Israeli PM to visit US next week By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press - 11:45AM OCT 31,10
JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister said Sunday he will head to the U.S. next week to discuss Mideast peace talks with Vice President Joe Biden, in a possible sign of movement for the troubled diplomatic process.Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in late September over renewed Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, and U.S. and Israeli officials have been working feverishly since then in hopes of finding a formula to revive the negotiations.
Announcing the trip to his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu gave no indication on whether the sides were any closer to a breakthrough.I will discuss with them a series of issues, including — of course — the resumption of the diplomatic process in order to reach a peace agreement with security for the future of the state of Israel, he said.President Barack Obama will be in Asia when Netanyahu visits, so the Israeli leader will meet with Biden instead. The meeting is to take place in New Orleans, where both men are scheduled to address a conference of Jewish American leaders.Obama has made Middle East peace a focus of his foreign policy agenda, and he personally launched the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks, the first in nearly two years, on Sept. 2.
But the negotiations quickly stalled after the expiration of an Israeli slowdown on construction in West Bank settlements, throwing into question Obama's ambitious target of brokering a peace deal by September 2011.Netanyahu says the 10-month slowdown, which expired on Sept. 26, was a one-time gesture meant to draw the Palestinians to the negotiating table. He has refused to renew the moratorium, and construction has already begun on some 600 homes throughout the West Bank.Population growth among Jewish settlers in the West Bank was more than double the rest of the Israeli population in the first half of 2010, according to statistics released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.From January to June, the Jewish settler population rose 7,200 to 303,900. This year's growth is projected at 4.8 percent, compared to 1.8 percent growth expected for the general Israeli population.Previous statistical reports have shown that most settler growth is attributable to births, not to people moving to the settlements. The current report gave no breakdown.The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating if Israel continues to build on the territories Palestinians claim for their future state. Netanyahu said last week that settlement construction would not affect the eventual peace map.The U.S. has been trying to persuade Israel to renew the settlement curbs by offering a package of security or diplomatic guarantees. But so far, an acceptable formula hasn't been reached.The 22-member Arab League is set to meet in mid-November to determine with the Palestinians whether the talks should continue.Netanyahu heads to the U.S. next Sunday in the wake of what authorities say was a failed attempt by al-Qaida operatives in Yemen to send a pair of bombs to Chicago-area synagogues.We are facing a wave of extremist Islamic terror that is increasing, both in the breadth of its attacks and in the brazenness of directing it to the nations of the world — and also of course in the growing number of weapons provided by global terror leaders, he said.Netanyahu told his Cabinet that one of the central themes of his address in New Orleans would be "the steps that the cultured world, the free world, need to take to stop this wave that is threatening all of us.
Israeli Jews at odds with liberal brethren in US By ARON HELLER, Associated Press – Sun Oct 31, 7:45 am ET
JERUSALEM – When Hillary Rubin immigrated from the U.S. to Israel, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and descendant of a famed Zionist visionary felt that she had finally arrived in her true home.But now that religious authorities are questioning the 29-year-old Michigan native's Jewish pedigree and refusing to recognize her marriage, she's having second thoughts.Rubin is at the center of a deepening rift between the world's two biggest Jewish communities — the American and Israeli. Religious life in Israel is dominated by the strict ultra-Orthodox establishment, which has growing political power and has become increasingly resistant to any inroads by the more liberal movements that predominate among American Jews.Many Americans — whose faith is seen by the ultra-Orthodox as blurred by intermarriage and fading adherence to tradition — are feeling rejected and unwelcome.I feel like I am caught in the middle of these two worlds, said Rubin, who was raised in a liberal Jewish home in a Detroit suburb. On the one hand I'm far too traditional for American society. On the flip side, I am not religious enough for the rabbinate in Israel.It's a far cry from the days when American Jews looked to Israel as a source of pride and inspiration and Israel could rely on America's Jews as a source of unconditional moral support and fundraising. With ultra-Orthodox Jews the fastest growing sector in Israel, often holding the balance of power in coalition governments, open strains between the communities are now far more common.Over the summer, a proposed law that would have consecrated the Orthodox monopoly over conversion in Israel caused an uproar among Diaspora Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to shelve the bill in hopes of finding a compromise.Last week, American and Israeli Jewish leaders held a conference in Jerusalem aiming at ironing out their differences. But the closed-door sessions were tense and all sides stuck to their positions, said one participant, American Rabbi Jerome Epstein, of the Conservative movement.He warned that the conflict could tear the people apart if no compromise is found.There are a lot of Americans who normally would not get involved in Israeli politics but who are saying, What you are doing is delegitimizing me. It is not enough to want my support and want my money, you have to be willing to recognize me as a human being and as a Jew,and they feel that is not happening, he said.
The two communities are at odds over everything from religious rituals to gender roles. But the issues of marriage and conversion most concretely raise concern among American Jews that they are judged as not Jewish enough for Israel.The more liberal Reform and Conservative movements, which dominate American Jewish life, are more inclusive toward converts and inter-faith marriages. More than half of American Jews marry outside the faith.Chelsea Clinton's marriage last summer to Marc Mezvinsky, who is Jewish, showed just how well assimilated U.S. Jews have become. Many American Jews were quietly proud of their homegrown son, who, in a skullcap and prayer shawl, wed the former First Daughter in a ceremony performed by a Reform Rabbi and a Protestant minister.But to many in Israel, Mezvinsky seemed to break more than a glass at the wedding. The inter-faith ceremony — held on the Sabbath in violation of Jewish law, to boot — encapsulated fears that assimilation is emptying the religion of content and devastating its numbers.In Israel, despite its secular majority, ultra-Orthodox rabbis strictly govern Jewish practices such as weddings, burials or conversions and only allow them for those who meet Orthodox definitions of a Jew. Israel grants citizenship to any Jew — Reform, Conservative or Orthodox — but once in Israel, many who consider themselves Jewish cannot get married or have a Jewish burial.Rubin's story shows just how deep the gulf has become.When she went to the Orthodox rabbinate to register for a marriage certificate, the authorities wouldn't accept the documents she produced or the assurances of her American rabbi that she was indeed Jewish, despite her famous lineage.The government only recognizes Orthodox marriage and Israel has no civil marriage. So after holding an informal ceremony with a Conservative rabbi, Rubin and her fiance — who is also Jewish — were forced to officially tie the knot in nearby Cyprus to be recognized as married in Israel. It terrifies me that this is the direction we are going. This is not a democratic Jewish state. It is becoming a tyrannical Jewish state, said Rubin, whose great-uncle was Nahum Sokolow, one of the pioneers of early 20th century Zionism. Seth Farber, an Orthodox rabbi and director of a group that helps Israelis navigate the rabbinical bureaucracy, said the threshold for proving one's Judaism has risen alongside the rise in ultra-Orthodox power.The biggest danger is that the Israeli body politic will allow the Jewish people to be disenfranchised by giving the ultra-Orthodox all the keys to Jewish identity,he said. The majority of Israelis appear at odds with their religious authorities.According to a recent survey conducted for Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, 63 percent of Israelis believe those converted by non-Orthodox rabbis should be regarded as Jews. The Shiluv pollster questioned a random selection of 507 Israelis and gave a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
But Moshe Gafni, an ultra-Orthodox lawmaker whose party is a key coalition member in Netanyahu's government, vows that Israel will not allow what he calls Chelsea Clinton-like weddings and make-it-up-as-you-go Judaism.We are not saying that someone who is Reform or Conservative is not Jewish. But they can't change the order of things here in Israel,he said. The average Israeli wants the country to abide by the Jewish tradition ... You can't take the things most sacred to us and tear them to shreds.
First luxury hotel to open in Ramallah
by Joseph Krauss – Sun Oct 31, 4:30 am ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The opening of Ramallah's first five-star hotel on Monday will mark another small step in the West Bank town's steady march towards something resembling normal life.But its sixth-floor executive lounge looks out on a panorama of unresolved issues that cloud the economic outlook -- a built-up Israeli settlement on a nearby hilltop, a Palestinian refugee camp down below and the hazy skyline of distant Jerusalem beyond a grim separation wall.The Movenpick Hotel Ramallah, a locally owned franchise of the Swiss-based chain, is aimed primarily at corporate clients and has been billed as yet another indication that the occupied West Bank is open for business.The past is the past. We believe in the future of the country and the future of this hotel. It's a beautiful investment and an opportunity for Ramallah, says general manager Daniel Roche.The 40-million-dollar hotel includes 171 rooms and suites, an outdoor pool, fitness centre and seven conference rooms. The main restaurant has an Italian chef and a downstairs cigar bar that will serve up 20-year aged whiskeys.It will cater to the entrepreneurs, aid workers and diplomats who have flocked to Ramallah in recent years as security has improved following the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising.A string of chic new bars and restaurants have already turned the town into an easy-going Palestinian approximation of Tel Aviv, the transformation underpinned by technocratic reforms and a massive influx of foreign aid.It has all happened at a time of pervasive pessimism over the peace process, which sputtered back to life in early September only to stall three weeks later with the expiry of a partial Israeli settlement moratorium.
That has Palestinian officials and investors -- many of whom have vivid memories of past periods of calm collapsing into renewed chaos -- casting a wary eye on the latest signs of prosperity.Many point out the Movenpick was first conceived during the halcyon early years of the peace process in the 1990s but frozen by the unrest that followed.Without political progress, security and economic progress is not sustainable, Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib says.This is what we have learned from the 43-year history of the occupation.The International Monetary Fund has also urged caution, warning recent double-digit economic growth has been mainly driven by the four billion dollars in foreign aid the Palestinian Authority has received since 2007.In September it warned the West Bank's growth was shaped more by Israeli restrictions than comparative economic advantage and was bound to decline if Israel did not take further steps to improve movement and access.Let's keep it in perspective, says Maher Hamdan, CEO of the Palestine Trade Centre, or Paltrade, which represents more than 320 local businesses.The potential for economic growth and attracting investment would be an order of magnitude of what it is today if you really had a peace process.Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American businessman who launched a shopping mall and supermarket chain in 2004 and now runs a consulting firm specialising in start-ups, says the appearance of normal economic life can be deceiving.These are investors who have taken a leap of faith with the conviction the occupation will end, he says. So they are willing to wait out their investment hoping that they will be well-positioned, once the occupation ends, to be the first movers on the market... They are investing in the future, and that's a high risk."
Although Israel has lifted several of the hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks it maintains across the territory, trade remains difficult, and economic activity is heavily restricted in the more than 60 percent of the West Bank that is fully governed by the Israeli military.Another few cafes, another few hotels, is not going to build an economic foundation for statehood,Bahour says.What will is borders, water, land, and the ability of Palestinians to trade directly with the outside world.Even high-profile projects like the Movenpick routinely encounter difficulties and delays in importing goods into the territory. Every single piece that had to be imported for the hotel was subject to Israeli procedures at the crossings, and these delayed work,says Talal Nasreddin, one of the owners of the Movenpick Hotel Ramallah.That has meant, among other things, that the Movenpick will not immediately be able to offer the chain's trademark ice cream.We are working on that, and we will definitely one day have ice cream, Roche, the general manager, says. It's a long process.
Islamic Jihad slams peace talks at mass Gaza rally
By Adel Zaanoun – Fri Oct 29, 3:32 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement called on Friday for an end to peace talks with Israel and celebrated armed struggle at a rally in Gaza City attended by tens of thousands of supporters.Today we sound the alarm and warn that there will be a third Nakba (Catastrophe) because of the determination to pursue the path of negotiations with the enemy, the group's exiled leader Ramadan Shalah told the crowd.He was referring to the 1948 war that attended Israel's creation, in which some 750,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from the new Jewish state, and the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.The situation demands the complete withdrawal from the negotiations with the enemy, ending the Palestinian divide and uniting behind jihad and resistance, Shalah said by telephone from his base in Damascus.Supporters waving Palestinian flags and the black banners of the hardline group packed Gaza City's Kuteiba Square as senior officials gave speeches beneath massive portraits of slain Palestinian leaders from different groups.Senior officials from Haamas and other factions walked across a large Israeli flag on the way to their seats at the rally, in which supporters chanted: Death, death to America! Death, death to Israel! Islamic Jihad claimed more than 100,000 people attended the event but the number could not be independently verified.
The rally came just days after the 15th anniversary of the assassination of Islamic Jihad's founder Fathi Shiqaqi, who was killed in Malta in an attack blamed on Israel's Mossad spy agency.The armed group, which is smaller and more radical than the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the territory, carried out several suicide bombings inside Israel during the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising.In more recent years it was behind many of the near-daily rocket attacks fired from Gaza that prompted Israel to launch a devastating offensive against the territory in December 2008.It has pointedly refused to take part in a Hamas-declared period of calm since the end of the offensive in January 2009.The 22-day Israeli operation killed some 1,400 Palestinians and flattened entire neighbourhoods of Gaza. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas are sworn to the destruction of Israel, but they sometimes differ on tactics.Since the Gaza war ended, Islamic Jihad has accused Hamas on a number of occasions of arresting its members and of trying to prevent them from firing rockets.
Israel: UNESCO West Bank decision absurd By Ian Deitch, Associated Press – Fri Oct 29, 12:10 pm ET
JERUSALEM – A decision by the U.N. body in charge of preserving historical sites to define West Bank shrines sacred to both Jews and Muslims as Palestinian is absurd, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday.One of the sites, in the city of Hebron, has been a flashpoint for decades. Jews call it the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Bible says the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried along with three of their wives.Muslims call it the al-Ibrahimi mosque, reflecting the fact that Abraham is considered the father of both Judaism and Islam.Netanyahu issued a statement condemning the UNESCO decision which was made last week.The attempt to detach the people of Israel from its heritage is absurd, the statement said. If the places where the fathers and mothers of the Jewish nation are buried, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Leah and Rachel some 4,000 years ago are not part of the Jewish heritage then what is? Hebron is a West Bank flashpoint because it is the only place where Jews live among Palestinians. About 500 Israeli settlers, some of them extremists, live in enclaves near the disputed holy site, guarded by Israeli soldiers who control part of the city of about 170,000 Palestinians.
Earlier this year Israel registered the Hebron shrine as well as a tomb near Jerusalem, believed to be the burial site of the Matriarch Rachel, as national heritage sites.Both shrines are located in the West Bank, territory the Palestinians want as part of their future state. Palestinians view the additions of the shrines to Israel's heritage list as a land grab.It is regrettable that the organization established to promote historical heritage sites worldwide is trying for political reasons to detach the ties between the Jewish people and their heritage, Netanyahu's statement said.The state of Israel in contrast to its neighbors will continue to preserve freedom of religion at these sites and preserve them for future generations,he said.
Syria flouts Lebanon sovereignty, arms militants: U.S.
By Louis Charbonneau and Patrick Worsnip – Thu Oct 28, 4:56 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States launched a diplomatic assault on Syria at the United Nations on Thursday, accusing it of joining forces with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas to destabilize and undermine Lebanon.The harsh comments from U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who accused Syria of arming Hezbollah and flouting Lebanese sovereignty and independence, were immediately dismissed by her Syrian counterpart, who said Rice had her facts wrong.Rice's remarks at the world body, where more subtle and indirect criticism is the norm, come amid growing fears Lebanon is headed for a political crisis over pending indictments by a U.N. tribunal expected to implicate Hezbollah in the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.Syria especially has displayed flagrant disregard for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence of Lebanon, Rice told reporters as the U.N. Security Council held closed-door discussions on Lebanon.Syria continues to provide increasingly sophisticated weapons to Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah, despite (Security Council) resolution 1680, which calls on Syria to undertake measures against the movement of arms into Lebanese territory, she said.Hezbollah remained the most significant and most heavily armed Lebanese militia, Rice said, adding it could not have achieved this without Syrian aid in acquiring Syrian and Iranian weapons.Like its Middle East ally Israel, which fought an indecisive war against Hezbollah in 2006, Washington has become increasingly worried about Lebanon in recent months.Washington's frustration comes despite U.S. efforts to push relations with Damascus onto a better track, partly to win greater Syrian buy-in to what it hopes will eventually be moves toward a comprehensive Middle East peace deal.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem in New York in September and Washington still hopes to place an ambassador in Damascus, but improvement will depend on Syria's future actions, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.There's a choice here for Syria, he said.
HYPER-DANGEROUS SITUATION
Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari dismissed Rice's allegations about Syria facilitating arms smuggling into Lebanon. He also criticized U.N. Secretary-Ban Ki-moon's latest report on Lebanon for saying U.N. peacekeepers there cannot verify that no new arms are flowing into southern Lebanon.What Ambassador Rice said is ... in full contradiction with a lot of facts related to the positive developments within Lebanon as well as within the whole area, he said. Ambassador Rice gave credibility to wrong facts.A U.N. special envoy on Lebanon, Norwegian diplomat Terje Roed-Larsen, told reporters that if the Lebanese situation is destabilized I am afraid that it will have rippling effects across the region.This is the most critical issue of international peace and security today, he said, adding that all parties in the region should stop all irresponsible and reckless rhetoric.Lebanon is more conflicted every day, Roed-Larsen said, adding that the combination of armed militias and inflammatory rhetoric created a hyper-dangerous situation.He declined to say who was supplying Hezbollah's weapons but said they were not coming from the moon.Rice also accused Iran of working to undermine Lebanon's independence and endanger its stability.
Damascus' decision to issue arrest warrants for 33 senior Lebanese officials and foreign nationals was another example of Syrian violation of Lebanese sovereignty and breach of Syrian pledges to respect its neighbor's independence, Rice added. The warrants were for alleged false testimony to investigators in the Hariri probe. Lebanon has come close to fresh turmoil since reports surfaced the U.N. court will indict members of the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah -- something diplomats say could happen early next year.Hezbollah, part of Lebanon's national unity government, has denounced the court as a tool of U.S. and Israeli policy. Its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, urged all Lebanese on Thursday to boycott the probe and accused investigators of sending information to Israel.The tribunal issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what it described as an attack on its staff in Beirut and said it would not be deterred in its inquiry.(Editing by Jerry Norton)
Egypt backs Palestinian demands as peace impasse persists
by Nasser Abu Bakr – Thu Oct 28, 4:18 pm ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit Thursday said there had been no breakthrough in efforts to revive Middle East peace talks on a rare visit to the West Bank.Abul Gheit, who was accompanied by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, reiterated Arab support for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's demand that Israeli settlement building be frozen ahead of fresh talks.The goal is to achieve the Palestinian demand, which has Arab support, for a complete halt to settlements in order to clear the way for a return to negotiations, Abul Gheit told reporters after meeting with Abbas in Ramallah.We are still working with the Americans and the Israelis, but until now there has not been the desired breakthrough.Abbas told the same news conference he was still mulling alternative paths to statehood, including an appeal to the United Nations, but said his first choice would be to return to the negotiations launched in September.We have discussed our options and we have said that these are consecutive options, but our first option is to return to direct negotiations if Israel halts all settlement activity, Abbas said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later reiterated his opposition to the Palestinians going to the United Nations.We expect the Palestinians to fulfil their obligations and negotiate directly, seriously, in good faith and without preconditions, his office quoted him as saying.
Any attempt to circumvent the process and go to international organisations will not lead to progress in a true peace process, Netanyahu said, adding he hoped to return to talks soon.The two senior Egyptian officials had flown by helicopter from Amman, where they met with Jordan's King Abdullah II, who also called for a settlement freeze.Unilateral and provocative actions, particularly settlement building, should stop in order to create the right environment for the talks, the king said, according to a palace statement.More international and regional efforts are needed to achieve progress in efforts seeking to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Failure will create more tension and violence in the Middle East, he warned.Later, Netanyahu, meeting with visiting US Senator Joe Lieberman, played down the importance of ongoing settlement construction.We have to get past the current obstacle placed by the Palestinians, which is not fundamental to any agreement because the building in Judea and Samaria will not affect the final peace map, Netanyahu said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.After more than a year of US-led shuttle diplomacy, the latest round of direct talks was launched in Washington early last month in the presence of US President Barack Obama, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah.But the negotiations ground to a halt three weeks later when a 10-month partial moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired.Arab foreign ministers have given Washington until early November to resolve the impasse before they meet to discuss alternatives to the negotiations, but there has been little sign of progress in recent weeks.The Palestinians view the presence of 500,000 Israelis in more than 120 settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, as a major obstacle to the establishment of their promised state. Israel has so far refused to renew the moratorium and insisted the thorny issue of Jewish settlements be resolved as part of a final peace deal.
Israel: Nigeria weapons heading for Gaza Strip By JON GAMBRELL and IAN DEITCH, Associated Press – Thu Oct 28, 1:02 pm ET
LAGOS, Nigeria – Israeli officials said Thursday that the military-grade armaments seized at a shipping terminal in Nigeria came from Iran and were bound for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.The military officials would not provide evidence to support their claims, citing security concerns. However, the information initially appeared to conflict with claims by Nigerian customs officials that the weaponry, which included 107 mm artillery rockets, were to be brought into the oil-rich West African nation.The Israeli officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak with journalists.Iran remains a bitter enemy of Israel and supports Islamic militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza that are in a state of war with the Jewish state. In the winter of 2008, Israel launched a military campaign against Iran-backed militants in Gaza in an attempt to stop years of almost daily rocket attacks on southern Israel.Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, denied the weapons were headed to Gaza.Agents with Nigeria's secretive State Security Service discovered the weapons Tuesday hidden inside of 13 shipping containers dropped off at Lagos' busy Apapa Port. Journalists allowed to see the weapons Wednesday saw 107 mm rockets, rifle rounds and other items labeled in English. Authorities said the shipment also contained grenades, explosives and possibly rocket launchers, but journalists did not see them.
Wale Adeniyi, a spokesman for Nigeria's Customs Service, said Thursday that the MV CMA-CGM Everest dropped the weapons off in July. Adeniyi said the ship last stopped at Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port before coming to Nigeria.The spokesman said security officials became suspicious of the containers as the shipment did not have proper documentation. However, it initially appeared that the cargo was to have remained in Nigeria, he said.The containers have been on ground since July. There have been some attempts to clear them for importation into Nigeria, Adeniyi said. We understand later that there was an application to re-export them.The Everest, a cargo ship registered in the Marshall Islands, is chartered by CMA-CGM, a shipping company based in France. In a statement released Thursday, CMA-CGM said the containers holding the weapons were owned by the firm that shipped them. The shipping company said the manifest for the weapons described the shipment as packages of glasswool and pallets of stone.The containers were supplied, loaded and sealed by the shipper, delivered to the port of loading for transportation and remained sealed during the whole transportation process, CMA-CGM's statement read. The seals were fully intact upon discharge in Nigeria.The company declined to comment further, other than to say it has cooperated with Nigerian security services.
In the hands of highly trained troops, the 107 mm artillery rockets can accurately hit targets as far as eight and a half kilometers away, killing everything within about 40 feet. Fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq have used similar rockets against U.S. troops.China, the United States, and Russia manufacture versions of the rocket, as does Iran — which calls the weapon a Katyusha rocket. In 2006, the Islamic militant group Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 Katyusha rockets across Israel's northern border, some of which fell as far as 55 miles (90 kilometers) inside Israel.
The weapons seizure comes as Nigeria, an OPEC-member nation that is one of the top crude oil suppliers to the U.S., approaches what could be a highly contested presidential election next year. Security remains a concern in Nigeria as it continues to see targeted killings allegedly committed by a radical Islamic sect in the north and the threat of new violence in its oil-rich southern delta.Associated Press Writer Ian Deitch reported from Jerusalem.
Israel traded 52 prisoners for missing soldier's gun: report
– Thu Oct 28, 12:37 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel traded 52 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners to the Hezbollah militia in exchange for the gun of an Israeli airman who went missing in southern Lebanon in 1986, a newspaper said on Thursday.Details of the December 2000 deal were revealed by the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, which said it was a secret part of negotiations to release three soldiers and a businessman captured in separate incidents that year.The ArmaLite AR-7 rifle, a light firearm designed to be used as a survival weapon, was carried by Ron Arad when his plane went down over southern Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war.With our hands shaking, we opened the package, compared the serial number, and when it turned out the numbers corresponded, we called (Arad's wife) Tami, one of the officials involved in the operation told the paper.Eight years of indirect talks mediated by a German intelligence official failed to secure Arad's release and his whereabouts remains unknown.After his plane went down, Arad was captured by Amal, another Shiite movement headed by Nabih Berri, who is now speaker of the Lebanese parliament.Two years ago, Hezbollah turned over previously-unseen photographs and excerpts from a diary Arad kept until 1987 as part of another prisoner exchange deal.It also provided a report saying Arad was dead, which Israel dismissed, vowing to continue the search for him.
Arad has been a cause celebre for decades in Israel, where bringing home lost or captured soldiers is considered a sacred duty.Israel has in the past agreed to several deals that have involved trading hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners for captured soldiers and the remains of troops killed in battle.Yediot Aharonot said the 52 prisoners were included in the 2004 prisoner exchange for the four captured Israelis, which saw Israel release a total of 400 Palestinian prisoners and dozens more from Lebanon and other Arab states.
