Dubai, Britain probe Israelis over Hamas murder
Sat Feb 27, 5:12 pm ET
DUBAI (AFP) – Most suspects linked to the murder of a senior Hamas militant are in Israel, Dubai police said Saturday as their British counterparts were in the Jewish state to probe the killers' use of fake passports.Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan pointed the finger at Meir Dagan, the head of Israel's secret service Mossad which is widely suspected of carrying out last month's Cold War-style hit on Mahmud al-Mabhuh in his Dubai hotel room.Khalfan's force has published details of 26 suspects together with passport photographs, and has revealed it has DNA proof of the identity at least one of the killers.What is sure right now is that the majority of the murderers whose names have been announced... are to be found in Israel, he said in comments published in the Arabic-language daily Al-Khaleej.Dagan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head the list (of an international arrest warrant) if it is proven that Mossad is behind the murder, the police chief said.
Khalfan said Dubai police had succeeded in identifying the suspects from closed circuit television footage, even though some of the suspects wore wigs during the operation.Israel has sought to play down the row, saying there is no evidence of its involvement. It has rejected the calls for Dagan's arrest as baseless and absurd.A spokesman for the British embassy in Tel Aviv said meanwhile that two of its police officers were in Israel to investigate the use of fake British passports by Mabhuh's killers.Two British police officers arrived a few days ago to interview British passport holders on the use of false passports bearing their identities in the case, Rafi Shamir told AFP on Saturday.The officers were preparing to meet six dual nationals whose British passports were used in the assassination, Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency said.We are arranging to speak to the six genuine passport holders who are resident in Israel as potential witnesses to a crime, Britain's Press Association news agency quoted a SOCA spokesman as saying.The murder of Mabhuh, regarded by Israel as a key link in a weapons smuggling chain into the Gaza Strip that is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, has mounted international pressure on Israel.Twelve British, six Irish, four French, one German and three Australian passports were used by the suspects, according to Dubai police.The revelation of stolen identities being used by suspected Israeli agents has caused a diplomatic outcry, with Australia threatening it would not be silent on the matter.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Saturday his centre-left government had an absolutely hard line on defending the integrity of its passport system and took seriously allegations that suspected Mossad assassins had stolen Australian identities.That is why the foreign minister has called in the Israeli ambassador and asked for an explanation,Rudd told reporters.Thus far we are not satisfied with that explanation.Canberra summoned ambassador Yuval Rotem on Thursday and warned that friendly ties were at risk if Israel was found to have sponsored or condoned the tampering of three Australian passports, linked to the Dubai killing. The Israel-based Australians caught in the passport scandal -- Joshua Daniel Bruce, Nicole Sandra McCabe and Adam Korman -- were among 15 named in connection with the murder of Mabhuh. The real McCabe, a 27-year-old mother to be who has lived in Israel for two and a half years, said she first learned of her passport's link to the crime from a radio news bulletin. I have no idea how they got hold of my passport. Obviously it's not my photo,she told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.I don't know any of these people, I don't know the other Australians. I'm terrified, I haven't slept and I'm shaky. I'm worried for my health and I'm worried for my baby's health,she added. Israeli ambassadors in four European countries have been summoned for talks and the European Union has also voiced outrage over the use of fake passports after an earlier list of 11 people was released.
Ex-Israel PM Olmert undergoes hernia operation: reports
Sat Feb 27, 3:34 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert underwent a hernia operation under full anaesthesia but left hospital hours later, media reports said on Saturday.Olmert, 64, underwent the surgical procedure on Friday, a day after he was back in court on charges of corruption. Last year he had surgery for prostate cancer.In December, Olmert pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption linked to three separate cases. He resigned under pressure in September 2008 after police recommended he be indicted.If found guilty, Olmert could face time behind bars, although it is unclear how long.All the charges concern actions which Olmert allegedly took before he became prime minister in May 2006, first as mayor of Jerusalem and later as trade and industry minister.He has denied any wrongdoing.
In U.S., Barak signals Israeli autonomy against Iran By Dan Williams – Fri Feb 26, 5:45 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel's perspective on Iran's nuclear program differs from that of the United States, and the two may part ways on what action to take, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday.Washington's clout over its Middle East ally is under scrutiny after Israel's veiled threats to attack Iran preemptively if international diplomacy fails to rein in Tehran's uranium enrichment, a process with bomb-making potential.The United States this week said it did not want to hurt the Iranian people with crippling sanctions against Iran's energy sector, measures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as the only viable diplomatic solution.There is of course a certain difference in perspective and a difference in judgment and a difference in the internal clock, a difference in capabilities, Barak told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think-tank, when asked about Israeli-U.S. discussions about Iran.I don't think that there is a need to coordinate in this regard. There should be understanding on the exchange of views, but we do not need to coordinate everything, said Barak, who was in Washington for strategic talks.Barak, a centrist in Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition government, reiterated Israel's argument that an Iranian bomb would destabilize the region by sparking an arms race and emboldening Islamist guerrillas sponsored by Tehran.Probably from this corner of the world it (Iran's nuclear program) doesn't change the script dramatically, he said, speaking in English. From a closer distance, in Israel, it looks like a tipping point for the whole regional order, with quite assured consequences for the wider world.While he played down the specter of Iran -- which denies having hostile designs -- trying to wipe out Israel in a nuclear strike, Barak urged the United States and other powers to keep all options on the table including preemptive force.Israel bombed Iraq's atomic reactor in 1981 and launched a similar strike against Syria in 2007. But many analysts believe it lacks the means to deliver lasting damage to Iranian nuclear facilities which are numerous, distant and well-defended.
Yet Barak hinted at Israel's willingness to go it alone, saying: We felt very proud that we never asked the Americans to come and fight for us. We basically ... to paraphrase Churchill, we said, Give us the tools and we will do the job.He praised the Obama administration for making the utmost effort" to resolve the standoff with Iran diplomatically.Voicing reluctance to see a new Middle East war, the United States has boosted support for Israel's strategic defenses. That has led some analysts to speculate that Israel, which is assumed to have the region's only atomic arsenal, could eventually be forced to enter a U.S.-led containment policy on Iran.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
Israel approves 600 new Jerusalem settlement homes
Fri Feb 26, 3:14 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has given the green light for 600 new homes in a Jewish settlement in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the Haaretz daily reported on Friday.The development in the Pisgat Zeev neighbourhood, which has been planned for some years, was approved with modifications by the interior ministry's Jerusalem district urban planning committee on January 12, a document obtained by AFP showed.Interior ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach told AFP: It's an old project, the principle of which was approved several years ago.The original plan had been for 1,100 housing units but it was scaled back, Haaretz said.A start date for construction has not yet been approved, according to the documents.The Palestinians reacted angrily to the disclosure.We strongly condemn the Israeli decision and call on the US administration to make a clear statement on this policy of Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories in general,chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.This decision is part of an Israeli policy aimed at aborting any international effort to relaunch the peace process, especially the American efforts.Israel's continued expansion of settlements is one of the biggest obstacles to the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, now suspended for more than a year.
The Palestinians insist they will only return to the negotiating table if Israel agrees to a complete freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.Israel announced a 10-month moratorium on new building permits for settler homes in the occupied West Bank in late November but it excludes east Jerusalem.Israel insists that the entire city is its eternal, indivisible capital, but the Palestinians are determined to make the city's eastern sector the capital of their promised state.About 200,000 Jewish settlers live in east Jerusalem alongside 270,000 Palestinian residents.
UNESCO worried about Israel heritage plan in West Bank
Fri Feb 26, 2:30 pm ET
PARIS (Reuters) – The United Nations' culture and education body said on Friday it was concerned about Israel's plan to rehabilitate Jewish religious shrines in the occupied West Bank in a heritage program.The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said the Israeli decision could derail attempts to reopen peace talks.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he intended to include the Tomb of the Patriarchs and several other Jewish religious shrines in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war in a $107 million plan to restore Jewish heritage sites.The decision has led to violent Palestinian protests and drawn international criticism.UNESCO said that Director-General Irina Bokova expressed her concern at the announcement that the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb would be included in the plan. She also expressed concern at the resulting escalation of tension in the area, the statement said.
Ashton said in a statement: The High Representative regards the recent decision by the Government of Israel... as detrimental to attempts to relaunch peace negotiations. The European Union calls on Israel to refrain from provocative acts. Palestinians are calling the move an attempt to seize land and holy sites on Israeli-occupied land where they hope to build a future state.The Tomb of the Patriarchs, which Muslims call al-Ibrahimi mosque, is sacred to Jews and Muslims as the traditional burial place of biblical figures Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah.Hebron and the shrine itself have long been flashpoints of violence in the West Bank, territory Israel's government calls by its biblical names Judea and Samaria.(Reporting by Anna Willard; Additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Lebanon arrests at least 5 Israel spy suspects
Fri Feb 26, 12:05 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon has arrested at least five more suspected spies for Israel as it presses on with a crackdown on espionage rings, local media reported on Friday.
The reports said military intelligence suspected that the five men, including retired security officials, were working for two separate espionage networks in northern and southern Lebanon.A security source, requesting anonymity, confirmed new arrests had been made but would not give details.More than 70 people have been arrested in the crackdown launched in April 2009, some of them policemen and security officials equipped with sophisticated surveillance and communication gear.
Israel has made no public comment on the arrests.Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war, and convicted spies face life in prison with hard labour or the death penalty if found guilty of contributing to Lebanese loss of life.
A retired member of the security services was sentenced to death last week for having spied for Israel and for his involvement in the murder of two Palestinian militant leaders.Mahmud Qassem Rafeh, 63, was convicted of collaboration and espionage on behalf of the Israeli enemy,according to the verdict handed down by a military tribunal.He was also convicted of involvement in the 2006 car bomb murder in the southern coastal town of Sidon of brothers Mahmoud and Nidal Mazjoub, members of the Islamic Jihad group.On Wednesday, a military prosecutor called for the death penalty for two other men allegedly spying for Israel, including a fugitive believed to be living in Israel, a judicial source said on condition of anonymity.The two are suspected of having given Israel information on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, the source said.And a Lebanese citizen arrested earlier this month on suspicion of spying for Israel has confessed to collaborating with the Jewish state, police chief Major General Ashraf Rifi told AFP on Thursday.The man now faces trial in a military court.
Palestinian PM prays at mosque in Israel heritage row by Majeda El Batsh – Fri Feb 26, 10:58 am ET
HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad on Friday prayed at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank on the fifth day of clashes amid mounting international concern over Israel's addition of the shrine to its national heritage list.Dozens of Palestinian youths hurled rocks and set up burning barricades in running battles with Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, an AFP correspondent reported. There were no reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, Fayyad joined the main weekly Muslim prayers at the contentious holy site in Hebron on the occupied West Bank, vowing that it would one day be controlled by a future Palestinian state.The Palestinian people understand extremely well that this decision has a political dimension, and that it is aimed at Israel expropriating sites that are part of an occupied territory, he added.These sites belong to a future Palestinian state,he said, reaffirming the inalienable right of the Palestinian people on their soil.
Hebron has long been a flashpoint.Dozens of Jews were killed in Hebron riots in 1929 that virtually ended the Jewish presence in the city until after the 1967 Middle East war, when a few hundred Jewish settlers established an enclave in the centre, living under heavy protection from the army amid 160,000 Palestinians.But tensions have been running particularly high this week as Thursday marked the anniversary of the February 25, 1994 killing by a hardline settler of 29 Palestinian worshippers in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the heritage plan involves only restoration work and there would be no attempt to change the delicate status quo that allows both Jews and Muslims to pray at the site, which both religions hold to be the burial place of their biblical forefathers.But his decision to include the Hebron tomb and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, also on the West Bank, in a national heritage restoration plan has drawn strong criticism.On Friday the head of the United Nations cultural body UNESCO expressed her concern at the plan and the resulting escalation of tension in the area.UNESCO chief Irina Bokova Bokova endorsed a statement by Robert Serry, UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process, that the sites have historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam and to Christianity.The director general reiterated UNESCO's long-standing conviction that cultural heritage should serve as a means for dialogue,her statement said.Her statement comes after Israel's ally the United States described the move as provocative,and the Islamic bloc at the United Nations called for international action to force Israel to rescind its decision.
Netanyahu's move also drew fire at home.Both the liberal daily Haaretz and the mass circulation Yediot Aharonot carried cartoons of Netanyahu with a box of matches, indicating how provocative they saw his proposals to be.Haaretz dubbed the prime minister a master pyromaniac for the move, recalling it was Netanyahu who during a previous term as premier in 1996 sparked bloody riots in Jerusalem by ordering the opening of a tunnel under another disputed holy site.Haaretz said the two sites deserved to be preserved as part of Jewish as well as Muslim heritage. But it asked whether it was really necessary to open such a Pandora's box at a time when the world is looking for a resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.In the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis, several hundred members of the radical Islamic Jihad group protested the decision, warning it would infuriate Muslims.What is coming will be harder for the (Israeli) occupation, public anger will escalate,said spokesman Dawood Shohab.
Hezbollah chief meets Ahmadinejad in Damascus
Fri Feb 26, 3:44 am ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) – The head of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which shares Tehran's vision of a world without Israel, travelled to Damascus for talks with allies Syria and Iran, the SANA news agency said Friday.Hassan Nasrallah attended a dinner banquet in Damascus Thursday hosted by President Bashar al-Assad in honour of his visiting Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the official agency said without giving further details.But Hezbollah's Al-Manar television in Lebanon reported that Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad met to discuss the latest developments in the region, and Zionist threats against Lebanon and Syria.Iran and Hezbollah repeatedly call for the annihilation of Israel.Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchcher Mottaki also attended Thursday's meeting, the television said, adding that Nasrallah had headed an important delegation to the Syrian capital.Since the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel that devastated Lebanon and resulted in more than 1,000 Lebanese deaths, Nasrallah has seldom left his Lebanese stronghold and has made few public appearances.
With an Israeli death threat hanging over him, the Hezbollah chief has even avoided religious or political gatherings in Lebanon, and his televised speeches have been taped or broadcast from secret locations.Iran and Syria are the main backers of Hezbollah, the only militia that has kept its military arsenal since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.Hezbollah has threatened to hit at Israel's key infrastructures if the Jewish state launches a fresh attack on Lebanon.Assad and Ahmadinejad signed a visa-scrapping accord in Damascus on Thursday, signalling even closer ties and brushing aside US efforts to drive a wedge between the two allies.
US, Israeli defense chiefs discuss Iran sanctions
Fri Feb 26, 1:24 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US and Israeli defense chiefs held talks the Pentagon said were focused on diplomatic efforts to impose robust sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.Amid rising international tension over Iran's uranium enrichment work, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met for about an hour with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told AFP.The two discussed the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions and what the international community can do to try to thwart them, to try to deter them, Morrell said.The talks touched on the need for effective sanctions to persuade Iran to comply with its international obligations, he said.Morrell told reporters earlier that both countries agreed the time had come to tighten sanctions on Iran as Tehran had spurned diplomatic efforts so far.The United States shares many of Israel's concerns on the issue, and Iran's failure to respond to a year of sustained and genuine outreach has left the international community no choice but to pursue a robust regime of sanctions, he said.He said the Israelis had been understanding, if not outright supportive of President Barack Obama's previous diplomatic overtures to Iran.And obviously we have come to a point where those efforts, that outstretched hand, has not been reciprocated -- in fact, it's been largely spurned.
The Obama administration has embarked on an intense diplomatic push to rally support for fresh UN sanctions against Iran, but Morrell said Washington remained open to dialogue if Tehran changed its stance.We keep that door open to engagement. So just because we're going down the pressure track doesn't mean the engagement track is closed off.US and Israeli officials have refused to rule out military action against Iran, but the Obama administration has stressed it is presently committed to a diplomatic strategy designed to pile pressure on Tehran.Gates and the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, have both expressed deep reservations about resorting to military force to counter Iran's nuclear drive, saying it would only delay the program.Israel has called for tough international sanctions on Iran's energy sector to persuade Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment efforts, which Israel and western nations suspect is aimed at building an atomic weapon.
Iran insists the program is purely for civilian purposes.Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has viewed Iran as its greatest threat because of the nuclear issue and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated predictions of the Jewish state's demise.The talks between Gates and Barak also covered regional security issues including the role of Hamas and Hezbollah, cooperation on missile defense and the Middle East peace process, Morrell said.
US slams Israel's provocative holy sites plan
Thu Feb 25, 12:27 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Obama administration Thursday criticized Israel's provocative plans to renovate two deeply contested holy sites in the occupied West Bank, as fresh clashes erupted in the town of Hebron.Young Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and rubber bullets during the fourth day of clashes in Hebron since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem would be included in a heritage restoration plan.We have asked both parties to refrain from provocative and unilateral actions that undermine efforts to resume negotiations to end the conflict,said US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley.We have raised this directly with the Israeli government.The criticism came just a day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed hope for resuming long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.We hope that that will commence shortly,she told the Senate Appropriations Committee, noting that President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, was laying the groundwork for talks between the two sides.We think it's absolutely essential that they begin to talk about the final status issues that divide them that have perpetuated the conflict over all of these years. But we're well aware of the difficulties that confront us on this.The Palestinians have refused to return to peace talks suspended during last winter's Gaza war without a complete halt to Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has agreed in principle to indirect talks with US mediation, but has demanded a number of guarantees from Washington.The United States, Russia and other members of the so-called Quartet of international mediators -- the European Union and the United Nations -- have planned a meeting in Moscow tentatively scheduled for March 19 among diplomats to try to relaunch the talks.
European court keeps West Bank out of trade deal
Thu Feb 25, 8:20 am ET
LUXEMBOURG (AFP) – A European court ruled Thursday that Israeli goods produced in the Palestinian territories cannot benefit from EU trade privileges, in a politically sensitive judgement centring on Jewish settlements.In its decision, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice maintained a clear legal distinction between Israel and the Palestinian territories, regardless of whether the Jewish state controls any of those areas.The case concerns German drinks filter and dispenser company Brita which had sought to import drinks makers and syrups from Israeli producer Soda-Club, made at a site in Mishor Adumin in the West Bank, to the east of Jerusalem.Brita contested a German court decision which refused the goods preferential duties treatment as the products were made in the Israeli-occupied territories.The EU court in Luxembourg upheld that decision, ruling that products originating in the West Bank do not fall within the territorial scope of the European Community-Israel agreement and do not therefore qualify for preferential treatment under that agreement.
The court decision, while made to settle a trade and customs dispute, touches on the controversial issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, a fraught issue at the heart of the Middle East peace process, and the status of the Palestinian territories themselves.The European Union would like to see the emergence of a fully-fledged state of Palestine, though as part of a full negotiated agreement with Israel.The EU already has its separate association agreements with Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the latter acting for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.Those agreements provide that industrial imports to Europe originating in Israel or the Palestinian territories respectively are exempt from customs duties.Under the deals the parties are expected to cooperate on determining the precise origin of the products receiving preferential treatment.The case goes back several years and came to light as suspicious German customs officials questioned their Israeli counterparts as to the exact origins of the products.The Israeli side had responded that the merchandise was made in an area under their responsibility. But it had not said whether it came from the occupied territories.That response prompted the German authorities to deny the goods the trade privileges.The Palestinian side had expected such a court decision.During a visit to Brussels on Tuesday, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas called on Europe not to invest in the settlements and to boycott products made in the Israeli settlements within the West Bank.
Syria, Iran affirm ties despite US calls By ALBERT AJI and ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writers – Thu Feb 25, 6:09 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian President Bashar Assad defied U.S. calls to loosen ties with Iran on Thursday, saying his long-standing alliance with Tehran remains strong despite overtures from Washington intended to shift his loyalties.The U.S. has reached out to Syria in recent months by nominating the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005 and sending top diplomats to meet with President Bashar Assad. Washington is hoping to draw Syria away from Iran and the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.But with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by his side in Damascus, Assad said Thursday that America should not dictate relationships in the Middle East.
I find it strange how they talk about Middle East stability and at the same time talk about dividing two countries, Assad told reporters when asked about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's call Wednesday for Syria to move away from Iran.
Assad took a swipe at Clinton for making such a suggestion, saying he and Ahmadinejad misunderstood, maybe because of translation error or limited understanding.In a show of unity, the two signed an agreement canceling travel visas between the their countries.U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, speaking to reporters in Washington on Thursday, said Assad need only look around the region and recognize that Syria is increasingly an outlier.We want to see Syria play a more constructive role in the region and one step would be to make clear what Iran needs to do differently. And unfortunately, there was no evidence of that today,he said.
President Barack Obama is determined to engage with Syria, a country seen as key to peace in the region but which the State Department considers a sponsor of terrorism.
Former President George W. Bush withdrew the last U.S. ambassador to Syria in 2005 after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which his supporters blamed on Syria. Syria denies any links.Assad's strong words Thursday indicate that America does not have the kind of leverage it thought over Syria, said Joshua Landis, an American professor and Syria expert who runs a popular blog called Syria Comment.America overplayed its hand,Landis said.The rest of the world is engaged with Syria — France is doing business, Turkey is doing business. Syria can survive. But it can't survive cutting ties with Iran.Still, there are signs Assad could be open to a breakthrough with America.Assad has begun to dismantle his father's socialist legacy since he rose to office in 2000. He has loosened the reins on banking, sought to attract foreign investment, and encouraged tourism and private education.He also is hoping for U.S. help in boosting the Syrian economy and American mediation in direct peace talks with Israel — a recognition that he needs U.S. help to reach his goal of winning the return of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.But Clinton said Wednesday that the recent decision to send an ambassador to Syria did not mean American concerns about the country have been addressed.Speaking to lawmakers in Washington, Clinton said the nomination of career diplomat Robert Ford signaled a slight opening with Syria. But she said Washington remained troubled by suspected Syrian support for militant groups in Iraq and elsewhere, interference in Lebanon and Syria's close relationship with Iran.
Ahmadinejad's trip comes amid rising U.S. tension with Iran over its nuclear program. The U.S. and others believe Iran is hiding nuclear weapons development under the guise of a civilian energy program. Iran insist its intentions are peaceful.Assad called America's stance toward Iran a new situation of colonialism in the region.Despite its efforts to woo Syria, Washington has not lifted sanctions on Damascus. First imposed by Bush and renewed by Obama in May, the sanctions cite Syria's support for terrorism, its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and other activities including efforts to undermine U.S. operations in Iraq. Iran's economic and political support has enabled Syria to survive those sanctions and international isolation. Ahmadinejad stressed that Syria and Iran are partners with a long history. There is nothing that could harm these brotherly relations, he said.With each passing day, these relations will improve and deepen.Sarkis Naoum, political editor of the Beirut daily An-Nahar, who follows Iran-Syria relations, says he does not see the countries severing ties anytime soon. Syria was supported by Iran, Iran helped Syria maintain its regime,he said.Mr. Obama's engagement policy has not worked yet.AP writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.
Corruption trial of Israel ex-PM Olmert resumes
Thu Feb 25, 3:45 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert was back in court on Thursday stressing his innocence at the resumption of his corruption trial.A few months ago I came before this court as an innocent man and I believe I will leave as an innocent man, Olmert told reporters before entering the Jerusalem courtroom.A member of his legal team, Rohi Bleher, said the trial would last several months with as many as 280 witnesses expected to testify. On Thursday, the prosecutor was expected to detail the charges against Olmert.In December, Olmert, 64, pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption linked to three separate cases. He resigned under pressure in September 2008 after police recommended he be indicted.The 61-page indictment includes allegations of fraud, breach of trust, registering false corporate documents and concealing fraudulent earnings.If found guilty, Olmert could face time behind bars, although it is unclear how long.All the charges concern actions which Olmert allegedly took before he became prime minister in May 2006, first as mayor of Jerusalem and later as trade and industry minister.
