EU to push for new Mideast peace talks: Spain
Thu Jan 21, 12:53 pm ET
MADRID (AFP) – The Spanish EU presidency pledged Thursday to make every effort to ensure that Middle East peace negotiations resume as soon as possible.Our aim as the rotating EU presidency in these important times ... is to make efforts so that the negotiations and a return to the table can come about as soon as possible, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.It's important that the parties meet but it is up to the two sides to decide when and how,he told a joint news conference with visiting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad ahead of talks between the two.Spain has always had a important role to play in the Middle East as far as the process is concerned, and it is important for Spain to continue to play a role,said Fayad.It should not be forgotten that this is where the peace process began. Madrid is and must continue to be an integral part of the terms of reference of the peace process, if that peace process is capable of delivering what needs to be delivered.
Middle East peace efforts are currently at a standstill.The talks, which resumed in 2007 after a seven-year hiatus, came to a halt again when Israel launched a military offensive against the Gaza Strip in late 2008.The Palestinians insist they will not return to the negotiating table unless there is a complete freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.The EU is the world's biggest aid donor to the Palestinians but holds limited influence over the Israeli government.Moratinos, a former EU envoy to the Middle East, said Spain would provide 75-80 million euros (105-112 million dollars) in aid to the Palestinians in 2010, a similar amount to that granted by Madrid last year.He said said he saw in Fayad a desire to use the diplomatic way as the unique instrument for the Palestinians ... to properly defend their aspirations and their rights, and of course Spain as the rotating president of the European Union will do all it can to push forward and accelerate this negotiation process.Fayad is also scheduled to hold talks Thursday with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Palestinians reject Israeli presence in future state
Thu Jan 21, 7:52 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Palestinians on Thursday rejected the idea of an Israeli presence on the eastern border of their future state, which was mooted by Israel's hawkish prime minister.The Palestinian leadership will not accept the presence of a single Israeli soldier in the Palestinian territories after the end of the occupation," Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for president Mahmud Abbas, told AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Israel would patrol the eastern border of any future state to prevent the smuggling of weapons, especially rockets like those fired from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.The ability to proliferate into contiguous areas thousands of rockets and missiles... is something that creates a monumental security problem, he told foreign reporters in Jerusalem.But the Palestinians said they would insist on the full sovereignty of any future state.We will not accept anything less than a completely sovereign Palestinian state on all the territories with its own borders, resources and airspace, Abu Rudeina said.We will not accept any Israeli presence, either military or civilian, on our land, and we will not accept that our state be under Israeli protection.Abu Rudeina added that Netanyahu's insistence on an Israeli border guard would place more obstacles in the way of restarting peace talks.
The dispute erupted as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell made his latest in a series of visits to the region aimed at convincing both sides to relaunch negotiations suspended during last year's Gaza war.The Palestinians have said they will not return to the negotiating table without a complete halt of settlement growth and have rejected a limited 10-month moratorium imposed by Netanyahu in November as insufficient.
Israel to remain on eastern border of Palestinian state: PM
Wed Jan 20, 3:51 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will maintain a security presence along the eastern border of a future Palestinian state in order to prevent weapons smuggling, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.The ability to proliferate into contiguous areas thousands of rockets and missiles... is something that creates a monumental security problem, he said at a news conference with foreign reporters in Jerusalem.
We must ensure that in that entry there is a way to stop the infiltration of weapons.
In the case of the future settlement with the Palestinians, this will require an Israeli presence on the eastern side of the prospective Palestinian state, he said, refusing to elaborate on the nature of such a presence.This was Netanyahu's first public comment since coming to power last year on the issue of borders of a future Palestinian state, and comes amid intensive US efforts to restart the peace negotiations which were suspended a year ago.Netanyahu's comment is bound to anger the Palestinians who have repeatedly demanded an independent state along the borders of 1967 before Israel occupied the West Bank.
Israel has in recent years struggled to deal with the issue of thousands of rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and from southern Lebanon.And despite two massive military offensives, both Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia continue to hold thousands of projectiles, most of which have been smuggled into the territories in recent years.Based on recent experience, we can't afford to have that replicate a third time... we have to have something to interdict the flow of weapons, Netanyahu said.And as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell again visited the region, Netanyahu urged the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, accusing them of setting preconditions.The Palestinians have climbed up a tree. People bring ladders, we bring them ladders, and the higher the ladder the higher they climb, he said.The Palestinians have refused to renew negotiations short of a full Israeli halt of settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and despite an Israeli decision to implement a partial construction freeze in the West Bank.The Palestinians are piling demand upon demand. They should be told fair and square get into the tent and start negotiating for peace, Netanyahu said.
Israel to push ahead with settlement university
Wed Jan 20, 2:54 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Defence Minister Ehud Barak decided Wednesday to push ahead with plans to transform a college in the West Bank settlement of Ariel into a university, Israeli officials said.The decision sparked outrage among many who viewed it as provocative at a time when Israel is pushing to enter talks with the Palestinians over the fate of the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.A decision to transform the college into a university was taken five years ago but frozen. On Wednesday, Barak decided to grant the institution an intermediate status of a university centre, a senior defence ministry official told AFP.Full recognition as a university -- planned for an unscheduled date -- would entitle it to significant additional funding and the ability to grant advanced degrees.Opponents said the move would also hurt the international standing of Israel, which has faced several academic boycotts over the continued occupation of the West Bank.It is a decision that will harm all the universities in Israel.It's not right that in a place where you have occupation and military rule, they want to establish an institution of higher education that teaches knowledge and values, said Yariv Oppenheimer of the anti-settlement Peace Now group.The announcement came several hours ahead of the expected arrival of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Israel.The United States has for months been pressing Israel and the Palestinians to relaunch peace negotiations suspended during the Gaza war in December 2008-January 2009.The Palestinians have been refusing to talk until Israel completely freezes construction in the West Bank settlements and annexed east Jerusalem.
After months of US pressure, Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November ordered a partial 10-month moratorium on new construction in the West Bank, but excluded public buildings and projects already under way.The university decision was seen by some as an attempt to mollify Jewish settlers angry over the construction slowdown.The government today injected some encouragement to the settlers of Judaea and Samaria and to higher education in Israel, lawmaker Alex Miller of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party told the Ynet news website.
U.S. seeks progress on Syria-Israel deal: George Mitchell By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – Wed Jan 20, 2:49 pm ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – A U.S. official discussed reviving peace talks between Israel and Syria on Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who said Israel had to declare frankly it wants peace.George Mitchell, President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, said the U.S. sought what he described as comprehensive Middle East peace that included a deal between Syria and Israel and the normalization of relations between the two foes.Syria, certainly, has an important role to play in all of these efforts... and that was the topic of our discussion today, Mitchell said in a brief statement.He said he looked forward to making tangible progress on our efforts toward peace and on the bilateral relations between the United States and Syria.
Ties between Syria and the United States improved after President Barack Obama took office and Mitchell met Assad twice last year. Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal al-Mekdad, a leading figure in Syrian foreign policy, also visited Washington.
Differences, however, persisted.
Damascus has not hidden its frustration with the pace of ties with Washington. Syrian officials have said Obama should lift sanctions first imposed in 2004 for its support of militant groups and exert pressure on Israel to renew the peace talks.The indirect talks, which were mediated by Turkey, broke down during the Israeli offensive on Gaza a year ago without defining the boundary of the Golan Heights, the Syrian plateau that Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War.The official Syrian news agency said Assad told Mitchell that Turkey had an important role to play in reviving the talks and Israel had to declare frankly that it wants peace.Syria improved its ties with Turkey as tension mounted between Ankara and Israel during the past few months, which made Israeli officials wary of Turkey resuming a mediation role.Syria wants an Israeli commitment to withdraw from the whole of the Golan based on a U.N. resolution stating the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force. Israel said it was willing to resume the talks without preconditions.Israel and its chief ally, the United States, want Syria to cool its ties with Iran as well as stop supporting the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, and help sideline them as armed players.A Syrian source said Assad would continue to show flexibility with Washington but only up to a point.The late Hafez al-Assad used to say that the Americans want us to commit suicide. Bashar has limits to what he can give the United States, the source said.
Bashar succeeded his father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, in 2000, months after the elder Assad, who ruled Syria for three decades, rejected a U.S.-supervised deal that did not restore what he considered as a the whole of the Golan.(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
In Saudi, Erdogan voices support for Palestinians
Tue Jan 19, 3:27 pm ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for the Palestinians and called on Saudi businessmen to invest in his country during a trip to the Middle Eastern oil giant.There is nothing more natural than for Turkey to show concern for the Palestinians and Gaza, not because we are Muslim but because we are humans, he told a meeting of businessmen in the Saudi capital.Would we not send aid to Haiti because they are Christian? he added on the first full day of his visit to the kingdom, according to the Turkish Anatolia news agency.Meanwhile Erdogan urged a meeting of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce to take advantage of the investment environment provided by the Turkish government for foreign investment in all fields, in particular agriculture.The official SPA news agency said he pledged to boost bilateral trade, which reached nearly five billion dollars in 2008 but reportedly slowed last year.The Turkish leader is on an official three-day visit with plans for talks with Saudi King Abdullah on bilateral and regional issues, including the Middle East peace process.He also is due to travel to Jeddah on Wednesday to meet the Turkish head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
Erdogan was recently honored by the Saudis with the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam.He is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, State Minister Zafer Caglayan, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, Energy, Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz and other officials and businessmen.
Mideast bishops convened amid exodus, violence By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jan 19, 10:31 am ET
VATICAN CITY – A Vatican document released Tuesday blamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupying of lands for fomenting most of the conflicts in the Middle East, driving Christians out and making life difficult for those who remain.
The document is a guide for discussions for an Oct. 10-24 meeting of Mideast bishops convened by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the plight of the Christian minority in the overwhelmingly Muslim region. The exodus of Christians from the region and religious discrimination faced by those who remain are main issues on the table.Synod organizer Monsignor Nikola Eterovic said about 150 bishops, most of them from Eastern rite churches, are expected to attend the meeting, which follows a 2009 Vatican meeting of bishops on Africa.The meeting document made clear that bishops in the Middle East believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be the root cause of several conflicts in the region. But it also singled out the growth of political Islam in countries like Egypt, and said the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been exploited by radical terrorism in recent years.In Iraq, the war has unleashed evil forces within the country, religious confessions and political movements, making all Iraqis victims, it said. However, because Christians represent the smallest and weakest part of Iraqi communities, they are among the principal victims, with world politics taking no notice.It criticized the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, saying it had made life difficult both for daily life and religious life since access to holy places are restricted.
Citing both the Israeli-Palestinian and Iraqi conflicts, it said:The solution to conflicts rests in the hands of the stronger country in its occupying and inflicting wars on another country.Violence is in the hands of the strong and weak alike, the latter resorting to whatever violence is within reach in order to be free, it said.
Asked at a news conference if the document was referring specifically to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and construction in east Jerusalem, Eterovic said the Vatican wasn't making policy decisions or recommendations in the document.But he noted that the paper was drafted by the bishops of the region, who know the situation well and that regardless the Vatican adheres to U.N. Security Council resolutions on the matter. The Security Council has endorsed the Mideast Road Map which calls for an independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel and a freeze on all Israeli settlement activity.Israel said in November that construction in West Bank settlements would slow down for 10 months, but that building in east Jerusalem would proceed without restrictions.Eterovic said there are currently about 17 million Christians from Iran to Egypt, and that while many Christians have fled, new Catholic immigrants — mostly from the Philippines, India and Pakistan — have arrived in recent years in Arab countries to work as domestic or manual laborers, bolstering the church's numbers in areas where there had previously been little or no Christian presence.
Orthodox Christians brave rain to mark Jesus's baptism
Mon Jan 18, 2:15 pm ET
JERICHO, West Bank (AFP) – Thousands of Orthodox Christians braved rain on the banks of the Jordan river on Monday to plunge into plastic tubs filled with its murky water to celebrate Jesus's baptism.Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III led a ceremony attended by the faithful from several eastern denominations on the river marking the heavily guarded West Bank-Jordan border.Theophilos tossed a cross adorned with flowers into the river and released doves at the site where Jesus is believed to have been baptised.Many followers then immersed themselves in the tubs or poured buckets of water over their heads as Israeli security forces prevented them from approaching the river itself.This is a very important day for us as Christians, and I came with my son to baptise him at this holy place where Christ was baptised, said Medina, 28, who came with a delegation of Eritreans and Ethiopians working inside Israel.The event marks the Feast of the Epiphany, when Jesus began his public ministry by receiving baptism from John the Baptist.The monastery and the riverside site where the baptism is thought to have taken place are located in what has been a closed Israeli military zone since the September 2000 outbreak of the latest Palestinian uprising.Western Christians celebrate Epiphany on January 6, 12 days after their Christmas. The Orthodox, who continue to use the old Julian calendar, mark the date on January 18.
