Israel decides to ease Gaza export ban
by Jean-Luc Renaudie -DEC 8,10 11:20AM
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's security cabinet voted on Wednesday to partially lift a ban on exports from Hamas-controlled Gaza that was first imposed four years ago, an official statement said.The security cabinet decided to implement new measures which will allow an increase in the export of goods from the Gaza Strip, said the statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.The measures are designed to improve the lives of the population, who live under the repression and terror imposed by Hamas, it added, without giving details.Israel relaxed restrictions on imports to Gaza in the face of an international outcry over a deadly commando raid on a flotilla attempting to break its naval blockade of the territory on May 31.But it maintained its export ban and tight restrictions on the movement of people to and from the densely populated coastal strip.An Israeli official said the decision would not totally lift all export restrictions.The exports will be to the West Bank and the international community at this stage, not to Israel, he said on condition of anonymity.The official said it remained to be worked out how the goods would be inspected and that it would take several week to be fully implemented.
The decision covers four categories -- agricultural items, furniture, textiles and others, including goods such as ceramics.The Quartet of major players in the Middle East peace process -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- praised the decision but said there was a way to go in facilitating Gaza trade.It is a significant step forward and I welcome it, Quartet envoy Tony Blair told a press conference in Jerusalem.It will allow, albeit limited, resumption of exports out of Gaza, but it means that for the first time in a long period of time things like furniture, textiles, other light industry will come out Gaza as well as agricultural produce, the former British premier said.There's a long way still to go on that and this would build up over time.Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, described the decision as a propaganda manoeuvre and called on people to not be deceived ... and to keep up the international pressure on the occupation.Last month, a military spokesman said Israel was mulling easing the export ban from next year provided the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority checks all goods.We are preparing to give permission for the passage through Israeli territory of exports from Gaza, which could begin from the end of the first quarter of 2011 provided that the goods pose no security threat, said Major Guy Inbar, spokesman for the army's Gaza liaison office.Israel would insist all goods undergo prior inspection by representatives of the Palestinian Authority,Inbar told AFP, adding that Israel already coordinated with the authority's representatives over imports into Gaza.He said any resumption of exports can only happen gradually, because of the security imperatives and the logistical difficulties.The security cabinet welcomed the improvement of the economic situation in Gaza since it began easing the blockade.
The statement listed 78 development projects in Gaza launched by international groups and approved by Israel in fields such as health, water, education and housing.Israel first imposed the restrictions after the capture of a soldier by Gaza-based militants in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006. It tightened them the next year after Hamas seized control of the territory.
Palestinians question US ability to forge peace By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press - DEC 8,10
JERUSALEM – A top Palestinian official on Wednesday questioned Washington's ability to forge Middle East peace after a new breakdown in American attempts to revive negotiations.The U.S. failure to persuade Israel to renew a limited freeze on construction in West Bank Jewish settlements, announced late Tuesday, was the latest setback for the Obama administration in its quest to broker a peace deal by September. That goal, a top priority of the president, appears increasingly in doubt.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians are assessing their options before responding to the American announcement. While accusing the Israelis of being intransigent, he also voiced disappointment with the Americans.We will assess if the U.S. would be able ... to achieve success in its upcoming efforts, Abed Rabbo told the Voice of Palestine radio station. The one who couldn't make Israel limit its settlement activities in order to conduct serious negotiations, how can he be able to make Israel accept a fair solution, he added.Abbas told a news conference in Greece: We think the European Union ... must play a political role.Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are expected in Washington in the coming days in hopes of finding a way out of the impasse. One Israeli official said the government was seeking a new pathway with the Americans.There is no doubt that there is a crisis, a difficult crisis,Abbas said.
Abbas is expected in Cairo on Thursday for consultations with Arab leaders. Among the Palestinians' options are finding a new formula for peace talks or taking unilateral action, such as rallying international recognition for a Palestinian state in the absence of a peace deal.Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said that as a next step, the Palestinians would ask the international community, including the United States, to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.Erekat suggested that such a nod from the Americans, which would represent a sharp deviation from current U.S. policy, would be crucial for resuming negotiations.It can't be business as usual, Erekat said, after nearly two decades of intermittent talks.The Israelis and Palestinians launched the latest round of peace talks on Sept. 2 at a White House ceremony, where they committed themselves to reaching a deal within a year.But weeks later, the talks broke down after a 10-month Israeli slowdown on settlement construction expired. The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating if Israel continues to build homes for its citizens in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — captured territories that the Palestinians claim for a future state. Israel says the issue should be discussed in negotiations.The Americans have been negotiating with Israel for weeks on the terms of a renewed settlement freeze in hopes of drawing the Palestinians back to the talks.Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced after a trip to the U.S. that he was close to an agreement in which he would slow settlement construction for three months in exchange for a package of American security and diplomatic assurances.However, the sides were unable to wrap up the deal, in part because of uncertainty what would happen after the three months.The Americans had hoped the freeze would allow the sides to work out a deal on their future borders. Such an arrangement could make the settlement issue irrelevant, since Israel could resume construction in territories it expects to keep while halting building in areas given to the Palestinians.
In radio interviews Wednesday, aides to Netanyahu said the Palestinians were to blame by being inflexible on the settlement issue. Ron Dermer, top Netanyahu adviser, insisted Netanyahu is committed to peace and said the Israelis are building a new pathway with the Americans. He doesn't enter negotiations just to negotiate, Dermer said. But he has red lines.In a separate development Wednesday, Israeli military bulldozers demolished homes, a medical clinic and a small school in the West Bank. Atif Hanini, a leader in the Palestinian community of Khirbet Tana, said some 23 families were made homeless. He said most residents have lived in shacks since Israel's military knocked down the hamlet earlier this year in a similar operation.The Israeli military said the hamlet was built illegally in a military firing zone.In Jerusalem Wednesday, the Israeli military released Hamas lawmaker Mohammed Abu Teir was released from an Israeli prison and escorted into the West Bank, his lawyer said.Abu Teir's Jerusalem residency was revoked in 2006, and he has been fighting the revocation in court. His lawyer said Abu Teir wanted to remain in prison until the issue was resolved.
Egypt: time running out for Mideast two-state plan
By Tsvetelia Tsolova - DEC 8,10
SOFIA (Reuters) – Major powers should push Israel and the Palestinians to agree a deadline for establishing an independent Palestinian state before a two-state solution becomes impossible to achieve, Egypt said Wednesday.Israelis and Palestinians held three rounds of U.S.-backed talks in September. Palestinians pulled out when a 10-month freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem ended on September 26.In some of Egypt's strongest language since the talks ended, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said discussions should shift to an end-game for a Palestinian settlement after Washington had failed to push Israel to halt building work.The Americans have been informing all of us that their efforts did not succeed. They wanted to reach a moratorium on settlement activities with Israel. That came to an end now.He said Egypt's concern was that we continue haggling without (making) any breakthrough, then in few years there would not be a possibility of two states living side by side.The Palestinians Wednesday said Israeli obstinacy made Washington give up on efforts to freeze Jewish settlements and questioned whether the United States could ever help them attain independence.
Egypt became the first Arab state to reach peace with Israel when it signed a deal in 1979.You have a bi-national state or you have occupation or apartheid. The ... option which we are all preferring is to have two states instead of one state based on apartheid, Aboul Gheit said at a briefing during a visit to Bulgaria.He said the quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russian Federation should devise a framework agreement that fixes a Palestinian state's borders and the status of East Jerusalem while ensuring Israel's security.If there would be an exchange of territories it has to be minimal, the minister said.He said the agreement can be drafted by the Americans, by the quartet, by a group of experts, two or three pages of a grand understanding to be offered by the international community to both parties with a specific time for a deal to be reached. (Writing by Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo; Editing by Matthew Jones)
Saudi plan for anti-Hezbollah force: leaked memos
Wed Dec 8, 7:05 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Saudi Arabia proposed setting up an Arab force to fight Hezbollah militants in Lebanon with the help of the United States, UN and NATO, a leaked US diplomatic cable said Tuesday.In a meeting in May 2008 with a US diplomat in Iraq, David Satterfield, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said a security response was needed to the military challenge posed to Beirut by the Iran-backed militants.The Saudi prince feared a Hezbollah victory against the Lebanese government led by then prime minister Fuad Siniora would eventually lead to Iran's takeover of the country.There was a need for an Arab force to create and maintain order in and around Beirut, he argued, saying the Lebanese army was too fragile to bear more pressure, according to the cable from the US embassy in Riyadh, one of the latest to be released by the website WikiLeaks.Such a force would be aided by UNIFIL troops deployed in southern Lebanon, while the US and NATO would need to provide movement and logistic support, as well as naval and air cover,the cable added.But the plan would likely have triggered alarm in Washington, proposing a return for US troops to Lebanon for the first time since the 1983 suicide bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut which killed almost 300 people.Saud argued that of all the regional fronts on which Iran was now advancing, the battle in Lebanon to secure peace would be an easier battle to win.He told Satterfield that Siniora strongly supported the plan but that only Jordan, Egypt and the Arab League were aware of it.
What was needed was an Arab force drawn from Arab periphery states to deploy to Beirut under the cover of the UN, Saud said, accusing the UN troops in southern Lebanon of sitting doing nothing.But Satterfield said there were real questions about the political and military feasibility of such a scheme, and winning a new mandate for UNIFIL would difficult.A US diplomatic memo released earlier by WikiLeaks showed Saudi Arabia is obsessed by what it sees as a threat from Iran, fearing Tehran's alleged ambition to spread Shiite Islam.Underlying the rivalry is a deep Shiite-Sunni schism. Saudi Arabia is predominantly Sunni, and minority Shiites face regular condemnation by officials as having rejected true Islam.Iran, meanwhile, is predominantly Shiite.
U.S. drops push for Israel settlement freeze
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan – Tue Dec 7, 6:16 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The United States on Tuesday abandoned its effort to persuade Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, officials said, dealing a blow to efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.President Barack Obama brokered the direct talks that were relaunched in September but broke down over the issue of settlements built on captured land that Palestinians seek for a state.We reached the conclusion this is not the time to renew direct negotiation by renewing the moratorium, a senior U.S. diplomat told reporters in Israel, ending weeks of intense U.S. diplomacy aimed at forging a settlement deal.Palestinians have said they would not engage in any direct talks while Israelis build on territory seized in the 1967 Middle East War.The decision marked a significant foreign policy setback for Obama, who had appealed personally to Israel to extend its temporary construction freeze.
Obama, in launching the talks in September, said he hoped to have a peace deal signed in a year, but the lack of a settlement agreement and the collapse of direct talks appeared to put that timeline in doubt.In Washington, officials said the United States was weighing a return to indirect talks following its failure to revive the direct negotiations.Two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave three reasons why the Obama administration decided to abandon the effort.They said that while Israel was willing to extend the moratorium, it was not willing to freeze construction in East Jerusalem, something Palestinian officials had demanded as they want that part of the city as capital of their state.(Extending) the moratorium did not close the gap between the two parties, said one U.S. official.
Second, the officials said that unless they made sufficient progress during a temporary Israeli extension of the moratorium they could end up in the same place in three months -- still struggling to keep the peace process alive.We had to be prepared to think that substantial progress could be made in 90 days, said the same U.S. official, suggesting there was enough uncertainty about this that it did not seem worth proceeding.Finally, they said that there were some concerns about the size of the incentives the United States offered Israel -- which Israeli sources said included 20 F-35 stealth fighters worth $3 billion -- for only a temporary extension.
NOT THROWING IN THE TOWEL
The officials said one possibility they would explore with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials who are expected to visit Washington -- possibly within the next week -- would be resuming indirect peace talks.In the coming days and weeks we will engage both sides on the core substantive issues at stake in this conflict, a U.S. official said.We're not throwing in the towel at all. Our objective is still a framework agreement ... (but) we are going to look for a different mechanism, the official said.Israeli officials had no immediate comment, while a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was studying the U.S. decision.. The president received a letter from the American administration. The president will respond to the letter after he consults with the Palestinian leadership and the Arab leaders, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said. Senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pro-settler ruling coalition had criticized the demands for a settlement moratorium as tantamount to setting preconditions for peace talks and urged him to reject any U.S. offer. Abbas suggested in a television interview on Friday he may seek to dissolve the Palestinian government, a limited form of self-rule agreed in an interim deal in 1993, if a deal for statehood could not be achieved.Palestinian officials have said they may seek to declare statehood unilaterally in the occupied West Bank if negotiations with Israel foundered. Three Latin American nations -- Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay -- declared recognition of a Palestinian state at the weekend, drawing Israeli condemnation. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Angus MacSwan and Mohammad Zargham)
Israel east Jerusalem policy threatens peace: EU
by Hazel Ward – Tue Dec 7, 3:33 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's policies in occupied east Jerusalem are harming the prospect of the Palestinians having their future capital there, which seriously endangers a two-state solution, the EU said on Tuesday.If current trends are not stopped as a matter of urgency, the prospect of east Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state becomes increasingly unlikely and unworkable, warns an annual EU report seen by AFP.This in turn seriously endangers the chances of a sustainable peace on the basis of two states, with Jerusalem as their future capital.The Jerusalem Report 2010, which contains a series of European Union policy recommendations, was put together by the EU heads of mission based in the Holy City, as well as those based in the West Bank city of Ramallah.But the report was rejected by Israel, with a spokesman for the foreign ministry insisting that Jerusalem would never again be redivided.Those who believe our policies endanger Jerusalem are the same who see a redivision of the city into two parts as the only solution, Yigal Palmor told AFP.It is clear that a real solution cannot involve a return to the situation that existed before 1967, when the city was divided by a wall, barbed wire and elite Jordanian snipers.The EU report said that since the start of November, east Jerusalem settlement planning had resumed very intensively and warned that such a policy, combined with curbs on Palestinian building and increased demolitions and evictions in the sector, were having serious humanitarian consequences.Around 270,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem, but under the current planning regime, only 13 percent of the land there is zoned for them to build on, compared with 35 percent for the Jewish settlements, the report said.
Over the past few years, the Palestinians have received only 200 building permits per year, when they need closer to 1,500.Such policies were also harming east Jerusalem's crucial role in Palestinian political, economic, social and cultural life, and causing it to be increasingly isolated from the rest of the occupied West Bank.Israel's attempts to exclusively emphasise the Jewish identity of the city were threatening to radicalise the conflict, with potential regional and global repercussions.And the report warned of the EU's increasing concern about Israel's use of archaeology as a political-ideological tool in a bid to cement the Jewish state's hold over the entire city.The report concludes with a series of recommendations which call on senior EU officials to regularly host Palestinian officials at their offices in east Jerusalem, and to avoid having Israeli officials or security accompanying them on visits to the city's eastern sector.It also recommends advising EU tour operators to avoid settler businesses in east Jerusalem, such as hotels and archaeological sites run by settler groups.And it proposes ensuring an EU presence when there is a risk that people may be evicted or have their homes demolished in east Jerusalem.Permits for Palestinians to build in east Jerusalem are extremely rare and Israel frequently issues demolition orders despite the sensitive nature of such operations on land the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.Israel occupied and annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 and considers it its eternal indivisible capital,in a move never recognised by the international community. The future of east Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in peace talks, which have been deadlocked since the end of September in a row over Jewish settlement building in occupied territories.The report would inform European ministers when they next discuss Middle East policy, said a spokeswoman in Brussels, Maja Kocijancic.It is an internal report, quite routine and factual on what has happened in Jerusalem in 2010. It confirms EU concerns regarding facts on the ground and the negative bearing they have on the peace process,she said.
US opposes S. American moves to recognize Palestinian state
– Tue Dec 7, 2:44 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Tuesday opposed moves by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay to recognize an independent Palestinian state, saying such recognition is counter-productive to achieving Middle East peace.We don't think that we should be distracted from the fact that the only way to resolve the core issues within the process is through direct negotiations, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.That remains our focus. And we do not favor that course of action. As we've said many, many times... any unilateral action, we believe, is counterproductive, he added.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday recognized a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders -- the boundaries that existed before Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- in a public letter addressed to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.The decision came in response to a personal request made by Abbas on November 24, according to the letter published on the Brazilian foreign ministry's website.Argentina and Uruguay followed Brazil's example on Monday.
Abbas made the request to Latin American governments after he suspended fledgling peace talks with Israel after 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.
Hezbollah has 50,000 rockets: report
– Tue Dec 7, 10:34 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US officials believe the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.The Times quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal, in response to a series of leaked diplomatic cables on the issue.The cables highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah?s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.The arsenal acquisition by Hezbollah has raised fears that any future conflict with Israel could erupt into a full-scale regional war, the Times said.The cables indicated that a senior Syrian Foreign Ministry official denied supplying Hezbollah with the weapons, echoing comments from President Bashar Al-Assad, but that US diplomats maintained that the flow of arms had continued to Hezbollah.The 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel killed 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.Earlier leaked cables showed US diplomats accused Iran of smuggling weapons to Hezbollah as well.
Argentina, Uruguay to recognize Palestinian state
– Mon Dec 6, 3:42 pm ET
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina and Uruguay said Monday they were joining Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, earning praise from Palestinian officials but an immediate sharp rebuke from Israel.Israel called the announcement by Buenos Aires regrettable and said it went against an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that such a state should only be recognized with Israeli approval.That echoed criticism Israel made after Brazil started the South American movement on Friday by saying it recognized a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, before the Six Day War in which Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank.But Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, on a visit to Turkey, expressed his pride over the decision by Buenos Aires, according to an official statement.His foreign minister, Riad al-Malki, told AFP the Palestinians had expected that Paraguay and other Latin American countries will make similar decisions.The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967, Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said, reading a letter sent by President Cristina Kirchner to Abbas.
Timerman said the recognition reflected a general consensus among members of Mercosur, the South American trade bloc.Uruguay announced soon afterward it will recognize a Palestinian state next year.Uruguay will surely follow the same path as Argentina in 2011, deputy foreign minister Roberto Conde told AFP. We are working towards opening a diplomatic representation in Palestine, most likely in Ramallah.
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay all make up Mercosur. Venezuela's membership is pending.The move is based on a deep desire to see a definitive advance in the negotiation process leading to the establishment of a just and durable peace in the Middle East, Timerman said.But Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP: This regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.Israel has already reacted with sadness and disappointment to Brazil's declaration on the issue, saying it breached a 1995 agreement it had with the Palestinian Authority that any Palestinian state should only come about through negotiations with it.US lawmakers have also called Brazil's decision severely misguided and regrettable.Western countries have agreed that any definition of a Palestinian state required Israeli approval. The United States has consistently protected Israel's position in the UN Security Council.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had sought a mediator role in the Israeli-Palestinian situation, made his decision shortly before he is to stand down on January 1 next year.
His protegee and former cabinet chief, Dilma Rousseff, has been elected to take over from him. She has pledged to pursue his policies.The announcements by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay come as peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians teeter on the brink of collapse following the end of the temporary ban on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday he did not see any reason to extend the settlement freeze. Abbas has said the Palestinian side will not return to negotiations while Israel continues to build on land the Palestinians want for their state.He has repeatedly said he would explore other options if the peace talks collapse -- including asking for UN recognition of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
Abbas: US proposal for peace talks expected soon
– Sun Dec 5, 2:08 pm ET
AMMAN (AFP) – A US proposal to bolster troubled Middle East peace talks was expected within days, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said following a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday.His majesty and I agreed to continue our cooperation and coordination in light of an expected US position in the coming few days, and we should examine it together, a palace statement quoted Abbas as saying.
Abbas did not elaborate.Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have faltered following the end of a temporary ban on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.Abbas says he will not return to negotiations while Israel continues to build on land the Palestinians want for a future state. But Israel has so far refused to impose a new ban.On Thursday, a Palestinian official said Washington had officially informed them that attempts to secure a new Israeli settlement freeze had failed, but US officials have refused to confirm or deny the report.The Palestinian leader was in Amman to offer his condolences over the passing of the king's British grandfather, retired Colonel Walter Percy Gardiner, who died on Wednesday, the palace said.
