Airline glitch takes Mideast conflict to new heights APR 30,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Irate Israeli passengers have complained to British BMI airline that the Jewish state was wiped off the inflight map which showed flights bound for Israel were instead heading to Mecca.But the airline denied any anti-Israel agenda and insisted there was a simple explanation: the planes were recently bought from a bankrupt charter company that flew mainly to Muslim countries.For this reason the inflight entertainment system in the two planes was made to adapt to the passengers flying to and from those destinations and therefore the map showed mainly places holy to Islam,BMI said in a statement.BMI, which started operating low-cost flights to Israel more than a year ago, denied it had any ulterior motive in showing the Israel-free maps.If BMI had any political agenda in order not to anger neighbouring countries, it would not have invested so much in the Tel Aviv line,it said.But after furious passengers took up the issue with the authorities, an Israeli official made it clear that either the Jewish state appears on the maps or BMI disappears from its skies.Doing business with Israel has its advantages and disadvantages, but we will not agree to a situation where they hide the existence of Israel but want to do business with Israel, transport ministry director-general Gideon Sitterman told army radio.I intend to contact BMI chairman Nigel Turner in London and ask for some clarifications... it is unacceptable that we are wiped off the map,he said.Foes of the Jewish state, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Two killed in Gaza-Egypt tunnel collapse: medics Thu Apr 30, 5:21 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Two Palestinians were killed on Thursday when a smuggling tunnel linking the Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed, Palestinian medics said.Three other people who were in the tunnel at the time of the collapse were still missing, the medics said.The Palestinians have been using hundreds of tunnels to ferry food supplies and other necessities into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since June 2007, when the Islamists pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state violently assumed power in the territory.Israel says the tunnels are also used by the Islamists to smuggle weapons including rockets into the Gaza Strip for use against the Jewish state.The network of tunnels was extensively bombed by Israel during its 22-day war against Hamas in December-January, but many of the tunnels were quickly rebuilt following the offensive.
Israel warns EU against criticising new govt Thu Apr 30, 5:01 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has warned the European Union to limit its criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's largely right-wing cabinet or risk losing involvement in the Middle East peace process, an official said on Thursday.The warning was issued in a series of phone conversations in recent days between the deputy director of the Israeli foreign ministry's European desk Rafi Barak and the ambassadors of Britain, France and Germany, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.Israel asks the European Union to keep a low profile and conduct a quiet dialogue... But if these declarations continue, Europe will not be able to have involvement in the peace process and both sides will lose, the senior official quoted Barak as telling the ambassadors.The comments came ahead of next week's European trip by Israel's new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is due to visit the Czech Republic, Italy, France and Germany.Israel last week rapped the European Union after its commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that a planned upgrade of bilateral relations would not be implemented until Netanyahu commits to the peace talks with the Palestinians.Netanyahu has so far not publicly endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, the cornerstone of the internationally backed Middle East peace process.He has insisted since being sworn in on March 31 that his government needed time to review its policy on the peace talks.We have told everyone in Europe in recent weeks that the Israeli government should be given time to formulate its policy and not engage in a war of declarations over the media,Barak said.We want the European Union to be a partner but it is important to hold dialogue in a mature and quiet way and not through public declarations.Late last year EU nations agreed to enhance ties with Israel but the idea was put on hold since Israel's deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip in December and January.Ferrero-Waldner's threat also sparked a row within the EU after Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, contradicted the commissioner's position.The peace process should not be linked to the relations between the EU and Israel, Topolanek said in an interview published in Israel this week.Commenting on Ferrero-Waldner's position, he said: I would not really attribute to it more weight than just a statement by a commissioner.The Czech EU president on Monday admitted that talks on enhancing ties with Israel were in fact on hold, defusing the potentially embarrassing row with the European Commission.
Israel's firebrand FM on first trip abroad Thu Apr 30, 3:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will head on his first trip abroad next week with visits to the Czech Republic, Italy, France and Germany, his office said.The exact dates of the trip have not yet been set, said a statement.It will mark the first foreign tour by the controversial politican since he was sworn in along with the rest of the largely right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 31.Lieberman is known for controversial statements and has been called a racist by critics over his anti-Arab diatribes.
Immediately after taking office, he sparked criticism by saying that the new Israeli cabinet was not bound by the decision that the previous government took at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 to restart negotiations with the Palestinians.He nevertheless said Israel was bound by the 2003 Middle East roadmap, a blueprint drafted by the international Quartet of the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations.The roadmap outlines the peace process and requires a halt to violence and Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank before launching talks on a permanent peace agreement.He has also lashed out at Iran, saying it is a key obstacle to resolving the Middle East conflict and has come out against resuming indirect talks with Syria.
Saudi, Jordanian kings discuss Mideast peace efforts Wed Apr 29, 4:48 pm ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Jordan's King Abdullah II and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz discussed Middle East peace issues Wednesday in the wake of the Jordanian ruler's pressuring Washington to get more involved in the process, the official Saudi news agency SPA said.Jordan's king met with his Saudi counterpart in the eastern city of Khobar after returning from meetings in Washington with US President Barack Obama last week.The two discussed regional and international developments, particularly the Palestinian issue, SPA said.In an interview aired Sunday after his talks at the White House, King Abdullah II emphasised the need for Washington to make its intentions clear by the time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the United States next month.But if, right after that visit, there's not a clear understanding of how America is going to weigh in on these problems, then I think the goodwill (towards) the United States will disappear,he warned.In the next 18 months, if we don't move the process forward ... there will be another conflict between Israel and another protagonist,he added.Both countries have endorsed the Saudi-crafted 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as the way forward to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The initiative calls for an end to Israel's occupation of Arab lands seized in 1967 and Palestinian statehood in return for security guarantees and blanket recognition of Israel by all Arab states.Meanwhile US special envoy Dennis Ross was expected to meet Saudi King Abdullah and other top officials Wednesday and Thursday to discuss regional political issues, the US embassy said.
Arab-Israelis march for right of return Wed Apr 29, 1:12 pm ET
AL-KAFRAYN, Israel (AFP) – As Israel celebrated its 61st anniversary, some 2,000 people demonstrated on Wednesday for Arab-Israelis' right of return to the lands from which they were chased in 1948.The protest took place on the site of Al-Kafrayn, an Arab village among the more than 500 that were razed by Israeli forces at the time of the creation of the Jewish state in 1948.Waving Palestinian flags and banners proclaiming Right of Return,the demonstrators marched through a small pine forest and the ruins of the village that was torn to the ground on April 19, 1948.Some of the families who were forced to abandon their homes at the time resettled elsewhere in Israel while tens of thousands of others fled into exile.Family members of some of the refugees visited sites of demolished villages on Wednesday just as Israel celebrated the 61st anniversary -- in the Hebraic lunar calender -- of its creation.
We have come to tell Israelis we will never forget, Fatima Chalabi, one of the protesters, told AFP.Israel has 1.2 million Arab citizens, the descendants of the 160,000 who remained after the creation of the Jewish state.On May 15, Palestinians and Arab-Israelis mark the anniversary of the Naqba -- Catastrophe -- the term they use to describe the creation of the state of Israel on three-fourth's of the territory of historic Palestine.Some 760,000 Arabs were expelled or fled from their homes during the 1948 war, giving rise to a UN-registered refugee population scattered across the Middle East that today numbers more than 4.6 million.
Carter says US-Syria ties could return this year By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 28, 9:11 pm ET
BOGOTA – Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that the United States and Syria are close to restoring full diplomatic ties, but he doubted Cuba's new openness means its leaders are ready to grant free speech or change their political system.Syrian President Bashar Assad is very eager to restore full ties with Washington, Carter said.I wouldn't be surprised if it happens this year,Carter said in a telephone interview from Quito, Ecuador, at the start of a four-nation South American trip.He plans to meet Assad in Syria in early June after attending elections in Lebanon.The United States withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005 after a political assassination widely blamed on Syria — a claim Damascus denies. Washington has long objected to Syria's support for the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups as well as its alliance with Iran.Syria has recently expressed openness to indirect peace talks with Israel as long as they focus on a complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Carter brokered peace between Israel and Egypt 30 years ago during his presidency.
On Cuba, he indicated that he thinks Fidel Castro — and not brother Raul, who succeeded Fidel as president after he fell ill in 2006 — has the last word on the communist island.I think Fidel is staying as aloof as he possibly can, said the 84-year-old Carter, who has long opposed the U.S. trade embargo. But Fidel also reserves the right to come forward on a particular occasion when he feels his voice might be helpful in clarifying an issue.Fidel Castro said in a newspaper column last week that President Barack Obama misinterpreted April 16 remarks by Raul in which he said Cuba was willing to discuss everything, everything, everything, with Washington, including human rights and political prisoners.I don't think (Raul) was specifically talking about abolishing Cuba's restraints on assembling and freedom of speech and changing the form of government,Carter said.Carter said he had not spoken to either Castro brother or to Obama since what has been widely seen as a thaw in Cuban relations.He said he hopes Obama, who kicked off the exchange by easing restrictions on travel and money transfers to the island by Cuban-Americans, will be aggressive in taking advantage of any opening.I would like to see the United States lift all travel restrictions because that only hurts the Cuban people,Carter said.He was to meet with Ecuador's newly re-elected president, Rafael Correa, on Wednesday, and continue on to meet with the presidents of Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.Carter said he was exploring the possibility of bringing together the presidents of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru — with U.S. representation — in a forum where sensitive issues can be discussed freely.His foundation, The Carter Center, has been trying to persuade Ecuador and Colombia to restore diplomatic ties severed after Bogota's March 1, 2008 cross-border raid to attack a rebel camp run by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group.
Israel begin 61st Independence Day celebrations Tue Apr 28, 3:29 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel began celebrating 61 years of statehood at sundown on Tuesday in an abrupt and symbolic break from the commemoration of Remembrance Day.
The celebrations were officially launched with the lighting of torches at a ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem attended by hundreds of Israeli and foreign dignitaries.
Thousands of police and army forces were deployed across the country and Israel sealed off the occupied West Bank ahead of the Remembrance Day and Independence Day events, fearing Palestinian militant attacks.Independence Day ceremonies will continue on Wednesday with air force and naval parades to the mark the 61st anniversary under the Jewish calendar of the end of the British mandate in Palestine on May 14, 1948.Remembrance Day honours soldiers and civilians killed since Jews first settled outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City in 1860.
Barak: Israeli PM will bend on Palestinian state By Amy Teibel, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 28, 1:27 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's defense minister said in an interview published Tuesday that he expects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the principle of Palestinian statehood — something the Israeli leader has balked at doing since taking office a month ago.Netanyahu is coming under increasing pressure from Washington to resume peacemaking with the Palestinians, a process designed ultimately to create a Palestinian state that would live alongside Israel peacefully within fixed borders.
In what could be seen as a mild slap from the U.S., Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, will meet President Barack Obama next week, before Netanyahu travels to Washington in mid-May. A statement from Peres' office said he would attend next week's conference of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, and meet Obama.Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is a world-renowned Mideast peacemaker, while Netanyahu has a hawkish reputation. Netanyahu took office March 31 amid predictions of a clash with the Obama administration over peacemaking.Netanyahu has stepped back from his original plan to hold off on political negotiations while working with the Palestinians to improve their economy. But Netanyahu has stopped short of endorsing a separate Palestinian state, a key element of U.S. policy.In an interview with the Haaretz daily, Defense Minister Ehud Barak suggested that Netanyahu could relent.I believe that during Netanyahu's visit to Washington, Israel must formulate how it intends to move forward, and that formula will not propose three states for eight peoples, Barak said.
The prime minister's office would not comment. But an aide to the prime minister said a policy review was under way and should be completed around the time Netanyahu goes to Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to publicly discuss emerging policy.The Palestinians hope to set up a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 war.
Israel has annexed east Jerusalem, and some 230,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005. But the coastal territory is now controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas, complicating potential peace efforts. Israel considers Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist, a terrorist group.In a reflection of the sensitivity of the situation, a Palestinian military court convicted a man of treason and sentenced him to death for selling West Bank land to an Israeli company.Abbas routinely withholds the required approval of such sentences, however.Barak's centrist Labor Party, which supports Palestinian statehood, is the lone moderate voice in Netanyahu's government. But during his two years as defense minister in the preceding government of Ehud Olmert, Barak rebuffed Palestinian demands to halt settlement expansion or remove a significant number of Israeli roadblocks that encumber Palestinian movement in the West Bank.In a separate interview published Tuesday, Netanyahu's other top policy-making partner, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, denied that Jewish settlements in the West Bank were an obstacle to peacemaking, as Palestinians and the international community claim.Lieberman also said Israel can't negotiate peace with the Palestinians until they dismantle militant groups and set up a proper justice system. The Palestinians committed to do so under the U.S.-backed road map peace plan of June 2002 — which obliged Israel to halt all settlement construction.To jump straight to the last paragraph and to concede on all of the Palestinian commitments to fight terror — it's a very strange approach,Lieberman told The Jerusalem Post daily.
Israel says it shares water fairly with Palestinians Tue Apr 28, 10:10 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel insisted on Tuesday that it shares water resources with Palestinians in a fair manner, rejecting World Bank claims that it draws more than its quota from the common aquifer.The foreign ministry said that Palestinians have access to twice as much water as the 23.6 million cubic metres (833 million cubic feet) they are allocated annually under an agreement with Israel.Israel has fulfilled all its obligations regarding the supply of water to the Palestinians, and has even extensively surpassed the obligatory quantity,it said in a statement.The Palestinians, on the other hand, have significantly violated their commitments under the water agreement,it said, adding that Palestinians had drilled 250 wells without authorisation and allowed raw sewage to flow into streams.In a report on April 20, the World Bank noted the highly disparate availability of water resources.It said the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip were totally dependent on scarce water resources shared and largely controlled by Israel.Because of Israeli restrictions and bad Palestinian management, the Palestinians face dire water shortages, the bank said in the report.
Abbas refuses to recognise Israel as Jewish state by Nasser Abu Bakr – Mon Apr 27, 1:08 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.A Jewish state, what is that supposed to mean? Abbas asked in a speech in the West Bank's political capital of Ramallah.You can call yourselves as you like, but I don't accept it and I say so publicly.Abbas said the topic was extensively discussed and rejected by the Palestinians during a November 2007 international conference in Annapolis, near Washington, at which the two sides relaunched peace negotiations.
Netanyahu has demanded the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state as part of an eventual peace deal.Such a move would amount to an effective renunciation of the right of return of refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when Israel was created, a cherished principle of the Palestinians.The Israeli foreign ministry reacted to Abbas's statement by saying recognition of Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish people is an essential and necessary step in the historic process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians.The more the Palestinians assimilate this fundamental and substantive fact, the sooner the peace between the two nations will progress toward fruition,the ministry said.Abbas also criticised Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said the new cabinet was not bound by the previous government's decision taken at Annapolis to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians.Lieberman is in a class by himself. He has yet to learn the art of politics and he has not yet practised politics enough. He is an adversary, he has come to say no and I reject and every chance he gets he comes up with a new refrain,he said.On the latest round of Palestinian reconciliation talks which opened on Monday in Cairo, Abbas said if the parties managed to form a unity government, that cabinet would have to abide by past Israeli-Palestinian accords.It is the government and its members that should respect such deals and not movements, Abbas said.He was referring to the Hamas movement ruling Gaza whose refusal to recognise past deals, to renounce violence and to recognise Israel has prompted the West to blacklist the Islamist group as a terror outfit.
Should the Palestinians form a unity government, the cabinet's top priority would be reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military carried out a devastating 22-day offensive in December-January.Another priority will be preparing for combined presidential and parliamentary elections before January 24, 2010, the date when the mandate of the current legislature dominated by Hamas expires, Abbas said.His secular Fatah party and the Hamas movement have been at odds since June 2007 when the Islamists booted their rivals from the Gaza Strip after a week of deadly fighting.
Turkey, Syria conduct military drill By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 27, 12:11 pm ET
ANKARA, Turkey – The Turkish military said it launched a joint drill with Syrian soldiers on their shared border Monday in order to improve security. Israel, an ally of Turkey and a longtime foe of Syria, expressed concern.Military teams from Turkey and Syria were scheduled to cross the border and visit outposts during the three-day exercises, the Turkish military said. It described the drill as the first-ever between the countries.There was no mention of the joint operation in Syrian media. However, government newspapers reported Monday that Syrian Defense Minister Hassan Ali Turkmani had begun a five-day visit to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials and also to attend an international defense fair in Istanbul.In Istanbul, senior defense officials from Turkey and Syria also signed an agreement for cooperation in the defense industry, the Anatolia news agency reported.The agency quoted Turkish Maj. Gen. Beyazit Karatas as saying the deal would lay out the legal framework for future defense industry cooperation and increase contacts between the two countries' defense ministries.Tensions between Turkey and Syria were once high because Abdullah Ocalan, leader of Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, sheltered in Syria. Turkey massed troops on the Syrian border. Damascus then expelled Ocalan and he was captured in Kenya in 1999.
Antagonism between the neighbors had also mounted in the 1990s when Turkey developed military ties with Israel.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that he viewed the exercise as definitely a worrisome development.But I believe that the strategic relations between Israel and Turkey will prevail over Turkey's need to participate in such an exercise, Barak said.Turkey has long been Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world, and hosted several rounds of indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel last year.However, ties between Turkey and Israel deteriorated during the Gaza war, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reprimanded Israeli President Shimon Peres over civilian casualties in Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Turkish defense ties with Israel include training agreements and purchases from Israel worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Palestinians build stage for pope next to barrier By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 27, 11:21 am ET
AIDA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank – Palestinians in a refugee camp near Bethlehem want to receive Pope Benedict XVI in what they say is the most fitting setting — next to the towering cement wall that is part of Israel's West Bank separation barrier and borders the camp on two sides.They are building an outdoor theater next to the wall for the pope's visit to Aida camp May 13. They say they chose the spot to highlight life under Israeli military occupation.However, the Israeli government has ordered the construction to stop, saying camp organizers lack the necessary permits and that the theater's proximity to the wall poses a security risk.Israel started building the separation barrier in the West Bank in 2002, portraying it as a defense against Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers. Palestinians have denounced it as a land grab, since the barrier slices off about 10 percent of the West Bank, land the Palestinians seek for their future state. The barrier, made up of fences in rural areas and walls in urban neighborhoods, is about two-thirds complete.The Aida camp, home to about 5,000 Palestinians, is located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It sprang up in 1948 to house some of the several hundred thousand Palestinians displaced during the war over Israel's creation.The pope is touring the Holy Land from May 8-15, and will visit Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, all key locations in Jesus' life. In Aida, he is to deliver a speech and will be entertained by local folk dancers, according Bethlehem's mayor.The outdoor theater, which is to hold an audience of 1,000, is to be completed by May 5.
Local officials said Israel has pressured them to stop work, and that Israeli soldiers came to the site last week and forced the workers to leave. The workers have since returned and are working long days to finish the project.We are determined to receive the pope in this place because it encapsulates Palestinian suffering, as we have the refugee camp, the wall and a watchtower of the Israeli military, said the Palestinian governor of the Bethlehem district, Salah Taameri.Miki Galin, an Israeli military official in the West Bank, said the theater is being built in an area under Israeli control and lacks the necessary permits. The theater's proximity to the separation barrier could also pose a security risk, he said.Galin declined to comment on whether Israel is worried about political messages implied by the stage's location, but said Israel is working closely with the Palestinian Authority and local churches to coordinate the visit.Palestinian and Israeli officials are discussing alternate locations in the camp where the pope could speak, but local officials say there is nowhere in the camp where the wall isn't visible.The wall is surrounding us like a ring on a finger,said Palestinian lawmaker Issa Karakeh.
Israel builds more homes in east Jerusalem Mon Apr 27, 9:40 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has begun construction on some 60 new housing units in Jewish settlements in annexed east Jerusalem, the anti-settlement Peace Now group said on Monday.The works aim to build 60 housing units for Orthodox religious Jewish families right next to the Palestinian neighbourhood of Arab al-Sawahra, Peace Now spokeswoman Hagit Ofran told AFP.The works began two months ago as part of development of East Talpiot,one of a dozen Jewish settlements that Israel has built in east Jerusalem since conquering that part of the city in 1967, she said.They aim to complete a belt of Jewish neighbourhoods that will surround east Jerusalem and we are against this project, which is harming the hopes for peace, she said.The Jerusalem municipality says that the construction in the neighbourhood was approved in 2000 and that the works in question do not amount to a new settlement.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement on Monday that the continuation of settlement activity is part of the occupation government's policy to avoid the two-state solution and the peace process.Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem -- which Palestinians hope to make the capital of their promised state -- are one of the main stumbling blocks in the moribund Middle East peace process.Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing the city in the 1967 Six Day War, declaring the city its eternal, undivided capital.The move has not been recognised by the international community and all foreign embassies are located in the commercial capital of Tel Aviv.
Obama govt asks for change in law on Hamas: report Mon Apr 27, 4:40 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's administration has asked Congress to allow continued aid to Palestinians, even if officials linked to the militant group Hamas become part of the government, The Los Angeles Times reported Monday.The move has nevertheless alarmed congressional supporters of Israel, the paper reported.
Under the existing law, any US aid would require that the Palestinian government recognize Israel, renounce violence and agree to follow past Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Hamas does not meet these criteria.The newspaper said the administration had requested the changes this month as part of an 83.4-billion-dollar emergency spending bill that also contains funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.The bill also would provide 840 million dollars for the Palestinian Authority as well as for rebuilding the Gaza Strip after the Israeli military assault earlier this year.
But the Obama administration is not sure how to deliver the aid to Gaza because of the restrictions on dealing with Hamas, the report said.The requested changes may never be used. Power-sharing talks between Hamas and the US-backed Fatah faction appear to be deadlocked.They are watching for signs that the new Democratic team at the White House might be more sympathetic to Palestinians than the administration of former president George W. Bush, The Times said.The paper quoted Republican Representative Mark Steven Kirk as saying that the proposal was like agreeing to support a government that only has a few Nazis in it.US officials insist that the new proposal doesn't amount to recognizing or aiding Hamas, the report said.However, the request underscores the quandary faced by the Obama administration in its efforts to broker peace in the Middle East.Obama has repeatedly called for a separate Palestinian state. But negotiating a peace agreement will be difficult without dealing with Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in 2006, The Times said.
