Hezbollah cell escaped in Egypt prison break
FEB 03,11 11:00 AM
CAIRO (AFP) – Members of a cell belonging to the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and convicted of plotting attacks in Egypt were among the escapees in a weekend prison break, a security official told AFP Thursday.The 22 cell members fled on Sunday along with members of Palestinian group Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and thousands of other convicts during a mass breakout amid anti-government protests in Egypt.The Hezbollah members escaped from Wadi Natrun north of Cairo after guards abandoned their posts.Last April a Cairo court handed down stiff prison sentences to 26 people in connection with a plot to carry out attacks on the Suez Canal and Sinai resorts. Four were sentenced in absentia.In a handwritten letter obtained by AFP, the defendants -- most of whom had been detained between late 2008 and January 2009 -- said they never planned attacks in Egypt.
Rights body urges Palestinian aid cut over crackdown
FEB 03,11
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Human Rights Watch urged the European Union and United States on Thursday to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after security forces broke up up a pro-Egypt rally on the West Bank.It was the second time in four days that the security forces had broken up a rally in support of the Egyptian uprising, while Gaza's Hamas rulers also came under criticism for quashing a similar demonstration in the Strip.The rebuke came after police and security forces stormed a group of about 150 people demonstrating peacefully in Ramallah late on Wednesday, using batons and tear gas to disperse them, the human rights watchdog and organisers said.Police punched, kicked and detained participants in the demonstration, as well as at least two journalists and a HRW research assistant, Human Rights Watch said in a statement, .adding that the police began beating demonstrators without warning.One of the organisers told AFP the demonstration had been planned several hours in advance using Facebook, Twitter and text messages.
The PA's suppression is but a continuation of its crackdown on activists and anyone expressing dissent, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It is a clear violation of our basic rights.Palestinian security forces defended their actions, saying the protest had not received a permit.Freedom of expression is guaranteed within the framework of the law ... but we will not allow the situation of chaos, spokesman Adnan al-Dameery told AFP.Police in Ramallah broke up a similar rally on Sunday. The next day, Hamas police scattered a demonstration in Gaza City, briefly arresting six women protestors.The US and the EU should suspend aid to Palestinian Authority security forces unless the Palestinian authorities take appropriate measures to end such abuses and allow Palestinians to enjoy their rights to freedom of assembly and expression, Human Rights Watch said.Sarah Leah Whitson, head of the organization's Middle East and North Africa division, said those behind the violence should be prosecuted.The PA should take action against the responsible police officers or the US and EU should find another use for their taxpayers' money, she said.Every year, the European Union and the United States provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to train and equip the Palestinian security forces.
Hundreds in Gaza rally against Egypt's president
FEB 3,11
GAZA STRIP – Hundreds of Hamas supporters in Gaza are demonstrating against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.The demonstration in front of the Egyptian representative office is the first public gathering of its type in the seaside strip since the turmoil in neighboring Egypt erupted more than a week ago.Thursday's protesters were Hamas supporters representing student councils from Gaza universities. Hamas security officials stood idly by and did not break up the protest.Hamas has largely kept quiet on the unrest in Egypt. But the group is perceived to oppose Mubarak's regime because of its support for Israel's blockade on the territory.The militant Islamic group took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. It is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt.
Egypt crisis means Israel must resume peace talks
– Thu Feb 3, 6:29 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel must relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians in light of the massive protests rocking Egypt, a senior Israeli politician said, as the popular uprising on Thursday entered its tenth day.Shaul Mofaz, head of the powerful parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defence, said the revolt in Egypt is creating a new strategic reality in the region, making it imperative for Israel to restart talks with the Palestinians.The crisis in Egypt is a new strategic situation, the former defence minister told journalists late on Wednesday.Because of the strategic change in our region, we have to move forward with the Palestinians, said Mofaz, who is a senior figure within the opposition Kadima party. We have to do our best to restart negotiations with the Palestinians and with Syria as well.The alternative would mean Israel becoming a state for two nations and we will be very close to a new war with our neighbours.Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down late last year in a bitter row over Jewish settlement building, and look unlikely to restart any time soon.
Mofaz, a former chief of staff, has been working on his own peace plan which would involve the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, and parallel talks on final status issues.His plan, which was made public some 15 months ago, would initially involve a Palestinian state on 60-65 percent of the occupied West Bank, which would eventually incorporate 92 percent of the territory seized by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.We have to move to an interim agreement whereby we have a Palestinian state in the West Bank on 65 percent of the land ... with full continuity from north to south, with an international guarantee that the size of the land in a permanent agreement will be in the 1967 borders, he said.
The move would involve a land swap of 6-7 percent of the land, he said.It will mean the Palestinians move from having an authority to the status of a state, said Mofaz, claiming that most of the (Israeli) leaders as well as the people believe a future Palestinian state would be based on the 1967 lines.The major issue is that it will change the atmosphere totally.The Palestinians have always rejected the idea of an interim agreement, establishing borders for a future Palestinian state, insisting they want a comprehensive deal.
France hosts Palestinian PM in new peace drive
by Fabrice Randoux – Thu Feb 3, 5:40 am ET
PARIS (AFP) – Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad was due in Paris Thursday to meet French leaders and international peacebrokers on an official visit aimed at boosting flagging efforts for Middle East peace.Talks were also likely to cover the violent unrest in Egypt, whose long-term ruler Hosni Mubarak is an important supporter of the Palestinian Authority but who is facing mass protests demanding that he quit power.Fayyad was due to land in Paris at noon and meet French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and later President Nicolas Sarkozy, the French government said.In the evening he was due for dinner at the foreign ministry to discuss aid to the Palestinians, with representatives from the European Union and the so-called Quartet of powers for Middle East peace.This mainly economic conference... is part of plans to create by the end of 2011 a sovereign and independent Palestinian state, in accordance with the declarations of the Quartet, said the ministry's spokesman Bernard Valero.
The top EU foreign representative Catherine Ashton will attend the dinner, along with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and Gary Grappo, an American who serves as deputy to the Quartet's envoy Tony Blair.The dinner is to review progress following a 2007 conference at which international donors promised $7.7 billion (5.6 billion euros) in aid to the Palestinians over three years.That allowed Salam Fayyad to pursue the reforms he had committed to, particularly in governance, security and financial transparency, said Valero.Now France and other donors want to see their support rewarded with progress in the drive for Palestinian statehood.Europe cannot continue to pay while being kept out of the political process, Sarkozy said last month.If the discussions were progressing without Europe, we might just say That's the way it is. But the discussions are not even progressing.The Palestinians have set September as a target for an agreement with Israel on founding a Palestinian state in the region.
The last attempt to see through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, hosted by the United States, broke down late last year due to a dispute over Jewish settlement-building on Palestinian land.With Fayyad's visit on Thursday and Friday, France now hopes for a fresh effort to bring them back to the table, with a bigger European role. To achieve that it will also have to reach out to Israel.One French diplomat told AFP: The success of the first donors' conference enabled them to show that the Palestinians were not corrupt, lax and incompetent.So now we can say without seeming ridiculous that the Palestinian state is ready to be declared at any time, added the diplomat, who asked not to be named.What was promised has been done. Now the question is, what political outcome can be drawn from it?
Israeli PM says Iran wants another Gaza in Egypt By ARON HELLER, Associated Press – Wed Feb 2, 5:59 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister on Wednesday said Iran wants to take advantage of the chaos in Egypt to create another Gaza there, run by Islamic fundamentalists.
Speaking before the Israeli parliament, Benjamin Netanyahu said he expects any new government in Egypt to honor its three-decade-long peace agreement with Israel.But he warned that Islamic groups have already taken over by democratic means in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza.Is there freedom in Iran? Is there democracy in Gaza? Does Hezbollah promote human rights? he asked. They (Iranians) want an Egypt that goes back to the Middle Ages. They want Egypt to turn into another Gaza, that will be run by radical forces that are against everything we want, everything the democratic world stands for.He did not say how Iran would do this.
After initially keeping a low profile over the unrest, Netanyahu has in recent days been warning of the dangers posed by instability in Egypt.Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace accord with Israel in 1979 and has strictly honored it. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has close ties to Israeli leaders and has acted as a bridge between Israel and the Palestinians to the broader Arab world.The anti-government protests, led by secular Egyptian activists, forced Mubarak to announce he will not seek re-election.Netanyahu said that a more democratic Egypt would not pose a threat to Israel. He called on the international community to insist that whoever takes over power in Egypt remains committed to peace with Israel.
Syria again holds the strings in Lebanon: analysts
by Mohamad Ali Harissi – Wed Feb 2, 5:52 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria has edged its way back into the heart of local politics, analysts say, after the militant Hezbollah and its allies toppled the Western-backed government of Saad Hariri.Over the past six years, Syria has sought to regain its influence, step by step, until the time came when it could announce to the world that Lebanon was once again squarely in its hands, said Marwan Rowayheb, political science professor at the Lebanese American University.The rift between the (Hariri) alliance in Lebanon and Syria all these years did not prevent the latter from retaining its political hegemony over Lebanon.Syria's political tug-of-war with Lebanon runs back decades. Damascus first sent its troops into its smaller neighbour in 1976, shortly after the outbreak of the 1975-1990 civil war, at the request of the Lebanese.But Syria continued to wield its sway over Lebanon long after the war ended, maintaining a military presence until the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.The killing of Hariri -- father of the outgoing premier -- sparked a wave of mass protests which, combined with international pressure, forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops in April 2005.
Syria was initially accused of being behind the murder but has consistently denied involvement.Saad Hariri's anti-Syrian alliance went on to win two legislative elections after Syria's withdrawal.But the Saudi-backed Hariri was dealt a severe blow last month when a rival Hezbollah-led coalition backed by Syria and Iran toppled his government in a long-running feud over a UN-backed probe into his father's murder.Hezbollah's leadership believes party members stand to be accused by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and had been pressuring Hariri to cut all ties with the Netherlands-based court.The collapse of the Hariri government signals Lebanon's return to the pre-2005 era, and specifically to the 1990's, when Damascus reigned supreme over Beirut, said Salman Shaikh, head of the Brookings Doha Centre.
Syria is making it known to the world that peace and stability in Lebanon cannot be preserved without its help.All eyes now are turned to Najib Mikati, the billionaire businessman appointed -- with the blessing of Hezbollah and Syria -- to form a new government.Mikati is a personal friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his appointment is widely seen as a sign that Damascus once again is pulling the strings in Lebanon.Syria has long recovered the self-confidence and composure it lost in the 2005 crisis, said Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group, adding that Syria had acted on pragmatic political calculations.Syria arguably has the best hand ever -- combining the Shiites, the Druze, an important section of the Christians, and some key Sunni figures, Harling told AFP, referring to the Hezbollah-led coalition Damascus supports.He added however that contrary to the pre-2005 era, Syria today had to take into account other players, notably Iran, Turkey, France and the United States.The new government, experts say, will reflect the role Syria and other regional powers are set to play in Lebanon's future. Syria managed the Lebanese crisis to its advantage and placed both hands over Lebanon,Shaikh said.The question remains what lessons Damascus learned over the past few years and how that will be applied in the near future.
Palestinians urge Quartet to back their state
– Tue Feb 1, 1:00 pm ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat urged the Middle East Quartet on Tuesday to recognise a Palestinian state within 1967borders when it meets later this week.We call on the international Quartet take an historic decision to recognise the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders at its next meeting on February 5 in Munich, Erakat told AFP.In order to bring security and stability in the Middle East, we must drain the swamp that is the Israeli occupation, which is the sole cause of all problems in the region, he said.With unprecedented anti-government protests underway in Egypt, many are calling for democracy and human rights in the Middle East, but those same rights must be recognised for the Palestinians as well, Erakat added.The Quartet -- Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations -- meets on Saturday to seek ways of reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations which ran aground last year.The talks fell apart after Israel refused to renew a temporary ban on settlement building, with the Palestinians rejecting further negotiations so long as Israeli settlers build on land wanted for a Palestinian state.
Eight South American countries have already declared their recognition of an independent Palestinian state, which the Palestinians want to establish in the West Bank and Gaza, with a capital in east Jerusalem, all of which were seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.In Europe, meanwhile, six countries have upgraded the status of Palestinian diplomatic delegations to that of a mission -- one notch below embassy.Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said they were making preparations to hold long-postponed local elections as soon as possible.Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told Palestinian television that intensive discussions are underway to set a date for the elections that had initially been set for July 2010.Fayyad added that the Palestinians must think seriously about general elections as a way of reuniting the West Bank and Gaza Strip, divided since Hamas ousted the forces of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas from Gaza.Hamas has refused to recognise the Abbas's authority since his four-year term expired in January 2009, and rejected legislative elections that also were to have been held last year.Hamas, which won by a landslide in the last parliamentary elections in 2006, has said there can be no fresh vote without reconciliation with Fatah.The Islamist movement gained power in Gaza in June 2007 when it drove out forces loyal to Abbas in a week of bloody street battles, the culmination of years of struggle between the two main Palestinian movements.
Huckabee says no Palestinian state in West Bank By ARON HELLER, Associated Press – Tue Feb 1, 9:57 am ET
JERUSALEM – Potential 2012 U.S. presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that if Palestinians want an independent state, they should seek it from Arabs — not Israel.The evangelical minister and Fox News host said Jews should be allowed to settle anywhere throughout the biblical Land of Israel — an area that includes the West Bank and east Jerusalem.He called the demand on Israel to give up land for peace an unrealistic, unworkable and unreachable goal.Most of the international community — including President Barack Obama — considers Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem illegal because they are built on occupied land Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim both areas for a future state.Huckabee suggested that a Palestinian state were to be established, it shouldn't come at Israel's expense.There are vast amounts of territory that are in the hands of Muslims, in the hands of Arabs. Maybe the international community can come together and accommodate, he said in a meeting with reporters.
Huckabee makes frequent trips to Israel to voice support for Jewish settlements.He's currently being hosted by The Jerusalem Reclamation Project, a group that promotes settlements in an attempt to bolster a Jewish presence in mostly Arab areas. Joined by actor Jon Voight on the three-day visit, Huckabee's itinerary includes tours of Jewish settlements and meetings with Israeli leaders.Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and a presidential contender in 2008, is expected to seek the Republican nomination to run against Obama in 2012.He said that as president he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — affirming Israel's position that the city should be its undivided and eternal capital — and said he would not pressure Israel into making any territorial concessions.He was critical of previous U.S. attempts to broker a peace agreement with Palestinians, who he says have yet to truly recognize Israel's right to exist within secure borders.I know my view on this may be seen as the minority, out of the mainstream of the more politically correct idealistic view that we can just have a conference or a meeting and bring the diplomats together, toast marshmallows, build a camp fire and sing Kumbaya. It has not happened. I'm not confident that it ever could or would, he said.He said any peace agreement has to recognize that the Jewish people have indigenous rights to the land in which they occupy and live and it goes back not 60 years or 80 years but it goes back 3,500 years.
Gazan inmates home after escaping Egypt jail
– Mon Jan 31, 4:43 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Six Palestinian prisoners who broke out of prison in Egypt during the chaos there have reached the Gaza Strip, a prisoners' family liaison group said on Monday.At least three of them were members of the militant Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, the group said.I was able to escape from Abu Zaabal prison with eight of my comrades, Palestinian political detainees, when it was torched during the events there, said Mohammed Abdel-Hadi, who was arrested in Egypt in 2009 for belonging to Hamas's military wing.At least three of the nine escapees managed to slip back into the Strip on Sunday by means of the cross-border smuggling tunnels, said Alaa al-Sayed, a spokesman for the liaison group.So far, six political prisoners who managed to escape from Egyptian prisons have arrived in the Gaza Strip, he told AFP.Mohammed al-Shaer, a major figure in the network of tunnels criss-crossing the Gaza-Egypt border returned on Sunday after six months in Egyptian custody, as did Hassan Wishah, who served three years of a 10-year term for unspecified security offences, a Hamas official said.The prisoners made their escape when thousands broke out of prisons across Egypt in the chaos sparked by nationwide riots demanding the removal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
2 Gaza rockets explode in Israeli towns
– Mon Jan 31, 3:36 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says two rockets fired from Gaza have exploded in Israeli towns. No one was hurt, but there was some damage.The attacks came a few minutes apart late Monday. One rocket hit Netivot, 9 miles (14 kilometers) east of Gaza, and the second exploded in Ofakim, 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Gaza.The military says the range indicates the rockets were Grads. Israel charges that Iran supplies Gaza militants with Grads.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.Few Grads have been fired since Israel's punishing invasion of Gaza two years ago to try to stop rocket fire. Hundreds of smaller rockets have been aimed at border communities.Rocket fire usually draws retaliatory Israeli airstrikes at Gaza militant facilities or smuggling tunnels.
Republican star, US actor back E.Jerusalem settlers
– Mon Jan 31, 11:34 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Influential US Republican Mike Huckabee and Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight on Monday lent their backing to Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem, by laying the cornerstone for a new neighbourhood.The two were guests of honour at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of a new settlement initiative called Beit Orot on the edge of the Mount of Olives.The essence of freedom, the very heart of it, is self determination and self direction, said Huckabee, who has been touted as a possible Republican candidate in 2012.So today we dedicate this place, not just as a place to live, but as a place to live free, he said.
His support for Jewish construction in east Jerusalem flies in the face of Washington's long-held position that opposes all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.Israel captured the city's eastern sector from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. It sees Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital and does not consider construction in the east as settlement activity.It is inconceivable in many ways that we have to argue and debate whether Israelis can live in Israel -- not just in parts of Israel, but anywhere in Israel they wish to live, Huckabee said after placing the cornerstone into a trough of wet cement.
Several dozen Jewish seminary students, accompanied by a clarinet and accordion, greeted the two Americans as they arrived at the site, singing of their hopes of rebuilding the Jewish Temple, as they bounced up and down like Massai warriors.
Voight, the estranged father of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, spoke of his very deep connection to the Jewish people and his enjoyment of the singing and chanting that greeted their arrival.I'm very honoured to be here and very proud to be with all of you who have stood for justice and the legacy of -- you know -- the Jewish people, Voight said.The issue of ongoing Jewish settlement building on occupied Palestinian land was responsible for the breakdown direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians late last year.Talks which began on September 2 fizzled out after the expiry of a temporary ban on settlement building, with the Palestinians insisting they would not negotiate while Israel continues to build on land they want for a future state.
Gaza shuts border with Egypt as unrest spirals
by Adel Zaanoun – Sun Jan 30, 5:43 pm ET
RAFAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Gaza's Hamas rulers on Sunday closed the Rafah border crossing after guards on the Egyptian side fled their posts amid the spiralling unrest gripping the country.As the angry revolt against President Hosni Mubarak entered its sixth day, Hamas officials announced the Rafah crossing would be closed for several days, preventing hundreds of Palestinians from crossing into Egypt.The move came after Egyptian troops stationed on their side of the crossing fled during the border's normal closure at the weekend, as angry protesters rampaged across the country.
Every day between 400 and 500 people cross from Gaza into Egypt.The closure was likely to keep thousands of people trapped inside the Gaza Strip, while the lack of personnel on the Egyptian side of the divided border town of Rafah would also prevent hundreds of Gazans from returning home.With the crossing closed, Hamas bolstered its forces along the border, deploying hundreds of troops compared with the usual number of around 50.The Islamist movement has so far given no official reaction to the crisis in Egypt, where more than 125 people have been killed in the biggest demonstrations to sweep the country in more than 30 years.But the closed border did not prevent at least two Hamas security prisoners from returning to the Strip after escaping from a jail near Cairo as Egyptian authorities struggled to maintain a grip on law and order.The two, who entered Gaza through cross-border smuggling tunnels, were part of a group of eight escaped Hamas convicts trying to return home, a senior official with the movement said on condition of anonymity.
The prisoners made their escape when thousands broke out of jails across Egypt amid an absence of police and chaos sparked by nationwide riots demanding the end of Mubarak's regime.Among those who returned on Sunday was Mohammed al-Shaer, a big name on the cross-border smuggling scene, arrested six months ago, and Hassan Wishah, who served three years of a 10-year term for unspecified security offences.
The remaining six prisoners were said to have reached Egypt's port city of El-Arish and were expected to reach Gaza later, official sources said.Although the prisoners managed to enter the enclave by tunnel, most other movement of goods through the underground network ground to a halt on Sunday, sparking fears of a fuel shortage in the Israeli-blockaded territory.Abu Abed Alwahab, a Hamas border guard carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle, said, however, that tunnel workers were being allowed into the frontier zone.Our mission is to protect the border, he said. We prevent anyone from coming near, except for some workers in the tunnels.
A man who identified himself only as Samih, aged 30, was carrying earth from the entrance to a tunnel which he said had been put out of operation by a partial collapse caused by rainwater.I am working to repair it, he said, adding that he heard shots from the Egyptian side, but there was more yesterday than today.Nineteen-year-old Samir was working in another tunnel nearby. If the tunnels are closed it means no fuel, no cement, no goods to Gaza,he said.Long queues formed at outlets selling fuel as Gazans began to stockpile petrol and diesel over fears that supplies from Egypt could be cut back, witnesses said.Although most of Gaza's fuel supplies are brought in through the tunnels, the Hamas-run economy ministry insisted there was no shortage and called for an end to panic-buying.There is enough fuel in the stores and enough food. We urge people not to worry about fuel or other goods, it said in a statement.
Palestinians say Cyprus backs state on 1967 lines
– Sun Jan 30, 3:16 pm ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian foreign minister said on Sunday that EU-member state Cyprus recognises a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.Riyad al-Malki told AFP the move was "formalised" in a letter sent by Cyprus President Demetris Christofias to his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas.Officials in Cyprus, however, clarified that Nicosia would not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders between Israel and the Palestinians unless agreed to by the two parties.The position of the government of the Republic of Cyprus is in line with the well-known EU position that it will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders, unless agreed by the two parties, said government spokesman.The Cyprus government stresses, in this context, the utmost importance of the resumption of talks between the two parties as soon as possible, Stefanos Stefanou said in a written statement, referring to Christofias' letter.
But Malki said he had received a letter from Christofias formally recognising the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders and delivered it to Abbas on Sunday.The letter pledged to raise the status of the Palestinian diplomatic delegation in Nicosia to that of an embassy, without giving a date, he said.The foreign ministry in Nicosia, meanwhile, said the issue of upgrading the Palestinian representative to Cyprus was on the table and any changes will be announced in due course.The 1967 borders include lands in annexed east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, all of which were seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of that year.The move comes shortly after eight South American countries declared their recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Borders of a final Palestinian state have been one of the thorniest issues in peace negotiations with Israel.
Gazans stockpile fuel as tunnel trade stops
– Sun Jan 30, 5:05 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Gazans were on Sunday stockpiling fuel over fears that supplies from Egypt, which are brought in through smuggling tunnels, could be halted by the political unrest gripping the country, witnesses said.The witnesses in the southern city of Rafah said the daily passage of goods through the cross-border tunnels had ground to a halt since Friday as the political unrest sweeping the country reached the Egyptian half of Rafah.The majority of petrol and diesel supplies in Gaza are brought in through the tunnels, but the Hamas-run ministry of economy insisted there was no shortage and called for an end to panic-buying.There is enough fuel in the stores and enough food. We urge people not to worry about fuel or other goods, a ministry statement said.The reports came as Palestinian officials said the Rafah crossing would remain closed because there was no-one to man the Egyptian side of the terminal.More than 100 people have so far been killed in Egypt which is being rocked by the biggest protests to sweep the country in more than 30 years.
Demonstrators are demanding the removal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who has ruled the country since 1981.
