ISRAEL MUST SECURITY ITS BORDERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
Aid flotilla activists determined to reach Gaza by Haro Chakmakjian – 11:45AM MAY 29,10
NICOSIA (AFP) – Hundreds of activists at sea in the eastern Mediterranean were determined on Saturday to break Israel's Gaza blockade after their boats were tampered with, an organiser of the aid operation said.Israel, which has branded the operation illegal, has warned that its navy will intercept the vessels.Two of the seven boats involved were tampered with, forcing one to drop out and the other to pull into port in Turkish-held north Cyprus for repairs, said Elize Ernshire of the Free Gaza Movement which organised the flotilla.We are more determined than ever. These actions can be frustrating but in the end they are not going to stop us, she told AFP.These boats had no previous mechanical problems and had undergone full (mechanical) surveys,Ernshire said, declining to elaborate on the damage. A statement would be issued at a later date.
One of the damaged boats transferred its passengers at sea.The other pulled into Famagusta in the Turkish-held sector of the island and headed back out late Saturday afternoon to rejoin the flotilla, Turkish Cypriot politician Teberruken Ulucay at the port told AFP.Ernshire said the flotilla of cargo and passenger ships was located 120 nautical miles from the Gaza coast and would head off toward the Palestinian territory late on Saturday, aiming to arrive at around noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday.Five European MPs are among the activists, she said. However, another five would not be on the boats that had been due to leave on Friday but were delayed due to a lack of cooperation by Greek Cypriot authorities.Organisers had been kept under close scrutiny while on land in Cyprus by helicopters and intelligence agents, she added.For a humanitarian operation, this was a real eye opener.The six remaining boats in the flotilla regrouped in international waters are loaded with thousands of tonnes of supplies. Organisers said an eighth ship, which left from Ireland, would travel toward Gaza separately.The Cypriot government does not want us to leave from Cyprus. I can only assume pressure was put on them, said Audrey Bomse, another member of the Free Gaza Movement.A Cypriot government official said Nicosia had not received any formal request from the Palestinian Authority for humanitarian aid and that it was not in the divided island's interests to assist the operation.Bomse said the involvement of Famagusta had led to the withdrawal of Greek and Greek Cypriot politicians from the operation, but MPs from Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden were still on board the boats.Greece and Cyprus regard the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where Famagusta is the main port, as an illegal entity.
Earlier this week, Israel told the ambassadors of Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and Ireland -- the countries from which the ships set sail -- that the flotilla would be breaking international law.With its naval forces at the ready, the Jewish state plans to intercept the vessels and detain the hundreds of people aboard in the Israeli port of Ashdod before deporting them.Organisers dismissed the Israeli charge that their blockade-busting bid is illegal. Most despicably of all, Israel claims that we are violating international law by sailing unarmed ships carrying humanitarian aid to a people desperately in need,the Free Gaza Movement said. Israel imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas -- an Islamist movement committed to the destruction of Israel -- seized power in the impoverished, overcrowded Palestinian territory. Because of the blockade, only limited reconstruction has been possible in the wake of a devastating 22-day offensive Israel launched on December 27, 2008. Pro-Palestinian activists have landed in Gaza five times, with another three attempts unsuccessful since their first such sea voyage in August 2008.To date, the aid has been largely symbolic, but organisers say the flotilla now underway is laden with 10,000 tonnes of aid, ranging from pre-fabricated homes to pencils.
Two Palestinians killed in Gaza smuggling tunnel
MAY 29,10
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Two Palestinians were killed and 11 others injured on Saturday in a Gaza smuggling tunnel when contraband gas canisters exploded, medics in the coastal enclave said.The accident occurred as the canisters were being smuggled through the tunnel under the Egyptian border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the sources said.The impoverished territory of 1.5 million people has largely relied on the vast network of tunnels since Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza off to all but what it says is vital aid after the Islamist Hamas seized power in June 2007.Most of the tunnels are used to bring in basic goods like food, household appliances and livestock but Hamas and other militant groups reportedly use their own more secret tunnels to bring in arms and money.More than 130 Palestinians have died in cave-ins or been killed by Israeli military operations aimed at the tunnels since the Hamas takeover, medics say.
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Israeli PM in Toronto, seeking support before US meet
Sat May 29, 1:40 am ET
TORONTO (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Canada for a four-day visit aimed at cementing ties with one of Israel's strongest backers in the international community.Netanyahu, on the first visit to Canada by an Israeli premier in 16 years,is hoping to build support ahead of talks next week with US President Barack Obama on the fragile US-brokered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.I welcome the opportunity to spend time with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a leader of vision and conviction and a great friend of Israel and a champion of peace, Netanyahu said ahead of his arrival.Netanyahu said he planned to discuss Israel's quest for peace with the Palestinians and efforts to boost cooperation between Israel and Canada in the fields of high-tech, renewable energy and water conservation.The friendship between Israel and Canada is exceptionally warm. We are sister democracies that seek peace with security, progress and prosperity, he told reporters on his plane.
This is the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to Canada since Yitzhak Rabin toured in 1994.Relations took a downturn after forged Canadian passports were used in a botched assassination attempt by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency against Hamas Chief Khaled Meshaal.The mission was approved by Netanyahu, then in his first term as prime minister.However, ties have warmed substantially since, with Canada giving Israel considerable support at international institutions, particularly the United Nations.Netanyahu is scheduled to attend a pro-Israel rally by Canada's Jewish community in Toronto on Sunday, before travelling to Ottawa for meetings with government and opposition leaders.Netanyahu arrived in Toronto from Paris, where he accepted an invitation for Israel to join the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Obama gets OK on boosting Israel against rockets
By Jim Wolf – Fri May 28, 7:27 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives approved President Barack Obama's request for $205 million to spur Israel's production of a system to counter short-range rockets of the type used by Hamas and Hezbollah.The authorization for the extra funding was part of a defense spending bill that would provide $726 billion next year for U.S. national defense programs, including funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House gave the bill final passage on Friday by a vote of 229 to 186.The Senate Armed Services Committee likewise voted to provide $205 million for the Israeli system, known as Iron Dome, panel chairman Carl Levin told reporters on Friday. Levin said he hoped his committee's bill would reach the Senate floor before the July 4 Independence Day recess.A congressional staff member said the request for the funding seems to have come directly from the commander in chief, Obama. It was not entirely clear what prompted it.Produced by Israeli state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Iron Dome uses small radar-guided missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets with ranges of between 3 miles and 45 miles, as well as mortar bombs, in mid-air.Its development was spurred by the 2006 conflict in Lebanon with Hezbollah, and the Gaza Strip war against Hamas a year ago. In both cases, Israeli towns within reach of short-range rockets were in some ways defenseless.A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said earlier this month Obama recognized the threat missiles and rockets fired by Hamas and Hezbollah pose to Israelis.As a result, he decided to seek funding from Congress to support the production of the Iron Dome system, Vietor said.
Two Iron Dome batteries are under construction, an Israeli defense official said in February. Designed to be towed by vehicle, they will be available for any Israeli front at a few hours' notice.The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has three initiatives with Israel to boost its home-grown capability to defend against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.The so-called David's Sling Weapon System is for short-range defense; the Arrow Weapons System targets medium-range missiles; and the Arrow-3 interceptor is an upper-tier system under development.The United States is also developing interoperability between the U.S. ballistic missile defense system and the Israeli architecture to make sure Israeli systems can be stitched in to a global umbrella.In addition, the Obama administration is working toward a Middle East missile defense that envisions adding an advanced radar site in a Gulf state to one already in Israel to thwart any Iranian attack, U.S. officials have told Reuters.
The House voted to authorize $10.3 billion for ballistic missile defenses overall, $361.6 million more than Obama's request. The extra funds will strengthen defenses against "the most immediate threats from nations such as Iran and North Korea," said Rep. James Langevin, the Strategic Forces subcommittee chairman.(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Todd Eastham)
U.S., Arabs reach deal at nuclear treaty talks
Fri May 28, 12:13 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and Egypt struck a deal on a push to pressure Israel to ultimately scrap any atomic bombs it has in a bid to avert a collapse of talks on shoring up the global anti-nuclear arms pact, envoys said Friday.But they said it was unclear whether Iran would attempt to single-handedly block an agreement on a final declaration that has now been agreed upon by the other 189 signatories of the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, who have been meeting for a month to find ways to strengthen the troubled pact.We have a deal that everyone can live with, a Western diplomat told Reuters.Now the question is will Iran do the right thing.The latest draft of a final declaration for the NPT review conference calls for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to organize a meeting of all Middle Eastern states in 2012 on how to make the region free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, as demanded by a 1995 NPT resolution.It also urges Israel to sign the NPT and put its nuclear facilities under U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards -- a passage the Americans had wanted deleted. In the end, they backed down in the interest of salvaging the conference, delegates told Reuters.The creation of a WMD-free zone would eventually force Israel to abandon any atomic bombs it might have. The Jewish state, which like nuclear-armed India and Pakistan never signed the NPT, is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies that.Israel is not participating in the NPT meeting.(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Todd Eastham)
Abbas to visit White House June 9: US
Thu May 27, 7:59 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will visit the White House on June 9, a US official said Thursday, in a trip that will come one week after Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is due to hold talks here.US President Barack Obama will welcome Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas to the White House on June 9, Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.The president looks forward to reviewing with president Abbas the progress so far in Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, and how the United States can work with the parties to transition to direct talks.Gibbs said the leaders will also discuss our continuing effort to work cooperatively to develop the institutions that can advance the aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support the establishment of a Palestinian state.On Tuesday Obama holds talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as the United States ramps up its Mideast peace mediation efforts following months of high tensions between staunch allies Washington and Israel.White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday handed Netanyahu a personal invitation from the US president for a working meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbors.Obama and Netanyahu last held a one-on-one meeting in March in an extraordinary encounter between leaders of the two nations, during which Netanyahu was deprived of the trappings granted to foreign leaders.
The two sides were in the middle of a rare public row over Israeli settlement building, which Washington said harmed its efforts to get proximity talks underway between Israel and the Palestinians.The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israeli towns.Israel and the Palestinians embarked on a round of US-brokered indirect negotiations on May 9 as Washington presses for a resumption of peace efforts.Last week, both Netanyahu and Abbas met US envoy George Mitchell as part of those proximity talks.The indirect negotiations were first agreed to in March but the initiative collapsed within days when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem.The Palestinians eventually agreed to enter the talks after receiving US assurances that the project would be frozen.
Wildfire rips through Golan, scorching ancient ruins
Thu May 27, 2:47 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A bush fire which reports said was sparked by an army live-fire exercise raged through a park in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday, scorching an ancient archaeological site.As hundreds of hectares went up in smoke, Gamla National Park staff evacuated a colony of griffon vultures when the flames approached their enclosure.Media reports said flames and soot blackened 1st century archaeological remains nearby, but the extent of the damage was still unclear.
Firefighter Yair Elkayim, interviewed on Israel's Channel Two television, described it as a mega-incident, a mega-fire.Other firefighters and the television report said the blaze was started by a live-fire exercise at a nearby army training area, which set alight to undergrowth and scrub that was already tinder-dry in the hot, arid weather.Channel One quoted a military statement as saying that the fire broke out on Wednesday apparently during an exercise in the area. It said soldiers put out the flames, but because of the heatwave fire broke out again on Thursday.Gamla is the site of an ancient Jewish town destroyed in 67 CE during a revolt against Roman rule.
According to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Roman soldiers killed 4,000 of the cliff-top town's 9,000 defenders and the remainder committed suicide by hurling themselves into a canyon below.
Netanyahu: Time for direct talks with Palestinians By SYLVIE CORBET, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 27, 1:33 pm ET
PARIS – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday it's time to move to direct talks with the Palestinians and that he will raise the issue with President Barack Obama in Washington next week.Netanyahu, after talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he wants to move beyond indirect proximity talks that are being mediated by the United States.We want to move as speedily as possible to direct talks because the kind of problem that we have with the Palestinians can be resolved in peace and can be arranged only if we sit down together, Netanyahu told reporters at the French presidential palace.Indirect talks began early this month and have raised hopes that direct negotiations could begin soon.The Palestinians have insisted that Israel impose a full freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — captured areas they claim for their future state — in order to hold direct talks.With Netanyahu ordering only a partial freeze, the indirect talks gave the Palestinians political cover to resume a dialogue with Israel. The Palestinians have given the talks up to four months to succeed. After that, they say they will decide whether to continue the dialogue, hold face-to-face negotiations with Israel or break off the talks.Netanyahu said Thursday he would discuss the peace efforts with Obama in Washington next week. I think there is a broad consensus that we should move on to direct talks, the Israeli prime minister said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he hoped indirect talks will yield results in four months, as envisaged.
Of course we are committed to peace and to achieving peace through negotiations, Abbas said during a visit to Malaysia.We will see what will happen. Anyhow, we are hopeful.In Paris, Netanyahu said Sarkozy discussed ways that France could help to expedite this process of negotiations.Sarkozy's office did not elaborate.The French president has encouraged peace efforts in the past, and offered Thursday to help revive peace efforts between Israel and Syria, according to the French president's office.Netanyahu praised Sarkozy's efforts toward tough new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities, which Western powers and Israel fear are aimed at making weapons but which Tehran says are aimed at producing nuclear energy.Netanyahu is in Paris for a ceremony welcoming Israel into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of leading world economies. Palestinian officials opposed OECD membership for Israel, citing Israel's occupation of the West Bank and discrimination against its own Arab minority.Slovenia and Estonia also officially accepted invitations to full OECD membership at the ceremony.The new members will take the OECD's roster to 34 countries once ratification takes place in individual OECD member states, a process that will take several weeks, OECD chief Angel Gurria said.The OECD is essentially an economic think tank that advises the world's richest countries on the best practices in matters including trade, corporate governance and taxation.Netanyahu called Israel's membership in the OECD a historic occasion.
Karl Marx and Groucho Marx were both wrong,the Israeli prime minister joked,free markets are the wave of the future, and I can think of no club that Israel would more like to join than the OECD.Netanyahu said in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro that one of the current challenges is to develop the economic situation of the Palestinians,which he says could greatly help peace efforts. He did not lay out any proposals for boosting the Palestinian economy, which suffers from high poverty and unemployment. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who chaired the OECD's annual ministerial meeting, said Israeli membership in the OECD would help advance the cause of peaceful negotiations with the Palestinians. I think it's very good that Israel is joining the OECD,Berlusconi said.Anything that Europe and the international community can do to encourage the continuation of peace talks is very positive.AP Business Writer Greg Keller contributed to this article.
Netanyahu in Paris fetes Israel's OECD entry by Roland Lloyd Parry – Thu May 27, 12:21 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Israel officially joined the OECD club of rich economies Thursday, giving a boost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he heads for talks in Washington on the faltering Middle East peace process.Netanyahu attended a ceremony at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as it welcomed Israel along with Estonia, Slovenia and Chile to the 31-nation grouping.We in Israel are deeply honoured by your invitation to join this club, Netanyahu said.We see this not only as recognition of what we have achieved, but as a vote of confidence for the future, he added.OECD member states decided this month to invite Israel to join despite objections from Palestinians, who argued that letting Israel in would be a breach of the Paris-based group's commitment to human rights.The ceremony came as the Israeli leader prepared for a key meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.OECD membership means Israel's status with foreign investment funds switches from that of an emerging economy to a developed one, opening up new sources of capital.The invitation caps a 16-year campaign waged by Israel for membership and Netanyahu had hailed the decision as one of strategic importance, bringing Israel into the club of the world's elite economies.
Netanyahu began his visit with lunch at the Elysee Palace, posing for the cameras with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before heading into talks on advancing Middle East peace, bilateral relations and Iran.Sarkozy voiced hope that a UN sanctions resolution against Iran that will be the most strongly-worded possible will soon be adopted at the Security Council, Elysee officials said.I think he's been forthright and very clear throughout his presidency about the need to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and I expressed appreciation for that, Netanyahu told reporters following his meeting.France has been at the forefront of western calls for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its failure to meet demands that it halt uranium enrichment, the main ingredient in nuclear bomb-making.On the Middle East peace track, a significant diplomatic move came on Wednesday when White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel delivered an invitation to Netanyahu from Obama.The Netanyahu-Obama working meeting on Tuesday is to discuss our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbours, Emanuel said after talks with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem.Israeli newspapers described the invitation as a sign that Obama is seeking to turn a new leaf in relations with the Likud leader that have been strained by a dispute over Jewish settlements.
Obama has also invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to visit in June in his latest bid to revive direct negotiations after an 18-month break.Indirect talks were first agreed in March but the initiative collapsed within days when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem.In France, many in Jewish intellectual circles increasingly see Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace rather than an engaged party.An online petition dubbed the European Jewish Call for Reason or JCall has gathered more than 6,000 signatures, including prominent Jewish figures such as philosophers Bernard-Henri Levy and Alain Finkielkraut. Netanyahu will travel to Canada on Friday before heading to Washington.
Israel indicts 2 Arab citizens in aiding Hezbollah By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 27, 7:20 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel indicted two prominent activists from its Arab minority on Thursday for allegedly spying for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, deepening a case that has raised tensions with the country's Arab minority.Both men denied the charges, the latest in a series of cases in which the government has accused Arab citizens of aiding Israel's staunchest enemies.Israel's Shin Bet security service said Arab activist Amir Makhoul confessed to meeting with a Hezbollah agent in Denmark in 2008 and agreed to collect information for the Lebanese militia.Israel considers the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which battled Israel to a stalemate in a monthlong war four years ago and is believed to possess tens of thousands of rockets, one of the greatest threats to the Jewish state.According to the Shin Bet, Makhoul gave his handlers contacts for Israelis the group could try to recruit. He also provided details, including addresses, about Israeli security facilities, the Shin Bet said.Speaking to reporters outside a courthouse in the northern city of Haifa, Makhoul angrily described the accusations as a balloon that will burst very quickly.This legal proceeding is invalid and I reject all the allegations against me,he said.
Adalah — an Arab legal center in Israel that is representing Makhoul — said he had confessed to false charges following harsh interrogation methods that included sleep deprivation and being handcuffed to a small chair in painful positions for many hours.All of these harsh conditions point toward illegal confessions to facilitate the process of convicting the accused, said attorney Abeer Baker of Adalah. Shin Bet officials had no immediate comment.Makhoul, who leads an umbrella network for Arab advocacy groups, was arrested on May 6 but was prevented from speaking to a lawyer for 12 days, Adalah said. Israel imposed a gag order on the case, releasing only limited information until charges were filed Thursday.A second Arab-Israeli, Omar Saeed, was indicted on lesser charges of contacting a foreign agent, and transmitting information to an enemy. Israel also prevented Saeed from speaking to a lawyer for 16 days after his arrest on April 24. He, too, denies all charges.The cases highlight the deep mistrust that often runs between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority, about one-fifth of the population.Although they enjoy citizenship rights — unlike their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — Israeli Arabs have suffered from decades of discrimination, high unemployment and poverty. A Palestinian uprising last decade, as well as wars against Hezbollah and Hamas, have added to the tensions.Some in Israel consider them a potential fifth column that could threaten the Jewish state by working with its enemies in neighboring states.
In recent years, several Israeli Arabs have been arrested for spying for Hezbollah. One suspect, Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara, fled Israel in 2007 after police charged him with passing information to Hezbollah agents during Israel's war against the Lebanese militia the previous year.Hezbollah fired about 4,000 rockets at Israel during the 34-day war, while Israel bombed the group's strongholds in Lebanon. Israel believes the group has restocked its arsenal and upgraded its capabilities by obtaining more powerful, longer-range missiles from Syria.The war killed around 1,200people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel.
Obama invites Netanyahu and Abbas to White House
By Jeffrey Heller – Wed May 26, 7:47 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House for separate meetings, White House officials said Wednesday.The meetings with Obama will be the first for the Middle Eastern leaders since the start of indirect peace talks which began last month, with Obama's special envoy George Mitchell mediating between the parties.But Israeli commentators portrayed the surprise invitation to Netanyahu as an attempt by Obama to counter U.S. criticism of what was widely seen as his cold shoulder toward the Israeli leader after a public dispute over Jewish settlements.
Obama has put both Israel and the Palestinians on notice they will be held accountable if either side takes actions to undermine the so-called proximity talks Mitchell is mediating.Obama will use his meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas to give a boost to the proximity talks. Both meetings are designed to help move that process forward, said a White House spokesman in Washington, Tommy Vietor.White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel delivered the invitation in person to Netanyahu in Jerusalem Wednesday, while on a family visit to Israel.Obama will host Netanyahu Tuesday after the Israeli leader completes a visit to France where he will attend a ceremony welcoming Israel to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and to Canada.(President Obama) has asked me to extend an invitation to you to come visit with him at the White House for a working meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation on seeking peace between Israel and its neighbors, Emanuel told Netanyahu.In mentioning shared security interests while announcing Netanyahu's visit, Emanuel appeared to be referring to the U.S. and Israel's shared desire to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.In Washington, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor announced Abbas's visit, which had been widely expected, but said no firm date had yet been set.The president looks forward to a visit from President Abbas in the near future. We're just working out timing, Vietor said.
Abbas aides were not immediately available for comment but the Palestinian leader told France 24 television this week he had been invited to the United States and thought the meeting would probably be in June.
NO BREAKTHROUGH EXPECTED
Getting the two sides to revive negotiations, after an 18-month break, marks Obama's most tangible Middle East achievement since he took office last year. But expectations remain low for any kind of breakthrough.Netanyahu, who heads a coalition dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own, has rejected a total freeze on Jewish settlement building in territory captured in a 1967 war.But no new Israeli housing projects in East Jerusalem have been approved since March, raising speculation Netanyahu has imposed a de facto moratorium that could avoid friction with Washington and any showdown with far-right coalition partners.Earlier that month, Israel embarrassed Washington and angered Palestinians by announcing during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden a project to build 1,600 homes for Jews in Ramat Shlomo, in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem.Palestinians see settlements as an obstacle to the creation of a state they seek to establish in the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, and in the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by Hamas Islamists opposed to the U.S. peace efforts. Netanyahu last saw Obama in March in a low-profile White House meeting that was portrayed in Israel as a snub to its leader because it did not include the usual photo opportunity afforded visiting foreign leaders. Israeli media predicted Obama would try in the coming talks to portray the relationship in a warmer light, ensuring photos are taken and possibly holding a news conference with him. Since their frosty March meeting, Obama has been at pains to reaffirm publicly Washington's commitment to Israel's security. Israel and the West fear Iran's uranium enrichment is aimed at producing an atomic bomb, an allegation Tehran denies.(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Tom Perry; editing by Andrew Roche and Cynthia Osterman.
