Biden condemns new Israeli settlement plan By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – MAR 9,10 8PM
JERUSALEM – Vice President Joe Biden condemned an Israeli plan to build hundreds of homes in disputed east Jerusalem on Tuesday — a disagreement that tarnished a high-profile visit that had been aimed at repairing ties with the Jewish state and kickstarting Mideast peace talks.Israel's Interior Ministry said late Tuesday that it had approved construction of 1,600 new apartments, an embarrassing setback for Biden after a day of warm meetings with top Israeli officials.Although ministry officials said the announcement was procedural and unconnected to the visit, a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was blindsided and tried to contain the damage at a late-night dinner with Biden.Nonetheless, Biden issued a harshly worded statement after the dinner, saying its timing was especially troubling by coming on the eve of a new round of U.S.-mediated peace talks.The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now, Biden said.We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them,he added, warning that unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations.Relations between Israel and the Obama administration have been chilly precisely because of the settlement issue, and one of Biden's main goals had been to try to patch up ties. Biden is the highest-level member of the Obama administration to visit Israel.
The U.S., like the Palestinians and the rest of the international community, believes that Israeli settlements built on lands claimed by the Palestinians, including east Jerusalem, undermine peace prospects. President Barack Obama has been more outspoken on the issue than his predecessors.Netanyahu has rebuffed calls from the White House to halt all settlement activity, agreeing only to a limited freeze that does not include east Jerusalem.Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed east Jerusalem. Israel considers its east Jerusalem neighborhoods to be part of its undivided capital, but the annexation has never been internationally recognized and the neighborhoods are widely seen as settlements.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said the new homes would be built in Ramat Shlomo, an existing neighborhood for ultra-Orthodox Jews. She noted that there is a 60-day appeals period, indicating that the decision could yet be changed.At Tuesday's dinner, Netanyahu told Biden he was caught off guard by the ministry's announcement, a top Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the dinner was closed.While Netanyahu considers east Jerusalem to be part of Israel, he acknowledged the timing of the announcement was poor and said he had no intention of sabotaging Biden's visit. He stressed that there are no plans to begin construction anytime soon.But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the move soured the negotiating climate. The two sides agreed this week to begin indirect negotiations under the mediation of U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Peace efforts have been stalled for 14 months, in large part because of Palestinian anger over settlement activity.With such an announcement, how can you build trust? This is destroying our efforts to work with Mr. Mitchell, Erekat said.It's a really disastrous situation. I hope that this will be an eye-opener for all in the international community.Interior Minister Eli Yishai's office issued a statement saying Tuesday's decision was a procedural step in a project that has been in the works for three years. The timing ... has no connection to the U.S. vice president's visit to Israel,it said.Biden was scheduled to remain in the area for two more days, meeting with international Mideast envoy Tony Blair and Palestinian leaders in the West Bank on Wednesday before delivering a policy speech at Tel Aviv University on Thursday.Biden had spent the day trying to calm Israeli concerns that Obama has been less friendly to the country than past U.S. leaders. Earlier in the day, Biden assured Israelis they can count on strong U.S. backing as peace efforts finally resume. The resumption of talks, albeit indirect, is the first concrete achievement for Obama in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. The relationship between the two allies, Biden told reporters as he stood beside Netanyahu, has always been a centerpiece of American policy. Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel,Biden said.
The United States will always stand with those who take risks for peace, Biden said, telling Netanyahu, you're prepared to do that.Obama began his term with a push for Mideast peace, prodding Israel to freeze its construction of West Bank settlements that swallow up land the Palestinians want for a future state. The insistence on a total settlement freeze is seen by many in the region to have backfired. Polls show that Israelis have largely come to see Obama as overly sympathetic to Israel's enemies, making it difficult for the administration to get Israeli public opinion behind any difficult peace moves. Biden offered assurances that the U.S. remained committed to Israel's security. Iran appeared to loom large in Biden's discussions with Netanyahu.We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said. Israel has been pushing for stricter international sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, and has refused to rule out a military strike if sanctions fail. A string of top U.S. officials in recent weeks have urged Israel to give more time for diplomatic pressure on Iran to work.
Israel, Syria pursue nuclear-powered Mideast By ANGELA CHARLTON and STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writers – MAR 9,10
PARIS – Is the Middle East about to go officially nuclear? Bitter rivals Israel and Syria both announced Tuesday that they want to pursue atomic power plants, potentially complicating the diplomatic storm over Iran's nuclear program and fueling a widening web of suspicion across the Middle East.In a region where few leaders trust each other to keep a nuclear program peaceful, Israel — which is widely thought to have a secret nuclear weapons program — is unlikely to accept Syrian assurances its program is civilian. Looming in the background Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates also have ambitions to develop nuclear power.Israel's Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau dodged regional politics in announcing his country's intentions at a nuclear energy conference in Paris, painting them instead in earth-friendly tones.We need this energy source because it is environmentally clean, Landau told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference. Nuclear fission contributes far less to global warming than burning of coal, but it worries many because of the risks of long-term waste storage and proliferation of potentially deadly nuclear technology.Building atomic power plants would enable Israel to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels and meet its long-term energy needs. Such construction could also increase pressure on Israel to open its facilities to inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which would shine a spotlight on an area the country has long kept secret.The Jewish state is used to being accused of nuclear hypocrisy. It demands a nuclear-free Iran when no one doubts Israel has nuclear weapons of its own.Charges of double standards could now intensify — making it harder for Israel to argue that Iran must open all its facilities to world scrutiny.
Landau said his country would open any nuclear power plants to international inspections — but said we don't see a reason to allow inspectors into sites that are believed to house Israel's nuclear weapons, or to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.In other Mideast developments Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden condemned an Israeli plan to build hundreds of homes in disputed east Jerusalem, casting a cloud over a high-profile visit to the region aimed at kickstarting peace talks.Biden said the announcement of the plan, was precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.The nuclear situation could also complicate U.S.-led efforts to level a new round of U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to cooperate with nuclear inspectors. Tehran says its uranium-enrichment activities are peaceful, but many world powers suspect the Islamic republic is seeking weapons.
Israel's probably trying to create an exemption for itself, but I don't think people will buy it. Too many Arab countries and too many non-aligned countries would react pretty badly, said David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector who now heads the Institute for Science and International Security.The Iran standoff and Israel's own case illustrate how hard it is for the U.N. watchdog to keep nuclear technology confined to producing electricity and out of the arms sphere.
Syria, meanwhile, has its own nuclear ambitions.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad, also at the Paris conference, said his country would like to consider alternative energy sources, including nuclear energy, to meet rising demand.So far those dreams appear distant. Syria has little know-how or money to invest in building nuclear power plants, which are enormously expensive. They do, however, reflect rising regional interest in the technology.The United States is providing financing and training for nuclear power plans in Jordan. The United Arab Emirates in December awarded a South Korean consortium a contract to build energy-producing nuclear reactors. Egypt has two small nuclear reactors used for research and is pursuing power-producing reactors. Israel has acted in the past to keep regional enemies from pursuing nuclear programs. In 2008, Israeli warplanes struck a Syrian site the U.S. alleged was a plutonium-producing reactor secretly being constructed with help from North Korea. Syria has maintained the site was an unused military installation. An Israeli raid in 1981 destroyed Iraq's partially built Osirak nuclear reactor. Landau called Israel's need for nuclear energy imminent but gave no timeline for building a nuclear plant. Israeli energy expert Amit Mor estimated it would take 15 to 20 years for Israel to build a reactor. The country will also have to find someone willing to sell it the equipment to build the nuclear power plants, which could prove challenging since Israel is not a signatory to non-proliferation treaty.
India could be one source, as well as a possible example for Israel to follow. India has avoided signing the non-proliferation treaty but has developed nuclear energy and weapons with international help, including from the United States. Landau said his country would like to build a reactor in cooperation with scientists and engineers from our Arab neighbors — a prospect that appears unlikely in the current atmosphere of particularly strained Arab-Israeli relations. In the past Israel floated the possibility of cooperation with Egypt on nuclear energy; the current talk is of a possible French-Israeli-Jordanian project.
Jordanian officials dismissed the idea.
It's too early to talk about any regional cooperation with Israel before a solution is found to the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts, said Khaled Toukan, chief of Jordan's Atomic Energy Commission. Landau met several months ago with the French Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo to discuss possible joint nuclear efforts. France derives more of its electricity from nuclear power than any other country, and Paris sees export potential. It was France that, beginning in the 1950s, helped Israel build its nuclear reactor at Dimona. Israel is believed to have used that reactor to construct a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israel also has a smaller nuclear reactor for research at Nahal Soreq, not far from Tel Aviv. Gutkin reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Amy Teibel and Karoun Demirjian in Jerusalem, Jamal Halaby in Amman, George Jahn in Vienna, and Greg Keller in Paris contributed to this report.
Lebanon's defence strategy much ado about nothing: analysts
by Rana Moussaoui – Tue Mar 9, 12:53 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Talks between Lebanon's rival political parties focused on Hezbollah's weapons have little chance of succeeding given the vested interest of key regional players like Iran and Syria, analysts say.This dialogue is going nowhere, said Rafic Khoury, chief editor of the independent daily Al-Anwar, referring to national defence strategy talks that resumed on Tuesday at the presidential palace before being adjourned to April 15.Hezbollah, as well as Syria and Iran, clearly stated recently their strategy of resistance against Israel, he added.The talks, which were launched in 2006, have repeatedly been adjourned because of the successive political crises that have shaken Lebanon.
The last round was held in June 2009.
The stated aim is for Lebanon's Western- and Saudi-backed majority and a coalition led by the Iranian- and Syrian-supported Shiite militant group to agree on a national defence strategy over neighbouring enemy Israel.But a major stumbling block to reaching agreement has been Hezbollah's weapons.The group, which sparked a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington, is the only faction in Lebanon that has refused to surrender its arsenal following the country's 1975-1990 civil war.It argues that Lebanon's army is ill-equipped and as such its weapons are needed to defend the country against Israeli aggression.The majority, however, argues that any decision concerning war or peace must be made by the state.You have two diametrically opposed views with one side arguing that the new national defence strategy must protect Hezbollah's arsenal and the other wanting to do away with it, Khoury told AFP.They're going around in circles and each camp is holding its ground, he added. It's like a debating club: you argue but no decision is ever taken.Prior to the resumption of the talks on Tuesday, Hezbollah set the tone by saying its weapons were not open to discussion.
For its part, the majority argues that Hezbollah cannot be allowed to become a state within a state.No one is talking about disarming Hezbollah, said Ammar Houry, a majority MP. We want to come up with a solution whereby Hezbollah's arsenal becomes part of an overall defence strategy overseen by the state.However, analysts say the majority has little room to manoeuvre given that the issue extends far beyond Lebanon's border, with regional players Syria and Iran setting the agenda.This is a complex issue that carries regional ramifications, said Osama Safa, head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy studies. Israel and Syria have a vested interest.Dialogue is positive but no one believes that this issue is going to be settled in seven or eight sessions or even a year.The daily Al-Akhbar, close to Hezbollah, summed up the situation on Tuesday with a headline that read National dialogue: the play, while An-Nahar daily, close to the majority, said no breakthrough was expected. The 2006 war left much of south Lebanon in ruins and killed more than 1,200 people, mainly Lebanese civilians, as well as 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers. Israel says Hezbollah has since built up its arsenal, from 14,000 rockets at the outbreak of the 2006 war to 40,000 now. Last month, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to unleash the guerrilla group's military might on Israel's infrastructure, including Tel Aviv airport, should the Jewish state attack Lebanon. Hezbollah has participated in government since 2005 and has two ministers in the 30-member unity cabinet.
Turkey sees positive signs for Israel-Syria talks
Tue Mar 9, 12:13 pm ET
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Syria has said it is ready to restart peace talks with Israel mediated by Turkey, and there are some positive signals from the Israeli side, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.Speaking in Saudi Arabia during a visit to receive a prize for services to Islam, Erdogan said his government was assessing whether to resume its role.Syria wants Turkey's mediation. Israel sometimes gives positive signals on it. The situation will be evaluated, Erdogan was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anatolia.If we reach a positive conclusion, I hope we will start the process, he said.An aide to Erdogan told Reuters no formal request for mediation had been received from the Israeli government.Israel and Syria held four indirect rounds of peace talks with Turkish mediation in 2008, but they were suspended following the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in September that year.A senior official in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau also said no decision had been taken on whether to renew talks with Syria under Turkish mediation.The official went on to cautiously welcome Erdogan's reported comments, saying: If the words reflect Turkey's wish to strengthen its ties with Israel and to contribute to forwarding peace, this, of course, is a welcome aspiration.Some Israeli politicians had aired reservations in recent months about Turkey's suitability as relations soured after Erdogan's repeated criticism of the Israeli offensive in Palestinian-ruled Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.The Israeli coalition appears divided over whether to recommence peace talks with Turkey acting as mediator.Muslim but secular Turkey has a history of military cooperation with Israel, and has acted as an intermediary between the Jewish state and the Arab World.(Reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore and Zerin Elci)
Gazan hairdressers protest Hamas restrictions
Tue Mar 9, 10:30 am ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gaza's male hairdressers have filed a complaint with a human rights group over a Hamas edict banning them from cutting women's hair.Gaza's Islamic militant rulers announced the ban last week. It affects only five coiffeurs but highlights Hamas' increasing attempts to impose a strict version of Islam in the already conservative Palestinian territory.Hairdresser Hatem al-Ghoul says he and his colleagues have complained to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, hoping to pressure the government to rescind the decision. The rights group said Tuesday it is seeking clarifications from Hamas.Male hairdressers are in demand among women in Gaza's upper middle class. Islamic custom bars women from exposing their hair to strangers.
US pledges unvarnished commitment to Israel security
Tue Mar 9, 6:12 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – US Vice President Joe Biden said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that Washington's commitment to Israel's security is absolute, total, unvarnished.The cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel's security, said Biden, who was in the region to encourage indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and discuss international efforts to halt Iran's nuclear drive.Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel. There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security.
Israel visa restrictions block investment: Palestinians
Tue Mar 9, 4:29 am ET
RAMALLAH (West Bank) (AFP) – Israeli visa restrictions are the main obstacle to foreign investment in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestine Trade Centre (PALTRADE) said in a report on Monday.The trade group said that potential investors in the Palestinian economy, including many European Union and United States citizens,are consistently refused visas to the Palestinian Territory.Many investors face multiple hurdles when entering WBG (the West Bank and Gaza.) These include difficulties with obtaining multiple-entry business visas, extending their stay or pursuing a residency based on their investment, the report said.Others are issued restricted permits valid only for the Palestinian territory or only for Israel, significantly limiting their ability to effectively operate, the trade promotion organisation said.In addition, it is unclear what the exact requirements for entry are.Last year, Israel enacted a measure that allows immigration officials to request arriving visitors to choose between a visa for Israel and one for the Palestinian territories, potentially preventing them from travelling to both.The report said Israel's de facto entry policy violates the 1995 Oslo II agreements with the Palestinians.
Attempts to rectify the situation by the Palestinian ministry of civilian affairs are hampered by the absence of any public information regarding visa-permit or renewal and denial criteria, PALTRADE said.The report, carried out with Norwegian funding, stressed that sustainable economic growth in the Palestinian territories is dependent on foreign direct investment.The World Bank, which supervised the report, said last year that a small resurgence of growth in the West Bank appeared to be largely driven by massive inflows of foreign aid.Restrictions on the movement of people and goods which Israel has enforced since 2000 have stymied Palestinian private sector growth,the Bank said.The West Bank is largely isolated by a separation barrier Israel says is necessary for its security, while movement within the territory is subject to hundreds of Israeli military roadblocks and checkpoints.
The Gaza Strip, which has no physical connection to the West Bank, has been under a tight Israeli embargo since the Islamist Hamas movement violently seized power there in 2007.
Israel, Palestine Negotiate Indirectly in Proximity Talks By TONY KARON- TIME – Tue Mar 9, 3:30 am ET
They won't be talking directly to each other, but at least the leaders of Israel and Palestine have a common objective in the proximity talks the Obama Administration is launching this week. Unfortunately, that shared goal is not to reach a final agreement on a two-state solution to their conflict - both sides know better than to expect that U.S. special envoy Senator George Mitchell's shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah will be able to bridge the chasm between their demands. Instead, the mutual goal in the latest round of talks is to avoid being blamed for their failure.
The very fact that two decades after the start of the Oslo peace process, the two sides are no longer even negotiating directly but instead communicating via the Americans is a clear sign of just how grim the prospects have become for achieving peace through bilateral talks. Both sides, in fact, are showing up for the U.S.'s latest version of a peace process largely to prove a point. For the Palestinians and their Arab backers, who have given the latest round of talks just four months to produce results (a deadline not endorsed by the Obama Administration), their purpose is to demonstrate to the U.S. that no credible peace agreement can be achieved with the hawkish government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that creating a viable independent Palestinian state requires that the Americans press the Israelis to do things they're not going to do voluntarily. Setting conditions and deadlines is a way for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to offset the domestic political damage he suffers from participating in endless rounds of fruitless negotiations. Abbas was helped by the fact that the new talks were endorsed by the Arab League last week, but the tone of its statement is telling:Despite the lack of conviction in the seriousness of the Israeli side, said Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa, his committee agreed to back the talks as a last attempt and to facilitate the U.S. role.
The Israelis, for their part, need to demonstrate good faith and position themselves to blame the Palestinians, as they have done up to now, for the absence of a peace deal. And Israeli officials make no bones about the fact that they need to go through the motions in order to pursue their own priority: resuming talks, a senior Israeli official told the daily Yediot Ahronot, would create an atmosphere in the Arab world and the international community that would allow the world to focus on the real threat - Iran.Netanyahu, after taking office, came around to talking of a two-state solution, which he had previously rejected, but at the same time he defined Palestinian statehood in terms too limited to be acceptable to the Palestinian leadership. Netanyahu had publicly opposed the offers made to the Palestinians by previous Israeli governments, and his government made clear last week that new talks would not begin from understandings reached with any of his predecessors but would instead start from scratch - a position vehemently rejected by the Palestinians. Of course, none of those previous offers had been accepted by the Palestinian leadership; it's hard to see how offering less than the proposals previously rejected by Abbas, as Netanyahu appears set to do, is going to break the deadlock. But Netanyahu will argue that Israel is willing to talk directly and without conditions and to use the Palestinians' refusal to do so as a basis to blame them for the stalemate. While in theory a peace process might require that the protagonists make tough choices, the proximity process being initiated by the Obama Administration will, in fact, land the tough choices on the desk in the Oval Office. Four months or more from now, it will probably become clear that the gap between Israel and Palestine is unlikely to be bridged by simply talking. And then the question will be, Is the U.S. willing to force the issue by putting on the table its own views of an acceptable settlement and beginning to press both sides toward accepting it?
Even as Senator Mitchell shuttles between them, both sides appear set to escalate their confrontation on the ground, in growing battles over expanded Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and elsewhere and over the status of various sites considered holy by both Jews and Muslims. Last Friday's confrontations between Israeli police and stone-throwing Palestinian youths in Jerusalem may be a portent that the latest round of peace talks could, in fact, be starting under the cloud of a looming intifadeh.
Tentative Mideast peace talks begin by Philippe Agret – Mon Mar 8, 9:32 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinians and Israelis held their first indirect talks in more than a year in a tentative boost to the Middle East peace process, frozen since the Jewish state's devastating war on Gaza.US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley confirmed to reporters in Washington that the talks had started Monday under the mediation of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.As to how substantive the discussions were today, George is on his way back (to Washington). He will report to the secretary, Crowley said, referring to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.The talks mark the first time the Palestinians and Israelis have come together in any form since Israel launched its 22-day war on Gaza in December 2009 to stop rocket and mortar attacks from the Islamist Hamas-run territory.The Palestinians were however angry at Israel's decision on Monday to give the go-ahead for 112 new homes to be built in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.Israel made the move despite announcing a partial moratorium on such construction late last year, with the news breaking just as US Vice President Joe Biden was set to arrive in the region.Israeli Environment Minister Gilad Erdan said the project in the Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem was an exception to the partial halt of settlement activity announced in November.At the end of last year, the government decided to freeze construction, but this decision provided for exceptions in cases of safety problems for infrastructure projects started before the freeze, Erdan told army radio.The Palestinians condemned the announcement and called on the United States to intervene to halt settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
This was the first item on the president's agenda, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said after a meeting between Mitchell and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank.The president said this cannot stand. We cannot tolerate that each time we have discussions on peace-making the Israeli government tenders more settlements, more incursions, more provocations.But the Palestinians grudgingly agreed to four months of US-backed indirect peace negotiations with Israel, and the State Department later gave its tacit approval to the project, saying it complied with the moratorium.On the one hand, it does not violate the moratorium the Israelis previously announced. On the other hand, this is the kind of thing that both sides have to be cautious about as we move ahead with these parallel talks, Crowley said.
When you're in talks of this kind, you have to recognize the interests and perception of the other side, he said.And both sides should be cautious about actions that might be either perceived within the region or that might be exploited by those who want to create obstacles to further progress.Earlier, Mitchell praised both sides for agreeing to start indirect talks, and said he would return to the region next week to discuss the structure and scope of the process.We also again encourage the parties, and all concerned, to refrain from any statements or actions which may inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks, Mitchell said.
Erakat told AFP the formal negotiation sessions had not started yet because we're awaiting the return of Mitchell to understand the mechanism of the negotiations, adding that he expected the US envoy to return on March 16. Israel also announced Monday that it had decided to allow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton to enter the Gaza enclave, which is under a strict Israeli embargo. Ban said in New York, meanwhile, that he would attend an Arab League summit in Libya this month to push forward the Middle East peace process after a planned tour of the region. The UN chief also confirmed his attendance at a ministerial meeting of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet in Moscow on March 19 to encourage an early resumption of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The Quartet, which groups the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations, has endorsed a roadmap for Middle East peace which calls for a viable Palestinian state living peacefully alongside a secure Israel. But no tangible progress has been made on resolving the core issues of the status of Jerusalem, the future borders of a Palestinian state and refugees.
Israel to let UN chief, EU official into Gaza
Mon Mar 8, 3:32 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel says it will allow the U.N. secretary general and the European Union's foreign policy chief to enter the Gaza Strip.Israel's Foreign Ministry says it would enable the entry of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton into Gaza, following their requests to visit the territory.Israel has routinely banned foreign officials from crossing into Gaza since Hamas' violent takeover of the strip in 2007, maintaining that such visits bolster the Islamic militant group. Officials can enter Gaza from Egypt.Monday's statement says the decision was made to allow the dignitaries to get a first hand impression of humanitarian activities taking place in Gaza.
Israel to seek French help for nuclear power plant: ministry
Mon Mar 8, 2:06 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will officially announce on Tuesday that it is seeking French help to construct a nuclear power plant, the infrastructure ministry spokesman said on Monday.Chen Lulu said minister Uzi Landau would tell an international conference on civilian nuclear energy in Paris that he sees such a plant as a joint project between Israel and Jordan, with France supervising and providing technology.He mentioned this three months ago to French Ecology Minister (Jean-Louis) Borloo, who showed great interest and said he would discuss it with President (Nicolas) Sarkozy, Lulu said in a statement.Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has said it will not sign up for a Middle East nuclear-free zone being promoted by the United States.The Jewish state is widely reported to have nuclear weapons but refuses to confirm or deny such reports, pursuing what it calls a policy of nuclear ambiguity.With the United States, Israel has been at the forefront of calls for tough sanctions to halt Iran's controversial nuclear programme which it says is a cover for building nuclear weapons.
Tehran insists its atomic ambitions are for peaceful civilian purposes.
Israel, which has a severe power shortage, is an arid country with no option of hydroelectric generation and no oil, and the government faces local opposition to building more coal-fired electricity plants.We have to check options which are safe and cause the least environmental damage, an infrastructure ministry statement quoted Landau as saying before departing for Paris.Nuclear technology has many positive uses which have the ability to serve the cause of peace and cooperation, he said.
Biden heads to Middle East for 5-day tour
Sun Mar 7, 9:20 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden has left Washington for a five-day tour of the Middle East, including Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.In Jerusalem on Tuesday, Biden will have meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni, chair of the Kadima Party.Biden's visit Wednesday to the Palestinian territories includes meetings in Ramallah with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas.On Thursday, Biden will be meeting in Amman with Jordan's King Abdullah.The vice president's wife, Jill Biden, is also going on the trip. She will be visiting schools and hospitals across the region.
PLO approves talks with Israel as Mitchell meets Netanyahu By Joshua Mitnick – Sun Mar 7, 1:27 pm ET-CSM
Tel Aviv – The highest Palestinian political body authorized President Mahmoud Abbas to begin indirect peace talks with Israel for a four-month trial period, clearing the way for the first negotiations in more than a year ahead of Vice President Joseph Biden's arrival in the region later this week.The decision of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee effectively drops a Palestinian precondition from last year that Israel first freeze settlement activity before renewing negotiations. The shift comes in response to international pressure on the Palestinian leadership, but runs counter to widespread skepticism in the Palestinian public and exposes Mr. Abbas and his Fatah organization to criticism from political rival, Hamas. After months of being accused by Israel as the obstacle to negotiations, the Palestinian leadership hopes that returning to the talks will shift the pressure back onto Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for concessions, said analysts.
[Abbas] has been under tremendous pressure to find a way to get back to negotiations, says Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian pollster based in Ramallah, West Bank.The goal here is not to reach an agreement. I don't think the president believes there is an agreement to be reached with Netanyahu.US steps up effortsUnited States Peace Envoy George Mitchell arrived in the region over the weekend. He met Sunday with Mr. Netanyahu to discuss getting the indirect negotiations started. Mr. Mitchell is also scheduled to meet Palestinian officials, including Abbas, in the West Bank tomorrow. Renewing peace talks has been a key foreign policy goal of the Obama administration, though efforts became bogged down last year over a US demand to halt settlement expansion. Talks on a permanent peace deal – which focus on the status of Jerusalem, borders, and Palestinian refugees – were last held at the end of 2008 and were broken off.PLO Executive Secretary Yasser Abed Raboo told reporters in Ramallah that the talks with Israel would initially focus on reaching an agreement on a common border. Acknowledging the internal opposition to the move, he added that the Palestinians would establish a special committee to assess the progress of the talks. This decision by the Palestinian leadership has been taken despite rejection and skepticism of some members of the PLO Executive Committee,he said. Israel is observing a temporary halt on building starts in the West Bank, but the policy doesn't apply to East Jerusalem. Abbas's decision to insist on the settlement halt – taking a cue from the US – won him popularity with a Palestinian public.
Do talks strengthen Abbas?To help Abbas ease off that position, on Wednesday a group of Arab League foreign ministers recommended that the Palestinians give indirect talks a chance. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has criticized the Palestinian leadership's shift. On the other hand, the ongoing hiatus in talks ultimately undermines Abbas's advocacy of negotiations and strengthens the argument of that only armed resistance by Islamic militants against Israel will win sovereignty for the Palestinians. Mr. Raboo called on Israel to make a series of good faith gestures to the Palestinians, such as the release of prisoners, removing roadblocks, and easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip. Abbas can say no for a little while, says Scott Lasensky, a fellow at the US Institute for Peace.But ultimately he can't say no to an American invitation to negotiation, given his dependence on US economic aid, and given his own political platform.
Hezbollah disarmament not for discussion: minister
Sun Mar 7, 8:58 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – A Hezbollah minister said on Sunday that disarming his Shiite militant group was not a subject for discussion, two days before Lebanon's national dialogue on defence strategy is due to resume.Some have implied that the dialogue session seeks to establish when Hezbollah will be disarmed, Administrative Reform Minister Mohammad Fneich was quoted as saying by the state news agency ANI.This issue is not a subject for discussion and will not be debated at the dialogue session, Fneich said.Politicians from rival parties are due to meet Tuesday for a new session on defence strategy to be chaired by President Michel Sleiman.The US-backed government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri has failed to resolve the thorny issue of Hezbollah's weapons since its formation in November, when it defeated a Hezbollah-led coalition backed by Iran and Syria.The Shiite movement has refused to disarm since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war and insists that its weapons are necessary to defend Lebanon against Israeli aggression.
The so-called national dialogue was launched in 2006, before the devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel, to determine the fate of the weapons held by the Shiite militant group.But it has been delayed several times because of the country's successive political crises.Israel says Hezbollah has built up its arsenal in recent years, from 14,000 rockets at the outbreak of the 2006 war to 40,000 now.The Shiite group fired around 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during the 2006 conflict.Last month, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to unleash the guerilla group's military might on Israel's infrastructure, including Tel Aviv airport, should the Jewish state attack Lebanon.Hezbollah has participated in government since 2005 and has two ministers in the 30-member unity cabinet.
US envoy and Israel's Barak discuss peace talks restart
Sat Mar 6, 3:42 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and US envoy George Mitchell held discussions on Saturday about reviving Middle East peace talks, the minister's office said.During a one-and-a-half hour meeting at the home of the defence minister in Tel Aviv, Ehud Barak and George Mitchell discussed the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, a ministry statement said without giving further details.Mitchell arrived in the region on Saturday for a visit during which he is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.US Vice President Joe Biden is also due to arrive here early next week.Arab foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to back one last round of indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks despite scepticism over Israel's readiness to revive peace efforts, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said.The administration of US President Barack Obama has struggled to revive talks between the Palestinians and Israel, suspended at the beginning of the Jewish state's offensive against Hamas in Gaza last winter.
Voter registration begins for Palestinian local polls
Sat Mar 6, 10:24 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Palestinian Central Electoral Commission began registering voters on Saturday for municipal elections in July, its president said.
We began registering voters this morning, Hanna Nasser told a news conference, adding the process would continue until March 16.Last month, the Palestinian Authority said it would hold local elections on July 17 in the Palestinian territories, but the rival Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip rejected the move as illegal.The electoral commission believes the Hamas refusal does not undermine the polls, which are to be conducted on a local basis with each town or village naming its council representative.Hamas, which swept several large Palestinian towns in the last local elections held in stages between 2004 and 2005, is blacklisted by Israel and the West as a terrorist organisation.In June 2007, Hamas seized power in Gaza after driving out forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a week of deadly street battles.Abbas called legislative elections for January but they have since been postponed indefinitely as Hamas refuses to allow any vote in Gaza without a unity agreement with Abbas' Fatah movement.
EU's Ashton wants to visit Gaza amid push for peace talks
Sat Mar 6, 9:33 am ET
CORDOBA, Spain (AFP) – EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Saturday she hopes to get into the Palestinian Gaza Strip during a Middle East trip this month, as Europe pushes for renewed peace talks.European foreign ministers, meeting in Cordoba, Spain, welcomed the support of Arab nations for indirect proximity talks to begin between Israel and the Palestinians.Washington has been struggling for months to coax the Israelis and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after talks were suspended in the wake of Israel's devastating war on Gaza launched in December 2008.We have to thank the Arab League which has done tremendous work. To accept the resumption (as soon as possible) of indirect talks between Israelis and the Palestinians is a signal, said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, arriving for a second day of EU talks in Spain.Arab foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to back one last round of indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks despite scepticism over Israel's readiness to revive peace efforts.European ministers have been active recently in trying to revive the moribund peace process.Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos recently spoke in favour of recognising a Palestinian state even before border issues are resolved.Ashton said she plans to travel to Israel on March 17.I have asked to go to Gaza, we'll see what happens, she told reporters, saying she wanted, among other things, to see how the large amounts of EU aid into the Palestinian territories are being used.
Focus is needed on state-building the enabling mechanisms that allow them to take the responsibilities, the British peer added.Europe wants to ensure that its aid to the Palestinians is helping to put together the planks of an autonomous state, rather than merely funding the status quo.Moratinos said it was not sufficient for Europe to take positions on the Middle East issue but must to become a real player in the region..What is needed is action to make it possible for the two-state solution to become a reality, he told reporters at a joint press conference with Ashton.Israel seldom allows foreign dignitaries into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin managed to get in via Egypt last week, becoming the first European foreign minister to do so for over a year.On Friday he slammed the inhumane... siege of the area.I am in no doubt that this is a very inhumane and unacceptable blockade and siege, very counter-productive to a peace process, Martin told reporters in Cordoba, talking of malnutrition and poor drinking water.He went on to say that Hamas were benefiting from the siege as legitimate businesses were strangled. Ashton said she hadn't had a chance to discuss Martin's visit with him and so I don't know yet whether I agree with the detail of what he's saying.Gaza's borders have been mostly quiet since the end of a massive Israeli offensive launched in December 2008 that has mostly halted rocket attacks from the territory where the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007. Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day conflict sparked by the offensive. On March 19, following her trip, Ashton will take part in a meeting of the Quartet -- EU, US UN and Russia -- on Moscow on March 19.
Islamic conference slams Israel's Al-Aqsa action
Sat Mar 6, 8:56 am ET
JEDDAH (AFP) – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference Saturday accused Israeli police of sacrilege by occupying Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and called for international intervention to end Israeli aggression.Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Jeddah-based pan-Islamic body, said in a statement that Friday's fighting between Muslims and Israeli police, which injured dozens, was a sacrilegious act of profanation of the holy Islamic site.The police action was a violation of international law and a flagrant attack on the freedom of religion of the nature that could take the region into a war between religions, he said in the statement.Ihsanoglu called on the international community and the Quartet on Middle East peace -- the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- to pay heed to the gravity of the Israeli violations and the threat they pose to the region now and in the future.He called for an international intervention effective at every level to end Israeli aggressions and make Israel respect international law.
