companies.With the sharp downturn in Kuwait's stock exchange, as well as other bourses regionally — a decline fueled by the global economic crisis — El Alaily said Global did not want to sell now fearing a big loss on our balance sheet.We want better paying terms, and we want to show a profit on our balance sheet, he said.Global is not alone in facing difficulties. Kuwait's Central Bank last month helped engineer a bailout of Gulf Bank — the country's second largest lender by assets — after it sustained over $1 billion in losses stemming from derivatives trading.Moody's Investors Service, in a report on the country's banking sector last week, warned of potential challenges stemming from the deteriorating global economic condition and the banks' exposure to the real estate sector.
Moody's said that exposure could weigh on (Kuwaiti banks') performance in the event that the observed slowdown continues and leads to rising loan delinquencies.The Gulf Arab region, including Kuwait, have seen a sharp uptick in property development recently, with a landscape that just decades ago was little more than desert quickly transforming into skylines that promise to house some of the world's tallest buildings.S&P last week said its revised its outlook on six of companies with ties to the Dubai government, DIFC Investments LLC, DP World Ltd, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group LLC, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, Jebel Ali Free Zone and JAFC Sukuk Ltd. Ratings for all six were lowered from stable to negative.S&P analyst Farouk Soussa said the medium-term risks to Dubai's economy have, in our view, increased as demand in the all-important real estate sector shows clear signs of abating, raising the possibility of a sharp correction in the real estate market, and an associated contraction in development and construction.
Palestinian leader Abbas visits Russia's Chechnya Sat Dec 20, 7:05 pm ET
GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived on Sunday in Grozny, capital of Russia's troubled region of Chechnya.Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed Abbas at the airport to take him to his residence along a road decorated with photos of their previous meetings.Kadyrov is seen by Chechens as dedicated to the revival of the Muslim religion and has met several influential Muslim leaders from Arab states.We feel at home here. We thank the Almighty that we came to the Chechen Republic, Abbas told journalists through an interpreter.Kadyrov, a former rebel who now declares loyalty to the Kremlin, held talks with Abbas during the haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.Chechnya, on Russia's southern border, is now relatively peaceful after two wars fought by separatist rebels and Islamist militants against Moscow's rule starting in 1994.Some analysts say that, in return for quelling rebel attacks, the Kremlin has let Kadyrov enforce some Islamic rules, such as requiring women working in government offices to wear headscarves and long skirts, and imposing periodic alcohol bans.A Kremlin spokesman in Moscow said Abbas would stay in Russia until December 22, when he was due to hold talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Egypt truck explodes in Gaza smuggling bid Sat Dec 20, 10:38 am ET
EL-ARISH (AFP) – A fuel tanker truck exploded in an Egyptian border town where it was unloading its 50,000 litre cargo for smuggling into the Gaza Strip, destroying four homes, a security official said.The fuel was being unloaded near a house to be smuggled into Gaza, the official said.Firefighters have been called in from the neighbouring cities to control the blaze, which is widespread, he said, adding that there were no casualties.Last month, Egyptian police said they seized a truck loaded with 170,000 litres (about 40,000 gallons) of fuel in El-Arish which traffickers had planned to smuggle into Gaza.Gaza is an impoverished coastal strip which has been under an Israeli blockade since the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group seized power there last year. It depends on whatever foreign aid is allowed in by Israel and by goods smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.Egyptians in Sinai have demonstrated against fuel shortages in the region, which they blame on the smuggling.Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza is the only passage into the territory not controlled by Israel. Egypt has refused to permanently open the border.The blockade of the territory has led to severe fuel shortages, power cuts and an ever worsening humanitarian situation.
International web services improve after cable cut Sat Dec 20, 10:19 am ET
PARIS (AFP) – A French ship on Saturday took experts to repair broken undersea Mediterranean cables that caused severe disruption to telephone and Internet services across the Middle East and Asia, France Telecom said.But many operators said communications services had improved as alternative routes had been used to carry calls and Internet information.The France Telecom cable ship Raymond Croze left Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, on Friday night and was expected to be on the scene of the damage, between Sicily and Tunisia, on Monday, a spokesman said.Egypt was one of countries worst affected by Friday's incident, but state news agency MENA reported that Internet communications there would be restored to more than half of normal capacity on Saturday.Egypt announced on Friday that it was re-routing Internet services to back-up cables and satellite.The disruption also affected countries as far away as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, but most reported services returning to normal on Saturday.
The cables are jointly owned by several dozen different countries. One cable is 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) long and links 33 different countries while a second is 20,000 kilometres long and serves 14 states.An official of Mumbai-based Reliance Communications blamed a ship's anchor dragging off the Egyptian port of Alexandria. France Telecom also said this was a probable cause of the disruption.
One cable appeared to be fully severed, while the other two seemed to be only partially cut, he added.France Telecom said that temporary re-routing of communications had reduced the disruption for clients, especially as traffic was lower at the weekend. Business communication links between Europe and India had been diverted via the United States.
Pilgrims bring Christmas joy to Bethlehem by Catherine Dupeyron Catherine Dupeyron – Fri Dec 19, 11:03 pm
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – Pilgrims are bringing Christmas joy to Bethlehem, flocking in large numbers to the traditional birthplace of Jesus where tourism had collapsed during the years of the Palestinian uprising.This year is the best since 2000, says Samir Hazbun, who heads the local chamber of commerce, pointing out that the West Bank city welcomed more than one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007.And Christmas will bring even more cheer, he said. All hotels in every category are full.That represents as many as 3,000 rooms and a sharp contrast to the violent days of the uprising that started in 2000.The city of 185,000 has put on its Christmas best to welcome the pilgrims.Garlands of flickering lights, synthetic pine trees, fake snow and other Christmas favourites give a festive, if somewhat commercial, feel to the city.Souvenir sellers, who expect to do a booming business in icons, carved Nativity scenes, crosses, rosaries and other religious items, set up inflatable Santas and blow-up snowmen outside their stores in a city that about 20,000 Christians call home.The atmosphere is good; the tourists have returned massively" said George Babul, sitting outside his Bethlehem Star Store. As church bells rang out, he briefly bowed his head and made the sign of the cross.A tour guide, giving only his first name, Mohammed, said being a guide has become a good job again. This year, I have worked almost every day.
Crowds of pilgrims thronged the Church of Nativity, built on the site where Jesus is said to have been born in a stable because there was no room at the inn.The boom is having a major impact on the city's tourism-driven economy and has brought unemployment down to 23 percent this year from 45 percent in 2002-2003.Last year was the first since 2000 that saw a significant influx of tourism, and the city shows signs of optimism about the future.The number of restaurants more than doubled in the course of this year -- jumping from 20 to 50 -- and three new hotels are under construction.Israeli authorities say they are going all out to ease obstacles to the flow of visitors to Bethlehem during the festive season.We believe, when it comes to tourism, there are no borders, says Deputy Director General Raphael Ben-Hur.But an eight-metre (25 foot) high concrete wall separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem, just five kilometres (three miles) to the north.The wall, which runs for several hundred meters (yards) along the edge of the city, is part of Israel's controversial barrier erected in the West Bank after the Palestinian uprising.
Bush says peace talks have yielded progress By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer –Fri Dec 19, 5:46 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush, poised to finish his presidency without the Mideast peace deal he once said was in reach, declared Friday that Israelis and Palestinians have still made great strides toward settling decades of conflict.No question, this is a hard challenge, Bush said in the Oval Office alongside the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. But nevertheless, people must recognize that we have made a good deal of progress.Abbas concurred: Some might say that all these efforts perhaps went in vain. I happen to disagree.In what was likely their last face-to-face meeting before Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, the two men sought to praise each other and emphasize what's been gained, not the opportunity lost. Their meeting came just days after the U.N. Security Council endorsed as irreversible the administration's peace process. It was launched by Bush last year in Annapolis, Md., and championed by Abbas and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.The president seized on the U.N. move as confirming a path to a Palestinian state, and a path to peace in the Middle East.Bush had confidently said a peace deal — built around the outlines of a first-ever Palestinian state living in peace with Israel — was doable by year's end.But ongoing violence, the situation in Gaza, which is controlled by the militant Hamas group, and internal political developments in Israel have made the deadline unreachable. So instead, the Bush administration has tried to lock in the Annapolis process by enshrining it in the international system.
For his part, Abbas was effusive about Bush's efforts. He said the U.S. president was fair and firm in pushing both sides to meet their obligations.There is no doubt that we will always remember the efforts that you have undertook to promote the peace process, Abbas said.He also reaffirmed the Palestinian commitment to the peace talks, and not as a slogan or a rhetorical commitment. We are practically committed to the peace process. And we are confident all these efforts will be transferred to the new administration.He was referring to Democrat Barack Obama, who succeeds Bush on Jan. 20.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who participated in the Bush-Abbas meeting, said afterward that Abbas asked Bush to help ensure that the peace process is not overturned in the future. We don't want anybody to take us back to the point of zero, and thus any party that wants to take us back to the point of zero should not be a partner, Erekat quoted Abbas as saying.In the Middle East, meanwhile, there were more reminders of the fragile peace. Hamas on Friday formally announced the end of its unwritten, often-breached truce with Israel as Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four rockets into southern Israel.The Israeli military said two rockets were fired Friday morning and two more after sunset. It said troops guarding Israeli farmers in fields adjoining Gaza also came under sniper fire from across the border. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.In a statement posted on its Web site, Hamas said Israel had breached agreements by imposing a painful economic blockade on Gaza, staging military strikes into the densely populated coastal strip and continuing to hunt down Hamas operatives in the West Bank.Hamas, which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and much of the international community and Israel does not officially have direct contacts with it.In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was critical of Hamas' move.I sincerely hope that there will not be a resumption of the violence because that is not going to help the people of Gaza, it is not going to help the Palestinians, it is not going to help the Palestinian cause, she said. Associated Press writers Ben Feller in Washington and Steve Weizman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Thousands join Hezbollah rally in Beirut against Gaza siege by Rita Daou Rita Daou – Fri Dec 19, 11:50 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut on Friday for a mass protest organised by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement against Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.Streets in the southern suburbs were cordoned off as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and yellow Hezbollah flags poured into the Hezbollah stronghold as loudspeakers blasted out a speech by its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.We are are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea, Hezbollah's deputy head Naim Kassem told the crowd.The Palestinian cause is a just cause, he said from a platform on a main road in the area.Hezbollah boy scouts and women in black chadors carried two huge Palestinian flags while Hezbollah security personnel marched carrying photographs of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic republic.Some protesters chanted Death to Israel! Death to America! as others carried placards reading No peace if it leads to humanitarian catastrophe and May God protect our leader Nasrallah.Demonstrations aren't enough. Military action is required to eliminate Israel, said Mosbah Karout, 42, in Beirut from south Lebanon for the event.Similar smaller demonstrations wereheld in cities in the south, north and in the Bekaa Valley, east of the capital.
Hundreds protested in the centre of the southern port city of Sidon, where a dummy of US President George W. Bush with a shoe tied round his neck was paraded after this week's incident in Baghdad when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him.No thanks Mr. Bush. We don't want your democracy and We want justice read signs carried by the demonstrators, who also burned American and Israeli flags.In Bahrain, between 3,000 and 5,000 people demonstrated in Manama on Friday in response to an opposition call to show support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and demand the lifting of Israel's blockade on the enclave.The protesters -- 5,000 according to the organisers but 3,000 according to police -- marched along a main road in the west of the capital shouting Death to Israel,Death to America and From Gaza to Bahrain, one people.The organisers called in a statement for Arab governmennts to break the Gaza blockade and announced the sending of a ship to the territory loaded with aid for Palestinians.Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement ousted forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007, was tightened even further last month because of an upsurge in violence.Tensions remained high in and around Gaza on Friday as Hamas declared an end to a troubled six-month truce with Israel and warned they would respond to any attack.The truce had been uneasy ever since it went into effect on June 19, and violence has increased since early November, with 18 Palestinians killed and Israel reporting more than 250 rocket and mortar fire attacks.Hamas and Hezbollah, considered terrorist organisations by the United States, both advocate resistance to Israel.
Palestinian offers shoe-throwing reporter a bride Fri Dec 19, 6:48 am ET
NABLUS, West Bank – The head of a large West Bank family wants to reward the Iraqi journalist who lobbed his shoes at President George W. Bush by sending him a bride.
Ahmad Salim Judeh says if journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi is interested the family is willing to send one of their daughters to Iraq along with her dowry.The 75-year-old Judeh says doing so would be our honor. He also said Friday that the 500-member clan had raised $30,000 for al-Zeidi's legal defense.Al-Zeidi has become something of a folk hero in the Middle East since throwing his shoes at Bush at a Baghdad press conference Sunday. News stations across the Arab world have repeatedly shown footage of the incident.Al-Zeidi is unmarried.
