Lebanese militant calls for destruction of Israel Thu Jan 29, 2:33 pm ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Lebanese militant and convicted murderer Samir Kantar, who was released by Israel in a prisoner swap last year, called for the destruction of Israel during a visit to Tehran on Thursday.We have to resist against American occupation because Americans are the supporters of the tyrants and in the region we have to resist the Zionist regime and destroy it, Kantar said in a speech before being honoured by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Kantar was released in July 2008 as part of a prisoner swap between Lebanon and Israel after three decades of imprisonment in Israel.Described as a monster in Israel where he was convicted of killing three people, including a policeman and a four-year-old girl in a notorious attack nearly three decades ago, Kantar is considered a hero by some in Lebanon.He said he appreciated the role played by Tehran in supporting the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance to Israel.Today we meet in Iran and we are on the threshold of the 30th anniversary of a great revolution led by the great imam Khomeini, he said referring to the overthrow of Iran's monarchy in 1979.He said he still wanted to confront Israel.I stayed in prison for 30 years and I am still waiting for the date to confront the occupying enemy, he said.
Every drop of blood and every bit of pain we went through is the price we paid for victory. This was the situation in Iran, in Lebanon in 2000 and in 2006. Gaza is waiting for a similar future.Ahmadinejad gave Kantar was given a statue of two prisoners trying to break through the bars of a jail cell, as the two men kissed each other in greeting.Iran's hardline president himself has drawn global outrage for calling for Israel to be wiped off the map and describing the Holocaust as a myth.
Nasrallah vows to avenge commander's killing Thu Jan 29, 1:41 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Thursday to avenge the killing of top commander Imad Mughniyeh who died in a Damascus car bombing last year which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.The Israelis live in fear of our revenge, Nasrallah said in a rare news conference via video link. The decision to respond to the killing is still on. We decide the time and place.Nasrallah said it was clear Israel was behind Mughniyeh's killing in a car bomb blast last February.A probe by Syria indicates that (Israel's spy agency) Mossad was behind the assassination, he said.In his wide-ranging news conference that touched on a number of subjects, Nasrallah said DNA tests on the remains of four fighters handed over by Israel in a 2008 prisoner swap failed to prove their identity.We sent DNA samples of the remains to a laboratory in France... a few days ago the results came out and they were not helpful, Nasrallah said.We cannot say that any of the four remains belong to (Palestinian) Dalal al-Moghrabi, (Lebanese) Yehya Skaf or the other two martyrs... so we consider these remains to belong to unknown martyrs.Moghrabi was killed in a battle with Israeli forces after her group, including Skaf, blew up a bus they had hijacked on the road between Tel Aviv and Haifa in 1978, killing 36 people.
We do no consider that we have the remains of any of the martyrs who died in Dalal's operation, said Nasrallah.Israel last year transferred to Lebanon the remains of 199 Palestinian and Hezbollah fighters, saying they included Moghrabi and Skaf.Under the prisoner exchange, Israel freed five Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Kantar, who was sentenced to five life terms for a 1979 triple murder.Hezbollah in return handed over the remains of two Israeli soldiers seized in 2006.
Hezbollah: Obama same as Bush on Israel By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 29, 12:16 pm ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon's Hezbollah leader said Thursday there is no difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush when it comes to Israel, and that the new U.S. administration has so far shown full support for the Jewish state — Hezbollah's archenemy.The remarks were the first comments by the reclusive Sheik Hassan Nasrallah since the Jan. 20 inauguration of the new U.S. president. Although a militant group, Hezbollah is today also a political force and a partner in the Lebanese government with veto power over all decisions.The conduct of the new administration when it comes to Israel is ... one of absolute support, Nasrallah said, speaking via videolink from his hiding place. I have not sensed until now that there is any difference between the two (U.S.) administrations.He also denounced Israel's 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip, claiming Israel failed to achieve its target of routing out militant Palestinian Hamas from the coastal strip. Hezbollah is a Hamas ally, and both are supported by Iran and Syria.Nasrallah went into hiding at the onset of the July 2006 Israel-Hezbollah and has rarely been seen since in public, fearing assassination.
Israeli warplane bombs Gaza-Egypt border: army Thu Jan 29, 1:22 am ET
GAZA CITY, (AFP) – An Israeli warplane bombed Thursday an area of the Gaza Strip border known to contain smuggling tunnels to Egypt after Palestinian militants fired a missile, the Israeli military said.An aerial attack took place against a site used to manufacture weapons in an area of the city of Rafah following the firing of a rocket into southern Israel in the evening, an Israeli army spokesman told AFP.
Witnesses said the attack took place in eastern Rafah, an area known to contain smuggling tunnels, and that no one was injured.Earlier the Israeli military said the missile was fired from the Gaza Strip towards the town of Ofakim, which fell in an unpopulated area.The rocket attack was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction.Later the Israeli military said that early Thursday a second missile was fired into southern Israel, but caused no damage or injuries.It was the second launch of a missile since the end of the Gaza war, which Israel launched following repeated rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.On Wednesday, the ruling Islamist movement Hamas said it had fired several mortar rounds at Israeli troops making an incursion into the Gaza Strip.The first major violation of the truce which ended Israel's 22-day onslaught against Hamas in the Gaza Strip took place on Tuesday, when Palestinian militants killed an Israeli soldier in a bomb blast near the border.Israel retaliated with gunfire that left one man dead, an air strike that wounded three and bombing raids on border smuggling tunnels.
Egypt attacks Iran and allies in Arab world Wed Jan 28, 3:05 pm ET
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt aired its grievances against Iran, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, saying they worked together in the fighting over Gaza to provoke conflict in the Middle East.(They tried) to turn the region to confrontation in the interest of Iran, which is trying to use its cards to escape Western pressure ... on the nuclear file, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview with Orbit satellite channel broadcast Wednesday.
Aboul Gheit also said that Egypt undermined Qatar's attempts to arrange a formal Arab summit on Gaza earlier this month, arguing that it would have damaged joint Arab action.Egypt made the summit fail... This summit, if it had taken place as an Arab summit with a proper quorum, would have damaged joint Arab action. We can see what others do not see, he said.The interview was broadcast Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and the state news agency MENA carried excerpts.The comments are the first acknowledgement by Egypt that it actively sought to prevent the Doha summit on January 16, which was the subject of a bitter tug-of-war between rival Arab states.It also indicated that a reconciliation meeting in Kuwait last week between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on one hand, and Qatar and Syria on the other, had only a short-term effect.Qatar failed to win enough support to hold a formal Arab League summit on Gaza but it went ahead anyway with an informal consultative meeting of Arab leaders.The wrangling reflected deep divisions between Arab governments. On one side Saudi Arabia and Egypt, wary of the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, favored discussing Gaza at a separate economic summit in Kuwait a few days later.Diplomats say Egypt resents the Qatari challenge to its traditional role as leading Arab mediator and dislikes the influence of the satellite television channel Al Jazeera, which is based in Doha and owned by the Qatari government.Some people imagined that a satellite channel could bring down the Egyptian state, without realizing that Egypt is much stronger than that, Aboul Gheit said.Egypt is very big and has extensive influence despite attempts to influence this stance and role, whether in the Al Jazeera channel or other channels, he added.The Egyptian minister also criticized Hamas for what he called its coup against the forces of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip in 2007.(Writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
France summons Israeli ambassador over Gaza incident Wed Jan 28, 1:51 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – France on Wednesday summoned Israel's ambassador after Israeli troops fired warning shots as European diplomats were blocked at a Gaza border crossing.
Israeli troops halted a diplomatic convoy carrying France's consul general at the Erez crossing on Tuesday and held it for six hours as it left the Gaza Strip and returned to Jerusalem, the foreign ministry said.The convoy, which included other European diplomats, was subject to two warning shots from Israeli soldiers, ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier told reporters.The foreign ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador Daniel Shek and it was clearly stated that we protest this unacceptable incident, said the spokesman.France also raised concerns over access to humanitarian aid in Gaza after a shipment of water treatment supplies was blocked at a border crossing, he added.In Jerusalem, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said all border crossings were closed for several hours on Tuesday after an Israeli army patrol was targeted in a bomb attack that left one soldier dead.This measure was not specifically aimed against the French consul general, said Levy.Other than French consul general Alain Remy, the convoy was also carrying diplomats from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Germany and Sweden, according to a diplomatic source.The diplomats were on a mission to assess the situation on the ground and take stock of French-funded aid projects in Gaza.It was the first time since November 2006 that an Israeli ambassador was called into the French foreign ministry. In that incident, France complained about Israeli overflights over French troops based in south Lebanon.Israel's war in Gaza, launched on December 27 in response to Hamas rocket and mortar fire, killed more than 1,300 people, more than half of them civilians, and wounded more than 5,400, according to Gaza medics.Both sides have declared ceasefires but tensions remain, and international diplomats are attempting to broker a lasting end to Hamas attacks in Israel and an end to Israel's blockade of the impoverished territory.
Jordan king calls for joint Arab-EU-US action for peace Wed Jan 28, 11:23 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan's King Abdullah II called on Wednesday for Arab states, Brussels and Washington to join forces in Middle East peace efforts, in talks with visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.He stressed the need to launch joint Arab, European and US action to hold serious negotiations leading to a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of two states, the palace said in a statement.We should unite the efforts of the international community ... as stipulated in the Arab peace plan, avoiding the launch of a new peace initiative, the king said.He was referring to international support for a two-state solution and an Arab initiative offering normal ties with the Jewish state in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied land.The international community must assume its responsibilities by quickly resolving the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, King Abdullah told Solana.The European Union envoy said the priority was to reach a long-term ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.What we want to achieve is to have a ceasefire which produces calm for a period of time which is long and is respected by everybody. I hope that we can move in that direction, he said.The situation is still very fragile and therefore to make a ceasefire solid is very important for the people who suffer and very important for the distribution of humanitarian aid.Solana held talks earlier on Wednesday with Israeli Social Affairs Minister Izaac Herzog on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than 1,300 Palestinians died in a 22-day war launched on December 27.
Mullen: Iranian arms probably were bound for Gaza By ANNE GEARAN, AP Military Writer Anne Gearan, Ap Military Writer – Tue Jan 27, 8:14 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The nation's top military officer said Tuesday the United States did all it could to intercept a suspected arms shipment to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, but its hands were tied.Separately, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other U.S. officials said it is too soon to tell whether the prospect of new U.S. engagement with Iran will bear fruit.Mullen confirmed that a Cypriot-flagged ship intercepted in the Red Sea last week was carrying Iranian arms and that U.S. authorities suspect that the shipment was ultimately bound for the Gaza Strip, where Hamas and Israel are observing a shaky truce after three weeks of fighting.The United States did as much as we could do legally, Mullen said, adding that he would like more authority to act in such cases. We were not authorized to seize the weapons or do anything like that.The Navy searched the ship with permission of the captain and found small munitions, military officials said.
The vessel was allowed to continue its voyage after the search, and Mullen said the ship was expected in port in Syria this week.Israel launched a 22-day offensive late last month on Hamas-controlled Gaza to try to permanently halt years of militant rocket fire on growing numbers of Israelis and to halt the smuggling of arms that turned Hamas into a threat to much of southern Israel.Mullen said he long has favored approaches to Iran that would be a strategic benefit to the United States. Stability in Afghanistan is in both nations' interest, he said.To the degree that we are able to dialogue with them, find some mutual interests, there is potential there for moving ahead together.He offered a heavy dose of caution.Iran is unhelpful in many, many ways in many, many areas, and so I wouldn't be overly optimistic at this point, Mullen told reporters at the Foreign Press Center.Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Iran had a clear opportunity to engage more productively on its nuclear program and other issues in light of President Barack Obama's intention to change the direction of U.S. foreign policy.Clinton said Obama's first days in office have made it clear that a more open Iranian approach to the international community could benefit Iran. She said this was reflected in statements Obama made in an interview Monday with an Arab TV network.There is a clear opportunity for the Iranians, as the president expressed in his interview, to demonstrate some willingness to engage meaningfully with the international community, she said. Whether or not that hand becomes less clenched is really up to them.
Obama told the Al-Arabiya news channel that he wanted to communicate to Muslims that "the Americans are not your enemy. He condemned Iran's threats to destroy Israel and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, but said it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress.Clinton, who criticized Obama for his willingness to speak without conditions with leaders of rogue nations like Iran during their contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, told reporters that the administration is undertaking a wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of U.S. policy options toward Iran. She did not elaborate.Clinton's comments came one day after Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Obama administration will engage in direct diplomacy with Iran.Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. Rice said Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program. (This version CORRECTS to say U.S. officials instead of Condoleezza Rice.))
Outreach to Muslims starts new path in Mideast By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jan 27, 3:55 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Even before crafting its own Middle East strategy, the Obama administration is making clear that its approach will differ — in tone and style, if not also in substance — from its predecessor's.In choosing an Arab network for his first televised interview to declare, Americans are not your enemy, President Barack Obama signaled a break with the past. The substance of the shift may have to wait, but the symbolism is immediate and likely to be reinforced with an early presidential visit to a Muslim nation.The administration sees a great deal at stake, and not just the future prospect for Arab-Israeli peace. There also is the broader struggle against Islamic extremism — what the George W. Bush administration called a global war on terrorism — and the prospect for stability and democracy in Iraq.
The stakes stretch to Afghanistan, the Central Asian launching pad for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and where tens of thousands more U.S. troops are likely to be fighting in the months ahead. At least as important is the related problem of Pakistan, the nuclear-armed Muslim nation whose largely ungoverned areas along the border with Afghanistan are a haven for al-Qaida and other terrorists.The list of related issues runs longer: Syria, Lebanon, Iran.Obama came into office convinced, based in part on intelligence briefings he received during the presidential transition, that reaching out to the far-flung Arab and Muslim worlds was not only important but urgent, according to Denis McDonough, Obama's deputy assistant for strategic communications.Obama wants to repair America's image in the eyes of the billion-strong adherents to Islam, McDonough said.We're a country under threat, McDonough said. The challenge is to reach the billion while also making clear that you're not going to tolerate the hate.Almost daily, Obama has pushed the buttons of Muslim diplomacy. From his inaugural address, in which he assured Muslim dictators, we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist, to his early phone calls to friendly Arab leaders, to his dispatching of special envoy George J. Mitchell to the Middle East on a listening tour, the new commander in chief has marked a new beginning on this front.He also declared his intent to close the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a move designed to bury one of the most widely recognized sources of ill will generated in the Muslim world since 9/11.
But will this fresh approach — mostly words at this stage, rather than action — produce new results? A different tone certainly can be helpful, said Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations and history at Boston University. But I would expect opinion in the Arab world will be much more likely to be influenced by what we do rather than by what we say.So I would imagine that in order for us to determine whether we are opening a new and better chapter in our relations with the Muslim world we need to see what the Obama policy with regard to the peace process will look like, and, likewise, what policy choices Obama makes on Afghanistan and Pakistan.Every major element of policy in the greater Middle East is under review by the Obama administration. The new president made it clear even before he took office that he would take a more active diplomatic approach, at least with regard to Iran and to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But he has yet to lay out clear paths.In the Al-Arabiya TV interview Monday, Obama said he instructed Mitchell to begin with the basics.What I told him is start by listening because all too often the United States starts by dictating, Obama said.Some of the early attention on the Middle East and broader Muslim world can be attributed to the fact that the Bush administration handed Obama a crisis in the Gaza Strip. A fragile cease-fire is now in place, but Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, remains defiant and unwilling to recognize Israel's right to exist. The Obama administration is holding Hamas at arm's length.Mitchell arrived in Egypt on Tuesday to begin an intensive round of talks across the Middle East — a process that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said would tee up some Obama decisions in the weeks ahead. We have a lot of confidence in (Mitchell's) knowledge of the area and his political ear, so you not only hear what people say but what the meaning behind the words might be, Clinton told reporters at the State Department. So we're going to wait and let him report back to us about the way forward.AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.
