Barak calls on Palestinians to seize chance for talks
Wed Jan 27, 12:56 pm ET
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called on Palestinians on Wednesday to seize the opportunity to resume peace talks, as both sides failed to agree on the conditions for negotiations.Barak told reporters in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh after talks with President Hosni Mubarak that Israel had already made the unprecedented move of partially freezing settlement building on Palestinian territory.We accept the solution and vision of two states, we decided to recognise all agreements signed by previous governments, he said referring to hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet.We hope that in current weeks the Palestinians will also see the opportunity that should be seized to resume negotiations,he said.Hopes were raised for a resumption of talks, which were suspended in December 2008 when Israel launched its devastating offensive against Gaza.Months of shuttle diplomacy US envoy George Mitchell have floundered on the Palestinian Authority's refusal to negotiate with Israel without a complete halt to settlement building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has said Israel's partial settlement freeze, which excludes building in annexed Arab east Jerusalem and the construction of public buildings in the West Bank, was not enough.Mitchell, who was in the region again this week, presented Palestinian and Israeli leaders with a new initiative aimed at creating an atmosphere for the relaunch of peace talks, a Palestinian official told AFP.Israel is also at an impasse with the Islamist Hamas movement, Abbas's rivals in the Gaza Strip, who are holding an Israeli soldier captured more than three years ago.Hamas, which ousted Abbas's Fatah party from Gaza in 2007, said it will only release Gilad Shalit in return for nearly 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including about 450 militants serving long terms in Israeli jails.Barak discussed the prisoner exchange during his meeting with Mubarak, whose government helped mediate the talks, his office said in a statement.During the press conference he maintained his government's usual secrecy on developments in the German-brokered talks, saying only that Israel would consider any reasonable proposal, but not at any price.Hamas says the talks have been stalled by Israel's refusal to release a number of hardcore militants responsible for attacks on Israelis.
US envoy to return to Mideast in near future: official
Wed Jan 27, 10:49 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has completed a series of meetings with major Middle East players and will return to the region in the near future,the US State Department said Tuesday.Mitchell completed a series of meetings in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Egypt,said spokesman Marc Toner, adding that Washington remained committed to achieving our goal of comprehensive peace in the Middle East.Mitchell on Sunday shuttled between Jerusalem and Amman in his second attempt in a week to persuade Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch peace talks.Without divulging any details of Mitchell's meetings, Toner said he continued the two-pronged approach we have consistently pursued" of encouraging both sides to agree on permanent status issues, and helping the Palestinians prepare for statehood.The two objectives are mutually reinforcing. Each is essential. Neither can be attained without the other, the spokesman said.Mitchell, Toner added, will be following up with the parties in the coming days and he will return to the region in the near future.A Palestinian official told AFP on Monday that Mitchell presented Palestinian and Israeli leaders with a new initiative aimed at creating an atmosphere for the relaunching of peace talks suspended more than a year ago.
The United States has been trying for months to convince both sides to return to the negotiating table, but the Palestinians have refused to do so unless Israel halts all settlement growth in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories it occupied in 1967.Washington initially backed that demand but has more recently pressed both sides to return to the talks immediately and praised a limited 10-month settlement slowdown enacted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November.Israel has insisted it will not give any more ground and has blamed the Palestinians for the impasse.
Hamas clears itself of UN Gaza war crimes charges
Wed Jan 27, 10:39 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The Islamist Hamas movement said Wednesday it has investigated allegations in a UN report into last winter's Gaza war and absolved Palestinian armed groups of any atrocities.The UN Human Rights Council report authored by the respected former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian groups of war crimes during the devastating 22-day conflict.Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the Israeli offensive aimed at halting rocket attacks from the territory ruled by the Islamist militant group, which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state.But Hamas, which along with other armed groups has launched thousands of makeshift rockets into southern Israel in recent years, said a committee it appointed to follow up on the report found no intention to harm civilians.The committee worked around the clock to uncover the facts, despite the certainty that there were no violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law that amount to war crimes,said the committee head, Hamas justice minister Mohammed Faraj al-Ghul.The Palestinian government has on more than one occasion called on armed Palestinian groups to avoid targeting civilians,said the report by Hamas, which has claimed scores of deadly suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
(The armed groups) struck military targets and avoided civilian targets, and any accusations related to this concern errant fire.The Goldstone report said the firing of the hard-to-aim rockets at southern Israel deliberately targeted civilians and could constitute a crime against humanity.The Goldstone report recommended its findings be referred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague if Israel and Hamas failed to carry out credible, independent investigations.Israel has rejected the report as anti-Semitic despite the fact Goldstone is Jewish, because the report accuses Israeli troops of deliberately targeting civilians and destroying vital infrastructure.
Rights group slams treatment of Mideast minorities By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jan 26, 10:05 am ET
CAIRO – A New York-based human rights organization criticized the governments of five Middle Eastern countries Tuesday, including close U.S.-allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia, for their treatment of women and minorities.Human Rights Watch released the chapters of its 2010 World Report that deal with Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen, accusing them of poor treatment of women, minorities and refugees.
Middle Eastern governments need to recognize that the rights of minorities, refugees, and stateless persons need greater protections,the group's Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement.The release of these latest chapters of the annual report follows Sunday's description of the post-election crackdown in Iran and the mistreatment of migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates.The chapters described a pattern of discrimination against minorities in the region, including Saudi Arabia's treatment of its 2 million-strong Shiite population and Syria's repression of its Kurds.In Lebanon, the report criticized the living conditions of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, while asserting that the Yemeni government committed violations in its battle with Shiite rebels in the north.Tensions with Shiites in Saudi Arabia reached new heights in 2009 when clashes between Shiite pilgrims and security guards in the city of Medina resulted in scores of arrests. At least one Shiite mosque was closed down in the kingdom.
The report did note that King Abdullah had replaced conservatives in the religious establishment and judiciary, but saw little overall improvement in human rights, especially for women.Authorities continue to systematically suppress, or fail to protect, the rights of fourteen million Saudi women and girls,the report said.Just to the south, in Yemen, Human Rights Watch described a severe deterioration in the rule of law as a government facing opposition on several fronts arrested journalists and activists.With a Shiite rebellion in the north and a southern separatist movement, Yemen's government has conducted sweeping arrest campaigns against any suspected sympathizers of either movement, charging many with contesting the unity of the state.In Syria, meanwhile, a chronically poor rights situation worsened, according to the report, with some 45 people arrested for membership in unauthorized political groups or those with links to the Kurds or Muslim Brotherhood.In contrast to the other countries, the report saw no significant decline in the human rights situation in Jordan, though it did note that criticizing the king still carried heavy penalties, and perpetrators of honor killings were receiving lenient sentences.
So-called honor killings involve slayings of women — often by male relatives — for perceived slights to their families' honor, such as accusations of infidelity or of having romantic relationships outside of marriage.
Israeli chief of staff heads to NATO conference
Tue Jan 26, 4:42 am ET
Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi is heading to Brussels to attend a NATO conference, where he planned to discuss the challenges facing Israel and regional threats, the armed forces said in a statement.
Ashkenazi's agenda also included discussions on the need for cooperation between Israel's armed forces and NATO member countries against the global terrorist threat, the statement said.The conference was to focus on ways to enhance maritime security.
Centuries-old Holy City cellar at heart of Byzantine battle by Patrick Moser – Mon Jan 25, 12:18 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Arab-Israeli shopkeeper is locked in a Byzantine battle with the Coptic Church over an ancient Jerusalem cellar, in a saga involving Christianity's holiest site and a 12th century Muslim general.Lawyers on both sides expect authorities to decide soon whether the disputed basement adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is sacred or not, and whether the Egyptian Christians or the Israeli Muslim can claim ownership.The legal battle over the centuries-old vaulted stone cellar has been festering for 14 years in the heart of the Holy City, a flashpoint of political and religious conflict.It has as many twists and turns as the Old City, a maze of narrow streets and intrigue, and features top Middle East political players.Antonios al-Orshaleme, general secretary of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, insists the basement is holy ground and was once part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by most Christians as the site where Jesus was crucified and buried.Orshaleme says the vast cellar, which runs under both the patriarchate and the grocery store, had been a church at least as long as the Holy Sepulchre, but remains vague as to when it was last used as such.
The church was built in the fourth century. Its destruction seven centuries later provided an impetus for the Crusades. It was rebuilt in 1048 following agreement between the Byzantine Empire and the region's Muslim rulers.Here is a monastery, below is also a monastery,says Orshaleme, clad in a black gown, an embroidered hood covering his head, as he points to the ground below the patriarchate.Not so, says lawyer Reuven Yehoshua, who represents storekeeper Hazam Hirbawi.For 800 years this cellar was used as a garbage dump,says Yehoshua.The entrance to the basement, which can be seen from above through a mesh of wire, is cluttered with a jumble of discarded objects.Yehoshua points to a 1921 survey that describes the basement as being disgusting and filled with cesspools.This is what they say is a holy place? Yehoshua asks, shaking his head.A history buff, Yehoshua bases his arguments on a wealth of ancient documents, including one showing that Salah ad-Din -- the 12th century military commander who defeated the Crusaders -- issued a writ giving Muslims control of the area where the store is now located, and the basements below it.Orshaleme admits that part is true and points out, with a smile, it goes to show Christians were the original owners.This whole area was part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Salah ad-Din made the church smaller and surrounded it with Muslims so it could not grow strong again.The modern dispute started in 1996 when Hazam Hirbawi was sent by his father to the cellar to pick up a stone he needed to repair a wall in the building, only to find 10 Copts digging and clearing out mud and rubble.
I asked what they were doing. They said: We're fixing our place,said Hirbawi.We kicked them out,he adds. Orshaleme says Hirbawi had no right to interfere with the Copts.Hirbawi came down and made problems with workers from the church.The Coptic Church, which is predominantly Egyptian, took its case to the Egyptian authorities, who in turn raised it with then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Arafat told (Egyptian) President Hosni Mubarak the Copts could have it, as a gift from him to Egypt,says Hirbawi, who like his father is Arab-Israeli. Hirbawi's father refused to cave in and was eventually arrested by agents from Arafat's Preventive Security, who took him to the Palestinian political capital Ramallah. The dispute rapidly snowballed and hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who served a first term at the time, sent forces to surround Ramallah. The elder Hirbawi was released three days later and took the issue to the Israeli authorities. The issue is one of clout for the Copts, a comparatively small denomination and among those who share ownership of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre under a fragile agreement which hasn't always been enough to prevent brawls between rival monks. For Hirbawi, it's a question of principle.Nobody can take what you own by force. And it is forbidden for something that belongs to Muslims to be taken by a Christian.
Israel PM opens Auschwitz blueprint exhibit
Mon Jan 25, 8:08 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday opened an exhibition of the Auschwitz death camp blueprints, saying Jews are again facing calls for their extermination, an apparent reference to Iran.There is evil in the world. If it is unstopped it expands, and it is expanding. And it is threatening the same people, the Jewish people, but we know it only starts with the Jewish people, said Netanyahu who has called Iran an existential threat to Israel.There is a new call for the extermination of the Jewish people,he said at the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said the Jewish state was doomed to be wiped off the map and has questioned the scale of the Holocaust.
Israel has routinely called for tough measures against Iran, which the West suspects of seeking to develop a weapons capability under the guise of a civil nuclear programme, an accusation Tehran denies.Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power.This is test for humanity and we shall see in the coming weeks and coming months how the international community lives up to its responsibility to stop evil before it spreads, the premier said.Netanyahu was given the rare original blueprints of the Nazi death camp -- some bearing the initials of Heinrich Himmler, chief architect of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews -- by German publisher Bild in Berlin in August.The documents, which date from 1941-42 and include plans drawn with technical precision for a gas chamber and a crematorium, were discovered in a Berlin apartment in 2008 and later bought by Bild newspaper.More than one million Jews, Roma and others deemed sub-human by Adolf Hitler's regime were killed at Auschwitz, near the Polish city of Krakow, out of a total six million Jews slaughtered by the end of World War II in 1945.What you see in this exhibition, in these testimonies is great evil. Unadulterated evil, Netanyahu said, pointing to the yellowed sketches and plans.Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said that at first glance, the documents looked like any regular construction plans -- but a mute scream emerges from them with terrifying clarity.
Netanyahu was set to travel to Poland later on Monday to attend the anniversary of the January 27, 1945 liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops.
