ARABS BLAME ISRAEL FOR TALKS COLLAPSE AS USUAL

REPORTS THIS MORNING HAVE IT BERNIE MADOFFS SON HAS COMMITED SUICIDE IN NEW YORK.

Official: Madoff son found dead in NYC apartment By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press - DEC 11,10

NEW YORK – One of Bernard Madoff's sons was found dead of an apparent suicide Saturday on the second anniversary of his father's arrest, according to a law enforcement official.Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanged in his apartment in Manhattan's fashionable SoHo section, according to the official. A family member notified police around 7:30 a.m.The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.Mark Madoff and his brother, Andrew, were under investigation but hadn't faced any criminal charges in the massive Ponzi scheme that led to their father's jailing.

Bernard Madoff swindled a long list of investors out of billions of dollars and is serving a 150-year prison term in North Carolina. He was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008, after confessing his crimes to his family.Madoff's sons, according to the family's attorneys, were the ones who turned him in.The scandal put a harsh light on members of the family. The financier's brother, Peter, played a prominent role in the family's company. Mark and Andrew Madoff both worked on a trading desk at the firm, on a side of the business that wasn't directly involved in the Ponzi scheme.A year ago, the court-appointed trustee trying to unravel Madoff's financial affairs sued several relatives, including Peter, Mark and Andrew, accusing them of failing to detect the fraud while living lavish lifestyles financed with the family's ill-gotten fortune.The lawsuit accused Mark Madoff of using $66 million he received improperly to buy luxury homes in New York City, Nantucket and Connecticut.In February, Mark Madoff's wife petitioned a court to change her last name and the last names of her children, saying her family had gotten threats and was humiliated by the scandal.A call to Mark Madoff's attorney and his father's attorney was not immediately returned Saturday. Calls to the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office were also not immediately returned. Previously, spokespeople for the brothers had repeatedly denied that they had any knowledge of their father's crimes.Police investigators were at Madoff's apartment Saturday morning, along with officials from the medical examiner's office, which will determine the cause of death.

Palestinians: Israel to blame for talks collapse
DEC 11,10

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian officials say U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton should have blamed Israel for the failure of the latest Mideast efforts.They reacted Saturday to a Clinton speech in which she said Israelis and Palestinians both bear responsibility.The Obama administration said earlier this week that it stopped trying to get Israel to curb construction in West Bank settlements for three months, after a 10-month slowdown ended in September.The Palestinians won't resume negotiations without a full construction freeze.The U.S. now wants to return to indirect talks.Despite their disappointment with Washington's performance, the Palestinians are likely to participate. They say they'll make a final decision within a week.

Clinton: US won't give up push for Mideast peace By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer – Sat Dec 11, 5:32 am ET

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton insists the U.S. will keep pressing Israel and the Palestinians to settle their stubborn differences even as she betrays frustration with the latest impasse.When one way is blocked, we will seek another, she vowed in a speech that nevertheless brought no new ideas to the table.The path the Obama administration sought from the day it took office — insisting that Israel freeze most settlement construction to pull the Palestinians into direct negotiations — has ended. After Clinton's comprehensive review of the prospects for peace, it remains unclear what new avenue might prove more promising.

It is no secret that the parties have a long way to go and that they have not yet made the difficult decisions that peace requires, she said in a dinner speech Friday at the Saban Forum, a Mideast policy seminar sponsored by the Brookings Institution think tank.And like many of you, I regret that we have not gotten farther, faster.She spoke just days after the administration dropped an effort to persuade Israel to impose a temporary freeze on some settlement activity. The Palestinians insist that direct peace talks cannot resume until Israel halts settlement construction.Clinton made clear that she believes the Israelis and Palestinians are ultimately responsible for settling their long conflict.Unfortunately, as we have learned, the parties in this conflict have often not been ready to take the necessary steps, she said. They must take responsibility and make the difficult decisions that peace requires.

The status quo is untenable, she said.I know that improvements in security and growing prosperity have convinced some that this conflict can be waited out or largely ignored, she said. This view is wrong and it is dangerous.Following Clinton to the podium before an audience that included former President Bill Clinton, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak predicted that without Israeli-Palestinian peace, the cycle of Mideast violence will be perpetuated. He said Israel needs the political wisdom to find a way to a two-state solution: a secure Israel existing side-by-side with an independent Palestinian state.In her speech, Clinton said that despite the latest setbacks, the U.S. would not give up its effort to draw the two sides toward a final settlement. And she said the establishment of a Palestinian state through negotiations is inevitable.We will push the parties to grapple with the core issues, she said. We will work with them on the ground to continue laying the foundations for a future Palestinian state.Clinton did not mention the administration's frequently repeated goal of achieving at least the outline of a final peace settlement by September 2011. That goal was set when Israeli and Palestinian leaders came to Washington in September to resume negotiations — a process that quickly broke down over disagreement on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.She pledged to stay actively involved, but offered no new strategy for achieving the peace deal that has eluded other U.S. administrations.The United States will not be a passive participant, she said. We will work to narrow the gaps, asking tough questions and expecting substantive answers. And, in the context of our private conversations with the parties, we will offer our own ideas and bridging proposals when appropriate.That has been the U.S. position all along.

In his speech, Barak called on Washington to do more.A sophisticated and thoughtful American approach to Middle East issues is essential, but not enough, he said. America has to demonstrate its determination to stand up to the enemies of peace, of Israel and of our moderate neighbors.Before her remarks, Clinton met the Palestinian prime minister, the lead Palestinian negotiator, the Israeli defense minister, Israel's former foreign minister and the U.N. special envoy for the region. On Thursday, Clinton held lengthy talks with Israel's chief negotiator.The administration's special Mideast peace envoy, George Mitchell, will travel to the region next week for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He will also visit neighboring Arab states.
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

U.S. says recognition of Palestinian state premature
– Fri Dec 10, 6:32 pm ET

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Brazil and Argentina's recognition of a Palestinian state is premature, Undersecretary of State William Burns said during a visit to Chile on Friday.Argentina's government said on Monday it had decided to recognize a Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 war, following a similar move days earlier by neighboring Brazil. Uruguay also voiced recognition.We believe such recognition is premature, Burns told reporters in the Chilean capital, Santiago.It's only through negotiation between the parties themselves, Palestinians and Israelis, that we'll be able to realize the two-state solution.Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, who was due to meet with Burns on Saturday, criticized his remarks.

I think it's unpropitious that once again the United States has publicly expressed an opinion about sovereign actions taken by the Argentine Republic, Timerman told Reuters.Israel this week called the Latin American countries' recognition of a Palestinian state highly damaging interference by countries that were never part of the Middle East peace process.Israel disputes the Palestinian claim on all the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land it captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and has since extensively settled.U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations dating back two decades are predicated on a Palestinian state being delineated with Israel's consent.(Reporting by Simon Gardner and Helen Popper in Buenos Aires)

US lawmaker hits move to recognize Palestinian state
– Thu Dec 9, 6:29 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior US lawmaker on Thursday sharply condemned moves by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay to recognize an independent Palestinian state as horrible but ruled out diplomatic retaliation.It's horrible, it's a terrible precedent, Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, told AFP in a wide-ranging interview in her office overlooking the US Capitol.It sends the wrong message to the Palestinian Authority, because it tells them that they don't need to reform, make peace with Israel and recognize its right to exist as a democratic Jewish state, or tackle extremists, she said.But Ros-Lehtinen, who will have broad powers to shape the US Congress's role in US foreign policy come January, brushed aside talk of possible retaliation from Washington despite its strong opposition to the diplomatic move.We're not the Superman of the world, she said. I do care, I care very deeply, but there are no sanctions we are going to take on countries that do it. I don't think that that is part of anyone's agenda.Brazil on Friday recognized a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders -- the boundaries that existed before Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- and Argentina and Uruguay followed Brazil's example on Monday.I'm not saying that they don't have the right. They have a right to say 'snow is hot' even if it's not true. They have a right to say Palestinian Authority, this is Palestine, we recognize you as a country. It doesn't make it so, said Ros-Lehtinen.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas asked Latin American governments to recognize a Palestinian state after he suspended fledgling peace talks with Israel when the Jewish state refused to renew a partial ban on construction of settlements on Palestinian land.Israel has opposed the steps by the South American governments, saying they went against an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that such a state only be recognized with Israeli approval.

Israel says it's urgent to resume Mideast talks
– Thu Dec 9, 5:39 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – Israel's defense minister says it's an urgent necessity for his country and the Palestinians to find a way to resume negotiations on core issues leading to a peace deal.Ehud Barak said he hopes a formula that moves beyond the current stalemate will be found in coming few weeks in order to keep moving forward.
The Palestinians have said they won't negotiate without a freeze of Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.Barak said the problem is not the rate of construction, it's about reducing suspicions on both sides and restoring trust.He said he asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a meeting Thursday to use the U.N.'s influence to help in relaunching talks.