Turkish group slams Israeli praise of Gaza boat raid
– Wed Oct 27, 1:18 pm ET
ANKARA (AFP) – A Turkish rights group denounced Wednesday the praises showered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the naval commandos whose raid on a Gaza-bound aid boat killed nine Turks.Netanyahu's insolence has no limits, Bulent Yildirim, head of the Islamic charity IHH (Foundation of Humanitarian Relief), which owned the boat in question.Killing innocent and defenceless people is not heroic, he added.On Tuesday, Netanyahu lauded the commandos' action as vital, necessary, legal and of the utmost importance, during a visit to their base near the Israeli city of Haifa.The deadly May 31 raid that killed the Turkish activists and left scores injured sparked international outrage and chilled relations between Ankara and the Jewish state.Israel says its troops were attacked with clubs and knives when they landed aboard the Mavi Marmara ferry and only opened fire in self-defence.But activists on board claimed the Israeli commandos opened fire as soon as they hit the upper deck of the ship.On Wednesday, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal told reporters that Ankara was still waiting for apologies and compensation from Israel for the incident.
Police, protesters clash in Arab Israeli town By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press – Wed Oct 27, 5:06 pm ET
UMM EL-FAHM, Israel – Dozens of Jewish extremists hoisting Israeli flags defiantly marched through this Arab-Israeli town Wednesday, chanting death to terrorists and touching off clashes between rock-hurling residents and police who quelled them with tear gas.As the unrest unfolded, an Israeli court convicted a prominent Arab-Israeli activist of spying for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in a plea bargain that will send him to prison for up to 10 years. The activist, Amir Makhoul, greeted supporters in court with a smile and a victory sign.The court case and the violence in Umm el-Fahm added to mounting tensions between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority.Israel Arabs — one-fifth of the country's citizens — have grown jittery as nationalist elements in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have questioned their loyalty to the state.They are ethnically Palestinian, but enjoy equal rights under Israeli law, unlike their brethren in the West Bank and Gaza. Still, they often suffer discrimination and are statistically poorer and less educated than Israeli Jews. Tensions between the two communities run deep.The Jewish extremists converged on Umm el-Fahm, one of Israel's largest Arab towns, because it is a stronghold of the country's radical Islamic Movement. Jewish ultranationalists held a similar march in the town last year.Town Mayor Khaled Hamdan faulted police for protecting the protesters and their leader, calling them a madman and a bunch of racists.The purpose of this (march) clearly is to provoke and to cause chaos, he said.
The scenes of Israeli Arabs — their faces masked by checkered headscarves, burning tires, hurling rocks at riot police and scrambling to dodge tear gas and police fire — recalled violence between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Police said 10 people were arrested, but reported no serious injuries.
Israel's Supreme Court authorized the march, and hundreds of police deployed in town. The march was on its outskirts.Some 350 Arab residents gathered to await the rally, and youths threw rocks at police, who dispersed the crowd with tear gas and stun grenades.Police kept journalists away from the march's 50-meter (yard) path. But nearby resident Amneh Jabari, 38, said marchers chanted death to the Arabs and Umm el-Fahm will be Jewish while waving white-and-blue Israeli flags and reciting prayers.The Jewish militants are admirers of Meir Kahane, a U.S.-born rabbi who preached that Palestinians should be expelled from Israel and the West Bank. An Arab gunman assassinated Kahane at a New York hotel 20 years ago.March organizer Baruch Marzel said the activists wanted Israel to outlaw the Islamic Movement, just as it did Kahane's Kach Party.The movement's leader, Raed Salah, has called for a new Palestinian uprising against Israeli policies and led violent protests against building projects in Jerusalem's Old City.If the Kach Party was outlawed, then the Islamic Movement deserves to be outlawed 1,000 times over, Marzel said.Many Israeli Jews doubt the loyalty of Israel's Arabs, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party has made much of the idea, spearheading what is seen as anti-Arab legislation in parliament. On Wednesday, a parliamentary committee gave preliminary approval to legislation that would allow small towns to determine who moves into their communities and reject those deemed unfit. Arab lawmakers say the measure targets Arabs. Further adding to tensions was Wednesday's conviction of Makhoul, the Arab activist who admitted to spying for Hezbollah as part of a plea bargain.
Makhoul claimed he had fended off more serious charges.Many of the more severe allegations against me evaporated and are not listed on the indictment, he said. That is what I managed to get in a plea bargain deal.Makhoul's lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, said his client admitted to passing information about the location of a military weapons factory to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah during Israel's war against the group in 2006. Makhoul also disclosed where he believed captive Lebanese fighters were held. Abu Hussein said Makhoul sent the information through a coded e-mail program to a community activist in Jordan who Israeli intelligence believes belongs to Hezbollah. He said the information is common knowledge and available on the Internet, but that Makhoul agreed to a plea bargain because of the difficulty of proving his innocence. The court is expected to sentence Makhoul in November. Without a deal, he could have faced life in prison.At the time of his arrest last spring, Israeli authorities claimed Makhoul met with a Hezbollah agent overseas and agreed to collect information for the group.Makhoul is a vocal critic of Israel, and the government barred the media from reporting his arrest for weeks.His case is similar to that of another prominent Arab-Israeli leader, Azmi Bishara, a lawmaker who fled the country in 2007 to avoid facing espionage allegations.Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid and Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
Netanyahu salutes commandos who raided Gaza ship
By Dan Williams – Tue Oct 26, 11:54 am ET
ATLIT NAVAL BASE, Israel (Reuters) – Saying I salute you, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the headquarters on Tuesday of Israeli naval commandos who killed nine pro-Palestinian Turks aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship in May.Netanyahu's tour of the top-security Flotilla 13 base on the coast near Haifa was a show of defiance against international censure of the raid on the converted cruise liner Mavi Marmara.
It followed testimony on Sunday from Israel's military chief, who told a state-appointed inquest into the operation that the commandos had come under pistol, knife and cudgel attacks while boarding and fired 308 live bullets in response.Activists from the Mavi Marmara have confirmed they resisted the Israeli boarding party but denied provoking lethal violence.Netanyahu said the May 31 raid on the Turkish-flagged vessel, one of six ships trying to run Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, had been crucial, essential, important and legal.Gaza has turned into an Iranian terror base, he said, referring to the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas Islamists, in a speech to around 200 members of the unit.He heaped praise on the commandos, saying they had acted courageously, morally and with restraint.The night-time interception on Mediterranean high seas and the ensuing bloodshed strained Israel's once-close ties with Turkey, which has demanded an apology and compensation.A United Nations probe last month condemned the attack as unlawful and said it resulted in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. U.N. jurists also said the Gaza blockade had caused a humanitarian crisis and was unlawful.
I SALUTE YOU
Flotilla 13 commandos had been equipped with riot-dispersal gear but quickly switched to live fire during deck brawls with dozens of activists. The ship had ignored Israeli calls to stop.Two commandos were shot and wounded and another five suffered other injuries, the navy said. In addition to the nine Turkish dead, 24 activists were hurt, many of them by gunfire.You acted against those who came to kill you and tried to kill you, said Netanyahu. There is no one better than you. I salute you.He then met some of the commandos who took part in the raid, shaking their hands on a prow-shaped veranda overlooking the craggy bay at their Atlit base. They were shadowed by bodyguards and, out to sea, a squad of commandos in a speed boat.Bristling at Turkish and other foreign fury over the Mavi Marmara raid yet wary of international war crimes suits, Israel set up its own inquiry to help prepare its submission for a separate probe under U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon.Interim findings from that inquest, under retired Supreme Court justice Jacob Turkel, are due out in mid-November and the final report by early 2011, a spokesman said. Another internal investigation by an Israeli ex-general is already complete.Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel and canceled joint military exercises in protest at the Mavi Marmara raid and has dismissed the Israeli inquiries as insufficient.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Dan Williams, Editing by Paul Taylor)
Palestinians thank Saudi for 100 million dollars in aid
– Mon Oct 25, 12:39 pm ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Western-backed Palestinian Authority on Monday thanked Saudi Arabia for providing more than 100 million dollars (72 million euros) in aid.The Palestinian cabinet praised the generous support provided by Saudi Arabia, which transferred yesterday (Sunday) 100 million dollars, it said in a statement following a weekly cabinet meeting.It added that Riyadh had transferred another 15.5 million dollars last week.The fresh aid followed a meeting between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Friday.It also came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week called on Arab states to increase their financial support for the Palestinians as part of US-led peace efforts.The Palestinians have received 525 million dollars in budget support in the first half of this year, in addition to 1.4 billion dollars in 2009 and 1.8 billion dollars in 2008, according to the World Bank.The influx of aid, most of which comes from the United States and the European Union, has been the main driver of the 10 percent economic growth seen in the West Bank this year, it said in a report to donors in September.
Israel critical over Mideast synod conclusions By ALESSANDRA RIZZO and IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer – Sun Oct 24, 1:38 pm ET
VATICAN CITY – Israel said Sunday that a meeting of Middle East bishops was hijacked by enemies of the Jewish state, after the gathering at the Vatican largely blamed Israel for conflict in the region.In a communique at the end of their two-week meeting, the bishops demanded that Israel accept U.N. resolutions calling for an end to its occupation of Arab lands, and told Israel it shouldn't use the Bible to justify injustices against the Palestinians.We express our disappointment that this important synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon of Israel said in a statement Sunday.The synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority,he said.The meeting was convened by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the future of embattled Christians in the largely Muslim region. It formally ended with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday during which the pontiff called for greater religious freedom and peace in the Middle East.But the bishops attending the gathering issued their conclusions on Saturday.
They said they had reflected on the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live and on the status of Jerusalem, a city holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims. While the bishops condemned terrorism and anti-Semitism, they laid much of the blame for the conflict squarely on Israel.They listed the occupation of Palestinian lands, Israel's separation barrier with the West Bank, its military checkpoints, political prisoners, demolition of homes and disturbance of Palestinians' socio-economic lives as factors that have made life increasingly difficult for Palestinians.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said it was absurd that the Jewish state had been condemned since Israel is the only country in the region where Christians are actually thriving.According to statistics he provided, there were some 151,700 Christians in Israel last year, compared with 132,000 in 1999 and 107,000 two decades ago.Palmor also criticized the bishops' statement that Israel shouldn't use the Bible to justify injustices against the Palestinians.This has never been a policy of any government in Israel, so this position sounds particularly hollow, he said. Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone.In recent years, relations between Jews and the pope have sometimes been tense.Many Jews criticized Benedict's decision to move his predecessor Pius XII toward sainthood, saying the wartime pontiff didn't do enough to protect Jews from the Holocaust. The Vatican has maintained that Pius used behind-the-scenes diplomacy in a bid to save Jewish lives.
Another sore point recently was Benedict's decision to revoke the excommunication of a renegade bishop who had denied that millions of Jews died in the Holocaust. The Vatican said it wasn't aware of the bishop's views when the excommunication was lifted.Some Jews also have been angered by Benedict's reaching out to Catholic traditionalists, including his revival of a prayer for the conversion of Jews.Benedict visited the Holy Land last year in a pilgrimage meant largely to boost interfaith relations. In January, he visited a Rome synagogue.The Mideast meeting at the Vatican involved about 185 participants, including nine patriarchs of the Mideast's ancient Christian churches and representatives from 13 other Christian communities. A rabbi and two Muslim clerics were invited to the meeting as well. The exodus of the faithful from the birthplace of Christianity was a major theme of the gathering. The Catholic church has long been a minority in the Middle East, but its presence is shrinking further as a result of conflict, discrimination and economic problems.Peace is possible. Peace is urgent," Benedict said in his homily. Peace is also the best remedy to avoid the emigration from the Middle East.The pope also called freedom of religion one of the fundamental human rights, which each state should always respect and said the issue should be the subject of dialogue with Muslims.The pontiff said that while freedom of worship exists in many Mideast countries, the space given to the actual freedom to practice is many times very limited. Expanding this space, he said, is necessary to guarantee true freedom to live and profess one's faith.According to Vatican statistics, Catholics represent just 1.6 percent of the region's population. Christians as a whole represent 5.62 percent.Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, urged Christians not to flee the region. Israel views their presence in the Middle East as a blessing and regrets their decline in Arab countries, he said. The Palestinians welcomed the synod's conclusions in a statement released by Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to the Palestinian leadership.The international community must uphold its moral and legal responsibility to put a speedy end to the illegal Israel occupation, Erekat said.
Also Sunday, Benedict announced that the 2012 synod would be dedicated to the theme of evangelization. The pontiff has recently created a new Vatican office — the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization — to revive Christianity in Europe, part of his efforts to counter secular trends in traditionally Christian countries.
Deitch reported from Jerusalem.
Mideast sides eye US midterms and impact on talks
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 22, 2:43 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israelis and Palestinians are closely watching next month's U.S. midterm race amid a sense — rarely discussed openly but very much on people's minds — that the result could affect the U.S.-led peace effort, and President Obama's ability to coax concessions from Israel.Animating the discussion is the startling fact that the United States has failed, despite emphatic public appeals by Obama and weeks of increasingly frustrating diplomacy, to persuade Israel to extend the settlement-building slowdown that expired on Sept. 26.That caused Palestinians to in effect suspend the U.S.-brokered peace talks just weeks after they began.The Palestinians are now hoping that Obama has reacted mildly to Israel's rejection because of political considerations ahead of the Nov. 2 vote — and might be freer to apply pressure after the elections.We think that if President Obama emerges strong from this election, then this will enable him to work more on foreign policy, Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath told The Associated Press. If he and his party lose in the elections, then this will limit his ability to pressure and actively engage in foreign policy. This is the problem.Although Israeli officials avoid discussing the topic publicly for fear of alienating the Jewish state's most important ally, there is a foreboding sense in Israel that punishment is on the way — especially if Obama emerges unscathed.Nahum Barnea, a respected and widely-read columnist, put it this way in Friday's Yediot Ahronot: The problem is the disgust and rage that the Israeli refusal sparked in the administration — a rage that is being suppressed at the moment, but which will erupt in full force on November 3, after the elections to Congress. The Americans are seeking the logic behind the refusal ... and are finding nothing.But if recent polls are borne out and Republicans take one or both houses of Congress, a chastened president might be too busy or weakened to pressure Jerusalem much, the thinking goes.If Congress tilts Republican it could have a positive impact on Israeli concerns, one Netanyahu adviser told The AP — an allusion to avoiding pressure for concessions. With the Democrats weakened, Israel's friends in Congress — both Democrat and Republican — would be able to have a stronger voice if the administration should embark on a policy that is less favorable to Israel,he added.
U.S. foreign policy is set by the White House, not Congress. But Congress can influence it in the course of the day-to-day political horse trading that goes on between the executive and legislative branches.For example, when Republicans controlled the House of Representatives during Netanyahu's first term in the late 1990s, the Israeli leader was able to marshal the support of the party's conservative wing in a faceoff with President Bill Clinton over stepped-up settlement construction and Israeli troop pullbacks in the West Bank.Traditionally, both branches have been bastions of support for Israel no matter which party is in charge. But conservative Republican legislators tend to be less critical of Israel's contentious settlement policy and more hawkish — and therefore supportive — on the security issues that are uppermost in Israel's mind.The Israeli government has had, at best, uneasy relations with Obama himself.Obama took office in early 2009 promising bold changes in American policy in the Middle East and in one of his first official acts appointed a Mideast peace envoy.He soon traveled to Egypt, the heart of the Arab world, in a high-profile gesture to Muslims. The speech included a condemnation of Israeli settlements, winning over Palestinians while alarming the Israeli government.Tensions peaked in March over Israel's approval of a major settlement construction plan in east Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden. The move infuriated Biden, and Obama later publicly snubbed Netanyahu during a White House meeting. Although relations have mended, Mideast peace talks launched by Obama in early September are at an impasse over renewed settlement construction.
In the United States, foreign policy has barely registered on the radar screen in the run-up to the election. Blamed by many for the still-struggling economy and unemployment hovering around 10 percent, the Democrats find their majority at risk, especially in the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are on the ballot.
Republicans could also make significant gains against the Democrat majority in the Senate, where 37 of 100 seats are up for grabs. David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said a hypothetical Republican majority could be a profound constraint on Obama's ability to push Israel to make concessions for a peace deal. But he also said such thinking could backfire: It's possible that the net effect of his losing the ability to pass domestic legislation might make him a 100 percent foreign policy president, said Makovsky, whose think tank has good relations with the Jewish state. Some in Israel have expressed concerns that Obama might put forward his own ideas for peace and try to impose a settlement if negotiations bog down.Obama has set the ambitious goal of brokering a final Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by next September — hoping to do what a string of presidents have failed to do in nearly two decades of stop-and-start peace efforts.Obama will not allow himself to be constrained by domestic politics if an opportunity avails itself, said Aaron David Miller, a senior former State Department official involved in negotiations. He's not suicidal — but if there were an opportunity, he'd go for it.Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.
Palestinians urge water strategy
– Fri Oct 22, 2:00 pm ET
VOULIAGMENI, Greece (AFP) – Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayaad on Friday called on the international community to help find a solution to the difficult access to water in the occupied territories.More should be done for the Palestinians to have access to the available resources respecting international rules on the sharing of water resources, Fayaad said after Mediterranean countries signed a declaration on the fight against climate change in the region.Obviously, this is a challenge, an effort that must be made within the framework of the political process to settle the problem but a solution must be found to make water more available for the Palestinians, he said.Fayaad said that less than 10 percent of the (Palestinian) population has access to drinking water in Gaza.Israël takes 90 percent of the water and leaves us with only 10 percent, he added.Our situation is particularly difficult, our problems are real, water consumption is below the average recommended by the World Health Organization.The regional conference on climate change in the Mediterranean which is also attended by Israel was called at the invitation of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou ahead of a UN summit in Cancun November 29 to December 10.
