ISRAEL MUST CHOOSE INTEGRATION JORDAN

Israel must choose integration, or isolation: Jordan king APR 24,09

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel must make a choice between integrating into the region or remaining isolated, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Friday as he urged the US to fully back Palestinian statehood.Israel now has to make its choice, the king said in a speech in Washington.The Jewish state can integrate into the region ... or to remain fortress Israel, isolated, holding itself and the entire region hostage to continued confrontation.Referring to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which defined Arab conditions for the creation of a Palestinian state, the king said Israel has been presented with a plan that offers it a place in its neighborhood.Washington's commitment to Palestinian statehood must be unambiguous in deeds as well as words, the king added.Israel must know that attempting to delay this (two-state solution) will be disastrous for its own future as well as for the Palestinians, he added.

Every country, and perhaps the world, sees the United States as the key to peace in the Middle East ... tackling the issue head on is imperative.We do not have time to engage in another open-ended process ... every missed opportunity has alienated people, he added.US President Barack Obama has invited Arab and Israeli leaders to Washington next month and called for good faith gestures from all sides, including Israel, as he signalled he intends to make the peace process a priority.Now is the time for the United States to lead (and make sure) no more time is wasted, said Abdullah. A moment of truth is here for all who claim to seek peace and justice.

Through its own focus and through its own resolve the United States will set the standard.The king on Wednesday said it was time for Arab and Muslim countries to help the United States do the heavy lifting needed to forge an elusive peace between Israel and the Palestinians after more than five decades of enmity.I hope that you will see in 2009 a group of Arab and Muslim countries doing as much as we can to help the United States and allies in the peace process and also deal with a lot of regional challenges that we have,the king told Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one day after delivering the same message at the White House.With talks between the US-backed Palestinian Authority and the Islamist Hamas movement set to resume shortly in Egypt, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday expressed doubt rival Palestinian factions will clinch a deal on a unity government, but wanted to keep options open if they do.There doesn't seem to be (a deal) in store, but we don't want to bind our hands in the event that such an agreement is reached, Clinton told the House appropriations committee.The chief US diplomat promised Washington would not deal with any unity government that failed to meet international principles for peace such as halting violence against Israel and recognizing Israel's right to exist.In recent weeks, Obama has made clear to Israel he believes that the path to peace lies in already agreed frameworks made in the stalled roadmap plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace and the Annapolis agreement.In an address to Turkey's parliament, Obama said the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

Lebanese parliament based on sectarian split By The Associated Press – Fri Apr 24, 12:00 pm ET

A new parliament to be elected in Lebanon on June 7 will be apportioned among Christian and Muslim sects under a power-sharing formula that also divvies up Lebanon's main leadership positions by religion.Under the 1989 agreement to end a 15-year civil war, the 128-seat parliament is divided equally between Christians and Muslims, and subdivided among the largest of the country's recognized 18 religious sects.On the Christian side, Maronites get 34 seats, Greek Orthodox 14, Greek Catholics eight, Armenians six, Protestants one and another minority sect one. On the Muslim side, Sunnis and Shiites each get 27 seats, the Druse sect eight and the Alawite sect two.Under an unwritten but unbending tradition since Lebanon won independence in 1943, the president must be a Maronite Catholic, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim. The Cabinet must be divided evenly between Christians and Muslims.

Israel raps calls to freeze EU ties upgrade Fri Apr 24, 5:04 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised EU calls to freeze a planned upgrade of ties until his government commits to the Middle East peace process, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday.Don't set conditions for us, the daily quoted him as telling visiting Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic, which currently holds the European Union's presidency.Peace is in Israel's interest no less than it is in Europe's interest, and there's no need to make the upgrade in relations with Israel conditional on progress on the peace process, Netanyahu said.We are in the process of reviewing our policy; don't rush us,Haaretz quoted Netanyahu as saying during Thursday's meeting.The European Commission made it clear on Thursday a planned upgrade of bilateral relations would not be implemented at this stage.Too much remains unclear at this current point in time. And we expect indeed a clear commitment from the new government to pursue the negotiations with the Palestinians, EU commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters in Brussels.We expect a stop of all activities undermining our objective of a two-state solution, she added, citing the expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories which is continuing on a daily basis.Netanyahu has not endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state which is the cornerstone of the internationally backed Middle East peace process.Late last year EU nations agreed to enhance ties with Israel but the idea has been a dead letter since Israel's deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip in December and January.

Israel Foreign Minister hits out at Iran, Syria Fri Apr 24, 4:59 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview published Friday Iran is a key obstacle to resolving the Middle East conflict and spoke out against resuming indirect talks with Syria.It would be impossible, Lieberman told the English-language Jerusalem Post, to resolve any problem in our region without resolving the Iranian problem.The biggest obstacle to any comprehensive solution, the right-wing minister said, is not Israel, it is not the Palestinians. It's the Iranians.The daily, which did not publish the full interview, also said Lieberman cited Syria's deepening ties with Iran -- Israel's archfoe -- and added that he saw no point in resuming the indirect talks with Damascus conducted by the last government.We don't see any good will come the Syrian side. Only the threats like: If you're not ready to talk, we'll retake the Golan by military action, Lieberman said.Israel occupied the Golan in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community. In May last year, Syria and Israel began indirect talks after negotiations halted eight years earlier over the fate of the strategic plateau.An immigrant from the former Soviet Union who lives in a West Bank settlement, Lieberman said the real reason for the deadlock with the Palestinians is not occupation, not settlements and not settlers.It started like other national conflicts ... today it's a more religious conflict. Today you have the influence of some non-rational players, like Al-Qaeda,said Lieberman.He rapped the world community for speaking in slogans when addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.And everybody, you know, speaks with you like you're in a campaign: occupation, settlements, settlers, he said, adding that slogans like two-state solution are overly simplistic and ignore the root causes of the conflict.The Jerusalem Post said Lieberman would not say whether he ruled out or accepted the concept of a Palestinian state.He said the new government, which took office on March 31, would complete its foreign policy review over the next two weeks and announce it when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Barack Obama at the White House in May.

Pope not welcome in Jordan, Islamists tell PM Thu Apr 23, 10:07 am ET

AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan's influential Islamist opposition said on Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI is not welcome in the country next month unless he apologises for his 2006 remarks linking Islam to violence.The government should push for an apology from the pope, who should apologise for angering 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, Islamic Action Front (IAF) chief Zaki Bani Rsheid told Prime Minister Nader Dahabi in a letter.Otherwise, he is not welcome in Jordan and his visit is rejected.In the letter, posted on the IAF website, Bani Rsheid expressed the hope that the government will ask the pope to apologise publicly for insulting Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

The pope is due in Jordan from May 8-11 ahead of a trip to Israel.

In September 2006 at a speech at a German university, Benedict quoted a mediaeval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as evil and inhuman.His remarks sparked days of sometimes violent protests in Muslim countries including Jordan, prompting the pontiff to say later he was deeply sorry for any offence, and attributing Muslim anger to an unfortunate misunderstanding.The IAF is the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, and controls six seats in the 110-member lower house.Bani Rsheid's letter comes four days after Brotherhood spokesman Jamil Abu Baker demanded that the pope postpone his visit to the kingdom.His visit to the region should reflect coexistence between Muslims and Christians. Provocative positions do not serve this purpose,Abu Baker said.

Egypt minister urges Muslims to visit Jerusalem Thu Apr 23, 8:36 am ET

CAIRO (AFP) – The world's billion-plus Muslims should go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to show that it is a Muslim city and the future capital of a Palestinian state, an Egyptian minister was quoted on Thursday as saying.Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammed Hamdi Zaqzuq made the appeal despite the Arab world's refusal of normalisation with Israel, which wants to make Jerusalem its eternal and undivided capital.Just as Muslims go on pilgrimage... to Mecca, they should also go to Jerusalem and to the Al-Aqsa mosque by the hundreds of thousand every year, the Al-Masry Al-Yom daily quoted Zaqzuq as saying.This way we can show the whole world that Jerusalem is something that concerns all Muslims,Zaqzuq said.East Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site after Saudi Arabia's holy cities of Mecca and Medina.Israel invaded, occupied and annexed Arab east Jerusalem, also the location of key holy sites of Christianity and Judaism, in 1967. The international community says the annexation is illegal.Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but continues to reject normalisation, including most travel to Israel, as long as the Jewish state occupies Arab lands captured in 1967.I invite all Muslims... to go to Jerusalem, even with Israeli visas, and I know full well that I'm exposing myself to virulent attacks,by saying this, Zaqzuq told a conference entitled "Jerusalem from an Islamic point of view.If this proposition is followed through, the whole world, and Israel, will have to accept this reality, which is that Jerusalem is for Muslims and they will not give up on it,the state-owned Al-Ahram daily quoted him as saying.Zaqzuq said that unfortunately his proposal has so far been rejected and I am accused of seeking normalisation with Israel.The Palestinian Authority last month accused Israel of ethnic cleansing after it delivered dozens of eviction orders to Arab residents of east Jerusalem.Israel rarely grants building permits to Arab residents of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to make the capital of their promised state.

Jerusalem mayor defends home razing Thu Apr 23, 5:49 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Jerusalem's mayor said on Thursday that the US administration was wrong to oppose the razing of Palestinian homes in the city and denied such demolitions violated peace accords.The Americans are wrong. I will work to convince them they are wrong, Nir Barkat told journalists.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to the region in March that tearing down Palestinian homes was unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the roadmap.The right-wing Barkat insisted that demolishing homes in annexed east Jerusalem that were built without construction permits is not a contradiction to the roadmap.On the contrary, those new buildings are not fulfilling the terms of the roadmap, he said, referring to the internationally-drafted peace blueprint that was launched by world powers in 2003 but has made little progress since.Plans to raze 88 homes in the Silwan neighbourhood of east Jerusalem which authorities say were built illegally have drawn international criticism, with Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing.Barkat deplored the international support for the Palestinians whose homes are to be demolished.

The world is backing the process of illegal building in east Jerusalem.

If the demolition orders are carried out, 1,500 people would be left homeless in one of the largest forced evictions since Israel occupied mostly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 war.Barkat said the demolition orders dated back to 2003 and that he merely announced his intention to enforce them shortly after he took office in January.He dismissed claims he wanted to force Palestinians out to ensure Jews remain a majority in Jerusalem.The demolition issue has nothing to do with politics. It's all Palestinian spin,he said.

Barkat insisted Jerusalem must stay united.There is no example anywhere in the world of a split capital that works, he said.Israel considers all of Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital. The international community does not recognise the claim and foreign embassies are all located in Tel Aviv.The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent state.

Israel criticises parliamentary invite for Hamas leader Wed Apr 22, 4:34 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – Israel's ambassador to Britain Ron Prosor on Wednesday criticised British lawmakers for extending an invitation to Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal to address lawmakers in parliament via video-link.Meshaal, who is based in Damascus, is to participate in a debate organised by former Labour minister and now independent MP Clare Short and Liberal Democrat Lord John Alderdice.The event's organisers argue that dialogue with the Islamist Hamas movement, considered by Britain, the United States and the European Union to be a terrorist organisation, is crucial to achieving progress in the Middle East peace process.Prosor, however, said that the invitation was a slap in the face to moderate Palestinian leaders who sought a peaceful solution with Israel.The main opposition Conservative Party have also complained against the use of parliamentary facilities for communication with Hamas, which is a banned group in Britain.Hamas's charter states categorically that: There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad,Prosor said.One can only presume that those who invite terrorists to speak at Westminster either share this view or utterly fail to comprehend its implications.The debate will not be open to members of the public and is to take place in parliamentary offices in Portcullis House, which is opposite the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, a spokesman said.Meshaal has met with British MPs in the past, most recently last week when he held talks with a delegation headed by an MP from the ruling Labour party, which followed a similar meeting with another group of British and Irish parliamentarians in Damascus earlier this month.

Jordan King: Arabs must do more on Mideast peace Wed Apr 22, 4:09 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Jordan's King Abdullah II said Wednesday it was time for Arab and Muslim countries to help the United States do the heavy lifting needed to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians.Too many times in the past, America has been asked to do all the heavy-lifting, the king said as he met with Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi one day after delivering the same message at the White House.I hope that you will see in 2009 a group of Arab and Muslim countries doing as much as we can to help the United States and allies in the peace process and also deal with a lot of regional challenges that we have,he told Pelosi.The speaker, US President Barack Obama's top ally in the House of Representatives, warmly welcomed the king and underlined how much we value his words of wisdom.We?ve all benefited from the insights he has given us about the region. We?re very pleased to work closely in partnership with Jordan and with His Majesty in terms of a Middle East peace and fighting terrorism,she said.

China vows strong support for Mideast peace process Wed Apr 22, 3:03 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Wednesday pledged strong support for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement based on a two-state solution.China will pursue its efforts to advance the Middle East peace process and strongly supports a settlement based on two states, he said after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.We wish the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the near future because this will consolidate security and stability in the region, he told reporters, adding that a two-state settlement was the only solution possible.Yang was to hold talks on Thursday in Israel, whose new government led by right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.Abbas, who Palestinian officials say is to meet US President Barack Obama on May 18, told the same press conference that the vision of a two-state solution would be at the centre of his talks in Washington.We have received position signals about this vision from President Obama, his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and (US special) envoy George Mitchell,the Palestinian leader said.

Ahmadinejad condemns Israel again after U.N. walk-out By Fredrik Dahl – Wed Apr 22, 1:13 pm ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran's president accused Israel on Wednesday of mass murder and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, two days after his denunciation of the Jewish state as racist prompted a walk-out from a U.N. meeting on race.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a conference in Tehran on Israel's genocide and war crimes in Gaza that Iran had asked Interpol to arrest 25 Zionist war criminals for the assault on the Palestinian coastal strip in December and January.Iran, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, said in December it had set up a court to try Israelis for attacking Gaza and that it was ready to try those it accused in absentia.The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza killed 1,434 Palestinians, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including 3 by rockets fired into Israel.The Israeli military said figures it gathered through intelligence sources and cross-referencing names showed 1,166 Palestinians, among them 709 terror operatives,were killed.Siege and mass murder of the Palestinians in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in other occupied areas are all considered as ... crimes committed by the Zionist regime,Ahmadinejad told the meeting of prosecutors from Islamic countries.

His remarks were translated by English-language Press TV.

Last month, Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said Iran had drawn up charges against 34 Israeli commanders and 115 individuals, on charges including war crimes, invasion, occupation, genocide and crimes against humanity.Israel, which Iran refers to as the Zionist regime,has promised its military personnel state protection from foreign prosecution.

SOFT SPEECH

On Monday the Iranian president, who has questioned the Nazi Holocaust, denounced Israel at a United Nations conference on racism as a totally racist government founded on the pretext of Jewish sufferings.Ahmadinejad's comments caused European countries not already boycotting the Geneva conference to walk out but drew applause from Islamic delegations. U.S. President Barack Obama condemned his remarks as appalling and objectionable.The Iranian president hit back, saying about Obama in a speech in the central town of Varamin later on Wednesday, To show that he really wants to create changes he could attend this conference (in Geneva) and not just to sit there and condemn my speeches. This doesn't help stop racism.And in Geneva, Iran on Wednesday rejected criticism of Ahmadinejad's remarks from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who accused the Iranian president of misusing the conference, and participating delegations including Norway.Tehran's delegate said the Monday speech contained neither any accusation nor any incitement as irresponsibly alleged and that it was deplorable for high-ranking U.N. officials to shed their impartiality as Ban did with his public criticisms.At the Tehran conference earlier in the day, Ahmadinejad said that the U.N. chief had asked him to make a soft speech in Geneva, but that he had rejected the request.Ahmadinejad was criticized for attending the U.N. conference by his main moderate challenger in Iran's June presidential election Mirhossein Mousavi, Iranian newspapers said.Mousavi believes in a conciliatory foreign policy toward the West, unlike Ahmadinejad, who was the only head of state to address the Geneva meeting. (Additional reporting by Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, and Laura MacInnis and Jonathan Lynn in Geneva; Writing by Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Israel: Halt Iran to allow Mideast peace efforts By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 22, 11:55 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday that Iran must be reined in if Israel and the Palestinians hope to move along the path to peace.

Ayalon made it clear, however, that this was not an Israeli condition for going ahead with peacemaking, though Israel charges that Iran is the main backer of the violent Islamic Hamas rulers of Gaza as well as Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.We should continue on the path of peace with the Palestinians as if there is no Iran threat, Ayalon told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.Simultaneously, we should move forward on stopping Iran as if there was no Palestinian issue, added Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.Tehran is working hard to derail any possibility of effective peacemaking through its backing of anti-Israel militants in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon, he said.Realistically and effectively, if we want to go on the path without additional obstacles and dangers to the process, we have to rein in Iran because of its nuclear program, its dissemination of extremist ideology and its support of terrorism, Ayalon said.But this is not a condition for going ahead with the Palestinians, he said.Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has refused to back Palestinian statehood, putting him at odds with the Obama administration. Netanyahu sees defusing the Iranian threat as Israel's top strategic priority.Israel has long considered Iran its chief threat because of its nuclear program and development of ballistic missiles that could reach Israel, possibly with a nuclear warhead. Israel does not believe Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is meant to produce energy, not weapons.

IMF: Mideast under strain despite oil wealth By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer - Wed Apr 22, 9:06 am ET

CAIRO – The world's worst economic recession in about six decades is hammering the nations of the Middle East, with falling commodity prices severely straining economies and wealthy oil producers digging deep into savings to sustain spending.

The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, released Wednesday, offers another unwelcome reality check for the volatile region, where officials from the United Arab Emirates to Egypt, Iran to Lebanon have tried to cast a rosy glow on growth prospects.

Mideast officials have pointed to prudent fiscal policies and stringent bank lending practices as key safeguards leaving them less exposed than other nations to the U.S. meltdown that sparked the current recession.To a degree, the assurances were sound. Several regional central banks have been proactive, cutting interest rates and injecting liquidity into the financial sector as governments drafted stimulus packages or offered bailouts.Overall, Mideast nations are poised to see growth rates of about 2.5 percent this year, down from 6 percent in 2008, the IMF said. That level is still higher than overall global estimates, with the IMF projecting that world output would decline by 1.3 percent this year.But the Middle East faces other challenges, including slumping oil prices, plus declining tourism revenues, exports and tightening liquidity and access to credit.An over 60 percent fall in world oil prices since mid-July has siphoned off a key revenue source. That is despite the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' efforts to engineer a price rebound.The best the group has achieved is a tentative price floor of between $45 to $50 per barrel as demand continues to decline.Saudi Arabia and most other Gulf Arab nations have been able to stave off the worst of the collapse by tapping into cash surpluses from years past to sustain government spending. Even so, the IMF says the kingdom's real gross domestic product growth is expected to drop from 4.6 percent in 2008 to -0.9 percent this year before rebounding to 2.9 percent.

For Iran, the decline in oil prices has presented a serious challenge.

Analysts say Iran has spent heavily from the revenues accrued during crude's surge, mostly on populist projects aimed at bolstering support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But with oil accounting for 80 percent of its foreign income, the economic strain could present a major challenge for the hardline president who faces re-election in June.

Iraq faces a similar challenge from slumping oil prices.

It needs the money to rebuild after the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime. But security concerns have largely kept foreign firms out of the country, undercutting a push to boost production.The IMF said that among the oil producers, the UAE is expected to see the sharpest slowdown.Dubai, one of the seven semiautonomous sheikdoms of the UAE, has turned from Arab boomtown to debt-saddled city-state during the crisis.It now faces delays or cancellations of glitzy projects like skyscrapers, plus layoffs in its overwhelmingly expatriate work force. Investors have fled and property prices slumped amid strains on its financial sector. The federal government has stepped in with a bailout.The IMF projects that the UAE's overall growth is expected to drop from 7.4 percent in 2008 to -0.6 in 2009 before rebounding slightly to 1.6 percent next year.Among other Mideast nations, Qatar stood out boasting the strongest growth — 18 percent — because of expanding natural gas production. Lebanon, however, is expected to experience the steepest slowdown because of the cost of servicing debt and a fall in remittances from workers in the Gulf, the report said. Egypt, which lacks significant oil wealth, faces a triple challenge of slumping revenues from tourism, the Suez Canal and worker remittances. The IMF projects the key U.S ally will see growth halved from 2008 levels of 7.2 percent.

Even if Mideast countries weather the crisis this year, significant risks remain, the IMF cautions. A prolonged period of global economic turmoil could prompt oil exporters to reassess their long-term oil price expectations and, consequently, curtail their infrastructure spending plans and oil production field investment, which would cloud growth prospects for the entire region, the report said.