Iran has enough fuel for a nuclear bomb, report says Vahid Salemi / Associated Press A technician works at a nuclear facility outside Isfahan, Iran.The report by the IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, surprises diplomats and arms control experts. Officials note that major obstacles remain to building a weapon.By Borzou Daragahi February 20, 2009 LATIMES.
Reporting from Tehran -- Iran has enough nuclear fuel to build a bomb if it decides to take the drastic steps of violating its international treaty obligations, kicking out inspectors and further refining its supply, U.N. officials and arms control experts said Thursday. Iran has made no such gestures and has slowed its expansion of machinery producing nuclear fuel, having increased production capacity by less than 5% over the last three months, according to a report issued Thursday by the International Atomic Energy Agency.The reports, the latest updates from the arms control watchdog for the United Nations, show that Iran had amassed about 2,227 pounds of low-enriched, or reactor-grade, nuclear fuel by late January. Physicists estimate that producing the 55 pounds or so of highly enriched, or weapons-grade, uranium needed for an atomic warhead requires 2,205 to 3,748 pounds of low-enriched uranium.Iran's increased supply of low-enriched uranium surprised diplomats and arms control experts who had assumed that Iran would need until the end of the year to acquire enough fuel for a bomb.One expert, David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said he was blindsided by the report.We are surprised, Albright said.We did not expect this.
Senior officials close to the Vienna-based IAEA told reporters and arms control experts in a conference call Thursday evening that Iranian officials said they had miscalculated their stockpile of low-enriched uranium, an error that was cleared up with agency officials in mid-November but never made public.Iran steadfastly denies that it hopes to build an atomic bomb, which the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, says violates the principles of Islam. It says its nuclear program is intended solely to produce energy for Iran's growing population. But the United States, Europe and Israel suspect Iran is trying to attain a nuclear weapons capacity that could have strategic implications for the Middle East. By crossing the 2,205-pound threshold, experts say, Iran has improved its breakout capacity, the ability to renege on treaty obligations, kick out inspectors and quickly build a bomb. The latest IAEA report may complicate the Obama administration's plan to engage diplomatically with the Islamic Republic in an attempt to persuade it to dismantle sensitive elements of its nuclear program.Still, Albright said, the uranium stockpile signifies a capability, not a decision. And even if Iran made such a decision, it would face numerous major hurdles to building a bomb.
For one thing, it doesn't have enough high-speed centrifuges at its facility in Natanz to further refine the uranium, said senior U.N. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.In theory it is possible, one official said.But to do so they would have to use installed capacity. If they would use the facility in Natanz, they're not there.The IAEA report, distributed to members of the agency's board before a March 2 meeting, also says inspectors found no evidence that Iran was trying to further refine the nuclear fuel, which remains under constant surveillance, or to move it to another facility.But Iranian officials have barred inspections of facilities producing centrifuge parts, a move arms control inspectors say adds to worries that Iran may build an undeclared centrifuge facility separate from Natanz. Since November, Iran has added only one new 164-centrifuge cascade at Natanz, suggesting it was slowing the acceleration of its program. About 4,000 centrifuges are now producing nuclear fuel at the facility, with 1,600 more installed but not yet operating, according to the report, which was obtained by The Times.Iran has also barred inspectors from its heavy-water reactor near Arak, which has concerned inspectors who hope to examine the site for possible telltale clandestine features that could be used in a weapons program, said a high-ranking U.N. official. The report also takes Iran to task for refusing to answer questions about a set of classified documents that arms control experts say suggest Iran engaged until 2003 in missile design, radiation experiments and explosives testing consistent with a covert nuclear weapons program. Iran says the documents, dubbed the alleged studies by diplomats and arms control experts, are forgeries.
The agency's report on Syria criticizes Damascus for limiting access to the bombed facility near Dair Alzour, which Syrian authorities say was an unused military site, as well as other facilities. Graphite is often used to build a nuclear reactor, but U.N. officials said they could not yet say whether the graphite traces found were nuclear-grade.Syria has said that artificially modified uranium particles at the site probably came from Israeli bombs. But the IAEA report says the composition of the particles suggests a low probability that they came from munitions.A senior U.N. official told reporters the uranium had been oxidized. Albright said metallic uranium found in reactors would have been oxidized if it was blown up in an airstrike, suggesting that uranium fuel could have been present at the remote Syrian site.U.S. intelligence officials have maintained that no nuclear material had yet been introduced at the site at the time it was bombed by Israel. daragahi@latimes.com
Violence flares on Israel-Lebanon border by Jihad Siqlawi FEB 21,09
EL-QLAYLEH, Lebanon (AFP) – Israel shelled southern Lebanon on Saturday after a rocket slammed into its territory in a tit-for-tat exchange of fire across their tense border, sources on both sides said.Israeli rescue services said three people were injured when the rocket struck near the town of Maalot in the western Galilee region, triggering an immediate response from Israel.The Israeli army considers this a serious incident and believes it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government and the army to prevent this rocket fire, an Israeli army spokesman said.Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denounced the violence, which caused panic on both sides of the border, while the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah denied any involvement.The Israeli shelling is an unacceptable and unjustified violation of Lebanese sovereignty,Siniora said in a statement. The rockets launched from Lebanon threaten the country's security and stability and constitute a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.He was referring to the resolution that brought an end to the devastating 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon that left more than 1,200 people dead.Lebanese President Michael Sleiman reiterated his opposition to the country being used as a platform for the launch of rockets, saying he regards it as a challenge to Lebanon's will.A spokesman for Israel's Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said three people were lightly wounded and another two were treated for shock.Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mussawi told AFP that the group had nothing to do with the attack, which was launched from a region largely controlled by Hezbollah and its Amal party ally.The head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which patrols the border area urged maximum restraint.
The UNIFIL force commander Major General Claudio Graziano has been in contact with the senior commanders of the Lebanese and Israeli army with a view to ensuring that the cessation of hostilities is maintained, UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane told AFP.A Lebanese army spokesman said Israel fired eight artillery shells after two rockets were launched from a banana plantation near the village of El-Henniyeh, in the El-Qlayleh region about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border.There were no reports of injuries in Lebanon.One of the two rockets landed in Israel and the second apparently malfunctioned and landed in Lebanon, Bouziane said.Panicked residents could be seen fleeing as Israel retaliated.My six-year-old girl was terrified,said Hassan Faqih, 49, as he headed to the nearby coastal town of Tyre with his wife and two children. We will stay in Tyre if the situation escalates.In January, rockets were fired on two occasions from Lebanon into Israel in attacks that frayed nerves on both sides of the border and raised fears that Israel's war on Gaza in December and January could spread. Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, also denied involvement in those attacks. The Lebanese government, in which Hezbollah is represented, has repeatedly stressed that it is committed to the UN-brokered truce that ended the war. Earlier this month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned that any attack by Hezbollah would prompt a tough response from Israel.
I want to say here, on the border, that I don't recommend that Hezbollah test us because the consequences would be more painful than one can imagine, Barak said during a visit to the frontier area. Maalot was the scene of an attack on a school by Palestinian gunmen in 1974 in which 26 people were killed, most of them children.
2 rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer –Sat Feb 21, 6:56 am ET
AFP BEIRUT – Two rockets were fired from south Lebanon at Israel early Saturday, with one slamming into a mostly Christian Arab village and causing minor injuries to at least one Israeli, reported Lebanese and Israeli officials.Lebanese security said the rockets were fired from the Mansouri and al-Qulaila areas near the coastal town of Naqoura and said one rocket appeared to have landed in Israel.An Israeli army spokesman said a woman was injured and the military responded to the rockets. He did not elaborate.Israeli paramedics in Jerusalem said one rocket landed in northern Israel, causing minor injuries to three people who were taken to a hospital in the nearby coastal town of Nahariya. Israeli censorship rules do not allow media to report where, specifically, rockets fired from Lebanon land in Israel.The rocket exploded in a mostly Christian, Arab village in the Galilee region, leaving a large groove in the ground next to a house. Drops of what appeared to be dried blood were sprayed on the pavement and shrapnel smashed through a kitchen window, filling the sink with glass.I was sleeping when I heard something like a bomb, local resident Masad, who did not give his last name, told Associated Press Television News. I got up and saw something unbelievable — a katyusha, he said, referring to the type of rocket often used by militant groups in south Lebanon.Around half of the residents of Israel's hilly Galilee area are Arabs, mostly ethnic Palestinians. During Israel's war with Lebanon in 2006, their villages were shelled by Lebanese guerillas, killing a number of people.The Lebanese officials said Israel responded by firing at least six shells on villages in the area where the rockets had been launched. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora condemned both the rocket attack on Israel and the Israeli retaliation.In a statement Saturday, Saniora said the rockets fired from south Lebanon threatened security and stability in the region and violated a U.N. resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. He also condemned the Israeli firing of shells on Lebanese territory, calling it an unjustified violation of Lebanese sovereignty.No one has claimed responsibility for the rocket firing.The militant Hezbollah group has a large rocket arsenal but is not believed to have used them against Israel since their 2006 war. It has denied involvement in recent rocket attacks on Israel.Rockets from Lebanon have been fired into Israel on two occasions during Israel's Gaza offensive last month. Palestinian militant groups are suspected of launching them.The Syria-based radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — General Command denied the group was responsible for Saturday's incident and urged Lebanese authorities to find those who carried out the attack.The firing came a day after the Israeli president chose hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new Israeli government.Associated Press Writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
U.S. repeats interest in two-state solution in Israel Fri Feb 20, 8:38 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will continue to press for a two-state solution in Israel's conflict with Palestinians, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Friday, after right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu was asked to form Israel's next government.We'll have to see how events unfold in Israel, should Mr. Netanyahu become prime minister, and it will be our point of view that this remains a very important element of our approach and our policy, Rice told National Public Radio's All Things Considered program.But she added, Both parties have to want to work in that direction.Netanyahu, 59, leads the hawkish Likud party, which backs a two-state solution, but says any future Palestinian state must be demilitarized and have limited power.On Friday, Netanyahu accepted a mandate to form Israel's next government and immediately called for a broad, national unity coalition with centrist and left-wing partners.Such a coalition might create a middle-of-the-road government immune from pressures from fringe parties that have hamstrung previous Israeli administrations.But there was no sign that his rivals would accept, and Netanyahu may forge an alliance with far-right and ultra-religious parties, which could limit peace-making efforts with the Palestinians.Netanyahu, who served as Israel's prime minister in the late 1990s, now has six weeks to put together a coalition for a second turn at the helm.(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, editing by Vicki Allen)
Hawkish Netanyahu picked to form Israel govt by Patrick Moser– Fri Feb 20, 3:35 pm
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked on Friday with forming a new Israeli government, fuelling concerns that a right-wing coalition could torpedo the Middle East peace process.Accepting the nomination from President Shimon Peres, the former premier named Iran as the main threat to Israel's existence and made no direct reference to peace talks with the Palestinians.Netanyahu is pushing for a broad coalition, evidently keen to avert a repeat of the situation in 1999, when his government collapsed following the defection of far-right parties that accused him of making concessions to Palestinians.Livni, the outgoing foreign minister, emerged from talks with Peres saying she would have nothing to do with a right-wing coalition.I will not be a pawn in a government that would be against our ideals, she said. Israel needs a government based on a two-state solution for Palestinians and Israel, she added.But Netanyahu did not give up on his hopes and invited Livni for talks on Sunday.I turn to the Kadima and Labour leaders: let us close ranks and act together, he said. I want to meet you first and discuss the formation of a broad government coalition.Netanyahu did not directly mention Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and made no mention of the US-backed two-state solution, focusing instead on what he said was the threat from Iran.Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence,he said.The responsibility we face is to achieve security for our country, peace with our neighbours and unity among us.Reacting to the nomination, the Palestinian Authority said it will only deal with the new Israeli government if it is committed to the peace process.We will not deal with the Israeli government unless it accepts a two-state solution and accepts to halt settlements and to respect past accords, president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
The United States pledged its support to the incoming government, with State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid saying Washington remains optimistic for a solution to the regional peace process.The US also echoed Netanyahu's emphasis on Iran, when White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Tehran's suspect nuclear program is an urgent problem that has to be addressed and we can't delay addressing.The comments came a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran is continuing to enrich uranium, a key stage in the atom bomb making process, but has slowed down the expansion of its enrichment activities.Netanyahu believes the time is not ripe to discuss the key issues in Middle East peace talks, including the borders of a proposed Palestinian state, and wants to focus on improving daily life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.He insists Jerusalem will remain Israel's undivided capital. Palestinians want east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed, to be the capital of their future state.Netanyahu, 59, has also insisted he will not be tied by a recent pledge by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to withdraw settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory. As premier from 1996 to 1999, he put the brakes on the peace process, in part by authorising a major expansion of Jewish settlements. But he also made more concessions than his hardline rhetoric had led Israelis to expect, and under US pressure he concluded two agreements with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Netanyahu has vowed that if he returns to power he will topple the Hamas rulers of Gaza and put a stop to rocket attacks which have continued sporadically since the January 18 end of Israel's 22-day Gaza military offensive that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.
While Likud, with 27 of the 120 parliamentary seats, has one seat less than Kadima, Netanyahu emerged as the only one able to rally sufficient support to form a government coalition. Netanyahu can count on the support of 65 of the 120 members of parliament, if he relies on parties to the right of his own despite his stated preference for a broad coalition. He has 28 days to put together a coalition. If necessary Peres can extend the deadline by 14 days.
Czechs earmarks 350,000 euros aid to Gaza Fri Feb 20, 12:13 pm ET
PRAGUE (AFP) – The Czech cabinet said it had decided Friday to earmark a further 10 million koruna (350,000 euros, 440,000 dollars) for humanitarian aid to people in the besieged Gaza Strip.The Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, wants to take a strong part in efficient humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has been afflicted by an extensive humanitarian crisis after the armed conflict in January,the cabinet said.The government, which already granted aid worth 175,000 euros to Gaza in January via the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), will decide on the specific form of aid after a donor conference scheduled to take place in Cairo on March 2.The situation in Gaza will be one of the main topics for conversation at talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who will meet Czech President Vaclav Klaus and parliament speaker Miloslav Vlcek in Prague on Monday, according to an official programme.
Netanyahu names Iran as Israel's main threat Fri Feb 20, 9:02 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday named Iran as Israel's main threat after accepting the task of forming a new government in the wake of the tight February 20 elections.Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence, he said at a ceremony at President Shimon Peres's official residence.The terrorist forces of Iran threaten us from the north, the presumptive prime minister said in reference to Lebanon and Syria, where Israel says Tehran supplies arms to Hezbollah and Hamas.For decades, Israel has not faced such formidable challenges.The responsibility we face is to achieve security for our country, peace with our neighbours and unity among us,he said.In a brief speech, Netanyahu did not directly address the issue of stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, nor did he mention the US-backed two-state solution.
Netanyahu urges moderates to join broad government By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 20, 4:33 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to his moderate rivals Friday to join a unity government — a tricky alliance that would let the hawkish Israeli leader avoid relying on an unstable grouping of right-wingers almost sure to collide with the Obama administration and each other.I call on the members of all the factions ... to set politics aside and put the good of the nation at the center, Netanyahu said during a brief ceremony after President Shimon Peres tapped him to try to put together Israel's next governing coalition.Although the election gave Netanyahu's Likud Party and other right-wing groups a majority in parliament, the prime minister-designate has a delicate task in forming a government.Bringing moderates into a coalition would dilute the power of the nationalists who criticized the peace talks pursued by the outgoing centrist government. Netanyahu opposes sweeping territorial concessions to the Palestinians and wants to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.However, the centrist factions would produce a more stable government with international support than Netanyahu would probably get with a narrow coalition of conservatives who have their own disagreements. They have far different agendas when it comes to domestic issues, such as whether Israel should allow civil marriages.
In his appeal for a unity government, Netanyahu singled out first and foremost Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the governing Kadima Party, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, chairman of the Labor Party.Livni is the key to a broad-based government and she indicated she might be willing to come on board. But because Kadima remained Israel's largest party in the Feb. 10 election, although far short of a majority, she would certainly demand a high price: sharing the premiership with Netanyahu, who doesn't want to serve only half a term.Livni, who led Israeli negotiators in a year of peace talks with the Palestinians, agreed to meet with Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss his unity overture. Earlier Friday, she said she would not join a hard-line government and was prepared to sit in the opposition if necessary.I will not be able to serve as a cover for a lack of direction. I want to lead Israel in a way I believe in, to advance a peace process based on two states for two peoples, Livni said.The Palestinian Authority's peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said any Israeli government that did not accept the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and continued settlement building will not be a partner.We will not be in the negotiations for the sake of negotiations, Erekat said.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Islamic militant Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip, said Netanyahu's appointment indicates that there is no possibility for security and stability in the region in the coming period. Hamas is not party to peace talks and is shunned by Israel and Western powers as a terrorist organization.
The center-left Labor Party, like Kadima, champions the establishment of a Palestinian state, and Barak has said he would take Labor into the opposition. Should he change his mind, he would want to remain defense minister, a demand Netanyahu would be expected to meet.While Livni insists on the need for peace efforts, she does not object to joining a government that includes Avigdor Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party, a Netanyahu ally that wants 1 million Israeli Arabs to sign a loyalty oath to the Jewish state.Lieberman has said he would not object to joining a government with Kadima. His secularist agenda is at odds with religious nationalist parties and gives him common ground with moderates.
Many Labor lawmakers, however, say they would not serve in a coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu because of its extremist views.In his speech, Netanyahu did not mention by name either Yisrael Beiteinu or right-wing religious factions whose support persuaded Peres to choose Netanyahu to form the government even though Kadima led the election by winning 28 of parliament's 120 seats.Likud, which got 27 seats, is in a better position to put together a coalition because Lieberman's party won 15 and right-wing religious parties combined took 23 — for a 65-seat bloc in parliament. While Netanyahu owes the hard-liners his second crack at the premiership — he held the job in the late 1990s for a turbulent three years — forming a narrow coalition of nationalist and religious parties would present him an array of domestic and foreign policy headaches. Yisrael Beiteinu wants to redraw Israel's borders to place heavy concentrations of Israeli Arabs under Palestinian jurisdiction and to require those Arabs who remained to sign a loyalty oath or lose their citizenship rights. Those positions have not drawn any criticism from the religious parties, but Lieberman angers them with his vehement opposition to the Orthodox Jewish establishment's control of key aspects of life in Israel, such as marriage. If either party bolted a right-wing coalition in a fight over social issues, the government would fall. The nationalist and religious parties could both cause Netanyahu problems in the international arena if the U.S. were to pressure him to make territorial concessions to the Palestinians. His first government fell apart in 1999 after Washington leaned on him to grant the Palestinians control of large parts of the biblically significant West Bank town of Hebron. The nationalist camp's commitment to expanding West Bank settlements could put Israel at loggerheads with the U.S., the Jewish state's main ally. President Barack Obama has vowed to make ending 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians a priority, and his new Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, unequivocally favors a halt to all settlement building.
IAEA finds graphite, more uranium at Syria site By Mark Heinrich– Thu Feb 19, 1:11 pm ET
VIENNA (Reuters) – U.N. inspectors found graphite and more uranium traces in test samples taken from a Syrian site Washington says was a covert graphite nuclear reactor almost built before Israel bombed it, officials said on Thursday.The first word that graphite particles had turned up came with the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency's second report on Syria in three months. But U.N. officials familiar with it said the IAEA inquiry remained inconclusive.Still, one senior U.N. official said the discovery of additional uranium traces was significant.That, together with graphite traces that are undergoing more tests, raised pressure on Damascus to provide evidence for its denials of wrongdoing.The IAEA's November report said the site bore features that would resemble those of an undeclared nuclear reactor.Thursday's report said Damascus, in a letter to the IAEA this month, had repeated its position that the desert complex destroyed by Israel, known as al-Kibar or Dair Alzour, in September 2007 was a conventional military building only.But Syria, it said, was still failing to back up its stance with documentation or by granting further access for IAEA sleuths to the bombed location and three others cited in U.S. intelligence handed to the U.N. watchdog last year.
Some diplomats said Syria might be playing a waiting game until it sees what U.S. President Barack Obama has to offer as part of his stated intent to engage foes including Iran, an ally of Syria with a disputed uranium enrichment program.The United States says its information indicates the site was a reactor that was close to being built with North Korean assistance and designed to produce plutonium for atomic bombs.The U.N. official said further analysis of swipe samples since November turned up around 40 more instances of processed uranium particles, adding to 40 registered three months ago.He said some graphite traces had been found around the alleged reactor site and also by a water treatment plant 5 km away where equipment for the complex that was bombed to rubble by Israel had been stored temporarily.
SIGNIFICANT FINDING
We are sure it is man-made graphite but not yet sure if it has specifications of nuclear-grade graphite, he said.If you find 40 uranium particles and then 40 more, this constitutes for us a significant finding, because we are now sure this is not just a simple contamination from a person who went to the site for a visit.The IAEA report said the uranium contamination that turned up in soil samples was a chemically processed form of the mineral that was not the enriched variety used to run nuclear power plants or as fissile bomb material.It was extremely unlikely, the report said, that the traces came with munitions Israel had used to smash the complex, as Syria has asserted. Depleted uranium is sometimes used to boost the penetrating power of munitions.The report, to be debated by the IAEA's 35-nation governing board in early March, said the uranium element at issue was not in Syria's declared nuclear inventory. Syria's only official nuclear site is an old research reactor.The presence of the particles at Dair Alzour, imagery of the site available to the agency, and information about certain (nuclear-related) procurement activities need to be fully understood, the report said in its summary.Syria needs to be transparent by providing additional access to other locations alleged to be related to Dair Alzour. These measures, together with the sampling of destroyed and salvaged equipment and debris, are essential for the agency to complete its assessment,it added. IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei again called on Syria to take such transparency steps as soon as possible. He also urged Israel and other states to share information to help the IAEA probe, including satellite imagery, and agree to let inspectors share this information with Syria. The IAEA report said Syria was still ignoring IAEA requests to let inspectors take swipe samples from rubble, shrapnel and any equipment that satellite pictures showed were removed from al-Kibar after Israel's air strike to undetermined locations. Syria has also been asked to explain why it landscaped all four sites in question to alter their look after inspectors asked to examine them.(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Israel's Livni rules out joining right-wing coalition Thu Feb 19, 10:48 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday ruled out joining a Likud-led right-wing coalition, saying her Kadima party would rather move into opposition ranks.Livni made the comments after ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman threw his weight behind Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu while calling for a government that would include the centrist Kadima and his Yisrael Beitenu party.
Today, the bases of a far-right government led by Netanyahu have been set, Livni told members of her party.We have not been elected to give legitimacy to this extreme right-wing government, and will head to the opposition.Kadima won 28 of the parliament's 120 seats, one more than Likud. But because Netanyahu has a stronger chance of garnering majority parliamentary support, President Shimon Peres is likely to ask him to form a government.
Israel says no cease-fire until soldier comes home By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 18, 5:54 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel declared Wednesday that it will not open the Gaza Strip's blockaded borders until Hamas militants free a captured Israeli soldier, dealing a blow to Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire.The decision was condemned by Hamas, which is desperate for border crossings to be opened in order to start repairing destruction from Israel's military offensive in the coastal territory last month.In parallel, the prime minister of the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank announced plans to stream reconstruction money directly to the people of Gaza. That would effectively sideline the Hamas administration in Gaza.Gaza's borders have been sealed by Israel and Egypt since the Islamic militants of Hamas violently seized control of the territory nearly two years ago, driving out supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Israel allows only vital humanitarian supplies to enter, and the Security Cabinet decided that closure will stay in place until Sgt. Gilad Schalit is released. The 11-member body unanimously endorsed the condition, which was set out by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week.
The soldier was captured in a 2006 cross-border raid by Hamas-linked militants who attacked an army base, killing two other soldiers.In return for sending Schalit back, Hamas is demanding the freedom of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including dozens of convicted killers. It also has insisted the prisoner exchange should be handled separately from the cease-fire negotiations.Olmert insisted on a link. I don't think we need to open the crossings until the issue of Gilad Schalit is resolved, he told the Security Cabinet, according to his office.
Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel will fly to Cairo on Friday for further indirect talks with Hamas, mediated by Egypt, officials in Olmert's office said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said Dekel would remain in Cairo until an accord is reached.Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would continue to allow a limited flow of food and humanitarian items into Gaza.Regev said the ministers also agreed that a number of Palestinian prisoners could be released in exchange for the soldier. He would not say how many.
We will have to release terrorists, people who are guilty of very difficult crimes, Regev said. The ministers supported and understood this.Hamas officials, both in Gaza and in the group's exiled leadership in Syria, condemned Israel's decision and accused it of undermining the Egyptian truce effort.Ali Baraka, a Hamas leader based in Damascus, Syria, said Israel's decision comes in the face of Egyptian efforts because this position is one of obstinacy.The Palestinian observer at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that Israel's new demand meant it did not want a truce.Speaking shortly before Israel announced its condition, the United Nation's top Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, warned there is a danger of new fighting in Gaza if a cease-fire deal isn't reached quickly.
He told the U.N. Security Council that a durable cease-fire can be achieved only if there is broad progress on exchanging prisoners, preventing weapons smuggling into Gaza, opening Gaza's borders and uniting Palestinian factions.These steps would also pave the way for the longer term recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, Serry said. As long as the borders are closed, efforts to repair the heavy damage in Gaza will remain frozen because of shortages of cement, glass, nails and other basic supplies. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed, and the basic infrastructure was hit hard during the Israeli offensive.
Support for Hamas' rule could be eroded by a failure to begin repairs.
Salam Fayyad, the prime minister in the Abbas administration, told The Associated Press in the West Bank city of Ramallah that he will present a plan to donors to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in aid directly to owners of damaged homes in Gaza, working with Gaza's banks. That would bypass Hamas, although Fayyad would not say that this was his goal. Hamas insists on a role in allocating aid, but donors are balking at working with the Islamic militant group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. It was unclear if Hamas would try to block the funding, risking harsh criticism from its people.
Also complicating the situation is Israel's political turmoil.
Olmert, who is the focus of investigations into alleged corruption, will step down after a new government is formed following last week's parliamentary election. The results of the vote were inconclusive. Israel's president, Shimon Peres, received the official election results Wednesday evening and started consultations with the 12parties. In a statement, he said he would complete the talks Thursday. Based on those discussions, Peres will pick either centrist Tzipi Livni of Kadima or Benjamin Netanyahu of the hard-line Likud to try to form a governing coalition. The prime minister-designate would have up to six weeks to form a government. Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Ramallah, West Bank, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
