ISRAELI CABINET PASSES LOYALTY BILL

Israeli Cabinet passes loyalty bill, Arabs angry
By ARON HELLER, Associated Press - OCT 10,10 12:00 PM

JERUSALEM – Israel's Cabinet approved on Sunday a bill that would require new citizens to pledge a loyalty oath to a Jewish and democratic state, language that triggered charges of racism from Arab lawmakers who see it as undermining the rights of the country's Arab minority.The measure was largely symbolic, since few non-Jews apply for Israeli citizenship. Nevertheless, it infuriated the Arab minority and stoked tensions with Palestinians at a time when fledgling peace talks are deadlocked over Israel's refusal to extend a moratorium on new building in West Bank Jewish settlements.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the bill reflected the essence of Israel at a time when he said many in the world are trying to blur the connection between the Jewish people and their homeland.The state of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and is a democratic state in which all its citizens — Jews and non-Jews — enjoy full equal rights, he said. Whoever wants to join us, has to recognize us.Ahmad Tibi, an Arab lawmaker, called the move a provocation.Its purpose is to solidify the inferior status of Arabs by law, he said. Netanyahu and his government are limiting the sphere of democracy in Israel and deepening the prejudice against its Arab minority.Unlike their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel's Arabs are citizens, with the right to vote, travel freely and collect generous social benefits. But they have long suffered from discrimination and second-class status. Arabs make up roughly one-fifth of Israel's 7 million people.While the new bill would not force Arab citizens to profess their loyalty, a non-Jewish spouse of any Israeli would have to take the oath in order to receive citizenship.Israel's Interior Ministry said several thousand people would be affected by the measure, while Adalah, an Arab advocacy group, said the number was about 25,000. The bill presumably would not affect Jewish newcomers, who automatically receive citizenship under Israel's Law of Return.

Roni Schocken, spokesman for the Abraham Fund, a group that promotes coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs, said the new legislation added to what is becoming a terrifying atmosphere for Arabs. Efforts are under way in parliament, for instance, to punish groups that recognize the Nakba, or catastrophe, the term that Palestinians use to describe the suffering caused by Israel's founding.It conveys a very strong message that Arabs are second-rate citizens,he said.The bill — which still needs to pass a wider parliamentary vote — easily passed by a 22-8 margin. Only a handful of ministers, mostly from the centrist Labor Party, opposed it.It was backed by Yisrael Beitenu, a hard-line nationalist party whose leader, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, openly questioned the loyalty of Israel's Arabs during last year's election campaign. The issue helped propel his party to a strong third place in parliamentary elections.Many Israeli Arabs openly identify with the Palestinians, and in recent years, a small number of Arabs have been charged with spying for Israel's Arab enemies.In the most controversial proposal, Lieberman called for all citizens, including Arabs, to swear an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state and wanted anyone refusing to do so to be stripped of their citizenship. That measure, widely seen as anti-Arab, was struck down by a ministerial committee last year.Obviously this is not the end of the issue of loyalty in return for citizenship, but this is a highly important step, he said.The vote came during an impasse in Mideast peacemaking. Just a month after their launch at a White House ceremony, talks between Israeli and the Palestinians have become deadlocked over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.Palestinians say they will not resume negotiations unless Israel extends a 10-month-old slowdown on new housing starts, which ended in late September.Netanyahu has rejected an extension, but is considering compromises to keep the talks alive. Over the weekend, the Arab League gave the U.S., which has been mediating talks, another month to resolve the deadlock.Under heavy international pressure, Netanyahu has been sounding out key Cabinet ministers but does not appear to have a majority for extending the building restrictions.Lieberman has been a vocal critic of extending the settlement curbs. Netanyahu's decision to bring the bill to a Cabinet vote may be a way to soften Lieberman's opposition to extending the slowdown, though officials have denied there is any connection. AP reporters Aisha Mohammed in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Pope opens Mideast meeting, urges peace and harmony
By Catherine Hornby – Sun Oct 10, 8:45 am ET

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Sunday opened a synod of Roman Catholic bishops on the Middle East, where Christianity began but is in sharp decline, by calling for peace, justice and harmony in the troubled region.Starting the two-week meeting to debate how to save minority communities in the region and encourage harmony with Muslim neighbors, he called on the international community, and people of all religions to contribute to creating peace and stability.Living in a dignified manner in one's own country is, above all, a fundamental human right, the Pope said in his homily.Therefore the conditions of peace and justice, which are necessary for the harmonious development of all those living in the region, should be promoted.About 180 bishops, mainly from the Middle East, will discuss problems for the faithful ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and strife in Iraq to radical Islamism, economic crisis and the divisions among the region's many Christian churches.They come from local churches affiliated with the Vatican, but the relentless exodus from the region of all Christians -- Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants -- has led them to take a broad look at the challenges facing all followers of Jesus there.While conditions for Christians vary from country to country in the Middle East, the overall picture is dramatic. Christians made up around 20 percent of the region's population a century ago, but now account for about five percent and falling.During the opening mass on Sunday, prayers were read in several languages of the region including Arabic, which will be an official language at the synod for the first time.

Muslim and Jewish leaders have also been invited to speak at this synod, including an Iranian ayatollah and a rabbi from Jerusalem.The pope recalled the history of Christianity in its Middle Eastern birthplace on Sunday and said those living there today should enliven their consciousness of being the living stones of the Church in the Middle East.In his angelus blessing, he also urged Christians in the region to not be discouraged by the difficulties they face.(Reporting by Catherine Hornby, editing by Tim Pearce)

With talks at impasse, Palestinians explore options
by Nasser Abu Bakr – Sun Oct 10, 8:45 am ET

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – After nearly two decades of sputtering peace talks that have failed to bring about their promised state, the Palestinians are exploring other options.President Mahmud Abbas, fed up with Israel's refusal to halt settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land, this weekend said there would be no further negotiations until the construction stops.But perhaps more importantly, officials and analysts said, was that he spoke of alternative paths to statehood that would not rely on Israel ending its own occupation or the United States pressuring its closest ally.The negotiations with Israel have been ongoing for more than 19 years since the Madrid peace conference in 1991 and until now have not achieved anything, said Mohammed Ashtayeh, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team.It makes no sense for the Palestinian people to continue to wait for an Israeli government that wants peace and a US administration that is able to pressure Israel. Experience has made it clear that is not going to happen.It also does not make sense to leave it to the occupation to end the occupation,he added.

Since direct negotiations began in the early 1990s, the Palestinians have often viewed the peace process as a mechanism for the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967.But in more than a year and a half of shuttle diplomacy Washington has failed to get Israel to completely freeze settlement activity, which the Palestinians view as a crucial test of the entire process.It's clear that there will not be serious US intervention in the interest of the Palestinians, and even if there were, the Israelis would not respond, said Samir Awad, a professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to renew a partial moratorium on new settler homes that expired late last month, insisting his rightwing-led coalition would never support such a move.At a meeting in Libya over the weekend Arab foreign ministers backed Abbas's position that there should be no further negotiations without a settlement freeze but gave Washington another month to try to broker a compromise.

Meanwhile Abbas, who has been pursuing a negotiated solution to the conflict for over three decades, presented a list of alternative paths to statehood.One option would be to ask the UN Security Council to declare a state on Palestinian lands occupied by Israel in 1967, but Abbas has also hinted that he might resign from the Palestinian Authority or dissolve it altogether.(Abbas) has started to doubt that the path of negotiations will lead to a solution with Israel,Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri said.I think he is almost convinced that the negotiations have failed.
The Palestinians would be highly unlikely to surmount a US veto should they demand drastic action from the UN Security Council, but a decision by Abbas to resign or dissolve the Palestinian Authority could deal a major blow to both the United States and Israel, who strongly support him.The only serious alternatives are the unilateral ones, said Yossi Beilin, a former Labour party minister who was involved in peace negotiations with the Palestinians throughout the 1990s.A Palestinian threat to dissolve the Palestinian Authority is something they can do. They don't need anyone to confirm this. This has been a threat for years now, and it's a threat today,he said. The dismantling of the Authority would potentially force Israel to take over the cost of governing the nearly 2.5 million residents of the West Bank and spell the end of the peace process launched with the 1993 Oslo accords. Abbas could take the less drastic step of resigning as president with no clear successor, but Beilin believes that would be welcomed by those in Netanyahu's mostly rightwing government who oppose a negotiated solution.I'm not sure that the resignation of Abu Mazen is a threat to Netanyahu, he said.A moderate Palestinian leader who is ready to compromise is much more a threat to the extreme Israelis than an extreme Palestinian.

France can't rule out UN creation of Palestinian state
– Sun Oct 10, 7:01 am ET

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the option of the UN Security Council creating a Palestinian state cannot be ruled out, in an interview published Sunday.Kouchner told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam that France preferred a two-state solution to be negotiated with Israel, but said appealing to the Security Council to resolve the conflict remained a possibility.We want to be able to soon welcome the state of Palestine to the United Nations. This is the hope and the desire of the international community, and the sooner that can happen the better, he said.The international community cannot be satisfied with a prolonged deadlock. I therefore believe that one cannot rule out in principle the Security Council option, he said.But the establishment of the Palestinian state must come as a result of the peace process and be the fruit of bilateral negotiations.Kouchner, who was to meet with Israeli officials on Sunday at the start of a two-day visit to the region with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, said the European Union, the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, should play a more prominent role in the peace process.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told Arab foreign ministers over the weekend that he would consider alternative options, including appealing to the Security Council, if peace talks remained stalled over Israeli settlements.Israel has refused Palestinian and international demands to extend a 10-month moratorium on new settler homes that expired last month despite Abbas vowing that there will be no further talks until settlement activity halts.As a permanent member of the Security Council France, like the United States, Britain, Russia and China, would be able to veto any measure calling for recognition of a Palestinian state in territories occupied in 1967.

Israel opposition leader backs settlement freeze
– Sat Oct 9, 10:37 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The leader of Israel's main opposition Kadima party came out in favour of an extension of the freeze on settlement building in an interview.Tzipi Livni spoke out after maintaining several weeks of silence on the issue, which is threatening recently restarted peace talks with the Palestinians.For as long as I thought that it was possible to negotiate a peace agreement without paying the price of a freeze, I stayed silent, she told Israeli television.But today I think that the time has come to criticise the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this point, she added.The government should accept the US proposal to extend the moratorium on settlement building that ended on September 26, she added.Israel's security cabinet met on Wednesday but, despite requests by several ministers, the renewal of a freeze on Jewish settlement building was not discussed.Israel has been silent on the moratorium, while the Palestinians are adamant they will not talk as settlers resume building on land they want as a future state.

On Friday, Arab League foreign ministers gave the United States a month to save the peace talks by getting Israel to change its position on settlement building, a decision welcomed by several European governments.The Arab League Follow-up Committee said it supports the position of the Palestinian president calling for a total cessation of settlement to allow the resumption of direct negotiations.US President Barack Obama has repeatedly urged Israel to extend the 10-month moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank to save the peace talks that were launched in Washington on September 2.

Abbas seeking alternatives if Mideast talks fail By SALAH NASRAWI and KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writers – Sat Oct 9, 5:35 pm ET

SIRTE, Libya – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday sought Arab backing for possible fallback options in case troubled peace talks with Israel collapse, including urging the United States to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.For now, the Obama administration is still trying to salvage the negotiations that began in Washington five weeks ago.The Arab League, meeting in Libya over the weekend, gave the Americans another month — just past midterm elections in the U.S. — to try to break the deadlock over Israeli settlement expansion.Abbas has said he would not resume negotiations unless Israel extends a 10-month-old slowdown on settlement construction that ended in late September. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected an extension, but is considering compromises.The Palestinian leader's options in the event that talks break down appear limited. Discussions about alternatives, including at the Arab League summit, appear to be largely aimed at pressuring Israel and spurring the U.S. into action.On Saturday, Abbas told Arab leaders that he does not expect Israel to budge on the settlement issue and that in the meantime, opposition to continuing the talks is building among the Palestinians.

We have exhausted all our alternatives, two Arab diplomats quoted Abbas as saying. They spoke on condition of anonymity in order to disclose information discussed in the closed session.Abbas aide Nabil Shaath said the Palestinian leaders have withdrawn their support for a proposed U.S. compromise to extend the settlement curb for 60 more days. Earlier this week, Shaath had said the Palestinians are willing to consider the idea, provided the final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state were negotiated within that period.We are not willing anymore to consider 60 days,Shaath told The Associated Press in an interview in the West Bank town of Ramallah. When you see nothing but hardened positions, you really have to meet it with the same tactic,he said, referring to Israel's negotiating stance.In recent months, some of Abbas' advisers have floated the idea of asking the U.N. Security Council for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

Abbas adviser Saeb Erekat said Abbas asked the Arab League on Saturday to help persuade the Obama administration to unilaterally recognize such a state. If the Americans reject such a request, the Palestinians might take up the issue with the Security Council, nonetheless, Erekat said.But Arab League undersecretary general Ahmed bin Helli said Arab leaders did not immediately respond to Abbas' request, preferring instead to give the U.S. more time to try to rescue the negotiations.We have one month period, so let us wait and see, bin Helli told The Associated Press.

Washington would likely veto Security Council action. The United States opposes a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood and has blocked efforts at the U.N. to recognize such a state. The long-standing U.S. position is that statehood should come through negotiations with the Israelis.Another option would be for Abbas to resign and dissolve his Palestinian Authority, a self-rule government established in the 1990s as a result of interim peace deals with Israel. Currently, the Palestinian Authority only controls parts of the West Bank, while Gaza is run by the Islamic militant Hamas that seized the territory from Abbas in 2007. Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005 but still controls crossings into the territory.The Palestinian Authority, funded generously by the international community, has largely relieved Israel of its responsibility under international law to care for those living under its occupation. Israel would likely want to prevent a dissolution of the Palestinian Authority to avoid taking on such a costly burden.
However, dissolving the Palestinian Authority seems a distant and dramatic step, in part because it would cost tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants their livelihood and throw the Palestinian territories into turmoil.Shaath said all options are on the table, but added: I don't think any of these options are on the planning board for tomorrow.Laub reported from Ramallah, West Bank.

Israel-US fighter jet deal threatens Mideast: Syria
– Fri Oct 8, 12:54 pm ET

SIRTE, Libya (AFP) – The sale by the United States of 20 F-35 fighter jets to Israel poses a threat to security in the Middle East, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem warned on Friday.The agreement to buy F-35 planes signed by Israel seriously threatens stability and security in the region, Muallem told reporters in Sirte, Libya where Arab foreign ministers were meeting.We are told that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu will announce a two-month freeze on settlements, provided this issue is not raised again, and obtain in exchange a deal for very sophisticated arms, he said.The question is no longer a two-month settlement freeze, but rather a threat to Arab security.Officials in Washington announced on Thursday that Israel signed the contract for the 20 fighter jets after the United States offered incentives for the Jewish state to help sputtering peace talks.

Israel kills two Hamas gunmen in Hebron
– Fri Oct 8, 12:09 pm ET

HEBRON, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Two Hamas militants, whom Israel said were behind an attack which left four settlers dead, were killed by Israeli troops in the southern West Bank on Friday, officials said.Top Israeli officials praised the operation, which the army said targeted a Hamas cell responsible for killing four settlers in August, one of them a pregnant woman.The men, who were members of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were killed in the southeastern part of Hebron, known as H2, which is under Israeli military control.Palestinian security officials named them as Maamun al-Natsha, 25, and Nashat al-Karmi, 35, both of whom lived in Hebron.Witnesses said troops had surrounded a three-storey house in the southeast of the city before dawn, and opened fire before sending in bulldozers to demolish the building.The army confirmed the operation, saying troops had also arrested another six suspects connected with the August attack.During the operation, the wanted terror suspects opened fire at the IDF (army) force, which then returned fire and identified hitting one of the suspects, a statement said.The second man refused to come out of the building, prompting a second exchange of fire. During the exchange of fire, forces employed engineering tools in order to cause him to exit the building. The terrorist was ultimately killed,it said.Locals said the soldiers used two bulldozers to raze the house.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a justified action and Defence Minister Ehud Barak hailed it as a swift answer to the August attack.

But it drew an angry response from the Palestinian Authority. Prime minister Salam Fayyad issued a strong condemnation, and stressing that the way to peace cannot be achieved by Israelis killing Palestinians, nor by settlement building.The Islamist Hamas movement also denounced the killing as a grave escalation of violence, and promptly blamed the Palestinian Authority and its security wing for collaborating with the Israel occupiers.The violence erupted as peace talks between the two sides is at a crisis point over a dispute about Jewish settlement building on occupied Palestinian land.

US seeks Arab support on Mideast peace talks By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 7, 7:45 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Amid uncertainty over whether Israel will act to prevent the Palestinians from walking out of nascent U.S.-mediated peace talks, the Obama administration is seeking Arab support for keeping the negotiations alive.As Arab leaders and foreign ministers prepare to meet in Libya beginning Friday, U.S. officials have spent days trying to persuade them not to withdraw their earlier backing for the talks. Arab support is seen as key for the Palestinians to stay at the table, especially if Israel does not renew a partial freeze on West Bank settlements.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to walk out of the negotiations if the freeze is not extended. Despite frantic American efforts, including the offer of a broad package of security and political incentives, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet been convinced to do that.U.S. officials hold out hope that Netanyahu will soon agree, perhaps this weekend, to a one-time, limited extension of the 10-month slowdown on West Bank settlement construction.But their immediate focus is on the Arab League, whose backing would give Abbas political cover to stay in the talks without one.We want to see a positive signal come out tomorrow ... about keeping negotiations on track, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Thursday. That is our goal, fundamentally. We want to see negotiations continue.To that end, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and special Mideast envoy George Mitchell have been making calls to Arab leaders since the beginning of the week, he said.In a call to Abbas on Thursday, Clinton and the Palestinian leader discussed the status of negotiations and steps going forward,the State Department said.Mitchell and members of his team spoke to officials from Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman and Kuwait, the department said.

Arab League backing is not guaranteed and several key members — including Egypt and Jordan, the only two with peace deals with Israel — have said they would support a Palestinians refusal to negotiate with Israel as long as it continues to build West Bank settlements. Still, Egypt and Jordan have called for more efforts to salvage the talks.Several U.S. officials said they were optimistic that the Arab League meetings would not end with a call for the Palestinians to abandon the talks. These officials said they expected rancor from some Arab states, notably Syria, but that other more moderate nations would prevail.They said they believed Arab leaders would adopt an ambiguous statement that leaves room for maximum flexibility by the Palestinians to stay at the table and sends a message to Israel that the Arab world is serious about peace. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the diplomacy.Meanwhile, administration officials awaited a decision from Netanyahu on whether to accept the incentives in exchange for a 60-day extension of the settlement slowdown.The Palestinians said Thursday they have accepted a U.S. proposal calling on Israel for the two-month extension. While Netanyahu has been sounding out colleagues on the idea, his own position is not yet clear.In Washington, Israeli Embassy spokesman Jonathan Peled said at day's end: No decision has been taken on settlement activity.He said the talks should continue without preconditions.Current and former U.S. officials say the administration has floated a number of incentives to Netanyahu aimed at convincing him to extend the freeze. Those include continued U.S. support at the U.N., recognition of Israel's security needs in the West Bank, enhanced military aid and a promise to build regional consensus about the threat posed by Iran.

But one former official with knowledge of the secretive American proposals now before Netanyahu said they are vague, particularly about the composition of a security force in the Jordan Valley after a peace deal is signed.The former official said the U.S. has proposed to recognize Israel's security concerns and needs in the Jordan Valley as they exist today. The official said the proposal stops well short of endorsing an Israeli Army presence there, something that Israel has sought but which the Palestinians adamantly oppose. The language could be used, however, to signal that the United States would not object to international peacekeepers in the Jordan Valley, possibly with Israeli participation.On Thursday, Israel signed a contract to buy American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets that will significantly strengthen Israel's military. The planes will able to reach Iran undetected by radar. Israel considers Iran a strategic threat, citing its calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, its suspect nuclear program and missiles.The United States had agreed during President George W. Bush's administration to upgrade its strategic cooperation with Israel and supply it with $30 billion in advanced weaponry and equipment.AP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid contributed to this report.

Greece, Israel to resume military exercise: ministry
– Thu Oct 7, 12:40 pm ET

ATHENS (AFP) – Greece and Israel will resume a joint military exercise next week which was postponed after the deadly Israeli assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May, the Greek defence ministry said on Thursday.The two countries will stage four days of joint aerial training manoeuvres on October 11-14 around the island of Crete and the western Peloponnese peninsula, which were part of May's Minoas 2010 exercise, the ministry said.Eight Greek combat helicopters will take part in the drills, including three Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters and three Apaches, the ministry said.The exercise was interrupted after an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31 in which nine Turkish passengers died.Greece also cancelled a visit by the chief of staff of Israel's airforce after the raid, which drew worldwide condemnation.Traditionally pro-Arab, Greece has improved relations with Israel and in August Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister to visit Greece.
Greece and Israel began limited military co-operation in 1994, and the first joint manoeuvres involving combat aircraft took place in 2008.

Iranian and Hezbollah leaders to appear together at rally
– Thu Oct 7, 12:34 pm ET

BEIRUT (AFP) – The Iranian and Hezbollah leaders are set to appear together next week at a rally organised by the Shiite militant group for the Iranian leader's visit to Lebanon, a Hezbollah official said on Thursday.We are organising a rally in honour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad next Wednesday at the Al-Raya stadium and we expect Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to make an appearance, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.It was unclear, however, whether Nasrallah would appear in person or via video link as is usually the case for security reasons.The leader of Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organisation by Washington, lives in hiding and last appeared in public in July 2008.Nasrallah has been Israel's public enemy number one since his Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shiite militant group fought a deadly month-long war against the Jewish state in the summer of 2006.Ahmadinejad's official visit to Lebanon from October 13-14 is eagerly anticipated by Hezbollah, which is planning to give him a warm welcome as well as a tour of the southern border region with Israel.However, the trip has sparked controversy in Lebanon with some members of the pro-Western parliamentary majority calling it a provocation and Washington also expressing concern.The stadium where the Iranian and Hezbollah leaders are set to appear is located in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut. The facility and the immediate surrounding area can hold some 40,000 people, according to Hezbollah.

Top Israel ministers meet but settlement freeze off the menu
– Wed Oct 6, 2:36 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's security cabinet met on Wednesday but, despite requests by several ministers, the renewal of a freeze on Jewish settlement building was not discussed, an observer at the session said.Ministers had asked that the 15-member policy-making body debate whether to accede to international demands for a renewal of a 10-month moratorium, which expired last week.Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, a non-voting observer at Wednesday's meeting, told Israeli public radio the issue was not put on the agenda.A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the meeting dealt with strengthening Israel's civil defense measures, in particular to enable apartment owners to reinforce their buildings against the threat of missile attacks or earthquakes.Ministers in Netanyahu's seven-member inner circle had met on Tuesday but again, the issue of the freeze was not discussed, despite Palestinian threats to bolt peace talks if it is not reimposed.Netanyahu had been expected to use both forums to try to achieve some kind of compromise over the settlements ahead of a key Arab League meeting in Libya on Friday at which the Palestinians are expected to formalise their decision.Simhon, of the dovish Labour party, said he feared the window of opportunity for forging an agreement with the Palestinians was about to slam shut.I'm definitely concerned, he told the radio. I think we find ourselves at a moment of truth at which the leadership of the state of Israel must take significant and difficult political decisions.

Jerusalem eyes first new gate in Old City for 112 years
– Wed Oct 6, 2:34 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Planners in Jerusalem are considering creating the first new gate into the Old City in more than 100 years, settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Wednesday.The gate would take the form of an underground tunnel which would run under the Old City's southern walls between Zion Gate and the Dung Gate, and lead to a multi-storey car park in the Jewish quarter.An outline of the plan, which would involve tunnelling through solid rock underneath the present wall, was presented to Jerusalem city council's district planning committee earlier this week, said Peace Now's Hagit Ofran who attended the meeting.The idea is part of a broader plan to improve access into the Old City and intensify the tourist profile of the Western Wall and bring more people in, she told AFP referring to Judaism's holiest site.

These are very ambitious plans with many, many problematic elements, she said, pointing out that the plan was in the very preliminary stages.The last time any changes were made to the walls of the Old City was in 1898, when the Ottoman authorities demolished part of the wall next to Jaffa Gate in order to create an opening wide enough to accommodate the official convoy of visiting German Kaiser Wilhelm II.Construction work in and around the Old City is one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has a history of triggering unrest.In 1996, more than 80 people were killed in three days of Palestinian riots during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first term of office when he authorised the opening of a new entrance to an archaeological tunnel near the holy sites.Huge protests also erupted when Israel began repair work on a damaged stone ramp leading to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, enraging Muslims around the world.

Each year, more than six million people visit the Western Wall, Israel's biggest tourist attraction which is revered by Jews as the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple.Above the wall is the area known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary, which houses the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.The Western Wall fell into Jewish hands for the first time since the Roman era during the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured and annexed east Jerusalem.
Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital, a claim not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

Hamas threatens Fatah leaders over Palestinian arrests
– Wed Oct 6, 12:42 pm ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on Wednesday threatened the leaders of the Western-backed Fatah movement over the arrest of fighters in the West Bank.Masked representatives of the groups gave a press conference in which they slammed the detention of militants by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which Hamas drove out of Gaza in June 2007.What is happening in the West Bank is a vicious attack on the sons of the resistance... it has taken a dangerous turn that requires a severe response, they said in a joint statement.This response will target the leaders of the Fatah movement in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida gave a slightly less stern statement that appeared to refer to a second round of reconciliation talks with Fatah planned for October 20 in the Syrian capital Damascus, the headquarters of Hamas's exiled leadership.If Palestinian reconciliation is not able to prevent Fatah from taking these aggressive actions against the resistance, then no one will blame us if we target its leaders wherever they are,he said at the press conference.Since the takeover of Gaza both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have arrested and mistreated scores of political rivals in the territories under their control, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups.The Hamas-run government in Gaza has been singled out for executing convicted murderers and spies for Israel after trying them in military courts.Both sides have denied detaining or sentencing anyone for political reasons.Earlier this week a military court run by the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank sentenced a Hamas fighter to 20 years in prison for taking part in a 2009 shootout with Palestinian security forces.The sentence infuriated the armed wing of Hamas, which accused the Authority of treason and compared it to the Israeli occupation.

IMF: Mideast recovering well from global slump
Ap Business Writer – Wed Oct 6, 8:52 am ET

CAIRO – The International Monetary Fund says the Middle East and North Africa region is recovering strongly following the global financial meltdown, with sizable stimulus packages and continued strength in oil prices supporting the rebound.The IMF said in its World Economic Outlook released Wednesday that the MENA region's GDP growth is projected to be 4.1 percent this year and 5.1 percent in 2011. GDP growth for the region was 2 percent in 2009.The sustained rebound in oil prices since 2009 has benefited Mideast oil exporters, as well as oil importers that sell about 25 percent of their products to those nations. But the IMF said uncertainties remain, linked to the volatility in the overall global economic recovery.

Rival Palestinian factions to meet October 20
– Tue Oct 5, 11:39 am ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) – The bitterly divided Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas plan to hold a second round of reconciliation talks in Syria on October 20, a senior Gaza-based Hamas official said on Tuesday.A joint meeting of Hamas and Fatah has been arranged for October 20 in Damascus after a previous meeting between us which had a measure of success, Salah al-Bardawil told AFP.He said the discussions would be aimed at forming a joint security committee as part of a process of reconciling the two movements.The Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza and the secular Fatah movement led by Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas held talks last month in Damascus, where Hamas's exiled leadership is based.The two movements struggled for months to reach a unity agreement through Egyptian mediation but those efforts came to a halt in October 2009 when Hamas refused to sign an agreement endorsed by Egypt and Fatah.Long-standing divisions between the two factions boiled over in June 2007 when Hamas seized power in Gaza after a week of fierce street battles, confining Abbas's Palestinian Authority to the occupied West Bank.Since then each side has accused the other of arresting and mistreating scores of its supporters, and in recent months Hamas has strongly criticised the Authority's security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank.

Clinton, Netanyahu speak amid efforts to save peace process
– Mon Oct 4, 3:47 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the weekend with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, her spokesman said Monday, amid US efforts to save new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.I can only say that they ... discussed ideas on a path forward. Beyond that, I'm not going to get into specifics, Crowley said of the telephone conversation that took place on Sunday.It was a constructive conversation, he told reporters.Crowley said US Middle East envoy George Mitchell had returned to Washington following his nearly week-long tour of the Middle East that took him to Israel, the West Bank, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan.The US-backed negotiations began in Washington on September 2, but have been on the brink of collapse since Israel refused to extend a 10-month moratorium on new settler homes in the West Bank that expired a week ago.The Palestine Liberation Organisation on Saturday urged Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to withdraw from the talks over the Israeli settlement construction, his spokesman said in Ramallah.

Seeking to break the deadlock, Mitchell met Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Abbas in Ramallah on Friday, before traveling to Doha, Cairo and Amman.As George said in one of his statements over the weekend, we're committed to the two-state outcome and establishment of a Palestinian state, and we continue to encourage the parties and consult with the parties on a path forward, Crowley said.We recognize that this is difficult, that we're facing an obstacle that immediately confronts us,he said.