Israel, Egypt discuss efforts to revive peace process by Jailan Zayan – DEC 29,09
CAIRO (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed efforts to revive the stalled Middle East peace process Tuesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but Cairo said talks can only start when Jewish settlement activity stops.The talks were very positive, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told reporters after the meeting.We have seen that the Israeli prime minister wants to move ahead (with negotiations), and he insists on moving ahead, but we insist on an agreed platform, Abul Gheit said.There are conditions... we will not negotiate while settlement continues, he said.Egypt also wants to see a defined time frame for the talks.Any negotiation, for which a basis and a goal is agreed, must have a time-frame, Abul Gheit said.The two leaders also discussed a prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinians that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants three and half years ago.Abul Gheit said the deal was still suspended and that a Hamas delegation currently in Syria, was to head back to Cairo for talks with officials on the issue.
The encounter, however, was overshadowed by Israel's announcement it has invited tenders for the construction of hundreds of new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, which drew an angry rebuke from Egypt.Abul Gheit told the official MENA news agency before the meeting that continued settlement construction by Israel in the occupied territories was torpedoing the efforts being made to relaunch negotiations aimed at establishing a Palestinian state.Such behaviour raises questions about the serious willingness of Israel to reach a definitive agreement and leads one to believe that Israel is trying to welch on its obligations for a just and lasting peace, he said.Israel has invited tenders for the building of 692 new homes in the Jerusalem settlements of Neve Yaacov, Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa, the independent Channel 10 television reported on Sunday.The announcement prompted key ally the United States to express its opposition and the European Union to call for a rethink.Abul Gheit said he and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were to travel to Washington for talks with officials on January 7.The visit comes as US President Barack Obama's administration was said to be drafting letters of guarantee for Israel and the Palestinians to serve as a basis for relaunching the talks which have been stalled for almost a year.
Abul Gheit said Egypt had asked for the written guarantees.
That is the crux of the Egyptian efforts... (but) it is premature to say whether or not we will receive the assurances of guarantees, we want, he said.On Monday, an Arab diplomat told AFP that US special envoy George Mitchell would present draft letters of guarantee to Israel and the Palestinian Authority on his next visit to the region. The United States is hoping that the two letters will serve as a basis for the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations but we don't know if they will satisfy the Palestinians, who want a complete freeze of settlement activity before talks resume, the diplomat said. Washington was currently in talks with the Palestinians and Egypt -- a key US ally in the region -- over the letters, a Western diplomat said. Egypt had already asked for written US guarantees before peace talks resume, in order to ensure their aim is the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.
Court lets Palestinians use major Israeli highway By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
JERUSALEM – Israel's Supreme Court ordered the military on Tuesday to allow Palestinians to travel on the part of a major highway that runs through the West Bank, handing Palestinians their biggest victory yet against Israel's practice of reserving some roads for Jews.The West Bank section of a road linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was closed in 2002 to the Palestinians, after militants shot at Israeli vehicles on the highway and killed several motorists.About half of the 20-mile highway runs through the West Bank. Palestinians living in villages along the route petitioned to reopen it in 2007, as the Palestinian uprising against Israel wound down.The court said in a summary of its ruling that the military does not have the authority to impose a permanent and sweeping limitation on Palestinian travel along the West Bank section of the road because that in effect transforms the road into a route designed for internal Israeli traffic alone.It also said the closure of the road does not benefit the local population, from whom lands were appropriated to build it.The judges ruled that security considerations cannot take precedence.It's a huge victory, said Melanie Takefman, spokeswoman for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which represented the Palestinians in their petition before the court.The restrictions caused hardships for tens of thousands of Palestinians, who were forced to travel on dirt roads to other areas of the West Bank. That problem was eased last year with the opening of alternative paved routes for Palestinians.
Palestinian Hassan Mafarjeh, the mayor of Beit Liqya village near the highway, said the alternate road was not a solution. We reject the principle that our land is expropriated to build more roads, he said.He said the trip to the main city in the area, Ramallah, took an hour on the dirt roads and 30 minutes on the alternate road. Using the highway would cut that to just 15 minutes, he said.The court gave the military five months to implement the ruling.Under existing regulations, sections of the road that lie in Israeli territory will remain closed to Palestinian vehicles, as are all Israeli roads.It was the second time in months that the Supreme Court has ordered the military to open a West Bank road declared off-limits to Palestinians.
Lebanese troops fire on Israeli jets over south Tue Dec 29, 8:56 am ET
BEIRUT – The Lebanese military says its troops have fired on Israeli warplanes flying low over south Lebanon but no hits were reported.A military statement says four Israeli warplanes violated the airspace in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. This drew anti-aircraft fire from Lebanese gunners, which forced the planes to fly at a higher altitude.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.Israeli warplanes frequently fly over Lebanon on reconnaissance missions and the Lebanese have fired on them on several occasions since a U.N.-brokered cease-fire ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in August 2006.The incident comes two days after U.N. peacekeepers found an explosives cache just 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from the Israeli border.
Egypt encouraged during Israeli PM's visit By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
CAIRO – Israel's prime minister on Tuesday presented Egypt with ideas for restarting Mideast peace talks, impressing his hosts with proposals that go further than past Israeli positions, Egypt's top diplomat said.The meeting took place as a Hamas official said his group had rejected Israel's latest proposal for a prisoner swap with the Islamic militants. A top Hamas official in Syria told The Associated Press that the deal is on hold because Israel was refusing to release key prisoners and insisting on mass deportations of freed militants.The peace process and prisoner swaps were high on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's agenda Tuesday. Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, has been a key mediator on both fronts. Germany, at Hamas' behest, is also involved in the mediation.Israeli-Palestinian talks broke off a year ago, and the two sides are odds on how to restart negotiations. The issue of Israeli settlements in areas claimed by the Palestinians has been a major sticking point, and Israel's offer of a partial settlement freeze has failed to break the deadlock. Israel committed to a full settlement freeze under a 2003 peace plan but never met that obligation.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit refused to divulge specifics on Tuesday's discussions, but said Netanyahu appears serious about trying to resume negotiations with the Palestinians.I can't talk about details, but the prime minister was discussing positions that surpass in our estimate what we've heard from them in a long time, Aboul Gheit told reporters.I can't say that he has come with changed positions, but he is moving forward.Netanyahu jetted in from neighboring Israel, joined by his top negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, for nearly three hours of talks with President Hosni Mubarak, his intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and Aboul Gheit.
Egypt frequently mediates between the Jewish state and the broader Arab world. Aboul Gheit and Suleiman are traveling to the United States next week, while U.S. envoy George Mitchell is expected in Israel around the same time.For months, Mitchell has been trying to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. In the latest setback for peace efforts, Israel announced plans on Monday to build nearly 700 new homes in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city that the Palestinians want to make their capital.Netanyahu has offered a 10-month slowdown on West Bank settlement construction in what he says is a gesture to restart talks. But the Palestinians say the gesture is insufficient because it does not include east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital, or 3,000 homes already being built in the West Bank.The Palestinians have also insisted that Netanyahu resume talks from the point they broke off under his more dovish predecessor, Ehud Olmert. Netanyahu has said he is not bound by Olmert's offers — which included proposals for shared control of the holy city of Jerusalem and a broad pullout from nearly all of the West Bank.Aboul Gheit said Netanyahu gave his hosts the impression that he genuinely wants to get diplomacy moving again, and told The Associated Press that everything is on the table. At the same time, he said settlement construction must be halted for negotiations to succeed.Aboul Gheit also said Egypt asked Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and Israel promised to take measures what would ease freedom of movement.Also on the agenda were the prisoner swap talks. Hamas is seeking hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier it has held for more than three years.A delegation of Hamas leaders has left their Gaza Strip stronghold to discuss Israel's latest proposal with Hamas' exiled leadership in Syria. A top Hamas official in Damascus told The Associated Press that the group had rejected Israel's latest offer, and asked the German mediator to go back to Israel for another offer.
Hamas decided to tell the German mediator that they will not to accept this offer, the official said. We are waiting for another round of mediation.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing confidential discussions, said that Israel is refusing to release 10 senior militants sought by Hamas. He said Israel also wants 200 freed militants to be deported.Aboul Gheit said Egypt understands Hamas' reservations on the proposal, saying that Egypt doesn't agree with deporting prisoners and refusing to release certain prisoners.
Israeli officials had no comment. AP correspondent Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed reporting from Ramallah, West Bank.
Israel PM in Cairo for talks on peace process by Jailan Zayan – Mon Dec 28, 10:05 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels to Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak amid US efforts to revive stalled Middle East peace talks.The discussions were to focus on ways to advance peace efforts, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said.We will listen to his points of view and we will inform him that a fair settlement must be reached on the Palestinian refugee problem and east Jerusalem, he said, referring to two key issues in the peace talks.Abul Gheit said he would visit Washington in January for talks on the process as US President Barack Obama's administration was said to be drafting letters of guarantee for Israel and the Palestinians to serve as a basis for relaunching the talks which have been stalled for almost a year.US special envoy George Mitchell will present two draft letters of guarantee, one for Israel and one to the Palestinian Authority during his next visit to the region, one Arab diplomat in Cairo told AFP.The United States is hoping that the two letters will serve as a basis for the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations but we don't know if they will satisfy the Palestinians, who want a complete freeze of settlement activity before talks resume, the diplomat said.Washington was currently in talks with the Palestinians and Egypt -- a key US ally in the region -- over the letters, a Western diplomat said.
Former Israeli left-wing MP Yossi Beilin told AFP that Netanyahu was nearing an agreement with the US administration on the principles of the negotiations.These principles include a real, albeit indirect commitment by Netanyahu to negotiate Palestinian demands to return to the 1967 borders, including the thorny question of the future status of Jerusalem, according to Beilin.Netanyahu was also ready to accept the US demand that the peace negotiations would be limited to 24 months, said Beilin, who was among the initiators of the 1993 Oslo accords.Netanyahu's spokeman Mark Regev said in reaction that Mr. Beilin only speaks for Mr. Beilin.The hawkish Israeli premier said in a speech before Israeli diplomats on Monday that he wanted to resume negotiations in the near future.We want to make progress and advance the negotiations in the near future.Egypt had already asked for written US guarantees before peace talks resume, in order to ensure their aim is the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.The beginning of negotiations must come either with a complete freeze of settlement activity, which we continue to demand, or if we receive unequivocal guarantees that a Palestinian state will be established along the borders of 1967 including Jerusalem, Abul Gheit said in November.Netanyahu announced last month a 10-month moratorium on new housing projects in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank in a move he said was aimed at helping to kick-start the peace talks suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year.The moratorium does not include public buildings or construction under way and does not apply to occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, which Israelis consider part of their capital. The government has reportedly invited tenders for building hundreds of new homes in annexed east Jerusalem.The Palestinians have rejected the moratorium, saying it fell far short of their demand for a complete halt of settlement activity in the whole West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of their promised state.
US opposes new settlements in east Jerusalem: White House
Mon Dec 28, 1:23 pm ET
HONOLULU, Hawaii (AFP) – The United States is opposed to building new Jewish settlements in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the White House said Monday, calling for fresh talks on the future of the disputed territory.The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.The status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved by the parties through negotiations and supported by the international community, he said, adding that the two sides should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.The United States recognizes that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue for Israelis and Palestinians, and for Jews, Muslims, and Christians, Gibbs said.He added: We believe that through good faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem, and safeguards its status for people around the world.Gibbs issued his statement amid news reports in Israel which said the government had invited tenders for the building of hundreds of more homes in Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.East Jerusalem settlements already house some 200,000 Jewish settlers alongside its 270,000 Palestinian residents.Israel's continued expansion of settlements is one of the biggest obstacles to the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, now suspended for a year.Israel, which captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it in a move which has not been recognized by the international community.
Israel insists that the entire city is its eternal, indivisible capital, but Palestinians are determined to make the city's eastern sector the capital of their promised state, a goal endorsed earlier this month by the European Union.
Israel's Kadima rejects offer to join govt Mon Dec 28, 11:16 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's centrist Kadima party headed by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni on Monday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to join a broad-based coalition.The prime minister's proposal as relayed to the Kadima chairman does not express an honest desire for such partnership, MP Yohanan Plasner told reporters after Kadima's parliamentary faction unanimously rejected the offer.
A unity government has many advantages, but a national unity should not be an empty expression, but a commitment for a real partnership with a joint vision and principles and an agreed way to materialise these principles.Netanyahu met Livni twice in recent days after inviting her to join his government and form a coalition to face the national and international challenges facing Israel today.Kadima, the largest in the 120-member parliament with 28 MPs, has been rocked in recent days by earlier reports the premier pressed several of its MPs to break away and join his coalition.Livni accused Netanyahu of applying gutter politics, saying he had made his offer after he failed to split Kadima despite his efforts to do so.Netanyahu's offer cynically uses threats. We are not in war or in a peace process, Livni told reporters after the party vote in parliament.The premier's office said in a statement he was sorry to hear about Kadima's rejection... In view of the challenges facing Israel, the prime minister hoped for a different position.
Netanyahu wants Israeli force on Palestinian border
Mon Dec 28, 10:50 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday raised publicly for the first time the prospect of maintaining Israeli forces along the eastern border of a future Palestinian state to prevent arms smuggling.The problem of demilitarization must be resolved effectively and this entails effectively blocking unauthorized entry, first and foremost from the east, wherever the border is defined, Netanyahu said in a speech to Israeli ambassadors.I doubt whether anything except a real presence of the State of Israel, of Israeli forces, can accomplish that, he said, expanding on his vision of a nation with only limited sovereignty.Netanyahu has said the state Palestinians want to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be demilitarized, but he had not made specific reference until now to the stationing of Israeli forces on its Jordanian frontier.Israel and Egypt maintain control over the borders of the Gaza Strip under interim peace deals. Israel imposed a blockade after Hamas Islamists seized the territory in 2007 from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group.His comments about an Israeli presence along the border echoed a policy advocated by previous Israeli governments and spelled out new terms in any future negotiations with the Palestinians on statehood.Palestinians want a contiguous state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and were granted limited self-autonomy in the 1993 Oslo Accords. They have said they want full control over the entire border with Jordan in any future deal, but have not ruled out the presence of an international force.
Netanyahu said an international arrangement for the borders of a Palestinian state, similar to the deployment of a U.N. force in southern Lebanon after Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas, would not suffice.Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been frozen for the past year. Abbas has said they could resume only if Israel halted all settlement activity.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah; Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Louise Ireland).
Israeli defense chief: Iran can build bomb by 2011
Mon Dec 28, 8:15 am ET
JERUSALEM – Iran will possess the technology to build a nuclear bomb by early 2010 and be able to produce one the following year, Israeli media quoted Israel's defense minister as saying Monday.Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered his assessment before the Israeli parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee. It broadly matches assessments from other nations including the U.S., which estimates that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015.The Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the reports and a Barak spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment. The radio and newspaper Web site reports did not identify the source of their information, but participants in the committee meetings routinely brief reporters on the proceedings.Earlier this month, Israel's military intelligence chief said Iran was close to an unspecified technological breakthrough that would enable it to build nuclear weapons. He did not elaborate on the breakthrough or say when exactly he expected Iran to have weapons-making capability.
Israel, like the West, disputes Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not bombs. It has lobbied for tough sanctions against Iran and has not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.The international community must act, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a separate gathering of Israeli diplomats. If sanctions aren't imposed now, if true pressure isn't applied now — then when will they do it? A U.N.-drafted proposal aims to ease concerns that Iran could build a nuclear weapon by reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Under the proposal, the uranium would be shipped to France and Russia in exchange for more highly enriched fuel rods that are not suitable for use in weapons.Iran has not formally responded to the U.N. proposal, but recently proposed Turkey as a possible venue for exchanging nuclear material with the West.
Palestinians condemn planned Jerusalem settler homes
Mon Dec 28, 3:55 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Western-backed Palestinian Authority on Monday condemned Israeli plans to build new homes for settlers in east Jerusalem and said they were incompatible with peace efforts.The Palestinian Authority strongly condemns the new decision to build in east Jerusalem and wonders whether there is a freeze of settlement activity or an intensification of it, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.The American administration needs to realise that the policies of the Israeli government embody settlements and not peace and that their choice is settlements and not peace, he added.Israel's Channel 10 television reported Sunday that Israel has invited tenders for the building of some 692 new homes in three settlements in mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians have demanded as the capital of their promised state.There are already some 200,000 Jewish settlers living alongside 270,000 Arab residents in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed later in a move not recognised by the international community.The Palestinians have refused to restart peace negotiations suspended a year ago during the Gaza war unless Israel halts all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.Israel has agreed to a 10-month moratorium on building starts in the West Bank excluding public buildings and projects already underway. The partial freeze does not include east Jerusalem.On November 16, Israel gave its approval for 900 new housing units in another east Jerusalem settlement in a move that drew a strong rebuke from its US ally, which has been pressing both sides to restart peace talks.
Israel ups police chief's security after death threats
Sun Dec 27, 4:04 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has tightened security around police chief Dudi Cohen after he received death threats believed to be from hardline Jewish settlers, Israeli news reports said on Sunday.You have been condemned to the next life, your end is nigh, said one anonymous letter sent to Cohen, the reports carried by both public and independent television channels said.Police suspect that the threats are the work of hardline settlers angry at a 10-month moratorium on permits for new settler homes in the West Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the reports added.
But they have not entirely ruled out a gangland connection.Police are responsible for enforcing the new building restrictions in the settlements.The police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
THE HEADLINE SHOULD READ A YEAR SINCE ISRAEL DEFENDED ITSELF FROM 10,000 ROCKETS SHOT INTO ISRAEL BY THE ARABS.
Gaza marks year since start of deadly Israeli war by Adel Zaanoun – Sun Dec 27, 9:37 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Sirens wailed across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as the still-devastated Hamas-ruled enclave marked one year since the start of Israel's deadliest offensive ever launched on the territory.Events marking the anniversary began with sirens sounding at 11:20 am (0920 GMT), when the first bombs of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, launched in a bid to halt years of rocket fire from the enclave, slammed into the coastal strip.Senior Hamas leader Ahmed Bahar struck a defiant tone, saying the will of the steadfast and the resistance was victorious at a ceremony unveiling a war memorial with the names of hundreds of Palestinians killed in the fighting.
Gaza was steadfast and did not fall in this ugly, destructive war... And the resistance, which defended its land with honour, was not broken, he said.We call on all the sons of our people to unite and to take to the trenches of the resistance to face the criminal Zionist occupation.North of Gaza City, hundreds of people carried pictures of the fallen past a UN school hit during the war and the flattened house of senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan, killed in an air strike with his four wives and 10 children.Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya was to make a television address in the evening, with other events planned for the next 22 days, the length of the war.
On Saturday, December 27, 2008, Israeli warplanes launched simultaneous strikes on numerous Hamas targets throughout the territory of 1.5 million people, raids that killed at least 225 people in what was one of the bloodiest single days in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The war ended 22 days later with mutual ceasefires by Israel and Hamas, with some 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 400minors, and 13 Israelis left dead. Entire neighbourhoods of Gaza were flattened in the onslaught, which also wounded more than 5,500 people.Those were dark days. There was killing in every street and alley, said Dr Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services. Sixteen of his paramedics were killed as they struggled to collect the wounded.The time has come now for unity and peace and justice and an end to the blockade, he said, referring to Israeli and Egyptian border closures that have sealed Gaza off from all but basic goods since Hamas seized power in June 2007.
The end of the war ushered in the calmest period in years along Gaza's borders as the ceasefires have held despite occasional violations by both sides.The number of Palestinian rocket attacks in the year since the war has been 90 percent less than the one preceding it, according to Israeli figures.But analysts warn that the calm around the borders belies busy preparations for the inevitable next round of bloodshed. And Israel has come under intense criticism from the international community and human rights groups who have accused it of disproportionate force during the operation, including the use of white phosphorous in residential areas.
A UN Human Rights Council report released several months ago accused both Israel and Palestinian militants of committing war crimes during the offensive.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday warned that neither the issues that led to this conflict nor its worrying aftermath are being addressed.There is a sense of hopelessness in Gaza today for 1.5 million Palestinians, half of whom are under 18. Their fate and the well-being of Israelis are intimately connected, he added. The Jewish state has also faced withering criticism over the blockade, which has made it virtually impossible to import materials for postwar reconstruction. Some 6,400 homes were severely damaged or destroyed during the war, according to UN figures, as well as several large factories and farms. Most of the tens of thousands of people who lost homes now share crowded apartments with relatives or huddle under tents supplied by aid groups, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has started building homes out of mud bricks because of the shortage of concrete. Gaza has been bombed back to the mud age, not the stone age,UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said.
Israel kills six Palestinians in West Bank,Gaza By Hassan Titi – Sat Dec 26, 10:53 am ET
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers killed six Palestinians on Saturday in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the bloodiest violent outbreak in months.Three of those killed belonged to a militant group within the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement Israel accused of perpetrating a roadside shooting that killed a Jewish settler two days earlier.An official in Abbas's government accused Israel of a grave escalation. A militant leader threatened revenge, charging Israel would now open the gates of hell.Israeli armored vehicles entered the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn, when soldiers surrounded homes where members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group of Abbas's Fatah group, were inside.The troops shot dead three militants suspected of killing the settler who ignored orders to surrender, spokesman Major Peter Lerner said.
The militants had not shot at the troops but soldiers had acted assuming each was armed and dangerous, Lerner said.One of the dead was found holding a gun and the wife of another had been wounded in the leg.In Gaza, soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians near a border fence they suspected of trying to infiltrate from the Hamas-ruled territory. A Hamas security source said the three were shot as they collected scrap metal.The violent upsurge threatened to derail Western-backed security cooperation forged between Abbas's police force and Israel, and potentially tip a Palestinian power struggle against his Fatah movement, in Islamist Hamas's favor.It also pointed up the risks of stalled U.S.-backed peace talks, frozen since a three-week Gaza war whose first year anniversary falls on Monday, December 27 and in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
BLOOD AND FIRE
Some Palestinians protested that Israel had not asked Abbas's forces to arrest the militants. Lerner said the militants had violated pledges to refrain from violence.
More than 10,000 Palestinians attended funerals for the militants in Nablus where businesses closed their doors answering calls for a general strike.Abu Mahmoud, a spokesman for the militants, urged a response of blood and fire against Israel saying its crime will not go unpunished, and would open the gates of hell.Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad accused Israel of having staged an assassination that could torpedo already stalled efforts to resume peace negotiations.This is a sad day for Palestinians, Fayyad added, also voicing a hope we would not be dragged into a circle of violence, chaos and instability.Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Abbas, told Reuters: This grave Israeli escalation shows Israel is not interested in peace and is trying to explode the situation.The settler, a father of seven, was the first Israeli killed in a Palestinian attack in eight months.The death toll in Saturday's incidents was the highest of any Israeli-Palestinian confrontation in West Bank land since before the Gaza offensive, and the worst fatalities along the Gaza border since March.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Abed Qusini in Nablus, Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Palestinian groups claim killing Israeli in West Bank
Fri Dec 25, 4:51 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Two Palestinian militant groups on Friday claimed responsibility for the West Bank shooting of an Israeli who was killed in an attack on Thursday night, a joint statement from the groups said.Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said their operatives had killed an Israeli settler in the West Bank.The Israeli military said Meir Avshalom Hai, a 40-year-old father of seven, died when his car came under fire in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night, either from a passing car or a roadside ambush, near the city of Nablus.Hai was the first Israeli fatality in a Palestinian militant attack in the West Bank since April.Colonel Avi Gil, an Israeli commander in the area said the military has been removing checkpoints from West Bank roads to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians but it would consider placing new ones if it would prevent future attacks.
He said there had been 11 other shooting attacks in 2009 in the West Bank.
Deadly West Bank attacks have tapered off significantly in the past few years through improved coordination between the Israeli military and Western-backed Abbas's security forces who have become more effective in patrolling Palestinian areas.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Ori Lewis)
Pilgrims crowd Bethlehem on warm Christmas eve By Erika Solomon – Thu Dec 24, 9:20 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) – Thousands of pilgrims and dignitaries crowded into Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity for a Christmas Mass, where Latin Patriarch Fuad al-Tuwal urged visitors to return home bearing a message of peace for the Holy Land.
Entertaining crowds outside, bagpipers played carols and whirling dervishes danced, unfurling giant white skirts embroidered with the word peace in various languages.
Some 15,000 visitors packed into the stone flagged square opposite the small Door of Humility where pilgrims stoop to enter the multi-denominational church, built above the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.While much of North America and Europe were gripped in winter's icy embrace, visitors to Bethlehem were buying chilled fruit juice in Manger Square and stripping off sweaters in the mild weather.
It's about 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) and it's a little hard to get that Christmas feeling I'm used to having, said Phillip Well, 22, from Germany.Some tourists were bemused by the scene.I'm not used to seeing marching bands and scout troops do the Christmas festivities, but it's entertaining, said 40-year-old Vijey Raghavan, of San Francisco, California.Inside the church at midnight mass, monks kept the celebrations traditional with Christmas hymns and al-Tuwal delivered a special Christmas message in six different languages, including Arabic.Likening modern-day pilgrims to the shepherds who harkened the angel's message of Jesus' birth, al-Tuwal extended blessings of reconciliation and hope to families worldwide.You can take back with you the desire for peace and work for peace -- peace in the Holy Land where the prince of peace was born. And peace to all the world for men and women of goodwill, he said.Tourism in Bethlehem has picked up in the past few years, after collapsing during the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, which erupted in 2000. Hotels expect a 60 to 70 percent rise in business this year.Still, many locals say development is hindered by elaborate security arrangements Israel has put in place to keep Palestinian attackers out, including an eight meter (25 foot) high wall between Bethlehem and neighboring Jerusalem.Visitors and local people cannot escape the sight of the wall but they were not allowing it to dampen the Christmas spirit. It's safe, it's warm, it's a happy time. It's good for visitors to see the good things too, said 16 year-old Bethlehem resident Reem Mohammad.(Editing by Jon Boyle)
Patriarch calls for peace as Bethlehem rocks Christmas by Gavin Rabinowitz – Thu Dec 24, 5:58 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land called Friday on the faithful to pray for peace in this troubled region at midnight mass in Bethlehem, Jesus's traditional birthplace.I address myself to all believers throughout the world, and I urge them to pray for this Holy Land. It is a land that suffers and that hopes, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal told worshippers at St Catherine's Church, adjoining the Church of the Nativity.The prayers capped a day of festivities in Bethlehem, unseen since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence at the turn of the millennium.Live rock music mingled with traditional carols in Manger Square on Christmas Eve as thousands of pilgrims and Palestinians celebrated.The celebrations, together with a resurgence in tourism, have provided some respite from the pall cast by the wall lurking over the entrance to the town -- part of Israel's controversial West Bank separation barrier -- and continued concern for the plight of Bethlehem's dwindling Christian population.But the patriarch warned true peace would not come to the Holy Land until Israelis and Palestinians treat each other with respect.Its inhabitants are brothers who see each other as enemies, he told the gathering that included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. This land will deserve to be called holy when she breathes freedom, justice, love, reconciliation, peace and security.Earlier, thousands gathered outside the Church of the Nativity, watching as Austrian rock group Cardiac Move belted out a selection of Christmas-themed rock songs from a large stage.These are the local people, said shopkeeper Adnan Subeh, 40, looking on approvingly as about 200 Palestinian teenagers jumped up and down in front of the stage, waving their arms enthusiastically to a rendition of the 1980s Band Aid anthem "Do they know it's Christmas?
They are here because we are living in a big jail, they want to come here on this night to get away from it all, to enjoy (life) for once, he said.The concert was a part of Rock to Bethlehem, a plan to bring about a dozen international music acts to show solidarity with the youth of Bethlehem.But mindful the rest of Christendom may not be as appreciative of a full blown rock concert in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, the Bethlehem municipality selected just two groups to perform.It was great for us to send a sign to the people of the Holy Land that they are not forgotten, Johnny Krysl, lead singer of Cardiac Move, told AFP after the show, while signing autographs for a handful of young fans.Bethlehem brought us Christmas and we wanted to bring Christmas back to Bethlehem, he said.Earlier, a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed in the town as merchants hawked balloon animals, cotton candy, steamed corn and strong, black coffee poured from traditional copper urns.Inside the Church of the Nativity, black-clad monks chanted as hundreds of pilgrims quietly waited in line to pray in the grotto many Christians believe is the spot where Mary gave birth after she and Joseph found no rooms at the inn.This is the place where God gave us his son, so it is very special for me to be here, for me and my whole community, said Juan Cruz, 27, from Mexico.
The celebrations cap a year when tourists returned to the town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Buoyed by the West Bank's relative calm, more than 1.6 million people have visited Bethlehem so far this year, Palestinian Tourism Minister Khulud Duaibess said. Some 15,000 pilgrims were expected for Christmas. In 2008, one million tourists visited the town. However, the tourism boom has not brought prosperity to Bethlehem, with most tourists whisked in for the day and from hotels in Israel, Duaibess said. The financial woes have been exacerbated by the eight-metre (26-foot) high concrete barrier that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. It forms part of the projected 700-kilometre (440-mile) West Bank separation barrier.
Israel says it is a security barrier needed to stop attacks inside the Jewish state. Palestinians say it cuts them off from much of their land and hampers tourism, trade and freedom of movement.
Belgian-Israeli dual nationals sue Hamas By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 24, 10:00 am ET
BRUSSELS – Five Belgians living in Israel filed a complaint here Thursday against the Hamas rulers of Gaza, saying militant rocket fire into Israel had violated their human rights.Belgian courts let citizens living anywhere in the world request criminal prosecutions for violations of their human rights.In 1993 Belgium began allowing war-crimes cases to be filed by people in any country claiming violations of their basic rights. The universal jurisdiction law triggered a spate of politically charged cases against leaders such as ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former President George W. Bush, late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.The Belgian law was scaled back in 2003 to cover only rights violations against Belgian nationals.Lawyer Roel Coveliers said he sent the federal prosecutor's office a complaint about rights violations by the Hamas government from mid-2008 until Jan. 18, when a cease-fire took ended several weeks of intense hostilities between Israel and Hamas.He said the complaint targets the radical Palestinian group's political and military leadership, but names no individuals.He did not name his five clients, who he described as civilians living in or near Ashdod, a town on the Mediterranean coast about 10 miles (15 kilometers) north of the Gaza Strip. Two were wounded by Qassam rockets from Gaza, he said.
This is a case of civilians who are just fed up with being victims of crimes against international humanitarian law, Coveliers said.Britain and Spain also have laws allowing charges against foreign officials. The UK promised to change its law so judges can no longer issue secret arrest warrants against foreign officials. The move came after Israelis expressed outrage when it emerged this month a London judge had issued an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister, on suspicion of involvement in war crimes.Belgium toned down its 1993 universal jurisdiction law after the United States threatened to pull NATO out of Brussels to prevent American defense and other officials visiting the alliance headquarters from getting arrested on arrival in Belgium.Belgium's federal prosecutor's office will determine if the complaint against the Hamas leadership Hamas has merit. If so, it will appoint an investigating judge to review it in detail before any prosecution could start.Israel launched an offensive against Gaza's militant Hamas rulers Dec. 27, 2008, in a bid to halt years of rocket fire at Israeli towns.
The fighting killed 13 Israelis and nearly 1,400 Palestinians, many of them civilians.A UN report by an expert panel chaired by South African jurist Richard Goldstone found that both Israel and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.Israel has denied its soldiers targeted civilians but has said Hamas militants fired hundreds of rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns.
Israelis seek arrest of Hamas leaders abroad by Ron Bousso – Wed Dec 23, 9:00 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A group of Israelis wounded in Palestinian rocket attacks during this year's Gaza war have asked a Belgian court to issue war crimes arrest warrants against Hamas leaders, they said on Thursday.The lawsuit, which the plaintiffs say is unprecedented, follows a slew of requests filed by pro-Palestinian groups across Europe for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders over their role in the devastating Gaza offensive.The latest move was led by a European pro-Israeli lobby representing 15 victims of rocket attacks on southern Israel, who were wounded, whose homes were damaged and in one case who lost a relative.The Israelis, who also hold Belgian nationality, filed the complaint in Brussels, where a judicial probe would be held and arrest warrants issued if deemed necessary, their attorney, Roel Coveliers, said.The request for arrest warrants was submitted after six months of legal preparation and is based on strict evidence which ties Hamas leaders to terror attacks in which Belgium citizens ware harmed, Coveliers told AFP.The complaint accuses 10 top Hamas military and political leaders of war crimes, citing reports by international human rights organisations and a UN fact-finding mission which Israel boycotted.Named after former South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed the inquiry committee, the UN report accuses both Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes during the 22-day conflict that ended in January and killed about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.The Goldstone report says, among other things, that the rocket attacks by Hamas constitute a violation of international humanitarian law, so as a member of the United Nations, I don't believe Belgium will ignore the complaint, Coveliers said.
The Hamas leaders targeted by the lawsuit include the group's Damascus-based political supremo Khaled Meshaal, top Gaza leaders Ismail Haniya and Mahmud Zahar and the heads of its armed wing Ahmed Jaabari and Mohammed Def.Mordechai Tzivin, an Israeli attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit in Belgium would be followed by similar requests in other European countries. The plaintiffs have asked that their names not be published.This is a first step in a broad offensive across Europe that will include Spain, Britain, Italy and other countries, he said.Uri Yablonka, the head of pro-Israeli lobby The European Initiative, said the goal of the complaint was to raise European awareness that Hamas is a terror organisation.We want to shatter the myth that draws a parallel between Israel and terror organisation such as Hamas, he told AFP.Earlier this month, Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who was foreign minister during the Gaza conflict, cancelled a trip to London after an arrest warrant was issued against her by a British court, sparking a diplomatic row.Similar arrest warrants against Israeli leaders have been issued in Spain and Belgium.The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip appointed in the wake of the war a committee to provide information to European lawyers investigating alleged war crimes by Israel in the Gaza war.
