Obama: UN resolutions in Lebanon must be enforced
Mon Dec 14, 7:18 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Monday a U.N. resolution calling on Hezbollah to disarm must be enforced.Speaking to reporters following a private Oval Office meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Obama said that while there has been progress made in enforcing the resolution, that progress is incomplete. Hezbollah has continued to defy the U.N. resolution that ended its 2006 war with Israel and called on the group to disarm.Obama said he is particularly concerned about the extensive arms that are smuggled into Lebanon that potentially serve as a threat to Israel.Hezbollah, which the U.S. lists as a terror group, has said it has thousands of rockets and missiles, some of which can reach deep into Israel.Obama said the U.S. and Lebanon may not always agree on issues involving Israel, but both nations share a commitment to resolve these issues through dialogue and negotiations, as opposed to through violence.Suleiman called on the United States to provide Lebanon military support. Though the U.S. long has provided military assistance to Lebanon, it has not handed over sophisticated arms for fear they could end up in the hands of Hezbollah.(This version CORRECTS spelling of Lebanese president's first name to Michel.)
Obama raises arms smuggling with Lebanese President
Mon Dec 14, 5:49 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Monday asked Lebanese President Michel Sleiman in White House talks to take action against arms smuggling into Lebanon which he said threatened Israeli security.Despite vowing support for Lebanese democracy, Obama said there were some issues on which he and Sleiman would not agree, and noted they discussed the implementation of the UN resolution on ending the 2006 war in Lebanon.I want to be clear, I emphasized to him our concerns about the extensive arms that are smuggled into Lebanon that potentially serve as a threat to Israel.President Sleiman and I are not going to agree on every issue with respect to... Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinians and Syria.
What we do agree on is we can resolve these issues through dialogue and negotiations, rather than through violence.Sleiman said he had brought up Israel with Obama.We also discussed the Israeli threats against Lebanon which are taking place and place obstacles to the economic growth of the country,Sleiman said.We asked President Obama and the US to exert further pressure on Israel to implement Resolution 1701.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week denounced the resolution, saying it had proven to be a failure, despite ending the war between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah militia.In November, Israel intercepted a ship that it said was carrying hundreds of tonnes of weapons from Iran destined for Hezbollah.
Obama told reporters that Lebanon was a critical country, in a critical region, and praised Sleiman for managing the swift-moving political currents threatening stability in his country.We want to do everything we can to encourage a strong, independent and democratic Lebanon, Obama said, noting that Washington was especially keen to strengthen Lebanese armed forces.Sleiman praised Obama's landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June and the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the US leader last week.He also called on the United States to push for the resumption of the stalled Middle East peace process, which has so far defied Obama's attempts to forge sweeping progress.Resolution 1701 ended the Israeli-Hezbollah war, which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, but it has not led to a permanent ceasefire.It bans supplying arms to Lebanese militias while affirming the Beirut government's sovereignty over the entire country.Israel says Hezbollah has tightened its military hold on southern Lebanon since the conflict, despite a reinforced UN peacekeeping force, and equipped itself with tens of thousands of rockets, smuggled mainly from Syria.Sleiman, who earlier met House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, also held in depth talks with Vice President Joe Biden. Biden stressed that our efforts to achieve our goals in the Middle East will not come at Lebanon?s expense, his office said in a statement.
Israeli chief rabbi visits mosque that was torched
By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 14, 12:25 pm ET
YASUF, West Bank – Israel's chief rabbi made a rare visit to a Palestinian village on Monday to condemn the torching of a mosque allegedly by Jewish extremists, saying the attack brought back memories of the Holocaust.The visit by an Israeli dignitary to a Palestinian village, along with the reference to the emotionally charged issue of the Holocaust, reflected the depth of concern caused by last week's mosque attack. Israeli leaders have been scrambling to reduce tensions.There have been no arrests from last Friday's blaze. But authorities believe Jewish extremists carried out the attack in retaliation for a government-ordered slowdown in settlement construction. The attackers burned prayer carpets and a book stand with Muslim holy texts, leaving Hebrew graffiti on the floor.During his trip to Yasuf, Rabbi Yona Metzger said that religious sites should be left outside any political dispute. He said the arson was especially troubling to Jews because their holy places were targeted in attacks by the Nazis.There were hundreds of synagogues. They took all of the holy books out onto the street and burned them, Metzger said.We are still living this trauma. And in the state of Israel we will not allow a Jew to do something like this to Muslims.The Holocaust is an extremely sensitive subject in Israel, home to some 250,000 elderly survivors. Israeli leaders rarely compare the atrocities of the Nazis, who murdered 6 million Jews, to present-day events or the suffering of the Palestinians.About 200 Palestinians stood in the center of this farming village on Monday to watch the arrival of the Metzger's convoy. The sight of Israelis other than soldiers is rare in such villages, so many appeared to be there as much out of curiosity as to hear what the rabbi had to say.Young boys scaled the walls and hung on the fence around the mosque's porch, saying That's him! That's him! and pointing at the bearded rabbi, who wore a black hat and jacket with a lavender tie.
Others greeted the rabbi with signs reading, no to settlements, no to occupation.
Metzger, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, was escorted by Palestinian police and spoke briefly to reporters before entering the mosque. Metzger is the chief rabbi for Israeli Jews of European descent. A second chief rabbi oversees religious affairs for Jews of Middle Eastern origin.Mahmoud Abu Salah, 48, the former head of the village council, greeted the rabbi. He said he was pleased with the visit but doubted it would do much to stop what he said was years of harassment from the Israeli settlers.The government will say the top rabbi came and condemned it, but it still lets the settlers get away with everything, he said.
Some angry villagers rejected Metzger's gesture.Why did he come? Does the one who set a fire come to put it out? asked Ahmed Juda, 20. In any case, he's an enemy. He's from Israel, so he's an enemy.Later, in an interview to Israel's Army Radio, Metzger said he wasn't sure who set the mosque ablaze and warned against assigning blame until the culprits were caught. He said police were not allowed to investigate the scene of the fire, which raised concern over who was behind the attack.I ask myself if a man has a fire start in his home, won't he call the police to come and investigate?" he asked. Who knows? I am not sure that it was done by the elements who are now being called extremists.The natural suspects are Jewish settlers who are furious over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 10-month ban on building new homes in West Bank settlements. Settler activists have blocked building inspectors from entering their communities, and some extremists have vowed to take out their anger on Palestinian targets, a policy known as the price tag.While Metzger's visit aimed as easing tensions with Palestinians, the Israeli government's testy ties to Jewish settlers continued to fray following the construction cut. Some rabbis have called on soldiers to disobey orders to enforce the restrictions and the calls have sparked concern about widespread insubordination in the military's ranks.
Israel votes new funding for settlements
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan – Sun Dec 13, 4:29 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet voted more funding for Jewish settlements on Sunday as violence over a temporary settlement building freeze in enclaves in the occupied West Bank increased.Defense Minister Ehud Barak voted against the plan, saying it would reward settlers living in parts of the West Bank where Palestinians have lately come under attack, such as a village where parts of a mosque was torched at the weekend.Netanyahu condemned the burning of carpets and copies of the Koran at Yasuf village near Nablus, where graffiti scrawled in Hebrew called the act a price tag. It was similar to a slogan left by suspected settlers after other acts of vandalism.It was a warning by some hard-line settlers to Israeli authorities that they would strike at Palestinians with the aim of raising tensions as Israeli curbs and actions against the settlements continued.
In remarks to his cabinet, Netanyahu denounced the attack on the mosque as an especially serious crime and said he had urged security personnel to speedily apprehend the perpetrators, a statement from his office said.Afterwards, 21 ministers approved and five opposed a plan Netanyahu said would set national, regional priorities to offer incentives to areas that are home to nearly half Israel's Arab population and to towns and settlements in the periphery.The plan has an estimated 2 billion shekels ($530 million) to improve schools, jobs and infrastructure nationwide.About five percent of that sum, 110 million shekels ($30 million), would be set aside for about 100 Jewish settlements, an official said.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close ally in Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party said on Israel Radio the added funds would show settlers that despite the building freeze, Israel also supports and reinforces them.
BUILDING FREEZE IS A SHAM
Officials said despite the plan Israel would continue to abide by a limited 10-month suspension in settlement building Netanyahu announced last month as part of an effort to renew stalled U.S.-backed peace talks.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has insisted on a complete halt to settlement building in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war that Palestinians wants for a state, has rejected the freeze as an insufficient step.Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, said the map serves as a blueprint for future settlement expansion and described the settlement moratorium as a sham.Rather than make peace its number one priority, Israel continues to prioritize settlements and the relentless colonization of occupied Palestinian land, rendering the two-state solution politically and economically unviable, Erekat said in a statement.Barak, leader of the left-leaning Labour party whose cabinet ministers were those who voted against the plan, protested that it gave some settlers greater proportional representation than their numbers,a statement said.
There are some small settlements who consistently constitute a source of extremists' activity, Barak added, citing the weekend vandalism at the mosque in Yasuf, an assault that has sparked outrage in Israel where it dominated news headlines.A group of dovish rabbis met Palestinians from the village at a West Bank roadblock, to hand over copies of the Koran and apologize for the vandals.We are here today in order to protest against the deed done in the mosque. By our law, divine law, this is a crime,Menachem Froman, an Israeli cleric and peace activist, said. Earlier on Sunday a Jewish settler woman was stabbed and wounded on a West Bank roadside near Bethlehem in what Israeli police said on Sunday was an attack by a Palestinian militant. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. (Editing by Ori Lewis)
Israel army cuts ties with seminary in settlement dispute
Sun Dec 13, 4:11 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday severed ties between the Israeli army and a Jewish seminary accused of inciting its students to rebel during their military service.The rare step against the Har Bracha yeshiva comes following a spate of incidents in which soldiers publicly held up banners vowing to refuse to take part in any future evacuation of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers came from Jewish seminaries, or yeshivas, where students combine military service with religious study.Defence Minister Barak views every incident of refusing orders as very serious and is not willing to accept any deviation from what he has defined as a red line, Barak's office said in a statement.Barak took the decision after the head of the Har Bracha yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, failed to attend a planned meeting with Barak on Sunday to clarify his views.Rabbis of the other yeshivas which participate in the military service combined with studies programme had condemned the incidents, but Melamed had refused to take a public stand.The statement said Har Bracha students who wished to continue the programme would be given time to join another institution.In the past, right-wing rabbis have been accused of urging their students to refuse orders to evacuate settlements on religious grounds.Many religious Jews believe that God gave all of the biblical Land of Israel to the Jewish people.In the past two months, six soldiers have been sentenced to prison and two to other punitive measures for publicly vowing not to evacuate settlements if ordered to do so.The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the thorniest in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the main stumbling block in stalled US efforts to restart peace negotiations.Settlement outposts built without government authorisation are considered illegal under Israeli law. The international community considers all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land illegal.
Iran pledges support for Palestinian militants
Sun Dec 13, 10:17 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed Iran's support for the Palestinian resistance in a meeting on Sunday with the exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal.The Iranian nation and government will always stand by the resistance and the oppressed Palestinian people, he told Meshaal, state television reported.Ahmadinejad predicted that the fall of the global arrogance and the Zionist regime will be quick and simultaneous, using the Islamic republic's terms for the United States and Israel.Meshaal, who arrived in Tehran earlier the same day, vowed that Hamas, the resistance and Palestinians will continue to battle the global arrogance until final victory.Iran has been a staunch supporter of Hamas since the movement won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, although Tehran says its aid does not extend to military arms and training, as Israel has alleged.Hardliner Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, has drawn international condemnation with his constant verbal assaults on Israel, which he says is doomed to disappear, and by branding the Holocaust a myth.The Islamic republic does not recognise the Jewish state.
Rocket, mortar round fired from Gaza into Israel
Sun Dec 13, 3:08 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip fired a rocket and a mortar round at Israel on Sunday, but the projectiles landed in the sea and an open field without causing casualties, the Israeli military said.In Gaza, the armed branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for the firings.On Saturday, a Palestinian farmer was killed when he was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between militants and Israeli soldiers in central Gaza.It marked the latest violence along Gaza's border, which has been mostly quiet since a war Israel launched on the Islamist Hamas in Gaza on December 27, 2008 in response to rocket fire ended with mutual ceasefires on January 18.The ceasefires have largely held, despite violations by both sides.
Israeli PM condemns West Bank mosque attack
Sat Dec 12, 3:18 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the desecration of a mosque in a village in the occupied West Bank by suspected Jewish settlers.In a statement, he vigorously denounced the aggression against the mosque and said he had told the security forces to act with determination to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.Attackers vandalised the mosque in Yasuf in the northern West Bank overnight on Thursday and Friday, spraying hate messages in Hebrew and burning holy books in an attack blamed on hardliners angered by plans to curb settlement building.Clashes later erupted as villagers hurled stones at Israeli troops sent to investigate the incident.Security forces used teargas to disperse hundreds of furious villagers who tried to march on the nearby settlement of Tappuah after Palestinians blamed settlers there for the attack.On Saturday Israeli President Shimon Peres also condemned the mosque attack, calling it an incendiary criminal act against all the moral principles of the state of Israel.
The government, security forces and all authorities must spare no effort to catch the guilty parties, he said in a statement.On Friday Defence Minister Ehud Barak denounced the attack as an extreme act meant to harm the government's attempts to advance the process for Israel's future.Settlers have expressed outrage over the government's decision to impose a 10-month moratorium on new building permits for Israeli homes in the West Bank, outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem.The settlement issue has been one of the thorniest in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, which have been stalled for the past year.The Palestinians reject the moratorium as insufficient and insist they will not return to the negotiating table unless there is a complete settlement freeze in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem which they see as the capital of their promised state.
