Israel sees little fallout from Dubai killing
By Jeffrey Heller – FEB 21,10
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli intelligence experts dismissed on Sunday the prospect of lasting diplomatic fallout for Israel or damage to its Mossad spy agency over the spotlight shone on the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai.The bottom line is that an important deed was done, by whomever, in the war on terrorism, Uzi Dayan, an ex-general and former head of Israel's National Security Council, said on Army Radio.However, Dubai police have said they are virtually certain that Mossad carried out the killing, and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed vowed on Sunday to bring those responsible to justice.Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman could face sharp questions from British and Irish counterparts in Brussels on Monday over the alleged use of forged European passports by a hit squad that killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on January 19.Citing a policy of ambiguity with regard to its intelligence activities, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied Hamas allegations that a Mossad team was responsible.I intend ... to underline our deep concern about the fake use of passports in Dubai and to seek reassurance and clarification on this very serious issue,Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told the Irish Times on Friday.Britain and Ireland called in the Israeli ambassadors last week to discuss the issue, but received little in the way of explanation. The ambassador in London, Ron Prosor, said he was unable to assist the British with more information.
EXPLANATION
France and Germany have also asked Israel for an explanation, but the French and German foreign ministers are not scheduled to attend Monday's foreign ministers' meeting, and it is not clear whether Lieberman will meet their deputies.Although six Britons in Israel, who said they were identity theft victims, had the same names of members of the alleged hit squad, Israel seemed confident in its no-smoking-gun approach.No one recalled his ambassador (to Israel). No one expelled anybody,Dayan said, calling for an investigation into the type of passport Mabhouh used to enter Dubai.Hamas, an Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, is shunned by the West for rejecting its calls to recognize Israel and renounce violence. Hamas acknowledged that Mabhouh smuggled weapons for it.Izzat al-Rishq, a Hamas official, told the Jordanian newspaper Al-Sabeel that the movement has formed a high-level investigation committee to try to discover how the Mossad was able to carry out the operation.Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, speaking on Saturday, said he did not expect a diplomatic crisis with Europe over the killing because there is nothing linking Israel to the assassination.Britain, France and Germany are countries with shared interests with Israel in countering terrorism,Ayalon said.
In a speech on Friday, Israeli President Shimon Peres made no mention of the Dubai assassination, but he highlighted the importance of cooperation among security services in what he described as efforts to stop terror.The secret relations among the security organizations are more open, and more meaningful, than the diplomatic ones,Peres said.In the United Arab Emirates, the state news agency WAM said UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammed Gargash summoned European Union ambassadors to brief them on the case seek their support in the investigation. Mishka Ben-David, a former Mossad operative, said the 11 suspected hit squad members -- some wearing beards and eyeglasses in photos released by Dubai -- could easily get back into the field after changing their look. These people can do almost anything because if you take any of the pictures you saw and make slight adjustments to their appearance, they can fly abroad under another name and no one will give them a second glance,he told Army Radio.(Additional reporting by Luke Baker in Brussels and Raissa Kasolowsky in Dubai, Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
UAE condemns abuse of passports by Hamas killers
by W.G. Dunlop W.g. Dunlop – FEB 21,10
DUBAI (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates condemned on Sunday the abuse of European passports by the assassins of a top Hamas figure in Dubai, as police said some of the killers entered the country with diplomatic passports.The Dubai police chief also called for Hamas to conduct an internal investigation into the killing, pointing to a possible mole in the Palestinian Islamist movement, a theory Hamas rejected.The UAE is deeply concerned by the fact that passports of close allies, whose nationals currently enjoy preferential visa waivers, were illegally used to commit this crime, said a foreign ministry statement, carried by the official WAM news agency.Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas' armed wing, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.The UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, has summoned European Union ambassadors to the UAE to brief them on developments in the case and to seek their continued cooperation with the investigation, the statement said.The abuse of passports poses a global threat, affecting both countries' national security as well as the personal security of travellers,UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in the statement.We fully intend that those responsible are brought to account for their actions,he said.Meanwhile, Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said some of Mabhuh's killers used diplomatic passports to enter the country.There is information that Dubai police will not make public for the moment, especially regarding diplomatic passports used by some of Mahmud al-Mabhuh's killers to enter Dubai, Khalfan was quoted by Al-Bayan newspaper as saying.Dubai police last week released the names and photos of 11 suspects in Mabhuh's killing who entered the UAE on European passports -- six from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France.Those passports appear to have been falsified or stolen, as they belonged to what appear to be ordinary citizens shocked to learn of their being linked to the case.Khalfan had not previously mentioned any of the suspects holding diplomatic passports. However, he said last week that there were others implicated in the killing whose names have not yet been made public.The use of European passports has sparked a diplomatic furor in which Israeli envoys in the four countries have been summoned for talks.But on Saturday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon insisted there would be no diplomatic crisis with Europe over the use of foreign passports in the Mabhuh murder as Israel had nothing to do with what happened.
Khalfan, however, has said he is 99, if not 100 percent sure that Mossad was behind the assassination, and added on Saturday that Dubai had evidence, including wiretaps, of the agency's role.The UK's Sunday Times said the killing was carried out by Israel's spy agency Mossad with the green light and blessing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Khalfan said that Mabhuh's killing was no longer a local issue, but a security issue for European countries,quoted on Sunday in another Emirati daily, the Abu Dhabi-owned Al-Ittihad.Al-Ittihad said Khalfan has called for Hamas to conduct an internal investigation about the person who leaked information on Mabhuh's movements and arrival in Dubai to his killers. The source of the leak was the real killer,Khalfan was quoted as saying. Hamas, however, rejected the idea of a leak. It said on Sunday that the fact that Mahmud al-Mabhuh was followed by agents of the Mossad does not mean that the movement (Hamas) is infiltrated.However, it did say it would investigate. Hamas always carries out an investigation into the perpetrated crime and hopes to coordinate its actions with (the police force) of Dubai,the statement said. According to Khalfan, two Palestinians have been arrested in Jordan and extradited to Dubai, where they are being held in connection with the murder. A Palestinian Authority security official in the West Bank said a senior Hamas member, Nehru Massud, was also suspected of involvement in the killing.
Massud has denied he had a role in Mabhuh's death.Hamas has blamed the killing entirely on Israel and vowed revenge.
West Bank shrines on Israeli heritage list By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer – FEB 21,10
JERUSALEM – Israel is adding two key West Bank holy shrines to its list of national heritage sites, the prime minister said Sunday, staking a claim that angered Palestinians, who want Israel out of the West Bank.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing a session of his Cabinet at a heritage site in the Israeli Galilee, said the two sites were late additions to the list, reflecting pressure from settlers and other nationalists to widen the heritage category to include Old Testament sites in the West Bank.One of the sites, in the city of Hebron, has been a flashpoint for decades. Jews call it the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Bible says the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried along with three of their wives.Muslims call it the al-Ibrahimi mosque, reflecting the fact that Abraham is considered the father of both Judaism and Islam.Hebron is a focus of violence because it is the only place in the West Bank where Jews live among Palestinians. About 500 Israeli settlers, some of them extremists, live in enclaves near the disputed holy site, guarded by Israeli soldiers who control part of the city where about 170,000 Palestinians live.
The other new heritage site is the traditional tomb of the biblical Rachel on the outskirts of Bethlehem, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Hebron. Israel's West Bank separation barrier juts into Bethlehem to put the site under Israeli control. The 30-foot (8-meter-) high concrete wall is a constant irritant to Palestinians there, who reject Israel's claims that the barrier is meant to keep out attackers and consider it a land grab.Altogether, about 150 sites are on the national heritage list. Netanyahu convened his Cabinet at Tel Hai, location of a legendary 1920 battle between early Jewish settlers and Arab attackers.Netanyahu, who angered settlers by agreeing under U.S. pressure to slow settlement construction, said the two West Bank sites must be preserved because they show Israel's ancient ties to the land.Our existence here doesn't just depend on the might of the military or our economic and technological strength, Netanyahu said. It is anchored first and foremost in our national and emotional legacy.Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib condemned the decision and warned it could take the Israel-Palestinian conflict in a dangerous direction.We believe that this particular violation is very dangerous because it might add to the religious nature of the conflict,Khatib said. Palestinians claim the West Bank as part of their future state.Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said the list was not meant to draw borders.The purpose of the list ... is to single out sites that are of great importance to the Jewish people,Regev said.Israeli settlers and their backers, who oppose giving up control of any of the West Bank, were pleased with the move and said they would press for additional biblical sites to be added to the list.Arieh Eldad, a lawmaker from the hardline National Union party, toured the Hebron site Sunday.There is no Israeli heritage without the Bible, there is no Zionism without the Bible,Eldad told Israel Radio.This is the real birthplace of the Jewish people, here it all began.Additional reporting by Associated Press writer Ben Hubbard in Ramallah, West Bank.
Jordan, France call for international peace conference
FEB 21,10
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan and France called for an international conference that would support efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.The two sides welcome all efforts that back the peace process, including holding an international conference at a suitable time and in coordination with all parties,visiting French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his Jordanian counterpart, Samir Rifai, said in a joint statement at a news conference in Amman.Fillon, who arrived in Jordan from Syria on Saturday, said Amman and Paris share the same views that the there is no other option but peace, peace that is built on clear foundation.There should be a viable, independent and democratic Palestinian state that lives side by side with Israel,he added.I will tell King Abdullah II that we share the same feelings about peace. I don't think wasting more time is in the interest of peace.The Palestinians have insisted that Israel halt all its settlement activity in the whole West Bank before they will agree to new peace talks.Jordan's main concern is to achieve peace, said Rifai, whose country signed a peace accord with Israel in 1994.
Israel rejects recognition of Palestinian state
Sun Feb 21, 3:41 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Sunday rejected the idea of foreign countries recognising a Palestinian state without a negotiated peace agreement, after France's foreign minister hinted at such a scenario.Imposing this kind of semblance of a partial solution from outside goes against the very idea of peace, a senior Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.Granting recognition when the issues of the conflict have not been settled would add fuel to the fire. This would only push the Palestinians to be even more intransigent and thus make any compromise impossible,he added.France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said over the weekend he could envision the recognition of a Palestinian state even before its borders are drawn up.The issue before us at the moment is the building of a reality: France is training Palestinian police, businesses are being created in the West Bank, Kouchner told France's Journal du Dimanche.It follows that one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders, he said.Kouchner's comments came ahead of a visit to Paris by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad, meanwhile, says he is intent on building institutions for a de-facto Palestinian state, which he aims to complete by 2011 regardless of whether peace talks have advanced with Israel.Later on Sunday, Abbas is due to meet with Kouchner in the French capital and with President Nicolas Sarkozy the following day.
Abbas has agreed in principle to a US proposal that he hold indirect talks with Israel under Washington's mediation, but has requested a number of guarantees.The Palestinians broke off peace talks after Israel launched a devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008, and they insist on a halt to Jewish settlements construction in the West Bank.
Blair: Israel-Palestinian peace talks to resume By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer – Sat Feb 20, 12:04 pm ET
ABUJA, Nigeria – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday that he hoped peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will resume in the coming weeks after negotiations stalled over Jewish settlements on occupied lands.Blair, who has served as the leader of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers since 2007, spoke to The Associated Press in an interview Saturday in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.He said special U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell has made progress in attempting to resume negotiations between the two sides. However, he cautioned that bringing both sides back to peace talks depended on more than just the issue of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, including east Jerusalem.The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating while Israel expands the settlements.Settlements are important, but they're not the only issue, Blair said. The real question is can we provide Israel with security and the Palestinians with a genuine, credible belief that they will have a viable state.Blair has served since June 2007 as leader of the Quartet, which includes the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. He said the early support of U.S. President Barack Obama for resuming the peace process helped.He remains deeply committed and the fact that he started the Middle East process right at the beginning of his presidency is a big help,Blair said.He's got a lot of time now to get this thing moving. I think his leadership is a very hopeful sign.Blair said that easing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians also would help Nigeria, Africa's most populous nations that's split between a Muslim north and a Christian south, by showing two faiths with a violent past can make peace with each other. Violence between the two faiths in Nigeria, often sparked by political infighting, has killed thousands in the last decade.Blair, who launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation after leaving office, attended an event Saturday highlighting a new effort between Christian and Muslim leaders to distribute mosquito nets in a country ravaged by malaria. The former prime minister pointed to that cooperation as a hopeful sign in the nation of 150 million people.In the end, Nigeria's going to have to work this out for itself,he said.But the benefit of interfaith action, such as this against malaria, is you've got Christians and Muslims sitting down and working together. It's got to be better than fighting with each other.
Palestinian state could be recognised before borders set: Kouchner
Fri Feb 19, 4:17 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he could envision the recognition of a Palestinian state even before its borders are drawn up, in an French newspaper interview to appear Saturday.The issue before us at the moment is the building of a reality: France is training Palestinian police, businesses are being created in the West Bank... It follows that one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders, Kouchner told the Journal du Dimanche.Kouchner's comments come ahead of a visit to Paris by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas next week, and after Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said he could see an independent Palestinian state in 2011 regardless of whether peace talks have advanced with Israel.If by mid-2011, the political process has not ended the (Israeli) occupation, I would bet that the developed state of Palestinian infrastructure and institutions will be such that the pressure will force Israel to give up its occupation,he said in an interview published in French media on Friday.
Abbas is due to meet with Kouchner in Paris on February 21 and with President Nicolas Sarkozy the following day, a senior Palestinian official said this week on condition of anonymity.Abbas has agreed in principle to a US proposal that he hold indirect talks with Israel under Washington's mediation, but has requested a number of guarantees.The Palestinians had broken off peace talks after Israel launched a devastating assault on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
Police, protesters clash in West Bank
Fri Feb 19, 1:18 pm ET
BILIN, West Bank (AFP) – Israeli forces on Friday fired teargas at stone-throwing youths during a protest to mark five years of weekly demonstrations against the separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin.Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and Geneva Mayor Remy Pagani were among the estimated 2,000 participants at the demonstration in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.As they do every week, villagers and international activists marched to the wire fence where the Israeli forces are positioned, chanting slogans and waving Palestinian flags.And as often happens, a smaller group of Palestinian teenagers used slingshots and hurled stones at the security forces, which responded with teargas and water cannons.
Palestinians say the separation barrier aims at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.The Israeli military said in a statement on Friday the barrier is a central factor in thwarting terrorists who operate to harm Israeli civilians.The rioters who arrive at the weekly disorders tend to intentionally attack security forces and damage the security fence, causing an accumulating damage.The protesters say they have won a partial victory as Israel last week began implementing a September 2007 High Court ruling ordering the barrier to be rerouted, returning some of the 575 acres (232 hectares) of Bilin's land that was seized to build a fence around the Jewish settlement of Modin Illit.While the rerouting is viewed as a victory, demonstrators vowed protests will continue until the occupation is over and the wall is dismantled in its entirety, organisers said in a statement.The barrier -- a network of concrete walls, fences and barbed wire -- snakes through the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel in 1967 on which the Palestinians hope to build their state.To date, Israel has completed 413 kilometres (256 miles) of the planned 709-kilometre (435-mile) barrier, according to UN figures.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will have been built inside the West Bank, leaving 9.5 percent of the territory and 35,000 Palestinians between the barrier and the Green Line that marks the 1967 border with Israel.The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a non-binding resolution in 2004 calling for those parts of the barrier that are inside the West Bank to be torn down and for further construction in the territory to cease.Israel has ignored the ruling.
Battling PR woes, Israel asks citizens to help By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 19, 9:36 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's government has launched a campaign aiming to boost the country's image abroad even as it finds itself in the middle of an international uproar over the suspected role of Israeli spies in the assassination of a Hamas operative.Through a new Web site, TV commercials and pamphlets handed to passengers boarding planes, the campaign launched this week tries to get Israelis to promote their country when traveling.But it offers a puzzling take on what foreign attitudes toward the country really are, and appears to reflect a view that poor public relations, and not policies, lie at the root of Israel's image problem.Rather than focusing on the passions surrounding the Israeli-Arab conflict, the campaign suggests — with a touch of humor — that people abroad believe that camels are a leading form of transportation in Israel, or that Israelis like to barbecue outside because they have no gas or electricity at home.But foreign attitudes toward the country would seem to have little to do with any perception that Israel is primitive — the country's high-tech sector and military are widely recognized as among the world's most advanced — and far more to do with the intractable complexities of the Mideast conflict.Israel is still suffering the fallout from its punishing military operation in Gaza last winter, including war crimes accusations from a United Nations commission. And the new campaign kicked off precisely as Israel's Mossad was accused of killing a Hamas operative in Dubai, suggesting another way Israeli citizens might be serving their government abroad.Anat Weinstein-Berkovits, a spokesman for the newly created government ministry behind the project, said the goal is to urge Israelis to tell about the beautiful Israel you know.
In one TV ad, a faux English-speaking reporter leads a camel through the desert, explaining that Israelis use the animals for hauling water, merchandise and ammunition...in the desert where they live.An announcer intones in Hebrew: Sick of seeing how we're portrayed in the world? You can change the picture.The Web site notes that Israel has suffered through seven wars but still seeks peace. Myth: Israelis don't really want peace. Untrue,it reads.Dan Caspi, a communications professor at Ben Gurion University, said Israelis genuinely love their country and defend its actions abroad, even if they criticize those same actions bitterly at home.
But Caspi said the campaign is still unlikely to be effective.He noted that after Israel captured territories from Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War, Israel's then prime minister, Levi Eshkol, is reputed to have summoned international experts and asked them how to improve Israel's suddenly complicated image. They consulted for days and then gave Eshkol one recommendation: Get out of the territories.Little, Caspi said, has changed since then.The government would be better advised to first put its house in order,he said.
Abbas considers options on peace talks restart By Mohammed Assadi – Fri Feb 19, 8:34 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is considering his options on resuming indirect peace talks with Israel after meeting U.S. and European diplomats this week, a senior aide said Friday.We have asked for an official meeting of Arab ministers of the follow-up committee and have told them that our consultations, coordinations and inquiries are still ongoing with the Americans, Europeans, Russians and the United Nations,chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters.Erekat dismissed an Israeli newspaper report Friday that Abbas had told Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger at a meeting this week in Ramallah that U.S.-mediated peace talks could resume in the coming days.The Haaretz report said Spindelegger told Israeli officials he had heard from Abbas of his readiness to resume talks.The one who announces the Palestinian position is the Palestinian side, not Haaretz or the Austrian foreign minister, Erekat said.An Israeli diplomatic source in Jerusalem said: There is no official word from the Americans or the Palestinians but there have been all kinds of messages from Western diplomats indicating that talks could restart.
There was no comment from Vienna.Abbas has been seeking details from U.S. officials on how a proposal that Washington would host proximity talks involving Israeli and Palestinian envoys would work.Aides say Abbas wants guarantees that any such talks would quickly move to seeking final agreements on the core issues of the conflict -- borders, settlements, right of return for Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem -- witin specific terms of reference and a set timeline.Abbas broke off negotiations with the previous Israeli government in December 2008 in protest at its offensive in the Gaza Strip and has refused to hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Israel expands West Bank settlements.In November, Netanyahu ordered a 10-month building freeze in some settlements on land Israel captured in 1967. The United States and Western powers want Abbas to drop his demand for a total freeze and get back to negotiations.(Editing by Ori Lewis)
IAEA suspects Syrian nuclear activity at bombed site By Mark Heinrich – Thu Feb 18, 4:47 pm ET
VIENNA (Reuters) – Uranium particles found at a Syrian desert complex bombed to ruin by Israel in 2007 point to possible covert nuclear activity at the site, the U.N. atomic watchdog said Thursday.It was the first time the International Atomic Energy Agency lent public support to Western suspicions that Israel's target was a nascent nuclear reactor that Washington said was North Korean in design and geared to making weapons-grade plutonium.Previous IAEA reports on its two-year investigation into the affair, impeded by a lack of Syrian cooperation, said only that the uranium particles raised concern because they did not come from Syria's declared inventory.
The presence of such particles points to the possibility of nuclear-related activities at the site and adds to questions concerning the nature of the destroyed building,said the confidential report by new IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano, obtained by Reuters.Syria has yet to provide a satisfactory explanation for the origin and presence of these particles,he wrote, dismissing Damascus's contention that the traces came with munitions used by Israel to wreck the complex.In what analysts called another departure from predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei, Amano prodded Syria to adopt the IAEA's Additional Protocol, which permits unfettered inspections beyond declared nuclear site to ferret out any covert atomic activity.
SYRIAN STONEWALL
U.N. inspectors examined the site at Dair Alzour in June 2008 but Syria has barred renewed access and also not let them visit three military sites, whose appearance was altered by landscaping after the IAEA first asked to check them.The Vienna-based IAEA has also been checking whether there could be a link between the particles uncovered at Dair Alzour and similar unexplained traces detected in swipe samples taken at a Damascus nuclear research reactor later in 2008.The report said Syria had refused a meeting in Damascus last month to address the issue. But inspectors now planned to visit the research reactor on February 23 to take more test samples and examine relevant source documents related to the experiments.Some analysts say the Damascus findings raised the question whether Syria used some natural uranium intended for the alleged reactor at Dair Alzour in tests applicable to learning how to separate out bomb-grade plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.Syria, an ally of Iran which is under IAEA investigation over nuclear proliferation suspicions, has denied ever having an atom bomb program and has said the intelligence is fabricated.Syria has not cooperated with the agency since June 2008 in connection with the unresolved issues related to the Dair Alzour site and the other three locations allegedly functionally related to it,said the U.N. watchdog report.As a consequence, the Agency has not been able to make progress toward resolving the outstanding issues.
The issue, along with the IAEA's hardening concern about a possible covert Iranian nuclear weapons program, will be on the agenda of the first of four quarterly meetings by the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors starting on March 1.(Editing by Jon Hemming)
Arabs would back Lebanon if attacked by Israel: Mussa
Thu Feb 18, 2:07 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Arab League chief Amr Mussa said on Thursday that Arab countries would stand by Lebanon if it were attacked by Israel, adding that the situation between the two countries is tense.If a new attack or aggression is in the process of being prepared, they (Israel) will not get away with it easily, Mussa said after meeting with Foreign Minister Ali Shami.We learned the lessons of 2006, and the Arab position is to stand by Lebanon.Mussa did not elaborate on what he meant by the lessons of 2006 on what he meant by the assurance of support.Israel launched a devastating air, ground and naval assault on Lebanon in July 2006 after guerrillas from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.The war killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.It also devastated much of the infrastructure in southern Lebanon, just across the border and a Hezbollah stronghold.
Mussa, who was wrapping up a two-day visit to Beirut, was speaking amid growing fears in Lebanon that Israel might again attack the country. While there have been harsh words thrown in both directions, senior Israeli officials have been at pains to insist that they do not want a conflict.There are not just threats, but thousands of violations of the border zone and of south Lebanon, which demonstrate that the situation is complex and tense, Mussa said.He did not elaborate, but Israel warplanes frequently enter Lebanese airspace, despite Lebanese and United Nations protests.
Miliband demands full Israeli cooperation
Thu Feb 18, 9:14 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – Britain expects Israel to cooperate fully with an investigation into the use of fraudulent European passports by the suspected killers of a Hamas chief, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Thursday.Speaking after Israel's ambassador was called into the Foreign Office in London, Miliband said the envoy was told that we wanted to give Israel every opportunity to share with us what it knows about this incident.We hope and expect that they will cooperate fully with the investigation launched in coordination with authorities in Dubai, where Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh was killed last month, he said.We want to get to the bottom of the issue of the fraudulent passports, or their potential use, Miliband added, after Israeli envoy Ron Prosor held talks with Peter Ricketts, the head of the diplomatic service.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed Wednesday there would be a full investigation into the use of six fake British passports in the Hamas chief killing, widely suspected of being the work of Israel's Mossad spy agency.There's obviously been a very serious incident involving British passports, it's also involved a number of British passport holders who have woken up yesterday morning extremely worried, said Miliband.We think it's right to have the full investigation, he added, saying that Britain was not going through the motions by calling in the Israeli ambassador and seeking cooperation.That is the rightful business of government when it comes to dealing with serious issues and working with close allies,he said.He added that the six British passports involved did not have new micro-chip technology which would make it much more difficult for them to be abused.But obviously we need to make sure that the British passport remains something that everyone has confidence in, and countries round the world have confidence in as well,he said.
Iran vows to stand by Hezbollah against Israel By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 18, 8:31 am ET
TEHRAN,Iran – Iran's president on Thursday said that if the Israelis launch a new war against Lebanon's Hezbollah, the militant group should retaliate strong enough to close their case once and for all.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments, in a conversation with Hezbollah's leader, were the latest in a heated exchange of rhetoric between Israel and Lebanon and Syria this months in which all sides have been warning the other not to start a war.Speaking by phone, Ahmadinejad urged Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to prepare his fighters to be able to retaliate strongly against any Israeli attack.The preparations should be of the level that, if they (the Israelis) want to repeated the mistakes of the past (by attacking), then their case should be closed once and for all and the region delivered from their evil ways forever, the Iranian president said, according to the state news agency IRNA.The people of Iran will stand by the peoples of Lebanon and the region in this, he said. Nasrallah dismissed any fears, saying Israeli threats will lead to nothing.Iran is a key supporter of Hezbollah, believed to funnel it weapons and millions of dollars in funding, though Tehran denies arming the Shiite group. Hezbollah, also closely allied to Syria, boasts a heavy arsenal of rockets capable of reaching deep inside Israel.The past month has seen increased sabre-rattling between Israel and Syria, Hezbollah and Lebanon — though there's been little apparent cause on the ground for the warnings of new war. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006 that wreaked destruction in south Lebanon and parts of Beirut. But since then, Hezbollah has refrained from firing rockets across the border.
In a speech aired nationally in Lebanon this week, Nasrallah vowed that if Israel attacks again, his fighters would retaliate in kind, striking Tel Aviv or Israel's international airport on the city's outskirts.Lebanon's prime minister also warned of escalating Israeli war threats and vowed Lebanon would support Hezbollah in any fight. The prime minister, Saad Hariri, is a pro-U.S. figure and longtime rival of Hezbollah, but the group is now a member of his national unity government.Earlier in the month, Syria's president Bashar Assad accused Israel of avoiding peace, and its prime minister warned that if war broke out, Israeli cities would be attacked. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman replied that if Damascus draws Israel into a war, its army would be defeated and the Syrian regime would collapse.
Netanyahu aide dismisses tooth fairy peace views By Allyn Fisher-ilan – Wed Feb 17, 5:07 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Anyone who thinks the world would rally to Israel's side if it pulled out of the West Bank might as well believe in the tooth fairy, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's closest advisers said on Wednesday.The adviser, Ron Dermer, said the image problems Israel faced internationally, especially after criticism of its conduct in last year's Gaza war, stemmed from something deeper than opposition to its political policies.He said in a speech that core opponents -- radical Islam and the far-left -- were challenging Israel's legitimacy as part of a campaign against Western values.There are still people who say,look, if Israel gets up and leaves Judea and Samaria, returns to the 1967 lines, that the world will be on our side,Dermer said, referring to the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 war.Dermer did not specify any position on that issue, but dismissed the idea that adopting such a policy would stop assaults by world critics on Israel's legitimacy.
But I can say that I think that my six-year-old's belief in the tooth fairy is more grounded in fact than that view, the U.S.-born adviser told the Jerusalem Conference, an annual forum that discusses Israel's national priorities.Palestinians hope to establish a state of their own in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip, now controlled by Hamas Islamists, in 2005, but has long ruled out, citing security concerns and historical links, a complete withdrawal from the West Bank.Echoing previous Israeli prime ministers, Netanyahu has said Israel intends to keep major settlement blocs in any future peace deal with the Palestinians, possibly trading land in Israel for the enclaves.Palestinians fear settlements, deemed illegal by the World Court, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.In his speech, Dermer said Israel must persuade the left that Islamic fundamentalism poses the greatest danger and try to draw more world attention to human rights abuse in Iran and elsewhere in the region.I believe we can put this issue on the agenda and that slowly but surely those forces working against us will shrink and shrink some more and Israel will have built a strong coalition for the defense of the Jewish state, he said.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
Syria's Assad holds security talks with U.S. official By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – Wed Feb 17, 2:32 pm ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad held security talks on Wednesday with America's highest-ranking career diplomat, a day after President Barack Obama pledged to reappoint an ambassador to Syria after a five-year absence.Under Secretary of State William Burns, the architect of a deal that helped rehabilitate Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi, met with Assad along with Daniel Benjamin, a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official.I have no illusions about the challenges, Burns said after seeing the president.But my meeting with President Assad made me hopeful that we can make progress together in the interest of both of our countries, Burns added.
Benjamin, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State, will stay in Syria on Thursday for a day of talks with Syrian officials after Burns departs. The intention was to deepen our dialogue as we move forward,Burns said.Under Obama, the United States started talking to Syria's government, in contrast to a policy of isolation under former President George W. Bush.The United States withdrew its ambassador from Damascus in 2005 after the assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Syria's foes in Lebanon accused Damascus of involvement, a charge Syria denied.Syria announced that year that it had stopped cooperation with the United States on what it describes as terrorism suspects following U.S. criticism of Syria's role in Iraq.But Syrian officials met twice last year with a U.S. security delegation in Damascus, although Syria is on the U.S. sponsors of terrorism list and has good ties with Iran.The United States wants Syria to stop infiltration of militants to Iraq through the Syrian border, an issue that caused relations to deteriorate until Obama took office.
IRAQ QUESTION
Washington also wants Syria to rein in members of the Iraqi Baath Party who fled to Syria and are accused by the U.S.-backed Iraqi government of encouraging violence in Iraq.Relations between Washington and Damascus have improved since Obama took office 13 months ago. Diplomats say Washington is hoping to pull Syria away from Iran and get its help in stabilizing neighboring Iraq.Nevertheless Obama renewed sanctions against Syria last May, accusing it of supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and destabilizing Iraq, with which it shares a long, porous border that has been a conduit for al Qaeda fighters.Syria and Iran are the main backers of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas and Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim political and guerrilla group in Lebanon that fought a war against Israel in 2006.There is heightened U.S. nervousness about the Hezbollah weapons issue, one diplomat in the Syrian capital said.Washington has muted its criticism of Syria's authoritarian system and the nomination of Robert Ford as ambassador to Damascus was seen as a major step in improving ties.Burns said the nomination of Ford, who still has to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, signaled America's readiness to improve relations and to cooperate in the pursuit of just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Arabs and Israelis.Syrian and Lebanese media have been reporting for weeks that Obama intended to appoint Ford. Now deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, he previously served as ambassador to Algeria from 2006 to 2008 and deputy chief of mission in Bahrain between 2001 and 2004.A pro-government Syrian paper said last week that Damascus had approved a U.S. request to reappoint its ambassador.
France urges Israel to exercise great restraint
Wed Feb 17, 12:41 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – A senior French politician urged Israel to exercise great restraint during a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, amid a war of words between the Jewish state and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah.The French parliament today calls on Israel to exercise great restraint, and we mean it, said Gerard Larcher, head of the French senate, or upper house of parliament.French parliamentarians of all political affiliations await ... the end of all escalating threats in the region, especially as concerns Lebanon, Larcher told a news conference.Larcher was ending a four-day official visit to Lebanon during which he held talks with top leaders and a Hezbollah delegation.Israeli officials have warned repeatedly that any attack by Hezbollah will spark a tough response against Lebanon as a whole, and they have also been locked in a war of words with Syria, a main supporter of Hezbollah.On Tuesday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to unleash his guerrilla group's military might on Israel's infrastructure, including Tel Aviv airport, should Israel attack Lebanon.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said Damascus would back the government and people of Lebanon against any possible Israeli aggression launched on Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since sought to ease tensions, saying his country wants peace with all its neighbours.But earlier this month, Netanyahu accused Beirut of allowing Hezbollah to smuggle weapons into Lebanon in blatant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and the Shiite group.
Egypt police seize explosives destined for Gaza
Wed Feb 17, 7:04 am ET
RAFAH, Egypt (AFP) – Egyptian police seized more than three tonnes of explosives set to be smuggled into the neighbouring Palestinian Gaza Strip, a security official said on Wednesday.Security officers found the TNT on Tuesday concealed in 79 large bags in Sarsuriya district near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the official said.Residents had tipped off police about the 3.5-tonne cache, which had been prepared for smuggling through one of the many underground tunnels linking Gaza with Egypt.Cairo has stepped up its efforts to close the tunnels, which are mainly used to send food and other goods to the impoverished Palestinian enclave, under blockade since the Islamist Hamas movement took it over in 2007.Egypt is building an underground barrier to cut them off, after repeated efforts to find and demolish them, along with Israeli air strikes, failed to end the thriving smuggling trade.
Smugglers in Sinai say most of the tunnels, which are licensed on the Palestinian end by Hamas, are used to smuggle contraband, but Hamas operates a few used solely for weapons.
Hezbollah warns of retaliation for any Israeli hit By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer – Tue Feb 16, 6:25 pm ET
BEIRUT – Hezbollah's leader warned Israel Tuesday that the militant group would fire rockets at Tel Aviv airport and other strategic targets if Israel's military strikes Lebanese infrastructure.Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006, and in recent months both sides have exchanged tough words of warning. The new threat from Hezbollah is backed up by what the group says is an arsenal of thousands of rockets and missiles, some of which it says can reach anywhere in Israel.Hassan Nasrallah said the group's rockets would also target buildings in Israel's seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv if Israeli warplanes strike buildings in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern outskirts.During the 2006 fighting, Hezbollah slammed about 4,000 rockets into Israel, while Israel bombed the group's strongholds in Lebanon's south and east as well as its headquarters in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.
The war killed around 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel.Israel also destroyed dozens of Dahiyeh buildings, including Nasrallah's offices, and Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut's Rafik Hariri Airport. Hezbollah's retaliation deep inside Israel did not reach Tel Aviv.Nasrallah said his group does not want war but if it happens Hezbollah will strike deep in Israel.You destroy a building in Dahiyeh and we will destroy buildings in Tel Aviv, Nasrallah said via a video link from a secret location.His speech was broadcast to a rally commemorating the 2008 assassination of Hezbollah's top military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus.Hezbollah and Iran, its main backer, have blamed Israel for Mughniyeh's killing. Israel has denied involvement.If you bomb the airport of martyr Rafik Hariri in Beirut, we will bomb Ben Gurion's airport in Tel Aviv,Nasrallah said.Thousands of supporters waved their fists in the air and chanted, At your service, Nasrallah.If you bomb our ports, we will bomb your ports. If you bomb our oil refineries, we will bomb your oil refineries,said the black-turbaned Nasrallah.If you bomb our factories, we will bomb your factories. If you bomb our electricity stations, we will bomb your electricity stations.He said Hezbollah has thousands of militants ready to face any Israeli ground invasion.
During the 2006 war, Nasrallah had also warned that he had weapons that could reach Tel Aviv, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Lebanese border.Although the city was never targeted, Hezbollah's targets struck deeper inside Israel than ever before, hitting on at least one occasion the town of Hadera, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Tel Aviv.Israel is working on a defense system called the Iron Dome that is designed to knock down short-range rockets like those used by Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza. The system, which fires projectiles at the incoming rocket to blow it up in mid-air, was successfully tested in December. Israeli media say the first battery could be in position in May.However, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said last month that it would take years before the system is fully deployed.
In his speech Tuesday, Nasrallah also renewed a promise of revenge for Mughniyeh's killing.Our enemy is worried and let it continue to be worried,he said.
