RUSSIA HEADS TO ARAB-MUSLIMS IN MIDEAST

Medvedev heads to West Bank, Jordan to revive talks
By Alexei Anishchuk - 1PM JAN 14,11

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sets off on a rare trip to the West Bank and Jordan next week in a bid to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after their collapse at the end of last year.A strike by Israeli diplomats earlier this month forced Medvedev to cancel a visit to Israel, leading him to reduce the Middle East trip to just the West Bank and Amman, where he will hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah on January 18-19, the Kremlin said.His trip comes ahead of next month's meeting of the quartet of Middle East mediators -- Russia, the European Union, the United Nations and the United States -- who will convene in Munich to consider how to resuscitate the talks.

Russia wants to revive the Middle East peace process, and has been likely preparing for it, Yevgeny Satanovsky, who heads the Middle East Institute think tank in Moscow, told Reuters on Friday.U.S. diplomatic efforts to revive direct peace talks between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu collapsed late last year after Israel refused to extend a 10-month partial freeze on settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.Medvedev's trip is rare: the last time a Russian leader visited the West Bank was then-president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in 2005.The (peace) process is not in best shape, but I would not call it dead, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday.We actively supported U.S. efforts, but it became clear toward the end of last year that these efforts were insufficient.Though a long-time partner of Israel, Russia has also signed deals to sell Syria warplanes, anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, prompting anger from Syria's regional foe. Israel said it was disappointed when Medvedev met last year with Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Some have cast doubt on Russia's ability to significantly influence the talks.Russia does not have enough resources to play a leading role in the region, said Moscow-based security analyst Alexander Golts.The Arab nations use Moscow to irk the West, but when they actually want a compromise with them, they go straight to the (Western) decision-makers.(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman; editing by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Philippa Fletcher)

Poll: Jerusalem Palestinians prefer Israeli papers
12:30PM JAN 14,11

JERUSALEM – A poll suggests that a plurality of Jerusalem Palestinians would rather remain in Israel even after a peace deal and the creation of a Palestinian state.The survey released this week shows that 35 percent of Jerusalem's Palestinian residents would choose Israeli citizenship over Palestinian citizenship. Thirty percent said they preferred Palestinian citizenship, while another 35 percent said they did not know.Respondents who chose Israeli citizenship cited freedom of movement, higher income and Israeli health insurance as the reasons behind their choice.Pollsters from Pechter Middle East Polls and the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank, interviewed 1,039 people. The margin of error for the survey, which was released Wednesday, was 3 percentage points.Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it shortly after, giving Israeli ID cards to its Palestinian residents. The international community does not recognize Israel's claim on the city.Since the annexation, Palestinians in east Jerusalem have had the option of taking Israeli citizenship, although few have done so in a society where even cooperating with the Jewish state — much less adopting its citizenship — is considered taboo.

East Jerusalem Palestinians have generally lived under permanent resident status, and only a few hundred each year typically have applied for Israeli citizenship. In recent years, however, there has been a steady increase.Over the past five years, about 3,000 Palestinians applied for Israeli citizenship, and about 2,300 received it, according to the Israeli Interior Ministry. The number of Palestinians granted Israeli citizenship has increased each year during that time, from 147 in 2006 to 690in 2010.Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said about 13,000 of east Jerusalem's Arab residents, or roughly 5 percent, now hold Israeli citizenship.
Though the numbers are meager compared with the total 260,000 Palestinians who live in east Jerusalem, they may indicate an undercurrent of concern about the future.
Hatem Abdel Qader, a former Palestinian minister of Jerusalem affairs, doubted the credibility of the poll and dismissed it as meaningless.The Israeli occupation is not subjected to the desires of people, it's only subjected to legal rights and not to public opinion, he said. Anything aimed at strengthening the Israeli occupation on Jerusalem is void and contradicts international law.Online: http://www.pechterpolls.com/

Israeli army to collect settler weapons
JAN 14,11

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli army said on Friday it would begin collecting weapons from Jewish settlers across the West Bank, in a move it said was aimed at curbing weapons theft.The move was first reported in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily, which said the decision was taken as a result of the calm in the West Bank and over fears they may be used against Palestinians.The move would affect hundreds of weapons handed out to settlers by the army at the start of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which erupted in September 2000, the paper said.Defence ministry figures published in 2003 show that Jewish settlers in the West Bank possessed around 8,000 weapons, including submachine-guns, light machine-guns and rifles.The army said in a statement that it would only be collecting weapons which are not currently in use and are being held in storage. This is part of the effort to tackle the problem of weapons theft.The collection will be starting soon, a military source said, without specifying a date.

Yediot said the decision came as a result of the improved security situation in the past two years, and also over concerns about settlers taking the law into their own hands and shooting any Palestinians they perceive as a threat.The collection is likely to begin in settlements in and around the southern city of Hebron, it said.
You have to remember that in the last two years it has become significantly quieter, a military source told the paper. Of course, if a need arises, we will return the weapons to the residents, but with supervision.

Lebanon in turmoil as caretaker govt steps in
– Fri Jan 14, 8:40 am ET

BEIRUT (Lebanon/-) (AFP) – VIDEO: Lebanon's president is preparing to tackle the politically delicate task of naming a new premier after Hezbollah forced the collapse of the unity government, plunging the country back into crisis. Duration: 02:10

Mideast Quartet to meet in Germany
– Fri Jan 14, 5:59 am ET

BERLIN – The German government says the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers will meet on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich next month.The Quartet is made up of the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia.German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Friday the quartet will hold a high-level meeting during the Feb. 4-6 conference in Munich — a major annual forum for defense and security policy officials.Seibert says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will attend.Seibert says Germany hopes for an urgently needed stimulus for the Middle East peace process.

Guyana recognizes a Palestinian state
dm/kfk Dm/kfk – Thu Jan 13, 7:16 pm ET

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has recognized Palestinian statehood, joining a string of other South American nations in a push for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate a peace deal.A Thursday foreign ministry statement says Guyana hopes increasing recognition by nations will contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the creation of lasting peace and stability in the region.Palestinians are increasingly lobbying nations for recognition as leverage toward an elusive peace deal with Israel. Several South American nations have recognized Palestinian statehood in recent weeks.Israeli officials have reacted to the declarations by calling them meaningless and counterproductive to the peace process.

US meets with Israeli, Palestinian negotiators
– Thu Jan 13, 7:05 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Middle East envoy George Mitchell met separately on Thursday with Israeli and Palestinian envoys as part of Washington's bid to revive peace negotiations, the State Department said.State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Mitchell met first with Palestinian envoy Saeb Erakat and then with Israel's Yitzhak Molcho.Direct talks began on September 2, but stalled three weeks later with the end of an Israeli moratorium on settlement building. The Palestinians refuse to talk while Israel continues building.Washington admitted last month it had failed to secure Israel's agreement to a new freeze on settlement building.Crowley on Thursday reiterated US opposition to a Palestinian proposal for a UN resolution condemning Israel's settlement building.Washington believes that the United Nations is the wrong forum to address these complex issues, and that Israelis and Palestinians should find a way back to direct negotiations as the only way to resolve their differences.The Palestinians view the presence of some 500,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and 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.

The international Quartet of Middle East mediators will hold a high-level meeting in Munich on February 5 to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the European Union said Thursday.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are scheduled to participate in the meeting, EU officials said.

Hamas blames PA for Gaza medical shortages
– Thu Jan 13, 1:07 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Gaza is lacking about 40 percent of basic medicines, the Hamas health minister said on Thursday, accusing the Palestinian Authority of withholding key stocks.The charge was rejected by his opposite number in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), who pointed the finger back at Hamas, saying the shortages were the result of mismanagement.The health situation in Gaza is very difficult, if there is any new Israeli war the situation will be catastrophic, Hamas health minister Bassem Naim told AFP, saying the health services were missing 182 out of 450 basic types of medicine.This is because of a political decision by the government in Ramallah not to send it, he said.If there is any Israeli war on Gaza, we will need this medicine immediately.Increasing rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel has raised fears of a new Israeli offensive on the enclave, akin to a 2008-2009 offensive, which killed 1,400 Palestinians in 22 days, more than half of them civilians.

A source within the Hamas government blamed the shortage on a politically motivated decision within the Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by the rival Fatah movement.The Ramallah government doesn't want to send the medical supplies because it helps Hamas, the source told AFP, saying Hamas would issue an urgent appeal for international health organisations to pressure Ramallah into releasing the necessary supplies.But Fathi Abu Mughli, health minister in the Palestinian Authority, insisted the Ramallah government was fully committed to the people of Gaza.We are continuously supplying medicines, he told AFP. Every two months we send between five and ten trucks loaded with medicine and equipment.Abu Mughli said the shortage was the result of mismanagement by the Hamas health ministry which had sacked some 1,600 ministry of health employees and replaced them with people with no experience in dealing with or storing medicine.Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a bitter dispute since 2007, when the Islamists forced Fatah out of Gaza after days of bloody fighting.Since then, the two sides have traded barbs over a number of issues, with Hamas regularly accusing the PA of withholding funds or key supplies in a bid to put the squeeze on Gaza's Islamist government.

Sharon son joins Israel opposition party Kadima
– Thu Jan 13, 6:04 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Gilad Sharon, one of the sons of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, has joined the main Kadima opposition party founded by his father, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.According to the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily, the 45-year-old businessman had registered as a member of the centre-right party and was expected to enter politics shortly.Until now, Gilad Sharon has avoided any involvement in politics, unlike his old brother Omri, a former Kadima MP who was forced to step down in 2006 after being convicted on corruption and fraud charges.

But now he has decided to play an active role in the party established by his father in late 2005, the paper said.In recent weeks, former army chief of staff Dan Halutz also joined the party, said the report.In January 2006, just months after founding Kadima, Sharon senior collapsed in to a deep coma after suffering a massive stroke from which he has never recovered.

Chile's silence on Palestine borders helps: diplomat
– Wed Jan 12, 5:04 pm ET

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – The top U.S. diplomat to Latin America said on Wednesday that Chile helped the Middle East peace process by leaving out a mention of historic borders in its recognition of a Palestinian state.These negotiations are quite complex, so it substantially helps the process to avoid conditioning too much what you say, said Arturo Valenzuela, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere.Chile said on Friday it recognized a Palestinian state, joining an endorsement by Latin American peers the United States had called premature and Israel has warned is harmful to the Middle East peace process.Brazil became the first of several South American countries in recent weeks to recognize a Palestine state along pre-1967 borders. Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador have done the same, but Chile declined to mention particular borders in its endorsement.Israel disputes the Palestinian claim on all the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land it captured from Jordan in a 1967 war and has since extensively settled.(Reporting by Brad Haynes; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Egypt warns Hamas on Gaza fire at Israel: sources
By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Wed Jan 12, 7:58 am ET

GAZA (Reuters) – Egypt has told Hamas that Israel might launch a Gaza war to curb rocket attacks, a warning that led the group to urge other militant factions to cease fire, sources familiar with Egypt-Hamas contacts said on Wednesday.Egypt has told Hamas the Gaza situation was similar to that before December 2008, said one source, referring to the start of the three-week war Israel waged in the Hamas-run enclave with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket strikes.Hamas does not want a new escalation unless it is forced into it, the source said.A Palestinian official said Egypt and another Arab country, which he declined to identify, had discussed the issue with Hamas. Hamas officials declined to comment.On Sunday, Hamas said it had made contact with other factions to urge them to recommit to an agreement they reached two years ago to stop rocket and mortar bomb fire.

In recent weeks, Palestinian militants have stepped up attacks along the Gaza border, drawing Israeli strikes that killed 13 Palestinians, most of them gunmen, in December.An Israeli army spokeswoman said at least 20 rockets and mortar bombs have landed in Israel since the start of 2011.Saleh Zidan, a senior leader of the Palestinian Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), told Reuters top Egyptian security officials he met in Cairo on Tuesday made their concerns known about a new Israeli offensive.The Egyptian leadership is in favor of not giving a pretext to the Israeli government to launch a new war on the Gaza Strip, Zidan said.

The DFLP is a major faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization and is at odds with Hamas over the 2007 Hamas takeover of Gaza. The DFLP has claimed several attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip over the past two years.Israel has said Hamas has largely held its fire over the past two years but the surge in rocket attacks meant it was not doing enough to curb other groups, which say their strikes are in retaliation for Israeli raids in Gaza and the West Bank.

TERRIBLE MISTAKE

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing foreign journalists in Jerusalem on Tuesday, said militants in the Gaza Strip would be making a terrible, terrible mistake if they continued to test our will to defend our people.An Israeli air strike earlier that day killed an Islamic Jihad militant. The Israeli military said he had been planning to carry out an attack against Israel.In Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, hundreds of Islamic Jihad supporters urged the group, which has continued occasional rocket attacks in the past two years, to avenge the death of Mohammed Najjar, who was targeted while he was riding a motorcycle.There will be no calm as long as assassinations continue. Rocket firing will continue as long as Israel continues its foolish actions, said Abu Hamza, a local Islamic Jihad commander.(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Netanyahu: Palestinians walking away from peace
by Gavin Rabinowitz – Tue Jan 11, 3:32 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blamed the Palestinians for the stalled peace process, saying their refusal to negotiate showed they were not interested in peace.What is preventing the advent of peace, the advent of peace negotiations is that the Palestinians are doing everything in their power to avoid them, Netanyahu told a meeting of foreign journalists in Jerusalem. That is the simple truth.Netanyahu's comments came as the United States was attempting, so far unsuccessfully, to revive peace negotiations.Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed after Washington admitted last month it was no longer pressing Israel for a new freeze on settlement building, the Palestinian condition for continuing to negotiate.Direct talks began on September 2, but stalled three weeks later with the end of an Israeli moratorium on settlement building. The Palestinians refuse to talk while Israel continues building.Netanyahu said this showed the Palestinians were not truly interested in reaching a deal with Israel.

The Palestinians are walking away from peace because they are walking away from negotiations, he said.The Palestinians have accused Netanyahu of choosing settlements over peace and said they would now explore other options, including seeking recognition from foreign governments and ultimately the United Nations.In recent weeks, a string of Latin American nations have announced their recognition of an independent Palestinian state on the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war.The Palestinian leadership has lauded the new recognitions from countries including Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Other nations, including Paraguay and Uruguay are reportedly planning to recognise the state soon.The Palestinians also plan to seek a United Nations Security Council resolution on Israeli settlement construction, and possibly recognition of a state at a later date.However, Netanyahu cautioned them against this approach saying it could not bear real fruit.The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. They are not going to get an imposed settlement from the outside, it does not work. The only way to get peace is to negotiate peace, he said.

Netanyahu said the coming year would also dispel beliefs that he, and his hard-line coalition, were not interested in inking a deal with the Palestinians.If they are prepared to negotiate then they will find -- that this government, my government, this prime minister, me -- that I'm prepared and able to achieve historic peace, he said.In 2011 everyone, everyone, will come out of that year knowing who really wants peace.

Strains emerging in Israel's coalition government
By ARON HELLER, Associated Press – Tue Jan 11, 10:58 am ET

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked his combative foreign minister on Tuesday for attacking members of the Israeli leader's Likud party, pointing to growing strains within the coalition government.In a rambling news conference, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized Likud leaders for opposing an initiative to investigate Israeli human rights groups critical of the government. He said it was a strange spectacle to see Likud members protecting groups that he described as terrorist collaborators.Netanyahu's office said the prime minister utterly rejects the comments, reminding Lieberman that Likud is a democratic and pluralistic party and not a dictatorship of one opinion.Lieberman leads the hawkish Yisrael Beitenu Party, dominated by immigrants from the former Soviet Union like Lieberman himself. It made strong gains in 2009 elections with a nationalist message that, among other things, questioned the loyalty of Israel's Arab minority.

Lieberman more recently has turned his attention to Israeli human rights groups, pushing parliament to launch an inquiry into funding sources of organizations deemed hostile to Israel. In particular, he is targeting groups that have helped seek prosecution of Israeli soldiers for alleged war crimes during battles against Palestinian militants.Critics say Lieberman's proposal would stifle dissent and limit democracy. Several senior Likud members reject the move, saying it is not the parliament's job to impede public debate.Tuesday's comments were not the first time Netanyahu has had to publicly rein in his outspoken foreign minister.Lieberman has embarrassed Netanyahu by repeatedly expressing skepticism over the chances of reaching peace with the Palestinians, including a high-profile speech at the United Nations General Assembly last September in which he contradicted a goal set by President Barack Obama of reaching a final peace deal in the coming year.Lieberman has also proved a distraction with his repeated attacks on Arab lawmakers, and by promoting a bill that would require non-Jewish immigrants to take a loyalty oath before becoming citizens. That proposal was widely seen as racist and anti-Arab because it would not require Jewish immigrants to take the oath. Netanyahu later softened it by including all immigrants.Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister, questioned the logic of Lieberman's stand during a speech Tuesday.

What hinders Israel's right to defend itself more? she asked,those same organizations or the way Israel is presented today by this belligerent government ... that speaks loudly but at the end of the day makes Israel weaker? In other challenges facing the government, the centrist Labor Party last week threatened to pull out of the government within two months if no significant progress is made in peace talks with Palestinians.On Tuesday, Labor lawmaker Daniel Ben Simon said he was leaving the party and becoming an independent in parliament. He said the step was to protest Labor's continued presence in a coalition that includes Lieberman's party.

Ties make Palestinian state a SAmerican priority
By EVA VERGARA and CARLA SALAZAR, Associated Press – Tue Jan 11, 4:05 am ET

SANTIAGO, Chile – Five South American nations have recognized Palestinian statehood in recent weeks, and several more are expected to do so soon.The Palestinians are increasingly lobbying nations for recognition as leverage toward an elusive peace deal with Israel, and they are finding a sympathetic ear in South America — a region with long-standing cultural ties, diplomatic alliances and increasing trade with the Arab world.Brazil started the trend with its recognition Dec. 3, then put trade with Arab nations squarely on the regional agenda when it hosted last month's summit of the Mercosur economic bloc. These relationships also should be on full display at a wider South American-Arab summit next month in Lima, Peru.But while the Palestinians have deep-pocketed supporters among Arab states, they alone can't hope to fund the kind of checkbook diplomacy that China and Taiwan have employed for years in the world's smaller countries to forge alliances. And while securing foreign investment is a top priority for South America's leaders, they also have other reasons for following Brazil's lead.Obviously we're interested in more investments, but to think that because there's a bigger investment or a new Arabic investment it's going to define a foreign policy, it seems to me that this is to underestimate the independence, the judgment and the seriousness of the foreign policies of the countries of South America, Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde told The Associated Press on Monday.

Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia sided with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in December by not only endorsing statehood but insisting on borders predating the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza, territories Palestinians claim for a future state. The Palestinians consider Israel's refusal to stop building settlements in this land a mockery of the peace process, while the Israelis blame the Palestinians for refusing to keep negotiating nonetheless.After consulting with both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera also decided to recognize Palestinian statehood on Friday. But Chile's position was studiously neutral, avoiding the border question and urging both sides to keep negotiating.Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said Monday that the issue has to be worked out between Israel and Palestine, along with other questions ranging from water rights to security to the handling of refugees.Chile's decision won faint praise from its Palestinian community, and local Jewish leaders were pleased to see it sidestep the frontier question.I don't think Chile gains anything, but it avoids bringing the conflict into Chile, Jewish Community president Gabriel Zaliasnik said. He added that Chile's position is close to that of the Quartet group supporting peace talks — the United States, Russia, United Nations and European Union.The president of Chile's Palestinian Federation, Mauricio Abu Ghosh, called the Chilean recognition a little lukewarm, but we understand that it's the first step. Speaking with local media over the weekend, he said he expects Pinera to explicitly back the Palestinian position when he visits Israel and the West Bank in March.Moreno sought to dash that hope Monday. In no way will it be us, nor Brazil nor Argentina, who determine what the limits will be, he said.Venezuela previously recognized an independent Palestine in 2005, and Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru are also considering whether to join the more than 100 nations that have done so.

Chile and Argentina have their own reasons for their border stances.

Recognizing pre-1967 borders for a Palestinian state could undermine Chile's own refusal to cede territory it won from Peru and Bolivia in 1879. Both countries still actively campaign for rights to this territory, and Peru's case is pending before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.Argentina, meanwhile, sees itself as the victim of an illegal land seizure — Britain's control of the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas and still claims despite losing a disastrous war over the archipelago in 1982. The Palestinians have long supported the position Argentina raises in nearly every international forum: that Britain violates U.N. agreements by refusing to negotiate the islands' sovereignty.Cultural ties also are key. Brazil and Paraguay have sizable Lebanese populations, Syrians are prominent in Argentina and Chile's Palestinian community, some 400,000 strong, is among the largest outside the Middle East.Many of these migrants from the Arab world established themselves in South America decades ago. Today they include some of the region's most powerful business and political leaders, and in Chile in particular, there was pressure in Congress for Pinera to take a stand. These statehood declarations are coming amid intensifying efforts to increase trade and investment between South America and the Arab world. Brazil, for one, more than tripled its trade with Arab nations during the just ended eight-year presidency of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, exporting $9.4 billion and importing $5.2 billion by last year, according to the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.At the Mercosur summit, bloc nations agreed to launch negotiations toward broad free trade and investment agreements with Syria and the Palestinians. Mercosur also concluded talks with Egypt and Morocco to grant reciprocal trade preferences.Mercosur signed a trade agreement with Egypt in 2007 and ultimately has its eyes on a bigger prize: restarting a stalled free trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which brings together more than 20 Arab nations.Associated Press writer Eva Vergara reported this story from Santiago, Chile, and Carla Salazar reported from Lima, Peru. AP writers Michael Warren in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Brazil, contributed to this report.

Jerusalem will never be divided, says city mayor
– Mon Jan 10, 10:43 pm ET

NEW YORK (AFP) – The mayor of Jerusalem, a rising star in Israeli politics, has vowed that the city would never be divided to allow the eastern side to become the capital of a future Palestinian state.It's not going to happen, it's not natural, it's the wrong thing to do from any perspective, mayor Nir Barkat said during a visit to New York.Barkat also joined government rejections of international criticism of an historic east Jerusalem hotel to make way for settler homes.UN leader Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both strongly condemned the demolition of the Shepherd's Hotel. Ban said the action would heighten tensions.But Barkat called their comments shallow and said they should visit Jerusalem before speaking out.The demolition of the hotel on Sunday to make way for luxury apartments for Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of any future independent state.Not only for the Jewish people, but for the world, it would be a big mistake to go that route, in advance we know that there is not one example of a working model of a split city, Barkat told a group of reporters. Therefore it is not on the table.

The mayor said the Shepherd's Hotel was owned legally, by Jewish owners, they have asked to develop the land according to the zoning code, with no extra demands or requests. They have been granted permission like they would be in any city, in any country in the world.Palestinians have refused to take part in direct talks with Israel since Israel ended a freeze on settlement building in the occupied territories. But Barkat argued that Arab neighbors could also get permits to build under Israeli law.Anybody trying to freeze by race -- its anti-constitutional, it is double standards and it is not acceptable, Barkat said.A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the demolition of the hotel had "ended any possibility of a return to (peace) negotiations.Barkat, an independent, has been mayor of Jerusalem for two years and has been tipped by analysts as a probable member of a future right wing government.