Settler leaders vow to resist West Bank settlement freeze
Mon Nov 30, 1:24 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli settler leaders vowed on Monday to resist the government decision to impose a temporary ease on West Bank settlement building after months of pressure from the United States.Prominent settler leaders held an emergency meeting at which it was decided to bar government construction inspectors from the settlements, they said in a statement.The council heads decided that Bibi's inspectors will not be allowed into the communities, the statement said, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.The settler lobby, a potent political force in Israel, is vigorously opposed to any curbs on Jewish settlement activity on occupied Palestinian land, and has slammed last week's announcement.
Netanyahu announced that his government would impose a 10-month moratorium on issuing building permits for new homes in the West Bank in a gesture aimed at getting the Palestinians to resume peace talks, which were suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year.However, the moratorium excluded occupied and annexed east Jerusalem as well as the construction of public buildings in the West Bank. It also allows for the completion of hundreds of units already under construction.The Palestinians, who have demanded a complete freeze on all settlement activity before the US-backed peace talks resume, have rejected Netanyahu's move as political.On Sunday, Israel's defence ministry announced it would boost the number of inspectors charged with enforcing the government decision.Today there are 14 inspectors to oversee construction in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name of the West Bank) ... Within two weeks, an additional 40 inspectors will be recruited and trained, a ministry statement said.They will later be joined by dozens of others to ensure the application of the partial freeze of settlements decided upon by the Israeli security cabinet, it said, adding that police and border guards would also be involved.
Joint Israeli-German cabinet talks postponed: PM's office
Sun Nov 29, 4:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A joint meeting in Berlin of the German and Israeli cabinets planned for Monday has been postponed because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a viral infection, his office said on Sunday.It said in a statement Netanyahu had not been feeling well on Sunday, and that a doctor had diagnosed a viral infection accompanied by a slight fever, recommending that he stay at home to rest.The statement said that after consulting the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it had been decided to put off the joint cabinet meeting until January, without specifying a date.Netanyahu and six ministers including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defence Minister Ehud Barak had been due to travel to the German capital for the meeting, officials said earlier.The meeting was to have followed a similar one in Israel when Merkel visited in March 2008.Germany is currently playing a leading role in efforts to broker a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement for an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants inside the Gaza Strip since 2006.Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that Germany has a crucial role to play in the peace process and in securing security.
During Monday's visit, Netanyahu and Merkel were to have visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin before holding a joint news conference.Netanyahu, who was sworn in for his second term as premier on March 31, is legally obligated as head of government to make public his health records.In early October his office said he underwent a routine colonoscopy and bladder examination, and that the 59-year-old's results came back normal.The colonoscopy follows the discovery of a benign polyp 18 months ago and the premier is next due to undergo the procedure in a year and a half, it said.
Israel FM to tour Europe after German cabinet meet
Sun Nov 29, 1:28 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is to visit Greece, Russia and Ukraine this week to present Israel's case in the Middle East peace process after a joint cabinet meeting in Germany, his office said on Sunday.He will make the case that Israel has made significant steps to enable the resumption of talks with the Palestinians but the Palestinian response to these measures shows that they are not interested in negotiations, his office said.Israel last week announced a partial moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in a step aimed at restarting stalled peace talks after months of US pressure.The Palestinians, who have demanded a full settlement freeze before resuming the talks, rejected the measure as insufficient.The foreign minister, a hardliner, is to head on Monday to the German capital, where several members of the Israeli cabinet are to hold a joint meeting with Germany's government.He is to travel on to Athens to take part in a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and hold talks with counterparts from 15 countries.On Wednesday, Lieberman is to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and a meeting of the Israel-Russia committee set up to promote trade ties between the two nations.
On Saturday, he is to visit Kiev to meet President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other senior officials and to attend a memorial ceremony at Babi Yar, site of one of the worst massacres during the Holocaust.
Israeli minister optimistic on prisoner swap deal
Sat Nov 28, 12:21 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli cabinet minister said on Friday he was optimistic about prospects for a prisoner swap with Palestinians for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, suggesting that talks were still alive to achieve a deal.Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, minister of trade and a member of a government panel on defense affairs, was the first senior Israeli to comment on a possible prisoner exchange since negotiations on a deal hit a snag on Wednesday.I'm optimistic and pray that Gilad Shalit will be home soonest, Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Channel 10 television.
Hamas Islamist militants have demanded freedom for hundreds of prisoners held by Israel in return for Shalit, who was captured in 2006.Ben-Eliezer would not give any time frame for a potential deal. When asked whether it could be completed by the end of 2009, he replied: The only thing I can say is I'm optimistic.This government, as opposed to others in the past, has begun a process and will bring it to completion, added Ben-Eliezer, a member of the left-of-center Labour Party.Talks on a swap, mediated by Egypt and Germany, hit an obstacle two days ago, a source close to the talks had told Reuters, after Israel refused to free two prisoners topping Hamas's list, whom Israel accuses of making bombs for attacks in which dozens were killed.
A few days earlier, Israel and Hamas came closer to a prisoner deal when officials said Israel had dropped objections to freeing 160 prisoners whose freedom was sought by Hamas.Israel has in the past repeatedly recovered captured hostages and remains of slain soldiers from its conscript army through massively lopsided swaps.Shalit was seized by Hamas-led gunmen in a raid across the Gaza border, and public pressure in Israel to return him is strong. Freedom for the soldier may help to ease an Israeli blockade that causes hardship in the Gaza Strip.Prisoner releases are also emotive for Palestinians, who see their nearly 11,000 jailed brethren as heroes of a struggle to found an independent state or -- in Hamas's case -- of an open-ended conflict with the Jewish state.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan)
Venezuela to upgrade Palestinian ties, offers aid By Walker Simon – Fri Nov 27, 11:12 pm ET
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela plans to open an embassy in Palestinian territories and upgrade its ties to ambassadorial level, President Hugo Chavez said on Friday, to support Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.We have decided to designate an ambassador and open an embassy in Palestine," Chavez said after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.We now have a charge d'affaires; we will name an ambassador in coming days as part of accords to boost our bilateral relations, he said.Among aid agreements signed Friday were scholarships for 20 Palestinians to study medicine in Venezuela. Chavez said he saw Venezuela offering many more educational grants.We must tell the Palestine people how many scholarships we will give to Palestinian youth so they come and study what they need, he said. They can be short and long, pre-graduate or post-graduate, technical and training studies.In January, Venezuela cut diplomatic relations with Israel over the Israeli offensive in Gaza of nearly a year ago, which Chavez then called a Palestinian holocaust.On Friday, he again cast the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in near-apocalyptic terms. He said:
We ... are on the side of the Palestinian people's memorable struggle ... against the genocidal state of Israel that knocks down, kills and aims to terminate the Palestinian people.Chavez ordered his education minister to circulate maps Abbas gave him to illustrate the small dimensions of the Gaza Strip, where he said 1.5 million people lived in concentration camp like conditions, their movements to the outside world virtually blocked by Israel.We (Venezuelans) should devote the entire force of our hearts and souls toward the creation of a Palestinian state, he said. Venezuela is Palestine; Palestine is Venezuela, we have a common struggle.
COLOMBIA - THE ISRAEL OF SOUTH AMERICA
Chavez charged the United States, using a recent agreement to expand U.S. troops' access to Colombian military bases, aimed to turn Colombia into the Israel of South America.The U.S. presence in Colombia endangered Venezuela due to the doctrine of pre-emptive security, he said. They assume the right to attack any country with whatever excuse.Colombia, the Israel of South America -- this is an aim of the United States, he said. The United States could spy from Colombia on other South American countries, he added.Last month, Colombia and the United States signed a pact increasing U.S. access to military bases in Colombia. Washington is relocating its regional anti-narcotics hub to Colombia from Ecuador.Colombia, the most reliable U.S. ally in South America, has drawn about $6 billion in mostly U.S. military aid since 2000.Chavez said that he told U.S. President Barack Obama at a regional summit in Trinidad in April that they could work together to help resolve Colombia's internal conflict, apparently referring to the fight between leftist rebels there and the government.Lamentably it seems Obama listens only to matters of war, Chavez said. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Israel army says it foiled suspected bomb attack
Fri Nov 27, 2:10 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli troops foiled a suspected attempt to bomb the southern resort city of Eilat by a militant who attempted to infiltrate the desert border with Egypt, an army spokesman said on Friday.On Wednesday evening, a patrol spotted a silhouette on the Egyptian border and fired warning shots, the spokesman said.On Thursday morning, soldiers found a bag containing 15 kilos (33 pounds) of explosives abandoned at the site where the suspect fled, he added.Israeli media stressed that the apparent bomb plot came as rumours swirled that a deal was near with the Islamist Hamas movement for a prisoner exchange for an Israeli soldier held in Gaza since 2006.
Hamas frees 150 Gaza prisoners for Muslim holiday
Thu Nov 26, 9:43 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip released 150 prisoners on Thursday, including what it calls security detainees, in honour of the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha.Those released include at least 25 security detainees and 77 people held on criminal charges, prison official Nasser Suleiman told reporters.
He added that 53 of the detainees were near the end of their sentence.
Outside the prison, the released men were embraced by joyful relatives and led home to celebrate Eid Al-Adha (The Feast of the Sacrifice), in which Muslims traditionally slaughter animals and share the meat with the poor.I was detained in June by the (Hamas-run) police during an arrest campaign against Fatah members, said Tariq Muhaisan, one of the detainees, referring to the secular party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
I was arrested for political reasons, he added.Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya announced the release on Tuesday as a gesture for the holiday, which honours Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son Ishmael as related in the Koran.
Since Hamas seized Gaza in June 2007, the Islamist group and its rivals in the Fatah-led security forces -- now confined to the occupied West Bank -- have each arrested scores of people in tit-for-tat arrest campaigns, according to human rights groups.
Each of the two main Palestinian factions has accused the other of arbitrary arrests and torture in the territory under its control while insisting it only arrests those who constitute a security threat.
Govt wants Israeli proposal to help revive peace talks
Wed Nov 25, 4:53 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – The government said Wednesday it wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for a temporary halt in settlement building to help resume Middle East peace talks.Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain has strongly and consistently supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Jerusalem as a shared capital.Britain wants today's announcement by Israel to become a step towards resuming meaningful negotiations to achieve this vision, said Miliband in a statement.Britain continues to call for a full settlement freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he said, adding that London will do all it can to support US efforts to relaunch negotiations.Negotiations are the only way for the Israelis and Palestinians to achieve a comprehensive, just, and secure peace, he said.The Palestinians want a complete halt to settlement-building as a condition for resuming talks with Israel, but Netanyahu's right-leaning government has accepted only a partial halt.Netanyahu's office said the prime minister now is asking his government to approve a 10-month moratorium on new building permits for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.Washington, which for months has tried in vain to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree to relaunch their peace talks, praised the offer.
Abbas says to stay on until next Palestinian vote By Simon Gardner – Wed Nov 25, 4:34 pm ET
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he plans to stay on in his post until the next election is held and that he would be ready to hold the vote as soon as consensus was reached with Islamist group Hamas.
Abbas repeated he would not run for re-election.He said Palestinian authorities were planning for a new election, which he last week confirmed would be postponed from the scheduled date of January 24. If consensus was reached with Hamas in the next month or two, then elections could be held immediately thereafter, he added.At any time we have the election I will go away and will not run, Abbas told reporters in the Chilean capital Santiago when asked if he would stay on until a vote is held.His comment appeared to dispel fears of a vacuum once the current legislature and his term as president expire on January 25.Now we are planning for the new elections, he said during a visit to Latin America to muster support against Israel building settlements on land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.If there will be any consensus between us and Hamas after one month or two months, we are ready ... to conduct the elections immediately.The Central Election Commission this month announced it had advised Abbas to put off the election because Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip where some 1.5 million Palestinians live, had warned it would not allow them to vote.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. The Islamist group disputes Abbas' legitimacy.
Israel announced on Wednesday it was limiting settlement construction for 10 months to try to revive peace negotiations with the Palestinians, who said the step fell short of their terms for talks.Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Abbas, said earlier on Wednesday the leader insisted on a complete settlement freeze, in Jerusalem foremost, before any resumption of talks.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Dead Sea needs world help to stay alive by Ahmad Khatib – Wed Nov 25, 12:28 pm ET
GHOR HADITHA, Jordan (AFP) – The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world's lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say.The surface level is plunging by a metre (three feet) a year and nothing has yet been done to reverse the decline because of a lack of political cooperation as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The shoreline has receded by more than a kilometre (around a mile) in some places and the world-famous lake, a key tourism destination renowned for the beneficial effect of its minerals, could dry out by 2050, according to some calculations.It might be confined into a small pond. It is likely to happen and this is extremely serious. Nobody is doing anything now to save it, said water expert Dureid Mahasneh, a former Jordan Valley Authority chief.Saving the Dead Sea is a regional issue, and if you take the heritage, environmental and historical importance, or even the geographical importance, it is an international issue.Landlocked between Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, the Dead Sea is rapidly vanishing because water which previously flowed into the lake is being diverted and also extracted to service industry and agriculture.Jordan decided in September to go it alone and build a two-billion-dollar pipeline from the Red Sea to start refilling the Dead Sea without help from proposed partners Israel and the Palestinian Authority.However, that project is controversial and Mahasneh stressed that Jordan alone is not capable of solving the Dead Sea's problems.The degradation began in the 1960s when Israel, Jordan and Syria began to divert water from the Jordan River, the Dead Sea's main supplier.For decades, the three neighbouring countries have taken around 95 percent of the river's flow for agricultural and industrial use. Israel alone diverts more than 60 percent of the river.The impact on the Dead Sea has been compounded by a drop in groundwater levels as rain water from surrounding mountains dissolved salt deposits that had previously plugged access to underground caverns.
Industrial operations around the shores of the lake also contribute to its problems.
Both Israel and Jordan have set up massive evaporation pools to vaporise Dead Sea water for the production of phosphate, while five-star hotels have sprung up along its shores, where tourists flock for the curative powers of the sea mud and minerals.
The salty lake is currently 67 kilometres (42 miles) long and 18 kilometres (11 miles) wide.The top of the water was already 395 metres (1,303 feet) under global sea level in the 1960s but the drying out has lowered the surface further to minus 422 metres (1,392 feet), according to Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME).
Mahasneh says climate change is aggravating the crisis. Climate change affected everything, he said.It's an umbrella for many problems, including short rainfall.
Nothing is being seriously done to tackle climate change. Sustainable and integrated solutions are needed.The World Bank has funded a two-year study of the plan for a pipeline from the Red Sea to replenish the Dead Sea. The project, agreed in outline by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan in 2005, aims to channel two billion cubic metres (70 billion cubic feet) of water a year via a 200-kilometre (120-mile) canal to produce fresh water and generate electricity as well as raise the Dead Sea.
But some environmentalists say the scheme could harm the Dead Sea further by changing its unique chemistry by introducing Red Sea water. We are dealing with at least two sensitive and different ecosystems: the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. We also need to keep an open mind about other possible alternatives, said Munqeth Mehyar, FoEME chair.Mahasneh supports the plan, saying: The Dead-Red project is like a salvage plan -- there is no other option. But it won't be an easy task for political and economic reasons.Jordan's Environment Minister Khaled Irani said: Let's wait and see the results of the study of the environmental impact.We might not go ahead with the project if it is going to create a major mess with the ecosystem, but if we can bring water to the Dead Sea and maintain the same ecological quality of the Dead Sea, why not? Friends of the Earth's Mehyar believes saving the Jordan River is key to the Dead Sea. The waterway is under severe ecological strain because large amounts of raw sewage gush untreated at various locations into the relative trickle left after the diversion of most of the Jordan River. During the past 50 years, the river's annual flow has dropped from more than 1.3 billion cubic metres (46 billion cubic feet) to around 70 million cubic metres (around 2.5 billion cubic feet), according to FoEME. We are working hard to push for rehabilitating the Jordan River by increasing and maintaining its flow in order to save it and save the Dead Sea, Mehyar said. The Dead Sea is in danger and that's for sure. I can't claim that we can prevent the level of the Dead Sea from dropping more, but I think we can control the problem and cooperation from all sides is a must.
Most of the springs in the Jordan Valley which flow directly into the Dead Sea are currently dammed, according to water experts. Jordan, where the population of around six million is expanding by 3.5 percent a year, is a largely desert country that depends greatly on rainfall. It needs every drop of water to meet domestic, agricultural and industrial requirements. The tiny kingdom, which forecasts it will need 1.6 billion cubic metres (56 billion cubic metres) of water a year by 2015, is one of the 10 driest countries in the world, with desert covering 92 percent of its territory. We need to make sure that there is always running water flowing into the Dead Sea, Irani said. The Dead Sea is unique in many aspects, not only for Jordan, but also for the Israelis and Palestinians.One side effect of the lake's falling water volumes is the appearance of large sinkholes along its shores, creating serious problems for farmers and businesses. A sinkhole destroyed my farm 10 years ago and forced me to move and work for other farmers, said Izzat Khanazreh, 42, as he puffed on a cigarette, his face tanned by working long hours under a hot sun.
He used to grow vegetables in his farm in Ghor Haditha in the southern Jordan Valley, a bare and sun-baked area around the Dead Sea. Nobody compensated me for my loss. My land was full of cracks and it was impossible to do anything about it, said Khanazreh, standing beside a sinkhole about 20 metres (65 feet) wide and 40 metres (130 feet) deep. There are an estimated 100 sinkholes in Ghor Haditha alone. They can open up at any time and swallow up everything above ground like a devastating earthquake. These sinkholes are time bombs. They can appear any time and eat everything up, said Fathi Huweimer, a field researcher with FoEME. Farmers do not feel secure and are anticipating more trouble. This problem is because of the degradation of the Dead Sea.A factory for Dead Sea products in the area has had to relocate after a large sinkhole appeared beneath it, threatening the lives of more than 60 workers, Huweimer said. Irani said Jordan will highlight the Dead Sea's problems at the Copenhagen summit on climate change next month. We will raise those issues in Copenhagen and say that Jordan is heavily affected and urge developed countries to allocate more resources to contribute to saving the Dead Sea,he said.
The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world's lowest and saltiest body of water. Environmentalists will plead for help at the Copenhagen summit on climate talks next month. Duration: 01:54.
