Palestinian firefighters barred from Israeli fete By TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press – Tue Dec 14, 11:56 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel barred a group of Palestinian firefighters who helped battle the country's worst wildfire from attending a ceremony in their honor Tuesday, the latest in a series of embarrassments over Israel's handling of the blaze.Eleven Palestinians were invited to attend the event in northern Israel, where the fire raged earlier this month.Israeli Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, one of the event's organizers, said the fete was called off when three of the Palestinians were refused entry.Palestinian fire chief Ahmed Rizek, whose permit arrived too late for him to attend, said entry refusals for no apparent reason were routine — an example of what West Bank Palestinians put up with daily.About 20 Palestinian firefighters joined the international effort against the blaze that killed 43 people as it swept through the Carmel forest in Israel's north, the biggest forest fire Israel has ever seen. In the end, firefighting aircraft and crews from abroad helped put it out.Tuesday's ceremony was set to take place in Usfiya, an Israeli Arab town near to where the blaze erupted, and the Palestinian firefighters were to be awarded certificates at the event.The cancellation was an embarrassment to Israel at a time when its leaders insist they want to negotiate a peace deal with the Palestinians, and called into question the effectiveness of Israeli security measures.Palestinians need permits to enter Israel from the West Bank, and many complain that approval or rejection can be arbitrary.Tibi said the military turned the firefighters away on security grounds.It's a theater of the absurd. This is a regular day-to-day practice of the occupation, and it exposes its ugly face, Tibi told The Associated Press.
The Israeli military said the slight was unintentional.
The delay in handing out the permits occurred because of a technical error in coordination between the two sides, military spokesman Maj. Guy Inbar said in a statement, adding that he regretted the incident.By Tuesday evening, all permits were granted, the military said, but it was too late for the ceremony. Tibi said he was going to consult with the firefighters on whether to reschedule the event.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said the incident reflected Israel's mindset.The Israeli approach toward the Palestinians is about control rather than security, Khatib said.Rizek, the Palestinian fire service commander, appeared resigned to the reality.They (the military) told me there is a mistake and that they didn't mean it, Rizek said. I am not upset. I can understand there is something wrong. I don't know what it is, but I don't think they meant it.Rizek attended a ceremony last week in Jerusalem at the official residence of Israel's president in honor of foreign firefighters who helped put out the blaze. Israelis harshly criticize their own government because their fire service was unprepared to extinguish the flames. The country doesn't have a single fire extinguishing aircraft, and firefighting materials ran out shortly after the blaze began.Israel had to appeal to other countries to assist in putting out the flames. The Palestinians were part of a number of foreign fire services that pitched in.
Hamas will never recognise Israel
by Adel Zaanoun – Tue Dec 14, 11:35 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas would consider a truce with Israel, but will never recognise the Jewish state, senior leader Ismail Haniya said on Tuesday as thousands of Gazans celebrated the group's 23rd anniversary.Speaking before flag-waving Palestinians from across the Gaza Strip, Haniya said the Islamist group would never recognise its sworn enemy.Let it be understood far and near that after the war, the siege, the internal and external plots: we will not recognise Israel, he told the cheering crowds.Our founder Sheikh (Ahmad) Yassin said: Liberate what you can of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, and where it cannot be liberated, declare a truce, he said, referring to the group's spiritual leader who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.Ahead of its anniversary celebrations, Hamas reiterated its aim to recover all of historic Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River.We will cede none of it, and we will not recognise the so-called state of Israel, a statement said on Monday, adding that its aim was to make Jerusalem the capital of the state of Palestine and pledging to work against Israel's methods of Judaisation in the Holy City.
The strident statements stood in sharp contrast Haniya's remarks on December 1, when he suggested Hamas could accept a negotiated peace deal if the Palestinian population and diaspora approved it in a referendum.Hamas will respect the results of a referendum even if the results conflict with Hamas's positions, he told foreign journalists at the time.We accept a Palestinian state with full sovereignty on the land occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital and a solution to the issue of refugees.But the mood during Tuesday's celebration rally was much less conciliatory, with several Hamas leaders addressing the crowds from a stage adorned with a giant replica of Jerusalem's golden-topped Dome of the Rock mosque.Large pictures of Hamas leaders were displayed under a banner reading I remain committed to the cause.Hamas bussed in supporters from across the coastal enclave, and children at government-run schools and students at three Hamas-affiliated universities were given the day off to attend the rally.Ahead of the celebrations, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the rally would prove how popular the Islamist movement was among Gazans.The basic message the big crowds will send to all the parties is that lots of people support Hamas, Abu Zuhri told AFP.The aim of the siege on the Hamas movement and the Gaza Strip was to force us to raise the white flag of surrender, but Hamas will not break, he said.Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after militants there captured an Israeli soldier in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006. It tightened the restrictions a year later after Hamas seized control of the territory from its secular Fatah rivals.The restrictions were relaxed earlier this year although a strict naval blockade remains in place.The hardline movement, whose name is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded December 14, 1987 at the start of the first intifada (1987-1993) by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, a blind and wheelchair-bound cleric. It quickly became known as the group which carried out the most suicide bombings against Israel during the 1990s and during the second intifada, which started in 2000and petered out some five years later.
Barak holds talks in US on Iran, Mideast diplomacy
– Mon Dec 13, 7:24 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the threat posed by Iran and the latest Middle East peace efforts, a spokesman said.A day before his meeting, Barak said that tensions over Iran's nuclear program were still at the diplomatic stage and that tougher sanctions might persuade Tehran to switch course.This was their sixth meeting this year, and today's talks touched on everything from the recent wildfires in Israel to ongoing peace process efforts to the challenges posed by Iran, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said in a statement.The morning session covered a range of bilateral and regional security issues, he said.Barak also was scheduled to meet the CIA director, Leon Panetta, and President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon.Israel has often voiced impatience with Western diplomacy towards Iran but Barak said on Sunday that a new round of sanctions could still bear fruit.I still believe that much more active sanctions can cause the regime to have a second thought about pursuing nuclear weapons, he told CNN in an interview.The US and other major powers recently resumed diplomatic talks with Iran over the country's disputed nuclear project, which Tehran insists is designed for purely peaceful purposes.Israel and the United States have refused to rule out military action to halt Iran's uranium enrichment work, but Gates and other top officials have said any strike likely would only delay the nuclear program for a few years.
The visit also came amid a bid by Washington this week to salvage Middle East peace negotiations, with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arriving in Jerusalem as part of a return to indirect talks.In a statement issued in Washington, the US State Department said Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held a long and positive discussion -- the best way to approach the substantive core issues and advance toward our goal of peace.
U.S. envoy seeks progress despite talks' collapse
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan – Mon Dec 13, 3:44 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Washington's Middle East peace envoy said on Monday he would strive to achieve real progress in the coming months toward a Middle East framework peace deal, despite the collapse of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks.Launching the first round of shuttle diplomacy since negotiations hit an impasse over Jewish settlement building, George Mitchell met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his office in Jerusalem.In the days ahead our discussion with both sides will be substantive two-way conversations, with an eye toward making real progress in the next few months on the key questions of an eventual framework agreement, Mitchell said as talks began.Mitchell shuttled between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for months before direct talks began in September. They broke down weeks later when Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month freeze on housing starts in settlements in the occupied West Bank.Earlier this month Washington formally abandoned efforts to persuade Israel to agree to a partial renewal of the settlement moratorium in exchange for security guarantees.Netanyahu praised Washington's move, telling a business forum in Tel Aviv on Monday: I welcome this American decision. It is good for Israel. It is good for peace.
Standing beside Mitchell later in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said the goal was now a new path, to achieve a common goal which is to get a framework agreement for peace that will ensure both peace and security.Mitchell will hold separate talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank.
RETURN TO INDIRECT TALKS
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Friday the U.S. would refocus efforts on a return to indirect talks and would push to resolve core issues in the six-decade conflict.These include borders, security, the future of Jerusalem and settlements in territory Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, and the fate of Palestinian refugees.Palestinian officials, who have been highly critical of the U.S. policy shift, said the seriousness of any diplomacy would depend on a halt to settlement building and setting out clear terms of reference.Palestinian officials fear settlement expansion on land where they aim to found their state will make statehood impossible, and have voiced concern Israel may try to avoid discussion of their future state borders.The Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee met on Monday and said Israel's policy threatened the stability of the region and showed its priorities were settlement, expansion and perpetuating the occupation.In a statement from Brussels, the European Union also pressed Israel on the settlements issue.Our views on settlements, including in East Jerusalem, are clear: they are illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace, said the statement issued by EU foreign ministers.(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Ramallah bureau; editing by Tim Pearce)
EU stops short of outright recognition of Palestinian state
by Claire Rosemberg – Mon Dec 13, 1:50 pm ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Europe on Monday reaffirmed its readiness to recognise a Palestinian state at an appropriate time, stopping short of outright recognition despite mounting pressure to break the Middle East impasse.Pressure has built on the European Union to flex muscle after Israel refused to extend a moratorium on settlements, with 26 former European leaders last week demanding sanctions, and Argentina and Uruguay joining Brazil in recognising an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday urged the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a phone conversation to take a step towards recognition of the state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.And in Israeli media, even its closest EU ally Germany was reported Monday to be urging the recognition of a Palestinian state -- a report later described as simply false by Berlin.There is growing frustration with Israel after its refusal to commit to a new settlements freeze, a European diplomat told AFP as negotiators quibbled and clashed over a joint EU stand.But after long and prickly negotiations, foreign ministers meeting in Brussels adopted a statement that falls short of ultimatums and breaks little new ground.Going into the talks, Cyprus Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said the recognition of a Palestinian state had always been on the table. But at this stage it's too early.German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said it was vital to avoid action that could compromise Israeli-Palestinian talks, including unilateral moves.
The EU statement expresses regret at Israel's rejection of a new freeze, describing settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.It underlines EU support for a negotiated solution between the two sides within the 12 months set by the Quartet of international mediators.It also welcomes a recent World Bank assessment that the Palestinian Authority is well positioned for the establishment of a State at any point in the near future" and goes on to say that the EU reiterates its readiness, when appropriate, to recognise a Palestinian state.The EU will not recognise changes to pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than agreed by the parties.This could include territorial swaps, it says, without further comment in what a diplomat said was the first such reference by the EU.It also demands that a way be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states and calls for a just solution to the refugee problem.Turning to Israel's blockade of Gaza, it calls for massive and immediate efforts to help rebuild and revive the economy of the territory run by the radical Hamas movement.We are faced with a completely new ball game now that the negotiations in essence have slowed down because of the continuation of building settlements, said Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.But asked whether this should mean the recognition of a Palestinian state, he said: I would not like to go there yet. I think the most important thing is to keep the peace process going.In the letter to Ashton released last week, 26 former EU leaders, including her predecessor Javier Solana, urged her to threaten Israel with sanctions for failing to respect the freeze. They also urged an April 2011 ultimatum for Israel to fall in line or see peace efforts referred back to the international community.But diplomatic sources said EU member states remained divided between moderates and those who wanted to stiffen pressure on Israel, including Germany.
Germany: Media reports on Palestinians false
– Mon Dec 13, 7:36 am ET
BERLIN – The German government says reports are false that Germany proposed a resolution for the EU to recognize an independent Palestinian state within a year if no peace agreement is reached by then.Foreign Ministry Spokesman Stefan Bredohl said Monday the report in Israeli daily Ma'ariv is entirely unfounded.Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert also rejects the newspaper's report that German State Secretary Eckhart von Klaeden, who is currently visiting Israel, delivered a message from the chancellor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the alleged initiative.He says Merkel had written no such letter. Seibert says: That report is simply false.
Sand, snow, thunderstorms wreak Mideast havoc
by Hala Boncompagni – Mon Dec 13, 6:22 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Winds, rain, sandstorms and hail battered the southern and eastern Mediterranean on Sunday, killing at least five people, closing ports and disrupting traffic in the Suez Canal.Drought-stricken countries across the Middle East had been praying for rain for weeks when the weather turned violent at the weekend, with at least five people killed as gale-force winds and torrential rain pounded the coastline.Winds topped 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour and waves reached up to 10 metres (32.8 feet) tall as cities in Lebanon and Israel suffered power cuts.At least three people were killed in Egypt when a factory collapsed in heavy rain in the densely populated northern port city of Alexandria.Six others were also seriously injured in the collapse, a security official said, adding that 30 people could have been working in the six-storey factory.The official Egyptian MENA news agency reported that streets in the northern Beheira governorate were inundated and its cities and villages also experienced power cuts.
The storms, which briefly disrupted flight schedules, come after unseasonably high temperatures and a lack of rain ravaged forests across the region and left farmers struggling to survive.A Cairo airport official said five inbound flights had to be diverted to other airports in Egypt but no decision was made to cancel any departures.An Italian container ship was also stranded off Egypt's northwestern coast of Marsa Matruh after its engines broke down, with 21 crew on board still waiting to be rescued.Vessel owner Stefano Messina told the Italian news agency Ansa that a tug boat was on its way from Crete to assist the ship which he said was carrying toxic materials including paint and resins.The cargo is safe and cannot provoke an environmental catastrophe. There are 38 containers of paint and resins, Messina was quoted as saying.Rain and hail whipped across Lebanon as the long-awaited first snowstorm of the year fell on mountains on Sunday -- good news for the country's famed ski resorts but leaving many commuters stranded in icy conditions.
Seaside roads and ports closed on Sunday morning, hours after a 45-year-old woman was killed when a falling palm tree crashed into her car.The Beirut government evacuated several homes on the coast in the south and placed emergency rescue teams on alert.In Israel, the body of the Russian tourist blown into the sea on Saturday has been found, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Sunday.Waves of up to seven metres prevented police from carrying out searches for him but his body later washed ashore on one of the beaches nearby, Rosenfeld said. Two people were also moderately hurt by falling trees, he added.Public television reported that 30 Israelis had been slightly injured by falling trees and other wind-blown objects on Sunday. In Tel Aviv alone, more than 120 trees were uprooted, it said.The storm began on Saturday, a week after a devastating forest fire killed 43 people near the northern port city of Haifa which was closed on Sunday. Some flights out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport were also disrupted. A Moldovan freighter also went down in stormy seas some 15 kilometres from Israel's port of Ashdod on Sunday, but its 11 Ukrainian crew members were all rescued unharmed.In the Golan Heights, an Israeli-occupied plateau which adjoins Syria, snow and rain were abundant but sandstorms were expected in the south of the country, Israel's meteorology department said.A snowstorm lashed Damascus, disrupting traffic but also bringing some relief from drought which has gripped Syria for the past four years. UN estimates say the drought has affected around 1.3 million Syrians.Sandstorms also hit the desert countries of Jordan and Egypt and visibility deteriorated while temperatures plummeted.Jordan was also bracing for heavy rain and snow, which officials warned could lead to flooding.
In Egypt, the bad weather forced several ports to close and disrupted traffic in the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.The waterway was hit by poor visibility and winds of up to 40 knots an hour, said an official at the canal, Egypt's third-largest source of foreign revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers.The authorities barred south-bound ships from entering the waterway, and north-bound traffic from the Red Sea was limited.
