EU seriously concerned by Israel settler approval Tue Sep 8, 12:32 pm ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union expressed serious concern on Tuesday about Israel's decision to approve new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, calling them an obstacle to peace and adding to international condemnation.Israel approved on Monday the building of 455 settler homes, a move opposed by its U.S. ally and Palestinians but which may pave the way for a construction moratorium sought by Washington.The European Union expresses its serious concern over Israel's approval of additional settlement construction, a statement from the Swedish EU presidency said.Settlements are illegal under international law and constitute an obstacle to peace. The European Union reiterates its call on Israel to immediately end settlement activities, including in East Jerusalem and including natural growth, and to dismantle all outposts erected since March 2001, it said.The decision to authorize the housing units was widely seen in Israel as an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mollify pro-settler members of his government and Likud party before agreeing to a freeze of construction starts.A Defense Ministry list showed the homes would be erected in areas Israel says it intends to keep in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israel's decision further undermined any belief that it was a credible partner for peace.(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Israel authorizes new settler homes in West Bank By Jeffrey Heller – Mon Sep 7, 1:13 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel approved on Monday the building of 455 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, a move opposed by its U.S. ally and Palestinians but which could pave the way for a construction moratorium sought by Washington.A Defense Ministry list of the first such building permits since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in March showed the homes would be erected in areas Israel says it intends to keep in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israel's decision further undermined any belief that it was a credible partner for peace.Israeli officials announced on Friday that Netanyahu intended to give the go-ahead for the new projects in the West Bank, drawing condemnation from the White House.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated Washington's opposition to the move after Monday's announcement.When asked if he had hoped last Friday's U.S. condemnation would head off such approval, he told reporters:I think the decision had been made before that.Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, territory captured in a 1967 war. Palestinians say the settlements, deemed illegal by the World Court, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.The permits, signed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, for 455 housing units were widely seen in Israel as an attempt by Netanyahu to mollify pro-settler members of his government and Likud party before agreeing to a freeze of construction starts.This is a huge smokescreen, said Pinhas Wallerstein, a settler leader, suggesting the step was a token gesture meant to mask a real intention to bend to U.S. pressure to curb settlement expansion.
U.S. President Barack Obama, raising the prospect of steps by Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, has pushed Netanyahu for a settlement freeze to open the way for a revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks suspended since December.A senior Israeli government official said announcement of the building permits was a step toward a package deal that could include very severe limitations in the growth of settlements -- a possible moratorium.Keeping pressure on Netanyahu, right-wing lawmakers told hundreds of protesters gathered near the settlement of Maale Adumim that Israel should not allow close allies like the United States to force a settlement freeze.There are certain things we say to even close friends. We are an independent government and we will make the right decisions for the state of Israel,said cabinet minister Daniel Hershkowitz, whose Jewish Home party supports settler expansion.
NATURAL GROWTH
Netanyahu has resisted a complete moratorium, saying natural growth of settler families must be accommodated. Some 2,500 housing units are under construction in settlements and Israeli officials said those projects would continue.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded a settlement freeze as a condition for returning to peace talks.U.S. envoy George Mitchell is due back in the region later this week to try to finalize a settlement deal before a possible meeting at the U.N. General Assembly around September 23 involving the Israeli leader, Abbas and Obama.
In a statement, Abbas's top negotiator Erekat said: Israel's decision to approve the construction of over 450 new settlement units nullifies any effect that a settlement freeze, when and if announced, will have.It was not immediately clear when ground would be broken for the new homes. Yariv Oppenheimer of the anti-settlement movement Peace Now said that in the past it usually took up to a year before building began after permits were issued. The Defense Ministry outlined the following construction plans: 149 homes in the settlement of Har Gilo, 12 in Alon Shvut, 84 in Modiin Ilit, 76 in Pisgat Zeev, 25 in Kedar, 20 in Maskiot and 89 in Maale Adumim.Most of those settlements are near Jerusalem. The others are in the Jordan Valley to the east or close to central Israel.(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Ori Lewis and Matt Spetalnick; editing by Diana Abdallah)
Arab League, Hamas slam Israel over settlements Sun Sep 6, 1:19 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – The Arab League and Islamist movement Hamas said on Sunday Arabs should not normalise ties with Israel as long as the Jewish state sticks to plans to build more settlements on occupied Palestinian land.It is impossible to speak of normalisation when Israel rejects any significant measure, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said at a joint news conference in Cairo with Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal.
Israel persists in its intransigent position and rejects every significant measure concerning a freeze in settlement constructions, he said.His remarks came after Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz said on Sunday that the Jewish state would not give up plans to boost settlement construction despite widespread criticism.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce in the coming days the construction of several hundred additional homes in the occupied West Bank, Katz, a close ally of the premier, told Israeli public radio.The number of new housing units to be approved could range between 400 and 700, Israeli media reported.I don't believe that any Arab government can offer Israel the gift (of normalisation) on a silver platter. This issue (normalisation) must be closed,Mussa said.I believe that there will be a very violent reaction across the Arab world should we learn that someone normalised (ties with Israel),he added.Meshaal agreed with Mussa and warned Arab countries against giving the Israelis the reward of normalisation.He also warned against US policy in the Middle East which he said aims bringing into alignment Arab countries against Iran, rather than against Israel.Nevertheless the Damascus-based Meshaal said that Hamas will monitor closely what (US President Barack) Obama will propose on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month concerning the peace process.The United States is hoping that Israel and the Palestinians can make progress on reviving Middle East peace efforts at the General Assembly in late September.We're certainly hopeful that we can continue to make progress. And if that happens in New York, we would be quite happy, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at the end of August.
But Gibbs did not confirm remarks made by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana last month that a summit grouping the US, Israeli and Palestinian leaders could take place on the sidelines of the General Assembly.Washington has for months pushed Israel to freeze all settlement activity and for Arab states to take steps towards normalising relations with the Jewish state in order to revive Middle East peace talks suspended late last year over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian-Israeli prisoner swap in early stages: Meshaal by Mona Salem – Sun Sep 6, 12:58 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal confirmed on Sunday that Germany is mediating an Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap that would include Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit but stressed the bid is in its early stages.Concerning Shalit, as you know there is some development as a result of the Germany mediation bid in coordination with Egypt,Meshaal told a joint news conference in Cairo with Arab League chief Amr Mussa.But we are in the early stages. We have not discussed any (Palestinian) names nor any details,said the exiled leader of the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip, during a visit to Egypt.More time is needed before any real progress can be announced, Meshaal said.We must be cautious and not hasty.The German weekly Der Spiegel reported in last Monday's edition that Israel had accepted a German-mediated prisoner swap deal to free hundreds of Palestinians in return for Shalit.The German secret services have recently been holding talks with the Israeli government and Hamas. The aim is to obtain the exchange of Gilad Shalit against several hundred Palestinian prisoners,Der Spiegel said.The same day Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum confirmed the report but said there had been no progress on the ground.Meshaal discussed the swap on Saturday with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who has unsuccessfully brokered indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on the issue, and is Cairo's point man on efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.The topic of the prisoners was one of the main subjects raised during the session,an Egyptian official was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency MENA.
Finding a solution to this topic will have a major impact on the other questions, such as lifting the blockade and the permanent opening of the crossing points with the Gaza Strip, he said.Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was seized in June 2006 in a deadly cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip conducted by three Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas which now rules the coastal territory.His parents received a letter from French President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 28 -- the day Shalit turned 23 -- pledging that France "will continue to act tirelessly... in order that he be released.Meshaal, in Cairo since Friday at the head of a large delegation, also discussed with Suleiman efforts to end a protracted rift between Hamas and the secular Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The talks focused on "how to end... Palestinian divisions as quickly as possible, ahead of the political process likely to be launched following the announcement by the United States in a few weeks' time of their vision for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,the Egyptian official said.The Palestinian reconciliation project remains stalled on three areas of disagreement, the official told MENA, without naming them.Hamas and Fatah have been in dispute since a split culminated in the Islamists violently seizing control of Gaza in June 2007 after 18 months of shaky coalition government.Cairo wants the dialogue to resume after Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which this year will be on September 21 or 22.Abbas said on Saturday after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Cairo is reviewing the positions of each Palestinian faction before making proposals within the next week and setting a date for a final round of talks.Egypt has twice postponed the date scheduled for signing a Palestinian unity agreement because of continued disagreements between the rivals.
S.Korean faith-healer to hold mass in Israel Sun Sep 6, 10:03 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A controversial South Korean preacher who claims to be able to heal the sick was on Sunday planning to lead a mass prayer service in Jerusalem calling for peace in the Middle East.Jaerock Lee -- also known by his Korean name Yi Chae-rok -- was travelling at the head of a delegation of 3,000 evangelical Christians and would hold a colourful festival and mass prayer rally for peace in the Middle East,according to a statement from the event's organisers.The pastor claims to have more than 100,000 followers worldwide, and says he can perform miracles -- including healing the sick.His Manmin Joong-ang Church in Seoul was expelled from the Christian Council of Korea in 1999 for heretical claims, according to media reports at the time, and critics have said Lee's movement amounts to a personality cult.That year hundreds of his followers invaded a South Korean television station to halt the airing of a documentary examining Lee's claims that he could heal incurable illnesses. They were dispersed by riot police.The Holy City, with sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, attracts millions of pilgrims every year and has been the volatile heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict for decades.
Sweden's foreign minister cancels Israel visit By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Sun Sep 6, 8:06 am ET
JERUSALEM – Sweden's foreign minister abruptly called off a visit to Israel this week, an Israeli spokesman said Sunday, amid a feud over a Swedish newspaper article and a growing gulf between Israel and the international community over West Bank settlement construction.Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has called off a trip to Israel planned for this Friday, according to Yigal Palmor, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry. Palmor, who would not comment on a possible reason for the move, said Sweden informed Israel's embassy in Stockholm of the decision on Friday.The Swedish decision came the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew international condemnation for deciding to approve hundreds of new apartments in West Bank settlements in defiance of U.S., European and Palestinian calls for a total settlement freeze. Sweden holds the rotating European Union presidency.But the cancellation also followed a diplomatic feud between Israel and Sweden over an unsubstantiated article in a Swedish tabloid that accused Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs from dead Palestinians and suggested a connection with an international organ trafficking ring run by Jews. Israeli officials condemned the article as anti-Semitic and reminiscent of medieval blood libels against Jews.
Swedish officials denied a connection between the cancellation and the newspaper article, but offered differing explanations for Bildt's decision not to come.Anna Brodin, political officer at the Swedish consulate in Jerusalem, said Bildt has put off his visit in the hope Mideast peacemaking would progress during the U.N. General Assembly later this month.It has been delayed until after the General Assembly in New York, when there might be more substance in the process, Brodin said.Israel and the Palestinians have indicated that Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could hold a first meeting during the U.N. gathering.But in Stockholm, Bildt spokeswoman Irena Busic denied the foreign minister had canceled a trip to Israel, saying a date had never been set. Now was not a good time for such a trip, she said, citing logistical reasons and the situation in the peace process.Both Swedish officials denied the article in the Swedish daily Aftonbladet had anything to do with Bildt's travel plans.Netanyahu demanded that Sweden denounce the article, headlined,Our sons are plundered for their organs.But the Swedish government rebuffed Israeli calls for an official condemnation, citing freedom of the press.
Freedom of expression and press freedom are very strong in our constitution by tradition. And that strong protection has served our democracy and our country well, Bildt, the foreign minister, wrote in his blog after the controversy erupted.The article provoked a flap inside Sweden's own Foreign Ministry after its ambassador to Israel published a condemnation of the article only to be reprimanded by her superiors for doing so.The incident has drawn comparisons with the controversy over the 2005 publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons negatively depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which sparked protests and riots throughout the Islamic world.
Denmark's then-prime minister distanced himself from the cartoons throughout the crisis but resisted calls to apologize for them, citing freedom of speech and saying his government could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark's press.
Palestinians seriously considering one-state Sun Sep 6, 2:23 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former US president Jimmy Carter said Sunday Palestinian leaders were seriously considering a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following a visit to the Middle East.A majority of the Palestinian leaders with whom we met are seriously considering acceptance of one state, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, Carter wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post.By renouncing the dream of an independent Palestine, they would become fellow citizens with their Jewish neighbors and then demand equal rights within a democracy,he explained. In this non-violent civil rights struggle, their examples would be Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.Carter noted that in doing so, Palestinian leaders were taking into consideration current demographic trends.He said non-Jews were already a slight majority of total citizens in this area, and within a few years Arabs will constitute a clear majority.Carter added that a two-state solution for the conflict was clearly preferable and had been embraced at the grass root level but that a one-state solution was a more likely alternative to the present debacle.
