Obama invites Israel PM to White House
MAR 21,10 9:42AM
JERUSALEM (AFP) – President Barack Obama has invited Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet him in Washington on Tuesday to discuss Middle East peace efforts, Netanyahu's office said.
Netanyahu stands firm on Jerusalem before U.S. visit By Jeffrey Heller – 9:40AM MAR 21,10
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had informed Washington in writing that Israel would not stop Jewish settlement in and around Jerusalem, setting the stage for a defiant visit to the United States this week.The tinderbox settlement issue, accompanied by mounting violence in the West Bank where four Palestinians have been killed in the past two days, is challenging renewed efforts by a U.S. envoy to get indirect peace talks under way.Our policy on Jerusalem is the same policy followed by all Israeli governments for the 42 years, and it has not changed. As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday.I believed it would be of great importance for these things not to remain in the context of commentary or speculation. I subsequently wrote a letter, at my own initiative, to the secretary of state so that things would be crystal clear.Hillary Clinton and Netanyahu spoke by telephone on Thursday in an attempt to defuse a vocal U.S.-Israeli dispute over settlement in areas around East Jerusalem, captured by Israel captured in a 1967 war.Israel's announcement -- during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden two weeks ago -- that it would build 1,600 homes for Jews near East Jerusalem embarrassed Washington and delayed the start of indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.But in a softening of Washington's tone in the worst public spat with Israel since U.S. President Barack Obama came to office early last year, Clinton said last week that Netanyahu had given a useful and productive response to her concerns.
She gave no details. Israel media said Clinton failed to persuade Netanyahu to shelve the new housing project but that he agreed to several confidence-building steps such as freeing Palestinian prisoners and easing a Gaza blockade.Netanyahu was to fly to the United States later on Sunday after talks with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell on restarting peace talks that have been suspended since December 2008.He planned to address the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC on Monday. U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, on a visit to Gaza, said Netanyahu would also meet President Barack Obama, but there was no confirmation of that from Israel or the United States.In the latest West Bank bloodshed, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who tried to stab soldiers, the army said.On Saturday, soldiers shot two Palestinian teenagers during a stone-throwing protest against Israeli settlement policy that Palestinians say will deny them a viable state. One was killed immediately and the other youth died of his wounds on Sunday.Palestinians stuck publicly to their refusal to negotiate until Israel froze settlement building.
Israel's action thwarts efforts by the Quartet (of international peace mediators) and the U.S. administration to return to the peace process,said Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
ISSUES
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they want to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.In his remarks at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu appeared to give Mitchell an opening in dealing with a Palestinian demand to negotiate core issues, such as borders and the future of Jerusalem, during indirect peace talks.Netanyahu reaffirmed that each side was free to put forward its positions on all issues in dispute, but he said pointedly that a real solution to the core problems ... can be reached only in direct peace negotiations.Netanyahu had apologized to Washington for the timing of the announcement of the construction plans for the settlement of Ramat Shlomo, built on West Bank land that Israel annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. But he told parliament last week there was a national consensus to build in Jerusalem neighborhoods, Jewish apartment blocs in disputed areas under Israeli control. I believe that Israel's position is very clear. It will be clear during my visit to the U.S. capital, Netanyahu told his cabinet, which is comprised mainly of pro-settler parties, including his own. At a meeting in Moscow on Friday, the Quartet -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- called on Israel to halt all settlement building. Israel has refused to do so, citing biblical and historical links to the West Bank and saying it intends to keep major settlement blocs in any future peace agreement. Under U.S. and international pressure, Netanyahu announced a 10-month moratorium on new housing starts in Jewish settlements in November. But he excluded East Jerusalem and nearby annexed areas of the West Bank from the temporary building freeze, leading Palestinians to call it insufficient.(Editing by Noah Barkin)
Israeli premier to meet Obama
10:10AM MAR 21,10
JERUSALEM – A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the premier will be meeting President Barack Obama while in the U.S. this week.Spokesman Mark Regev said the meeting will take place on Tuesday.Netanyahu's visit comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and the U.S over a controversial Jewish housing project in east Jerusalem.The project embarrassed Washington because it was announced while Vice President Biden was in Jerusalem to kickstart Israeli-Palestinian talks.Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and oppose the construction of Jewish homes there.Netanyahu leaves for Washington Sunday night.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel would not restrict construction in east Jerusalem, a step the U.S. has requested — sticking to a tough position hours before he sets off on his first trip to Washington since a diplomatic row erupted between the two allies.Netanyahu also said he was willing to broaden indirect talks with the Palestinians to include the main issues dividing them. The prime minister originally had wanted to put off a discussion of issues like the status of contested east Jerusalem, final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees until direct talks are launched.Netanyahu's refusal to budge on east Jerusalem — whose fate lies at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — defies a U.S. demand to cancel a major new housing project at the heart of the feud. But in confidential talks, he apparently offered enough steps to prompt U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to call them useful and productive and dispatch an envoy back to the region this week.Before meeting with Israel's defense minister on Sunday, envoy George Mitchell described ties between the U.S. and Israel as unshakable.U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who was touring the Gaza Strip on Sunday, told reporters that Netanyahu would be meeting with President Barack Obama while in the U.S. this week. The prime minister's office had no immediate confirmation; Netanyahu takes off for Washington later Sunday to address the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S.
Ban wants a nearly three-year blockade of Gaza lifted and said Israel's recent opening of Gaza's borders to allow in window frames and other supplies to complete a 151-apartment U.N. housing project in southern Gaza was a drop in a bucket of water.
The blockade causes unacceptable suffering and undercuts moderates and encourages extremists, he said after visiting the project in the Khan Younis refugee camp.My message to the people of Gaza is this: The United Nations will stand with you, through this ordeal.Most of the 15,000 homes destroyed or damaged during Israel's war in Gaza, which ended in January last year, have not been repaired because of the blockade. Israel launched the war after years of militant rocket fire from Gaza on its southern communities.The blockade was imposed in 2007 after Hamas violently took over the territory from its rivals in the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.The Israeli military, meanwhile, said troops in the West Bank shot dead two Palestinians carrying pitchforks and an ax who tried to stab a soldier. A third Palestinian died of a gunshot wound to the head inflicted by a soldier at a demonstration the day before.Israeli construction in east Jerusalem is such a fraught issue because it challenges Palestinian claims to that sector of the city as a future capital. The announcement of a major new building project during Vice President Joe Biden's visit earlier this month insulted Washington and provoked the biggest rift between the two allies in decades. That rift has put Netanyahu in a particularly difficult bind, forcing him to find a formula that would repair ties with the U.S. without antagonizing his hawkish coalition partners, who vehemently oppose sharing sovereignty in Jerusalem. Netanyahu's office denied reports that he promised to slow construction in the city's eastern sector.
Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as that of all previous Israeli governments in the past 42 years and it hasn't changed,he told his Cabinet at the start of its weekly meeting.As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is like building in Tel Aviv. We made this clear to the U.S. administration.But Cabinet ministers said in practice, construction will be restricted — as it has been in the West Bank since November, when Netanyahu officially agreed to do so under heavy U.S. pressure. Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Mideast war. The international community does not recognize the annexation and considers the Jewish construction in east Jerusalem to be settlement building. Netanyahu also told his Cabinet that the U.S.-brokered talks with the Palestinians would include a discussion of the main issues between them, but added that a real resolution of the conflicts could only be achieved in direct talks. These issues include the status of Jerusalem, final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees from the war around Israel's 1948 creation. The row over east Jerusalem construction held up the start of the indirect talks, which are to be brokered by Washington's special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell. Mitchell is to meet with Netanyahu before the prime minister sets off for Washington and on Monday with Abbas.Associated Press Writer Karin Laub contributed to this report from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.
Palestinians bury West Bank dead in bloody 24 hours By Ali Sawafta - MAR 21,10
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians who attacked a soldier in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the army said.The violence brought to four the number of Palestinian deaths in 24 hours and heightened tension that has been growing.A Palestinian youth shot by Israeli forces on Saturday died from his wounds on Sunday, Palestinian medics said, the second death from the same incident in a village near Nablus.The men who were shot on Sunday tried to stab a soldier in the same region, the army said.Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Israel had responded to U.S. and international efforts to revive peace talks with more escalation that thwarted attempts to get negotiations going.The four deaths from Israeli fire made it the bloodiest 24 hours for Palestinians in the West Bank in more than a year, Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.Tensions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have risen in recent weeks, with Palestinians staging more protests over Israeli policies they believe aim to deepen the Jewish state's control over land where the Palestinians want to found a state.Many of the protests have turned violent, with Palestinians throwing rocks at soldiers who fire rubber bullets and tear gas.Palestinian medics said Mohammed Kaddous, 16, and Osaid Kaddous, 17, were killed during a confrontation on Saturday between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths in the village of Iraq Burin. One was hit in the chest and the other in the head.The Israeli army, which said it was responding to people throwing stones, denied using live rounds, only rubber bullets.
The two youths were the first Palestinians to die in protests over recent weeks. Villagers in Iraq Burin have been staging protests over Israeli-imposed restrictions on access to farmland that lies near the Jewish settlement of Har Brakha.Khatib, who speaks for Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said: We look at this as part of the Israeli escalation. It could have been treated in a completely different way.But the Israelis have been escalating and this is something the prime minister has been warning against.Near Bethlehem on Sunday, about 100 Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli security forces, the Israeli army said. The security forces responded with riot dispersal means, it said.(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Erika Solomon in Ramallah; Writing by Tom Perry)
Lebanese army fires on Israeli warplanes: military
MAR 21,10
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on two Israeli warplanes that were violating its airspace at medium altitude on Sunday, the military said.The army's anti-aircraft guns fired at two Israeli warplanes overflying Hasbaya in southeastern Lebanon, an army statement said.The incident came amid rising regional tension and heightened concern in Lebanon over recent Israeli threats against Shiite militant party Hezbollah and its backers Syria and Iran.Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006 which destroyed much of southern Lebanon and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and close to 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted unanimously in August 2006, ended the war and expanded a UN peacekeeping force deployed at the Lebanese border with Israel.Israel's regular overflights into southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, are a breach of Resolution 1701, but the Jewish state argues they are necessary to monitor what it claims is massive arms smuggling by Hezbollah.While Lebanon's army reports almost-daily Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, the military rarely opens fire unless the planes fly within range of its guns.
UN chief slams Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
Sun Mar 21, 5:31 am ET
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon slammed Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip saying it caused unacceptable sufferings, during a visit Sunday to the impoverished coastal enclave.I have repeatedly made it quite clear to Israel's leaders that the Israeli policy of closure is not sustainable and that it's wrong. It causes unacceptable sufferings to human beings, Ban told reporters.The UN chief crossed into the Hamas-run territory earlier Sunday, expressing solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians and urging Israel to end its tight blockade of narrow coastal strip.
US Mideast envoy stops in France
Sat Mar 20, 3:39 pm ET
PARIS – U.S. envoy George Mitchell sought advice from France's foreign minister Saturday before heading off to meet Mideast leaders in a bid to start indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.Mitchell — who will see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first, then Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — said he wanted indirect talks between the leaders to begin as soon as possible.The U.S. Mideast envoy, after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, also said he hoped indirect discussions could lead in the near future to direct negotiations between the two parties.Earlier this month, Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to indirect talks, with Mitchell planning to shuttle between Abbas and Netanyahu.
However, the plan was put on hold after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new houses for Jews in east Jerusalem. Israel's announcement came during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden and sparked a diplomatic row between Israel and the U.S.Mitchell declined to give specifics on what he would ask of Israel in order to spark the talks, saying,We have suggested a range of actions that can be taken on all sides.
Kouchner said France stands by the United States to stress the need for an immediate start to the indirect talks.
US Middle East envoy to meet Netanyahu, Abbas
Sat Mar 20, 2:46 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – US Middle East envoy George Mitchell will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and Palestinian authority chairman Mahmud Abbas the day after in a bid to revive peace talks.I will leave here immediately for the Middle East and meet Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem tomorrow and Chairman Abbas on Monday, Mitchell told reporters in Paris after talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.Last week Mitchell postponed a visit to Jerusalem amid US criticism of Israeli plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem, which had been announced during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.The envoy was trying to convince Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks -- initially on an indirect basis under US mediation -- and Washington was infuriated that its close ally had made such a provocative gesture.We believe the best way to proceed in the Middle East is to encourage the parties to enter into direct negotiations to bring about an agreement that would provide peace, prosperity and opportunities for all the people in the region, Israelis, Palestinians and people in the rest of the region as well, Mitchell said.That is our objective. We hope to bring about not just peace between Israel and Palestinians but also Israel and Syria, Israel and Lebanon and the full normalisation of relations for the benefit of the whole region, he said.
Mitchell did not say whether his visit would in itself constitute the start of indirect talks, or whether he would need to shuttle between the parties to try to convince them to take part.From time to time we'll be disappointed, Kouchner said.
The whole world is convinced that the starting point of a solution is the creation of a Palestinian state which would guarantee by its presence and its existence the security of Israel,he said.Everyone knows that. What sometimes drives you to despair is that everyone knows this will be the solution but we're getting there so slowly.
During his brief Paris stopover, Mitchell also met Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, according to a European diplomat.The international Quartet for the Middle East -- made up of the United States, the United Nations, European Union and Russia -- met on Friday in Moscow to coordinate international pressure on the rival parties.
Indonesians protest Israel settlements
Sat Mar 20, 2:07 pm ET
JAKARTA (AFP) – More than a thousand people in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, protested Saturday over Israel's plan to build settlements in East Jerusalem.The demonstrators, who mostly wore white, shouted: Destroy Israel, destroy Israel... Israel is the real terrorist in the world.The Israeli government should stop its aggression against Palestine. Israel should not build new settlements in East Jerusalem,protest coordinator Triwisaksana, who goes by one name, told AFP.The protesters were brought together by the Prosperous Justice Party, a Muslim party in the government's coalition.We also demand the Indonesian government and parliament to quickly assist Palestine, he said.Israel's plan to build more homes in annexed East Jerusalem has prompted the Palestinians to call for a halt to peace talks.
UN chief supports aim for Palestinian state
Sat Mar 20, 6:36 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that the Middle East Quartet strongly supports Palestinian efforts to establishing their own state.
The Quartet has sent a clear and strong message: we are strongly supporting your efforts to establish an independent and viable Palestinian state, the visiting Ban told Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.Before their formal talks, Fayyad had taken Ban to a vantage point above Ramallah to show him a large swathe of West Bank territory under exclusive Israeli control and off limits to Palestinian development.
Ban will see for himself how difficult it is, Fayyad said before the UN secretary general arrived,but he will also see how determined we are to create positive facts on the ground.Fayyad claims that 60 percent of the West Bank consists of land in so-called Area C, under Israeli control, and that 70,000 Palestinians live there.Following the tour, Ban said: I have seen for myself plainly and clearly how Palestinians are living under such restriction and limitation. Even in your territory your are not able to develop or even maintain a normal economic life.UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that the Middle East Quartet strongly supports Palestinian efforts to establishing their own state.
EU-Israeli ministerial meeting next week scrapped
Sat Mar 20, 3:30 am ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The EU and Israel have shelved a ministerial meeting scheduled for next week, though foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman will hold bilateral talks with European counterparts, diplomatic sources said Friday.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has informed representatives of the 27 EU nations that the conditions aren't there for a formal EU-Israel meeting, a diplomatic source said.
Ashton spokesman Lutz Guellner said the postponement of the meeting shouldn not be interpreted as a diplomatic reaction to Israel's controversial authorisation of new settlement building in east Jerusalem.The decision not to hold the talks next week was taken jointly following a trip by Ashton to the region so as to avoid duplication, after her talks with Israel this week, Guellner said.The EU-Israel meeting could take place instead in April or May, the Spanish EU presidency said.
Lieberman will nonetheless be in Brussels on Monday to hold bilateral talks on the margins of an EU foreign ministers' meeting, notably with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle, diplomats said.While wandering the EU corridors in Brussels Lieberman may bump into former British prime minister and international envoy on the Middle East Tony Blair, who is due to address the EU foreign ministers.Other sources said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also expected in Brussels next week, with talks planned with EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy.The Middle East Quartet -- the United States, the United Nations, European Union and Russia -- urged Israel Friday to stop building settlements and set a bold target for a final deal with the Palestinians by 2012 as it tried to kickstart the stalled peace process.
The Israeli plan to build more homes in annexed east Jerusalem led the Palestinians to call for a halt to peace talks and precipitated the worst crisis in US-Israeli relations in years.East Jerusalem is the mainly Arab half of the Holy City which was captured and then annexed by Israel after the 1967 Six Day War.Ashton has made a four day tour of the Middle East this week.Her visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday was marked by Palestinian rocket fire from there into Israel, which killed a Thai farm labourer.The Israeli army retaliated overnight with air strikes targeting what the military called terror sites,including a weapons manufacturing facility.
World diplomats urge resumption of Mideast talks By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer – Fri Mar 19, 10:58 pm ET
MOSCOW – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Friday that the United States and Israel have found a way around the worst disagreement the two allies have faced in years while international diplomats set goals for new U.S.-backed peace talks aimed at establishing an independent Palestinian state.The so-called Quartet group of Mideast negotiators met in the Russian capital to set the stage for peace talks in which the United States would be a go-between. Those indirect talks would be the first under the Democratic Obama administration and the hawkish Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.At a news conference after the meeting, Clinton spoke approvingly of indications Netanyahu is ready to address U.S. concerns about new Jewish housing that complicates peace efforts.What I heard from the prime minister in response to the requests we made was useful and productive, she said, and we are continuing our discussions with him and his government.That was a far cry from Clinton's earlier condemnation of the housing plan in east Jerusalem as an insult, delivered for maximum effect during a visit to Jerusalem by Vice President Joe Biden. Clinton had a curt conversation with Netanyahu a week ago in which she laid out U.S. expectations from here, including a rollback to the housing plan, a gesture of good faith to the Palestinians and an express statement that all issues dividing Israel and the Palestinians, including the fate of divided Jerusalem, remain part of the negotiations.
Underscoring U.S. optimism that the episode is past, Clinton dispatched U.S. Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell to visit Israel and the West Bank to try to get the talks going. Mitchell attended Friday's talks.Clinton said she expects to see Netanyahu in Washington next week. Both are to address the annual gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and they plan a separate meeting. It is not clear whether Netanyahu will see other U.S. leaders. President Barack Obama had planned to be out of town during Netanyahu's visit but he canceled his trip so that he could remain in Washington for what could be a final vote on his health care overhaul.We are all committed to the launching of proximity talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, Clinton told reporters in Moscow, referring to the negotiations in which the U.S. would have a go-between role.
A spokesman for Netanyahu had no comment.
The Quartet group called on Israel and the Palestinians to return to peace negotiations with the goal of creating an independent Palestinian state within two years. They reiterated condemnation of Israel's latest move to add Jewish housing in disputed east Jerusalem but did not escalate criticism of the Jewish state.
Palestinians want the traditionally Arab east Jerusalem as the capital for their future state.The Quartet group of peacemakers — the U.S., Russia, the United Nations and the European Union — is meant to represent an international consensus on the importance of pressing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a commitment to establishing a Palestinian state as part of that process.Of the four members, the United States customarily has been the least inclined to criticize Israel.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a joint news conference that the Israelis and Palestinians should move first to indirect talks, followed by face-to-face negotiations. The idea is that each side would convey messages through a U.S. envoy, who would shuttle between sides. Those indirect talks were to have started last week but were stalled by reaction to Israel's announcement of new housing in east Jerusalem.Before the housing spat, Netanyahu had welcomed the prospect of negotiations but staked out tougher positions than his predecessor. For instance, he refused to consider a partition of Jerusalem and insisted on keeping key areas of the West Bank that Palestinians say belong to them.Netanyahu has also resisted a complete settlement construction freeze, agreeing only to curb construction in the West Bank for 10 months, but not in east Jerusalem.
Israel strikes in Gaza after deadly rocket By Nidal Al-mughrabi – Fri Mar 19, 5:33 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli aircraft struck at least seven targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said.Eleven people were wounded in the series of Israeli strikes, which targeted smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt, a metal foundry near Gaza City and the territory's non-operating airport.
The Israeli military confirmed several sites were hit, including two tunnels dug near the Israeli border fence, a weapons manufacturing site and the airport.The air strikes were a response to five rockets fired at Israel from Gaza in the past two days, a spokesman said.Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom had said on Thursday Israel would make a strong response to what was the first deadly rocket fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza at Israel in more than a year.Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend, and the U.N. Security Council.Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev urged Ban to call for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Gaza militants in 2006. Hamas has demanded Israel free hundreds of the thousands of militants in its jails in exchange for the soldier.A previously unknown group, Ansar al-Sunna, which shares the hardline ideology of al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire at Israel, as well as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a wing of the mainstream Fatah movement.Hamas Islamists, who took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, had been urging other militant groups not to strike Israel, voicing concern about possible Israeli retaliation.Palestinian militants in Gaza have carried out sporadic rocket and mortar bomb attacks on Israel since the end of a three-week Gaza war in January 2009, in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, usually without causing any casualties.The Israeli military spokesman said that more than 330 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the war.We will continue to act against anyone who executes terror attacks against Israel, he said, reading a prepared statement.Israel has responded to rocket fire from Gaza since the war last year. But air strikes are often tempered to avoid casualties, as a signal to Hamas that Israel holds it responsible while remaining aware that it is not behind the rocket fire, and to avoid the appearance of disrupting U.S.-backed diplomacy in the region.The latest air strikes took place the day of a meeting of Quartet Middle East power mediators in Moscow and just before a planned visit by U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who is seeking to relaunch moribund peace talks in the region.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by David Stamp)
Quartet hopes package will unlock Middle East talks By Arshad Mohammed and Conor Sweeney – Fri Mar 19, 11:42 am ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two members of the international quartet of Middle East mediators suggested on Friday that stalled indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians may be unblocked in coming days.Speaking after a meeting in Moscow of the group -- comprising the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia -- quartet envoy Tony Blair told Reuters he hoped for a package of measures to get the talks started.I hope very much that in the next few days we will have a package that gives people the sense that, yes, despite all the difficulties of the past few days, it is worth having proximity talks and then those leading to direct negotiations, he said.Blair declined to give details of the package of measures, saying: That will become clear as the days unfold.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Moscow for the quartet meeting, also suggested progress. She said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given a useful and productive response to her concerns on the settlement issue during a telephone conversation on Thursday. She did not give details.The quartet called for direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians with the aim of producing an agreement within 24 months to end Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state.
The latest obstacle to the peace talks came 10 days ago when Israel announced, during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, that it would build 1,600 new housing units in a part of Jerusalem that it captured in 1967 and annexed unilaterally.The quartet called on Israel and the Palestinians to avoid provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric and told Israel to freeze all settlement building, dismantle outposts erected since March 2001 and halt demolitions in East Jerusalem.
We are convinced that this was all heard in Israel and that they have correctly understood," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who hosted the meeting, told reporters.
GAZA STRIKE
The Palestinians welcomed the quartet's declaration.It is a very important statement. The statement is in full harmony with the Palestinian and the Arab position, said Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It is of vital importance that Israel abides by this statement so that the peace process can resume.The Israeli government declined to comment.The quartet did not say how it could ensure its calls, which have gone unheeded in the past, would be respected. It promised only to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration additional steps that may be required.Hours before the quartet met, Israeli aircraft struck at least six targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory the previous day, which killed a Thai worker in Israel.The quartet's statement condemned the rocket fire and called for an immediate end to violence and terror.But it added: The quartet is deeply concerned by the continuing deterioration in Gaza, including the humanitarian and human rights situation of the civilian population, and stresses the urgency of a resolution to the Gaza crisis.Stone-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in a few towns in the West Bank. Palestinian medics said eight people were wounded by police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. One Israeli soldier was wounded, the military said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would go to Gaza on Sunday to see the situation for himself. The EU was represented in Moscow by foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Netanyahu's spokesman said the Israeli prime minister had proposed mutual confidence-building measures by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to Clinton, but did not elaborate. The Palestinians say they will not enter indirect peace talks unless Israel scraps the new settlement plans. The quartet was formed in 2002 in Spain to assist in mediating an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its achievements so far have been meager, leading some analysts to dismiss it as an expensive club for diplomats. Moscow had hoped to organize a full-scale international conference on the Middle East this year but the lack of progress on peace talks forced it to settle for the quartet meeting. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, Writing by Michael Stott and Arshad Mohammed; Additional reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
US Treasury moves against Gaza bank, TV station
Fri Mar 19, 10:41 am ET
WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department has taken action against a Gaza-based bank and television station for alleged ties to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.The department said that it would freeze any assets in the United States of the Islamic National Bank of Gaza and Al-Aqsa Television. Treasury said both organizations were controlled by Hamas and therefore subject to restrictions aimed at halting financial support of terrorist organizations.Treasury will continue to expose Hamas' efforts to create institutions with the trappings of legitimacy that are in fact controlled by and used to support a terrorist organization, Stuart Levey, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement Thursday.The order freezes any assets of the two organizations that might be held by U.S. banks and it prohibits American banks from handling any transactions involving them.Treasury said that Hamas opened the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City in 2009 after more than two years of planning even though it did not have a legal operating license from the Palestinian Monetary Authority. Treasury said that the bank operates outside the legitimate financial system.Treasury said the bank was providing Hamas with a means to receive and store large amounts of smuggled cash. In May 2009, Hamas' finance officer in Gaza moved 1.1 million euros to the bank and then used the funds to pay the salaries of members of Hamas' military wing, Treasury said.Levey said the department moved against the television station because Treasury will not distinguish between a business financed and controlled by terrorist groups, such as Al-Aqsa Television, and the terrorist group itself.
Rocket fired from Gaza at Israel: army
Fri Mar 19, 9:39 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Friday slammed into an empty field in Israel without causing any casualties or damage, the army said, a day after a rocket killed a Thai labourer.The projectile landed in the Shaar Hanegev area of southern Israel, an army spokesman said.On Thursday, a Thai farm labourer was killed when a rocket landed in a village in southern Israel.The Israeli army retaliated overnight with air strikes targeting what the military called terror sites, including a weapons manufacturing facility.
Clinton hails strong and enduring ties with Israel
Fri Mar 19, 6:13 am ET
MOSCOW (AFP) – Israel and the United States share a strong and enduring relationship despite recent tensions over planned new Jewish settlements, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.Our relationship is ongoing. It is deep and broad, strong and enduring, Clinton said after a meeting of the International Quartet on the Middle East in Moscow.She said however that the United States stood behind the Quartet's call for a freeze on all settlement activity after the Israeli government announced the construction of 1,600 new homes east Jerusalem, the mainly Arab half of the Holy City which was annexed by Israel after a war in 1967.We all condemn the announcement and we are all expecting both parties to move toward the proximity talks, Clinton said.We believe that the launch of the proximity talks is very much in Israel's interests as it is in the interest of the Palestinians.The Israeli announcement led the Palestinians to call for a halt to peace talks and precipitated the worst crisis in US-Israeli relations in years, with senior US officials warning the plans jeopardised the peace process.
Mideast Quartet meets in Moscow by Antoine Lambroschini – Fri Mar 19, 5:01 am ET
MOSCOW (AFP) – The international Quartet for the Middle East met Friday in Moscow in a bid to revive the peace process despite tensions after Israel's announcement of new settler homes and a deadly rocket attack.The Quartet -- made up of the United States, the United Nations, European Union and Russia -- is expected to pressure Israel after its announcement of the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem.The Israeli announcement led the Palestinians to call for a halt to peace talks and precipitated the worst crisis in US-Israeli relations in years, with senior US officials warning the plans jeopardized the peace process.The timing also infuriated Washington, Israel's chief ally, coming as US Vice President Joe Biden visited the region.The meeting at the Russian foreign ministry's guest house in Moscow brought together UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Also in attendance was former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is the Quartet's representative, an AFP correspondent said.I hope that all of us today can arrive at some common conclusion, said Lavrov as he opened the meeting, expressing hope that the gathering would create conditions for the renewal of peace talks.A joint news conference is scheduled for 0830 GMT, after which Clinton is expected to hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in separate meetings.Ashton's visit to Moscow comes a day after she made a rare trip by a top foreign official to the Gaza Strip that was overshadowed by fresh violence.
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday slammed into an Israeli kibbutz killing a Thai agricultural worker just a few kilometres (miles) from the Gaza border.Hours later, Israeli aircraft hit several targets across the Gaza Strip but there were no reports of serious injuries, Palestinian security officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Clinton late Thursday, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said, following a tense call last week when Clinton had asked Netanyahu to order a halt to the settler plans.They discussed specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere for progress toward peace,he added without giving further details.A statement from Netanyahu's office said he had suggested mutual confidence-building measures that could be carried out by Israel and the Palestinians, but gave no details.The gathering is also a chance for Russia to reassert its status as a major player in the region, where it has seen its influence slip away after the fall of the Soviet Union.Russia has contacts with Palestinian militant group Hamas as well as maintaining cordial ties with Israel. It believes it is in a strong position to help bring about peace.Amid an intense flurry of diplomatic activity, Ban is to visit the Middle East, including Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, this weekend.A senior Palestinian official told AFP on Thursday that the United States' special Middle East envoy George Mitchell would arrive in the region on Sunday for a visit that had been delayed by the row with Israel.
Originally, he had been scheduled for talks in Israel and the West Bank this week, but the visit was postponed after the settlement announcement. Crowley however said later that Mitchell would meet with both sides at some point after the Quartet meeting although it remained to be determined when. The follow-on meetings to the Quartet are not set,he said.When we feel we have an understanding as to where both parties are and there's sufficient progress to justify meetings, we'll hold meetings.
Netanyahu addresses US lobby meet amid crisis by Lachlan Carmichael – Fri Mar 19, 5:00 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's headline speech to a pro-Israel conference in the US capital next week was being overshadowed Friday by speculation on whether he will have a meeting with President Barack Obama.In the runup to a three-day annual conference opening Sunday, the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC had urged the Obama team to defuse tension over plans for Jewish homes in east Jerusalem that endanger new US-brokered peace talks.The Obama administration has toned down its angry reaction to the settlement announcement on March 11, but shown no sign it has yielded on calls for Israel to reverse course.Netanyahu, due to speak to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Monday, finally called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while she was in Moscow late Thursday about concerns she raised with him last week.They discussed specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere for progress toward peace, Clinton spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters amid international talks in Moscow on the Middle East peace process.Netanyahu's office said he had suggested mutual confidence-building measures that could be carried out by Israel and the Palestinians. Neither side gave details, including whether or not Netanyahu met US demands.
US officials were unable to say whether Obama would meet Netanyahu next week, now that the US leader will stay in Washington after postponing a visit to Asia and the Pacific.However, a State Department official told AFP on the condition of anonymity that Clinton would likely continue the discussions with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the AIPAC conference.Without referring to the row, AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said the annual policy conference comes at an important time, calling it an opportunity to celebrate the strength of the US-Israel partnership.He told AFP the 7,500 participants will include the chief US diplomat as well as about half the members of the US Congress, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Republican Party Whip Eric Cantor.In addition to Netanyahu, Israeli centrist opposition leader Tzipli Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are set to attend.The participants will talk about the unbreakable bonds between the United States and Israel, and the shared challenges we face, including stopping Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability and supporting Israel's quest for peace with all of her Arab neighbors,Block said.Analysts warn the row over settlements might complicate a US-led drive for tougher sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program, which the United States and Israel fear masks a bid to build an atomic bomb.
Israel has threatened pre-emptive military strikes against Iran.
In a tense call with Netanyahu last Friday, Clinton rebuked Israel for plans to build 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem, saying it sent a deeply negative signal about US-Israel ties as Washington tries to revive peace talks.The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital.AIPAC then warned Sunday that the tough Obama administration remarks on the alliance were of serious concern, and urged the White House to ease tensions.
Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Israel and Egypt, said AIPAC's attack was a little unusual, but may have been the price they were asked to pay in order for Netanyahu to promise to keep coming to the conference here. Kurtzer, now at Princeton University, told AFP that AIPAC has rallied a number of congressmen to publicly criticize the Obama administration's handling of the issue, but questioned how many it could ultimately line up. It's definitely not the usual Washington response where everybody lines up behind Israel. You now have the president lined up against Israel and it's not so simple then to chose sides the way it was in the past,he said.
