Trade bloc eyes agreement with Syria, Palestinians
DEC 16,2010 1PM
FOZ DE IGUACU, Brazil (AFP) – The South American trade bloc Mercosur on Thursday opened talks with Syria and the Palestinian Authority on free trade agreements, an Argentine official, Luis Kreckler, told reporters.The bloc -- comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay -- signed formal agreements on the negotiations with Syrian and Palestinian officials on the sidelines of a Mercosur meeting underway in the southern Brazilian town of Foz de Iguacu.The accords follow the controversial recognition by Brazil and Argentina of a Palestinian state, in the teeth of opposition by Israel and the United States. Uruguay has said it will follow its neighbors' lead next year.
UN Hariri court to disappear with wind: Nasrallah by Natacha Yazbeck – DEC 16,10
BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday predicted a UN court on the murder of Rafiq Hariri would disappear with the wind as vast crowds gathered to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashura in Lebanon.This new conspiracy against the resistance and Lebanon, dubbed the international tribunal, will disappear with the wind, Nasrallah said in his latest attack on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), a UN-backed investigation into the 2005 assassination of Sunni ex-premier Hariri.We will defend the resistance, our dignity, our country against unrest and against aggressors and conspirators no matter what their guise, the Shiite leader said in a televised address to a procession of tens of thousands in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut.His comments came as tensions rise over the STL, which is reportedly ready to indict high-ranking Hezbollah operatives in the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.Nasrallah, who commands the most powerful military force in the country, has urged Lebanon's deeply divided unity government to step aside and allow him to deal with the STL, which he claims is a US-Israeli plot.He has also warned any accusation in the Hariri murder would have grave repercussions in troubled Lebanon.But Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, has vowed to see the investigation through.
In a speech marked by a more pacific tone than that adopted in recent months, Nasrallah on Thursday emphasised that his Iranian-backed militant group was keen to preserve peace among Lebanon's feuding communities, particularly Sunni and Shiite Muslims.We announce our commitment to Lebanon, to unity within our country, and to peaceful relations among the many confessions and communities of our country, he said.Thursday's procession marked the end of 10 days of rituals to mourn the death of Imam Hussein, the faith's third imam.Responding in force to a call by Nasrallah the previous night, the Shiite faithful flooded the streets of the southern suburb, uniformly clad in black and chanting their traditional saying Hayhat minnal zilla, Arabic for Never will we be humiliated.The gender-segregated processions were marked by strict organisation and security measures by Hezbollah.Crowds also gathered in mainly Shiite Muslim areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, raising pictures of Nasrallah and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.And while Lebanon's Shiite clerics forbid anything more violent than the traditional chest- and head-beating on Ashura, a number of worshippers outside the processions organised by Hezbollah took to slashing their heads with razors or beating them with chains.
A grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein was killed by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD. Tradition holds that he was decapitated and his body mutilated in the battle at Karbala, now in Iraq.Shiites make up around 15 percent of Muslims worldwide. They represent the majority populations in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain and form significant communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Palestinians ask Europe to recognize a state By Ben Hubbard, Associated Press – Thu Dec 16, 10:56 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – The Palestinians have asked European countries to recognize an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — a new step in the campaign to pursue statehood outside the framework of a peace deal with Israel.Peace talks with Israel have been deadlocked since September, prompting Palestinians to start exploring alternative ways forward. The campaign by President Mahmoud Abbas and his West Bank government aims to pressure Israel, though it will likely change nothing on the ground as long as Israel remains opposed.Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said Thursday he asked representatives of several EU countries to recognize the truce lines before the 1967 Mideast war as the borders between Israel and a Palestinian state.Officials from two of the countries, however, said he made no formal request. One said he merely praised other countries who had taken the step. All officials spoke on condition on anonymity under diplomatic protocol.Israel captured the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas where the Palestinians want to establish an independent state — though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.Brazil and Argentina, minor players in the Middle East, recently recognized Palestine as other countries in the Arab world and Africa have done. Several European countries have upgraded diplomatic relations with the Palestinians, but it is unclear how far the international community will go.
The United States and the European Union have not recognized an independent Palestinian state, saying peace can only be reached through negotiations.Last week, European Union foreign ministers said they would recognize a Palestinian state when appropriate, emphasizing the need for a negotiated settlement.The latest round of peace talks, launched in early September, broke down just three weeks later after a limited Israeli freeze on settlement construction expired.The Palestinians say they will not resume direct negotiations as long as Israel continues to build homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying the construction is a sign of bad faith. Unable to coax a renewed settlement freeze out of Israel, the U.S. is now shuttling between the sides in indirect talks.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor rejected the Palestinian attempts to seek unilateral recognition, saying peace can only be reached through negotiations. Turning your back on dialogue is turning your back on peace, he said.Abbas says he prefers a negotiated settlement, but he has been pursuing alternatives with increasing vigor. The Palestinians say they doubt they can reach a peace deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition of hardline nationalist and religious parties.On Thursday, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh suggested yet another strategy: Asking the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israeli settlement activity.He said the decision to approach the Security Council was made after deep study following the failure of all efforts to get the Israeli government to stop settlement activities.Palestinian officials had previously talked of seeking U.N. recognition of a state inside the 1967 lines. While they could presumably win a majority in the General Assembly, the bigger prize of recognition by the Security Council, whose decisions are legally binding, would likely face a U.S. veto.The U.S. routinely vetoes measures Israel considers hostile, and the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning unilateral measures to declare or recognize a Palestinian state.Some Palestinian officials acknowledge the limits of seeking international recognition. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday that such moves will not bring a state closer.Also on Thursday, the European Union told Israel to go beyond its recent easing of its blockade on the Gaza Strip to guarantee the unconditional opening of the border.Israel and Egypt imposed a strict blockade on the seaside territory of 2.5 million Palestinians after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control from troops loyal to Abbas in 2007. The blockade has devastated Gaza's economy, although Israel recently eased restrictions on consumer goods.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Israel needs to achieve a fundamental change of policy that allows for the reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza.
Israel PM convenes inner forum as talks hit impasse
– Thu Dec 16, 7:54 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday convened his inner council to discuss US ideas on the peace process, but the Palestinians insisted there would be no talks while settlements continued.There was no immediate word on the content of Netanyahu's talks with his Forum of Seven, although a government official confirmed that they had met.US Middle East envoy George Mitchell earlier this week held two days of talks with prime minister Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to try to find a way to keep the sides engaged in the search for peace.
As Israel mulled US plans for advancing the negotiations, a senior Palestinian official insisted they would not hold any form of negotiations, in any format, with Israel without a complete halt to settlement activity.There will not be any negotiations with Israel, in any form -- direct, indirect or parallel -- without an end to settlement, said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior member of the central committee of Fatah, the secular party of Abbas.His remarks came a day after Arab diplomats ruled out renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations without a serious offer which would ensure their success.They also decided to approach the UN Security Council to seek a resolution against Israel's ongoing settlement building.Attempts to revive direct peace talks collapsed last week after Washington admitted it had failed to secure Israel's agreement to a new freeze on settlement building -- the Palestinian condition for continuing to negotiate.The US focus is now on new ideas, with Mitchell proposing six weeks of parallel talks in which negotiators would hold separate talks with the Americans in a format which would not be classed as negotiations, a Palestinian official told AFP on Wednesday.The Israeli official said that the government was open to the concept.We obviously prefer direct talks with the Palestinians, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.But because they are steadfast in their refusal to engage directly, then the idea of having two parallel tracks to deal with some of the issues and hopefully in the future have those two tracks converge into direct talks, we're open to that idea.
Israeli daily Maariv said that Thursday's ministerial meeting would include discussion of the possibility of widespread international recognition of an independent Palestinian state.Over the past few weeks, Palestinian officials have been talking up their options if peace talks with Israel totally collapse -- one of which is seeking recognition for a unilateral declaration of statehood.Earlier this month, Brazil and Argentina recognised a Palestinian state, with Uruguay soon to follow suit. And this week, European Union foreign ministers also expressed their readiness to recognise such a state at an appropriate time.Israel opposes such a move, saying a Palestinian state should be established only through negotiations.In Washington, the US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a measure condemning any unilateral declaration or recognition of a Palestinian state, and backing a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The resolution, introduced by Democrat Howard Berman, reaffirms the strong support in the lower chamber of the US Congress for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in two states, a democratic, Jewish state of Israel and a viable, democratic Palestinian state.
House opposes declaration of Palestinian state
– Thu Dec 16, 6:28 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US House of Representatives late Wednesday approved a measure condemning unilateral measures to declare or recognize a Palestinian state, and backing a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The House measure comes after Brazil, and later Argentina and Uruguay, in early December recognized a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip.The resolution, introduced by Democrat Howard Berman, reaffirms the strong support in the lower chamber of the US Congress for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in two states, a democratic, Jewish state of Israel and a viable, democratic Palestinian state.The text also reaffirms its strong opposition to any attempt to establish or seek recognition of a Palestinian state outside of an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.It urges Palestinian leaders to cease all efforts at circumventing the negotiation process and calls on foreign governments not to extend such recognition.One of the co-sponsors of the House measure was Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, who earlier condemned moves by the South American countries to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that such recognition by the South Americans was counter-productive to achieving Middle East peace.The European Union on Monday stopped short of outright recognition of a Palestinian state despite mounting pressure to break the Middle East impasse, but did reaffirm its readiness to recognize such a state at an appropriate time.Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed after Washington admitted it had failed to secure Israel's agreement to a new freeze on settlement building, the Palestinian condition for continuing to negotiate.US Middle East envoy George Mitchell earlier this week held two days of talks with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to try to find a way to keep the sides engaged in the search for peace.
The US focus is now on new ideas, with Mitchell proposing six weeks of parallel talks, where negotiators would hold separate talks with the Americans in a format which would not be viewed as negotiations, a Palestinian official told AFP on Wednesday.
US envoy Mitchell to meet top EU, French diplomats
– Wed Dec 15, 4:28 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Middle East envoy George Mitchell will meet with the top EU and French diplomats this week as part of efforts to reset the Israeli-Palestinian peace process after months of setbacks.Mitchell will meet EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Brussels on Thursday before heading to Paris to meet French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, the State Department said Wednesday.The United States is looking to chart a new course after abandoning its quest to get Israel to freeze settlement construction, a key Palestinian demand for face-to-face negotiations.A Palestinian official in Ramallah said Mitchell had proposed six weeks of parallel talks during a meeting with president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday.But State Department spokesman Philip Crowley declined to confirm the report, saying: I've resisted putting a label on that.We're waiting in terms of the next step for a reaffirmation of the support of the Arab Follow-up Committee... We're focused on the substance. That's the best vehicle to move towards a framework agreement, he said.
The group of Arab foreign ministers -- which had backed Abbas in launching negotiations earlier this year -- said it would not endorse further talks unless they were based on a serious offer to end the decades-old conflict.Israel and the Palestinians relaunched direct negotiations in September but the talks collapsed within weeks after the expiration of a 10-month moratorium on Israeli settlement construction.The Palestinians view the presence of some 500,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank including annexed east Jerusalem as a major threat to the establishment of their promised state and saw US demands for a building freeze as a crucial test of Israel's intentions.
Arabs wants UN resolution against Israel settlements
– Wed Dec 15, 2:57 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – The Arab League decided on Wednesday to seek a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian land.Arab foreign ministers decided to bring up the entire situation with the Security Council and to activate the follow-up committee's decision to bring up the issue of Israeli settlements again to the Security Council.The Arab League wants to obtain a decision that confirms, among other things, the illegal nature of this activity and that would oblige Israel to stop it, a ministerial committee meeting at League headquarters in Cairo said.The ministers, in their final statement, also urged the United States, which has traditionally vetoed Security Council resolutions against Israel, not to obstruct its decision.
Palestinian donors conference to be held in April 2011: Oslo
– Wed Dec 15, 1:05 pm ET
OSLO (AFP) – International donors will meet to discuss the financial needs of the Palestinian Authority in April 2011, Norway's foreign minister announced Wednesday, adding he hoped a Palestinian state could be established next year.Speaking after talks with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who heads the committee in charge of coordinating international aid to the Palestinians, did not give an exact date or venue for the meeting.We should all cling to the vision of 2011 being the year when we can see a new state on the world stage: the Palestinian state, he told reporters in Oslo.For that to happen, institutions need to be solid, governance needs to be transparent, security, schools, all these elements need to come in place, he added.Fayyad meanwhile stressed the work done by the Palestinian Authority to lessen its dependence on international aid.He pointed out that the aid portion of the budget had shrunk from 1.8 billion dollars in 2008 to less than 1.2 billion this year and that the Authority aimed to do without budget aid altogether by 2013.It's no secret that the Palestinian authority has been reliant on aid for a number of years, effectively since the start, he said, stressing that due to Israeli restrictions on our national sovereignty, the economy has not been able to operate up to its potential.
Nevertheless, the Palestinian Authority has been making good and steady progress towards reducing progressively its reliance on international aid, he said.Following Wednesday's talks, Stoere and Fayyad signed an accord regarding cooperation in the area of education, which the two men presented as a new step in the process towards establishing the institutions needed in the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
Israel wants more stealth fighters
– Wed Dec 15, 11:02 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is still looking to acquire another 20 US-built F-35 strike fighters, even though Washington withdrew such an offer after the Jewish state refused a new settlement ban, a senior government official said on Wednesday.Israel agreed to buy a first tranche of 20 F-35s in August, but had hoped to acquire another 20 free of charge as part of a lucrative deal with the United States aimed at salvaging the peace process.Under terms of the offer, Washington would have asked Congress to approve 20 additional F-35 fighter planes for Israel, worth some three billion dollars, in exchange for a 90-day moratorium on settlement building -- the Palestinian condition for remaining at the table.But last week, Washington admitted its efforts to secure a new freeze had failed in a move that effectively took the package of incentives off the table and put an end to the prospect of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.However, the Jewish state is still exploring ways of acquiring an extra 20 stealth fighters, the official acknowledged on Wednesday.We ordered 20 F-35s, then, during the talks about freeze, the Americans put 20 additional plane on the table, he told AFP.
But even before the freeze, Israel had been discussing ways of getting an extra 20 stealth fighters, he said.It was discussed during the summer when the United States was talking about the 60 billion dollar weapons deal with Saudi, in the context of the American policy of maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge, he said.But nothing was settled. We will continue to discuss it.Asked if Israel were expecting to pay for the additional 20 planes, he suggested not. We were trying to find another arrangement.Last week, Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israel's public radio the government had not ruled out the possibility that Israel would still receive the F-35 planes even though the freeze did not materialise.Acquisition of the F-35, which is made by US aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin, will give Israel access to stealth technology that will provide it with air superiority over enemy anti-aircraft defences.
