Turkish FM says talks in Iraq and Syria were positive Wed Sep 2, 1:36 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday he felt positive about his visits to Syria and Iraq aimed at defusing tensions between the neighbours after Iraqi claims that Damascus was sheltering insurgents.I felt a very positive approach in both Iraq and Syria, Davutoglu told reporters in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.I examined the situation in both countries and tried to relay the information to the other, he said.Turkey will continue to exert all its efforts to contain the situation and build trust (between Baghdad and Damascus) to help end the tensions, he said.Relations between Iraq and Syria deteriorated after Baghdad alleged that Damascus was harbouring leaders behind one of two devastating truck bombings that killed 95 people and wounded about 600 in the Iraqi capital on August 19.Last week, Iraq recalled its ambassador in Damascus and Syria retaliated within hours by withdrawing its envoy from Baghdad.Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told reporters that Egypt welcomed Turkey's efforts in the Middle East.Abul Gheit and Davutoglu are to meet later Wednesday to discuss the Mediterranean Union, which brings together EU members with states from north Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world and Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.Abul Gheit said Turkey is expected to host a ministerial meeting of the Mediterranean Union in November.
Hamas says no Palestinian elections without Gaza Wed Sep 2, 12:55 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The prime minister of the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday warned against holding Palestinian elections in the West Bank and not Gaza, saying it would be a national crime.Hamas and the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party have for months been struggling to reach a national unity agreement to pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections early next year.But several rounds of Egyptian-brokered talks since the start of the year have shown little sign of progress, putting the vote in doubt.If Ramallah holds elections in the West Bank and not in Gaza it would be a political and national crime, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya told reporters in Gaza, referring to Abbas's West Bank government.I hope no one would head to such an election, because it would have difficult consequences for Palestinian unity and the internal divisions.He added that elections are part of the national agreement and not outside of it, referring to a future pact that would unite the two main Palestinian movements.The long-standing conflict between the secular Fatah and the Islamist Hamas climaxed in June 2007 when Hamas seized power in Gaza in a week of bloody clashes, confining Abbas's government to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The two sides have said they hope to meet in Egypt again later this month, but several previous rounds of talks have been delayed.
Abbas says time ripe for decision on Mideast meeting Wed Sep 2, 10:13 am ET
MADRID (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas believes the coming days will be key and decisive if a landmark meeting is to take place involving the Israeli, Palestinian and US leaders, a Spanish government source said Wednesday.Abbas held talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos in Madrid Wednesday.Both sides agreed that now is the key and decisive moment (to decide) if a tripartite meeting can take place involving Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama, the source said.The meeting would take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month.Abbas and Zapatero believe it is fundamental that this meeting takes place as it would jump-start Middle East peace negotiations, suspended last December in the wake of Israel's deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, the source said.Abbas also reiterated that a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem is a sine qua non condition for holding such a meeting, the sources said.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said he had not yet made any decision on that issue.
But one of his ministers was quoted on Wednesday as saying that Netanyahu has vowed not to freeze settlement construction.I heard the prime minister say with my own ears that he has no intention of freezing construction in the settlements or in Jerusalem,the English-language Jerusalem Post quoted minister without portfolio Yossi Peled as saying.Netanyahu failed to seal an understanding on the issue during a London meeting last week with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.Moratinos told Abbas he would meet with Mitchell, as well as with Israeli and Palestinians leaders, during a visit to the Middle East from Monday.Abbas arrived in Madrid after visits to Qatar and Libya, and is to continue to Paris on Thursday.
Israel releases 9 Hamas lawmakers from prison Wed Sep 2, 9:40 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – A Hamas legislator in the West Bank says Israel has released nine other Hamas lawmakers from Israeli prisons.The legislator, Mahmoud Ramahi, says the men had all completed 40-month prison terms and their release Wednesday did not appear to be a gesture from Israel. Israeli officials had no comment.Israel rounded up more than 30 Hamas lawmakers in 2006 after Hamas militants captured an Israeli soldier, apparently as bargaining chips in efforts to free the soldier. He is still being held in Gaza.Ramahi says 23 of Hamas' 74 elected lawmakers remain in Israeli prisons.Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament in 2006. The next year, Hamas overran Gaza, leaving the Palestinians with rival governments in Gaza and the West Bank.
Egypt's UNESCO candidate: Anti-Semitic or pro-Israeli? by Christophe de Roquefeuil – Tue Sep 1, 12:51 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni is defending his controversial bid to head UNESCO, fighting off accusations of anti-Semitism abroad while ducking attacks at home for his soft tone with Israel.The candidacy for director general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is based on a basic philosophy which is reconciliation between peoples, Hosni told AFP in an interview.
As culture minister for the last 22 years, Hosni rejects a full normalisation of ties between Egypt and Israel until there is a signed peace deal with the Palestinians.However, as head of UNESCO he would encourage a rapprochement in the whole region, without exception,he said.Hosni will head to Paris on Thursday to lobby for the post, whose winner will be picked from a dozen candidates by the 58 members of UNESCO's executive council during a meeting from September 7-23.His candidacy has been mired in controversy amid charges of anti-Semitism after comments he made in May 2008 when he said he would burn Israeli books himself if he found any in Egyptian libraries.He later retracted his words, which were in response to a question in parliament, and apologised.In May, three prominent French intellectuals -- Nobel Peace Price laureate Elie Wiesel, philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, and filmmaker Claude Lanzmann called for his candidacy to be blocked, branding him a dangerous man.A recent article in the prestigious American Foreign Policy magazine described Hosni's bid for the job as scandalous and accused him of echoing the rampant Judeophobia of Egyptian intellectual circles.The minister, who wrote a column in the French daily Le Monde regretting his book-burning comments, is constantly attempting to keep a lid on the controversy.It was in the context of a dispute with an Islamic fundamentalist in the corridors of parliament. I said it like one would say go to hell. It's a sentence that was taken out of context, he said.
If I were anti-Semitic, why would I have commissioned the restoration of synagogues in this country since 1998?, he asked, saying that his promise to go to Israel as the head of the organisation would cause him no problems.But his words have cost him dearly in Egypt, where he critics have accused him of trying to accommodate Israel in order to preserve his chances for the job.I am angry with him. The fact that he apologises in this manner fills me with deep sadness, respected poet Abderahman al-Abnudi wrote in the pro-government weekly Al-Mussawer magazine.Last year, a group of 26 intellectuals condemned Hosni for saying in an Israeli newspaper interview that he was prepared to visit the Jewish state.The interview amounted to a humiliating surrender to Israeli demands for the sake of personal gain,the signatories charged.
For his part, Hosni remains opposed to the idea of full cultural normalisation with Israel, 30 years after a peace deal between both countries was signed.Normalisation will come in time, not now. When peace (with the Palestinians) is established, I will be the first to normalise, he said.Despite the tense climate, Hosni believes he has the support of 32 of UNESCO's 58-member executive council, while most of the others are still undecided.In all elections, one must remain wary till the end, Hosni said.
New dynamics in Mideast peace possible: Solana Tue Sep 1, 11:57 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – The stagnant Middle East peace process could see new dynamics in coming weeks, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after meeting with Lebanese officials on Tuesday.We discussed... the possibility of putting new dynamics on the peace process as well as the possibility of having some important activities and important initiatives during the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is to convene in New York in late September, Solana told reporters in Beirut.Solana said in Israel on Monday that a summit between US, Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch the dormant peace process could take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.I spoke to the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu)... I got the clear sentiment that there is a possibility to get to an agreement before the beginning of the General Assembly that will allow us to resume negotiations,he said.US White House spokesman Robert Gibbs also said on Monday that the United States would be quite happy if Israel and the Palestinians were to make progress on reviving peace efforts at the UN General Assembly.Solana has also met with Palestinian officials and visited Syria as part of a regional tour to explore ways of reviving the peace process and travels next to Egypt.On Monday he also said that Israel may agree to a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank by mid-September and was discussing the technical aspects of a deal with the United States.Israeli officials have been engaged in intensive talks with President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell as Washington presses its close ally to halt settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israel's Lieberman heads to Africa on 5-nation tour Tue Sep 1, 11:49 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will embark on a five-nation tour of Africa aimed at bolstering Israel's standing on the continent, the ministry said on Tuesday.He is due to leave for Ethiopia on Wednesday as part of an eight-day trip that will also take him to Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.This is one of the most extensive trips by an Israeli foreign minister to the continent in recent years, the statement said.A delegation of 20 businessmen, together with Israeli diplomats and military representatives, will accompany the minister.
East Jerusalem lags behind west as school begins By JEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer – Tue Sep 1, 10:44 am ET
JERUSALEM – Thousands of children in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods were kept out of classrooms on the first day of school Tuesday because of Israeli government neglect, activists and human rights groups said.The Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem lack more than 1,000 classrooms needed to accommodate schoolchildren, according to the report issued by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Ir Amim, an Israeli nonprofit that promotes coexistence in the city.The report estimates that more than 5,000 would-be students in east Jerusalem were not enrolled in any school.There has been a huge increase in the population in east Jerusalem, and that has not been followed by a huge increase in classroom construction, said Sarah Kreimer, associate director of Ir Amim.
The Jerusalem municipality rejected the report, saying the numbers were distorted.
Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, a move that has not been recognized by the international community. Palestinians want east Jerusalem for the capital of a future state.Israel sees the whole city as its capital but allows significant gaps in municipal services, building permits and public funding between the relatively prosperous Jewish west and the poorer Arab neighborhoods of the east. Jerusalem's Arabs — roughly a third of the city's population of 750,000 — also largely boycott municipal elections to avoid recognizing Israeli control, a move that means forfeiting any clout they could wield at City Hall.Of the nearly 90,000 children between 5 and 18 years old living in east Jerusalem, fewer than half were enrolled in municipal public schools last year, the report said.Students who don't make it into public school because of the classroom shortage are forced to consider private schools, often at a steep cost, Kreimer said. Some families get priced out, and many students end up at home.The report also said many existing classrooms were small, crowded, unventilated and lacking support classes or playgrounds.Fares Kales, a father of five who heads the parent-teacher association in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, called the lack of classrooms a policy to discriminate.Kales said 50 children who were supposed to start first grade Tuesday at one Silwan elementary school were not enrolled because of a lack of space.In west Jerusalem, you won't see a parent walking around for five hours looking for a place for his child's mandatory education and can't find a seat in a classroom,he said.
The municipality challenged the numbers in the report and said it had a multiyear plan for the construction of new schools. In the last two years alone, the statement said, the city built new schools with 200 classrooms for Arab schoolchildren.In wake of this great effort, the gaps in the education system in all parts of Jerusalem have been growing smaller recently, in contrast with what is presented in the distorted report,the statement said.The report notes that the city is working toward acquiring 25 lots for construction to build 650 new classrooms, but calls that effort too little, too late.Menachem Klein, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said Israel's unequal policies in Jerusalem are part of a battle for supremacy over the city.Israel is not interested in allocating the budget to Palestinian Arabs that Israel sees as a demographic threat to the Jewishness of the city,Klein said.
Was Russia's Arctic Sea Carrying Missiles to Iran? By SIMON SHUSTER / MOSCOW Mon Aug 31, 5:00 pm ET
In July, the Russian-manned cargo ship the Arctic Sea disappeared on its way to take timber from Finland to Algeria, sparking reports of the first incident of piracy in European waters since the days of the buccaneers. Experts and observers weighed in with their theories: the ship had been snatched in a commercial dispute; it was being used to run drugs; it was carrying something more precious - or dangerous - than timber. Since then, the Russian navy has found the ship, and the alleged hijackers who boarded it on July 24 have been charged with kidnapping and piracy. The ship's captain, his crew and whatever cargo the ship was carrying have also been detained. An initial search of the hull turned up nothing suspicious, and now Russia's official explanation of what happened will probably become the final one - this was a hijacking thwarted by its navy without a shot being fired. But there are baffling details left unexplained, leading some experts to claim that the truth is much more sinister: the Arctic Sea, they say, was intercepted by Israel as it carried a secret cargo of weapons to the Middle East. (See pictures of dramatic pirate-hostage rescues.)The highest-ranking official to put forward this version of events is the European Union's rapporteur on piracy and a former commander of the Estonian armed forces, Admiral Tarmo Kouts. In an interview with TIME, he says only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia's bizarre behavior throughout the monthlong saga.There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way,he says.As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic.
Kouts says an Israeli interception of the cargo is the most likely explanation. But this theory, which some Russian analysts put forward in the days after the Arctic Sea was rescued and which Kouts agreed with in his interview with TIME, has been vehemently denied by Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, who says Kouts should stop running his mouth.The official explanation coming out of Moscow is simple enough: the Arctic Sea, manned by a Russian crew, set sail from Finland under a Maltese flag on July 22. It was destined for Algeria and carried less than $2 million worth of timber. Then a group of eight Russian and former Soviet hijackers boarded the ship on July 24. The ship's tracking device was disabled in the last days of July, as it passed through the English Channel into the Atlantic, and the ship disappeared. On Aug. 12, the Russian navy sent out a search party. A week later, Russia declared that the ship and its crew had been rescued.But as details of the hijacking emerged, the tale got murkier, and Moscow's explanation does little to clear things up. Why, with so many other ships carrying much more valuable cargo, would the hijackers target the Arctic Sea and its small load of timber? Why didn't the ship send out a distress signal? Why did Israeli President Shimon Peres pay a surprise visit to Russia a day after the ship was rescued? Why did Russia wait so long to send its navy to find the ship? And what did the brother of one of the alleged hijackers, Dmitri Bartenev, mean when he told Estonian TV on Aug. 24 that his brother and the other suspected pirates had been set up ... They went to find work and ended up in a political conflict. Now they are hostage to some kind of political game? Bartenev's lawyer tells TIME that his client was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are also questions surrounding the Arctic Sea's rescue. On orders from the Kremlin, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov sent a completely disproportionate force, including destroyers and submarines, to look for the vessel. It took five days for them to find it, the Defense Ministry said, even though the Foreign Ministry later announced that it was fully aware of the Arctic Sea's coordinates the entire time. To fly the alleged pirates and the crew back to Moscow - a group of only 19 men - Russia dispatched two enormous military-cargo planes. And then on their arrival, the ship's crew was detained along with the alleged hijackers for days of questioning, with no access to their families or the media. Even from the basic facts, without assumptions, it is clear that this was not just piracy, says Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Russian maritime journal Sovfrakht, which has been tracking unusual incidents on the high seas for decades.I've never seen anything like this. These are some of the most heavily policed waters in the world. You cannot just hide a ship there for weeks without government involvement.Read Russia's Moves Raise Doubts About Obama's Reset.According to Voitenko and other experts, a secret cargo could have been hidden on the ship during the two weeks it spent in Kaliningrad for repairs, just before it picked up its Finnish haul of timber. Not contiguous with the rest of Russia, Kaliningrad is the country's westernmost enclave on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and is known as a hub for Russian smugglers. Personally, I don't care about any missiles,Voitenko tells TIME. I care about what they're doing with those sailors.There are many governments, however, that would be more concerned about a possible missile shipment, especially if it were destined for the Middle East. Chief among them is Israel. In recent years, the Israeli government has consistently raised alarms about Russia's plans to sell MiG-31 fighter planes to Syria and its construction of a nuclear-power station in southwestern Iran. Negotiations with Moscow have been tough on these issues and relations often icy, as the Israeli President pointed out during his visit to Russia on Aug. 18, just as the mysteries behind the Arctic Sea's disappearance began to unfold.
The most likely explanation is that the Israelis intercepted this cargo, which had been meant for Syria or Iran, says Yulya Latynina, a prominent political commentator and radio host on Echo of Moscow, a station owned by state-controlled gas giant Gazprom.They will now use the incident as a bargaining chip with Russia over weapons sales in the region, while allowing Russia to save face by taking its empty ship back home.When contacted by TIME, both the Israeli Prime Minister's office and Mossad, Israel's secret service, declined to comment.But in an Aug. 18 statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Peres had discussed the sale of Russian weapons and military hardware to countries hostile to Israel with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, on that day during four hours of closed-door talks in the Russian city of Sochi. According to the statement, Peres stressed that Israel has concrete proof of Russian weapons being transferred to terrorist organizations by Iran and Syria, especially to Hamas and Hizballah.A spokeswoman for the Israeli President declined to elaborate on any connection with the Arctic Sea. In a parallel statement, the Kremlin did not mention weapons sales, saying after the meeting that we more clearly and precisely understand each other's positions.Russia's chief investigator, Alexander Bastrykin, told official state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta that a band of new-age pirates, possibly in connivance with the crew, is all that lies behind the Arctic Sea mystery. But he did concede that there are questions that need answering.We don't rule out the possibility that [the ship] was carrying more than just timber,he said, without elaborating further.
Speaking to TIME, NATO envoy Rogozin backed up the investigator's statement:The cargo has to be checked to see if there was something illegal, something being smuggled.But he declined to comment on the theory of Israeli interception.This is no longer a question for diplomats or for the military,he said.It is now a question for the investigators, and they are carrying on with their work. We are also very curious to hear their findings.When asked by TIME about the possibility that the Arctic Sea was carrying a secret cargo, Vladimir Voronov, deputy head of Oy Solchart Management - the Helsinki-based, Russian-run company that operates the ship - replied,I don't know anything about a secret cargo. We're just a simple shipping firm, and from what we understand, our ship was hijacked.According to investigator Bastrykin, a full search of the vessel will be carried out when the ship arrives at a Russian port in the next few weeks. But observers don't expect any revelations. The versions we are getting from the Russian government do not fit into any logical parameters, and I don't think that will change,commentator Latynina says. When people lie, they tend to lie consistently.
Hamas leader denies Nazi genocide of Jews By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 31, 2:54 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A Hamas spiritual leader on Monday called teaching Palestinian children about the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews a war crime, rejecting a suggestion that the U.N. might include the Holocaust in Gaza's school curriculum.A senior Israeli official said such statements should make the West think twice about ending its boycott of Hamas, in place since the group seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israeli officials called the comments as obscene and said they place Hamas in a pariah club of Holocaust deniers that includes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Hamas spiritual leader Younis al-Astal lashed out after hearing that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body aiding Palestinian refugees, planned to introduce lessons about the Holocaust to Gaza students.Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to marketing a lie and spreading it, al-Astal wrote in a statement.I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime, because of how it serves the Zionist colonizers and deals with their hypocrisy and lies,he wrote.A U.N. official said no decision has been made about introducing Holocaust education in Gaza.Many Palestinians are reluctant to acknowledge Jewish suffering, fearing it might diminish their own. Attitudes toward the Holocaust range from outright denial to challenging its scope.Hamas has been making overtures to the West, hoping to end a stifling blockade of Gaza. And the statements about the Holocaust by senior Hamas officials could undermine the group's attempt to present itself as pragmatic. The U.S. and Europe list Hamas as a terror group, but there have been growing calls, particularly in Europe, to talk to the militants. Hamas control of Gaza is seen as a key obstacle to any Mideast peace deal.
Three teachers at U.N. schools said that according to the new program, basic information about the Holocaust was expected to be taught to eighth grade students as part of human rights classes.Two of the teachers said they were told about the lesson plan by colleagues involved in the new syllabus. Another teacher said he attended a recent meeting with education officials where he was told to try to teach the new syllabus without offending parents' sensibilities.All three said they had not received the syllabus for the human rights classes yet, even though the school year began in late August. They requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to reporters.UNRWA provides education, health care and welfare services to more than half of Gaza's 1.4 million people. Spokesman Chris Gunness said a final decision has not been made about the Holocaust course for Gaza schools.While the Holocaust is currently not included on the basis of age appropriateness, all elements (of the curriculum) remain under review and under evolution,he said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also objected to including what he referred to as the so-called Holocaust in the lesson plan.We think it's more important to teach Palestinians the crimes of the Israeli occupation,he said.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said countries contemplating ending their boycott of Hamas must seriously reconsider after the Hamas statements, which he described as obscene.The Holocaust is not taught in West Bank schools, said an education ministry official in Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas' government.Israelis have long complained that Palestinian textbooks present Israel only as an enemy, despite a series of interim peace deals. Also, they charge that maps in the books do not show Israel at all.Palestinians make similar charges about Israeli education. Recently Israel's education minister ordered a halt to using the accepted Arabic term nakba, or catastrophe, to describe the results of the two-year war that followed Israel's creation, when about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes. The U.N. runs 221 schools in Gaza for more than 200,000 students and is the largest independent agency in the territory, controlled by Hamas since a violent takeover in 2007. The West Bank, the other territory that is supposed to comprise a future Palestinian state, is controlled by Hamas' Western-backed rivals of the Fatah movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas.Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors contributed to the creation of Israel after World War II.
Many Palestinians are reluctant to acknowledge the full extent of the Holocaust because they feel it provided legitimacy for Israel's establishment. A majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people are Palestinian refugees or their descendants. Some parents opposed the idea of their children learning about the Holocaust.I don't want them teaching my children Jewish lies,Mohammed Silmi, 33, said Monday, after driving his son to a U.N. school in Gaza City on the back of a motorbike.It will just be Zionist propaganda.Hamas' founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, though senior Hamas officials have recently said they would accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel as an interim stage to full Islamic control of the region. Hamas is frequently at loggerheads with the U.N. refugee agency, which it considers the only serious challenge to its control of Gaza. Over the summer, Hamas accused the U.N. of spreading immorality in summer camps for children, because it offered activities such as folk dancing and crafts.With additional reporting by Rizek Abdul Jawad in Gaza City.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert indicted By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Sun Aug 30, 2:47 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted on corruption charges Sunday, becoming the first Israeli premier to go on trial and highlighting a series of cases that have shaken the public's faith in the political system.The charges likely end the three-decade career of a man who just three years ago seemed poised to lead his nation to a bold withdrawal from the West Bank and an aggressive push for peace with the Palestinians.Olmert, who was forced to step down because of the case, was accused of illegally accepting funds from an American backer, double-billing for official trips abroad and pocketing the difference, concealing funds from a government watchdog and cronyism. All of the alleged crimes took place before Olmert was elected prime minister in 2006.Olmert, 63, issued a statement professing his innocence. Olmert is convinced that in court he will be able to prove his innocence once and for all,said a spokesman, Amir Dan.The formal charges in the indictment include fraud and breach of trust. The Justice Ministry did not say when the trial would begin or what penalties Olmert could face. But Moshe Negbi, a leading legal commentator, said the fraud charge alone could carry a prison term of up to five years.A rumored political comeback would be highly unlikely unless he is cleared.In the immediate future it doesn't seem possible, but it all depends on the court,Negbi said.Olmert, a lawyer by training, has repeatedly been linked to corruption scandals throughout a three-decade career that included a lengthy stint as Jerusalem mayor and a series of senior Cabinet posts. But until Sunday, he had never been charged. He is the first prime minister, sitting or retired, to be charged with a crime.The indictment follows a string of high-profile trials that have soured an already cynical public toward the nation's leadership.
Olmert's former finance minister was sentenced to five years for embezzlement in June, and another member of his Cabinet was sentenced to four years for taking bribes. Israel's former ceremonial president, Moshe Katsav, is being tried on rape and sexual harassment charges, and a longtime Olmert aide has been charged with illegal wiretapping, fraud and breach of trust.The most damaging allegations against Olmert accused him of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from an American businessman during trips abroad.The businessman, Moshe Talansky, testified last year that he delivered the cash in envelopes and painted Olmert as a greedy politician who enjoyed first-class travel, fancy hotels and expensive cigars. The testimony helped turn public opinion against Olmert and played a large part in forcing him from office.The indictment said Olmert used his connections to help Talansky's business, but did not charge Olmert with accepting bribes.In another case, Olmert was charged with double-billing nonprofit organizations and the government for trips he took abroad and then using the extra money to pay for private trips for his family.Olmert became prime minister in January 2006 after then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke. He subsequently led their newly formed Kadima Party to victory in a parliamentary election.On the campaign trail, Olmert promised an aggressive push for peace with the Palestinians, and said in the absence of a deal, he would unilaterally withdraw from large parts of the occupied West Bank.A gifted orator, Olmert crossed a series of taboos while in office — warning that Israel could become like apartheid South Africa if it continued its occupation of the Palestinians and expressing readiness to relinquish control of parts of the holy city of Jerusalem as part of a peace deal. Olmert led his government to the Annapolis peace conference in November 2007 — launching more than a year of ambitious, but unsuccessful peace talks with the Palestinians.
Despite his ambitious agenda, Olmert's term was clouded by an inconclusive war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon that took place just over a month after he took office. A series of corruption investigations — most of which were dismissed — also followed him.The politically weakened Olmert announced his resignation last fall and stepped down in March after Benjamin Netanyahu won a parliamentary election. Olmert is currently out of politics and battling prostate cancer, but is widely rumored to be plotting a comeback.Resounding elections setbacks have not kept Israeli politicians down for long. Both Netanyahu Defense Minister Ehud Barak both rebounded quickly from landslide losses at the polls.Olmert's spokesman said his priority is to focus on his legal battle.Once this is over and he has proved he is innocent, then he will consider what to do next. All options are open,he said.
Israel ups settlement activity in east Jerusalem Sun Aug 30, 9:27 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli settlement activity in annexed east Jerusalem accelerated in the first half of 2009 despite US calls for a freeze, an anti-settlement activist group said on Sunday in a report.Recent months have seen the acceleration of the process of Israeli settlement in Palestinian communities in east Jerusalem, the Israeli Ir Amim group said.These settlements... implant (a) Jewish population... precisely in the areas of the most intense dispute in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it said.During the first six months of the year, plans were advanced to build an additional 150 housing units in east Jerusalem, which if completed would add some 750 settlers to the 2,000 who currently live in Palestinian neighbourhoods in the annexed part of the city, it said.The creation of an additional 150 residential units in the area that is the core of the Israeli-Palestinian disagreement is likely to thwart the possibility for a negotiated political resolution of the conflict,Ir Amim head Yudith Oppenheimer said in a statement.
Private groups such as the hardline Elad and Ateret Cohanim are behind most of the activity, but it is evident that individual settlements are part of a strategic move, coordinated and facilitated by national governmental units, as well as by the Jerusalem municipality,the report said.In addition to the Israelis living in Palestinian neighbourhoods, there are nearly 180,000 settlers in large blocks in east Jerusalem, according to another settlement watchdog group, Peace Now.Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.The fate of the Holy City, sacred to the world's three main monotheistic faiths, is one of the most sensitive issues in the decades-old Middle East conflict.Israel views the city as its eternal, undivided capital, while the Palestinians want to make the eastern part the capital of their promised state.Since US President Barack Obama took office in January, his administration has pressed Israel, where hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assumed office on March 31, to freeze all settlement activity including in east Jerusalem.Israel has so far refused a complete freeze, but said it would not issue any new tenders until early 2010 -- a gesture that Washington called a step in the right direction, but that critics slammed as falling short of a full freeze.
Israel accepts German-mediated Shalit swap deal: report Sat Aug 29, 1:39 pm ET
BERLIN (AFP) – Israel has accepted a German-mediated prisoner swap deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to which Hamas has yet to respond, Germany weekly Der Spiegel said in its edition to appear Monday.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 Israeli government of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the proposal which would see 450 Palestinian prisoners released and Hamas has until early September to respond, Der Spiegel said, without citing sources.Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants including from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Successive Egyptian efforts to broker a prisoner exchange deal have floundered.
Egypt has accused Israel of altering its terms when on the verge of a deal.
The German deal resembles previous Egyptian proposals: Israel would release a first batch of prisoners, Shalit would be taken across the border from Gaza to Cairo, and then more Palestinians would be released.Israeli radio reported that a senior German official was recently in Israel and Egypt in the hope of sealing a deal.Germany in 2004 brokered a deal between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah that saw an Israeli businessman and the remains of three Israeli soldiers swapped for more than 400 Arab prisoners.Then a 19-year-old corporal, Shalit was captured by militants from Hamas and two smaller groups who had tunnelled out of Gaza on June 25, 2006 and attacked an army post, killing two other soldiers.Shalit, who has since been promoted to staff sergeant, is believed to be held somewhere inside the Gaza Strip, under Hamas control since the Islamist movement seized power in the Palestinian enclave two years ago.
Yemeni men plead guilty in NY to money laundering Fri Aug 28, 4:33 pm ET
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Three Yemeni businessmen in western New York have pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, ending their federal court trial.The men were charged in March 2007 after authorities said they sent $200,000 overseas knowing it was illegally obtained and could benefit the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has fought Israel since the early 1980s and is considered by Israel and the United States to be a terrorist organization. The men weren't charged with any terrorism-related crimes.On trial were Yehia Ali Ahmed Alomari, Mohamed Al Huraibi and Saleh Mohamed Taher Saeed. They ran mini-marts and a restaurant in Rochester.Under Friday's plea agreements, the men face sentences ranging from 15 to 27 months. They remain free until they're sentenced in December.Defense lawyers say the men thought the money was simply to help fellow Yemenis.
Palestinians must unite for talks, UN chief says Fri Aug 28, 9:28 am ET
VIENNA (Reuters) – Palestinians must be able to show a united front to help revive Middle East peace talks, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday.It will be crucially important that the Palestinian peoples are united among themselves and should be able to carry on these negotiations, he told a news conference in Vienna.
Ban said that while a seven-year-old Arab League peace initiative provided a cornerstone for negotiations, at the same time we also value ... bilateral negotiations between Israel and Palestinian authorities.Hamas, the Islamist group which has controlled Gaza since defeating the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, opposes Abbas' readiness to negotiate peace with Israel.U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is pressing Arab governments for positive gestures toward Israel if it freezes Jewish settlement building on occupied land.
Washington hopes this will lead to regional peace talks but Arab states are cool to the idea.Arab leaders say they remain committed to an initiative, endorsed at a 2002 Arab League summit, offering Israel recognition in return for withdrawal from all lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, creation of a Palestinian state and a just solution for Palestinian refugees.Successive Israeli governments have rejected or ignored the offer, saying the return of refugees to areas now inside Israel would destroy the Jewish character of the state.Still, Ban said he had high hopes for Obama's approach in pushing forward with the peace process.We will see some positive results coming from the American administration's direct engagement in the Middle East,he said.(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Three killed in Gaza smuggling tunnel collapse Fri Aug 28, 5:01 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Three Palestinian brothers were killed on Friday in the collapse of a smuggling tunnel along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, medics said.A fourth Palestinian, who was also working in the tunnel near Rafah, was seriously wounded, the sources said.Deadly cave-ins are common in the tunnels used to smuggle food, goods and, according to Israel, weapons and explosives into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israel heavily bombed the vast network of tunnels during its deadly 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of Gaza at the turn of the year, but many tunnels were quickly redug.Tunnel operators say Egypt too is cracking down on the underground smuggling, pumping sewage or gas, or throwing explosives into the tunnels.
