US VETOS UN RESOLUTION

Obama condemns violence in Bahrain, Libya, Yemen
FEB 19,11 12:05AM

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama personally appealed to the King of Bahrain for restraint and condemned violence by the US-allied government against protesters in the latest Middle East flashpoint.The US president also condemned violence against anti-government demonstrations in Yemen, which offers important cooperation in the US anti-terror fight, and by the government in long-time US foe Libya.Obama's call to King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa came on a day when Washington was again torn between support for a regional ally and the aspirations of protesters seeking what Obama sees as universal political rights.Obama warned in the call to Bahrain's King that the United States believed the stability of the Western-leaning Gulf kingdom which houses the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet depended on a process of meaningful political reform.President Obama spoke with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain this evening to discuss the ongoing situation in Bahrain, a White House statement said.

The US leader reiterated his condemnation of the violence used against peaceful protesters, and strongly urged the government of Bahrain to show restraint, and to hold those responsible for the violence accountable, the statement said.As a longstanding partner of Bahrain, the president said that the United States believes that the stability of Bahrain depends upon respect for the universal rights of the people of Bahrain, and a process of meaningful reform that is responsive to the aspirations of all Bahrainis.Obama's telephone conversation with the king came after several days of bloodshed in Bahrain after government forces stormed a square in the capital Manama and ejected protesters demanding political reform.Earlier, in a statement issued as he flew to an event in the Pacific northwest state of Oregon, Obama said he was deeply concerned by reports of violence in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protesters in those countries and wherever else it may occur, the statement said.We express our condolences to the family and friends of those who have been killed during the demonstrations, said Obama who was getting extra briefings on Friday on the regional turmoil.

The United States urges the governments of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests and to respect the rights of their people, Obama said, just a week after the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.
The administration has argued that each nation feeling the lash of revolt in the Middle East is different, but said it will speak out everywhere in favor of the universal values of peaceful protest and free assembly.The wave of unrest is testing the underpinnings of US policy, which for decades has seen Washington side with rulers who kept a lid on dissent but provided relative geopolitical stability.Disquiet about events in the Gulf, and US links to the violence also started to bubble up on Capitol Hill.Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy asked the State Department to look into whether a law which prohibits aid to foreign security forces that violate human rights could be invoked against Bahrain.To a watching world, the vicious and orchestrated attacks on civilian protesters and journalists in Bahrain, Libya, Iran and elsewhere in the region are repugnant, Leahy said.In its 2011 budget request, the Obama administration asked Congress to provide over 20 million dollars in military, non-proliferation and anti-terrorism aid to the kingdom of Bahrain. In Libya, a day of anger by opposition groups against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi cost at least 28 lives, according to local sources.In Bahrain, there was another bloodbath, as security forces opened fire on anti-regime protesters in the capital on Friday, wounding dozens, a day after four people were killed and some 200 wounded.Reports said up to 55 people were wounded in Friday's protests. There was also a new outburst of violence in Yemen, where the government is a vital ally in the US anti-terror campaign.

US vetoes UN resolution on Israeli settlements
by Pierre-Antoine Donnet – Fri Feb 18, 8:43 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The United States vetoed an Arab-sponsored UN resolution branding Israeli settlements illegal, prompting angry Palestinians to vow to re-evaluate the entire Middle East peace process.The Obama administration cast its first veto in the United Nations Security Council after intense diplomacy failed to convince Palestinians to accept a non-binding compromise statement condemning Jewish settlement activity.The row dealt a further blow to Washington's already struggling bid to forge a Palestinian state this year and risked further estranging US ties with Arab leaders already tetchy at its response to unrest sweeping the Middle East.

US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said Washington was regrettably blocking the draft resolution and warned Israeli should not interpret the move as backing for settlement building in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.But she said the United States -- one of five permanent Security Council members with veto power -- did not believe the United Nations was the best place to seek to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.This draft resolution risks hardening the positions of both sides, Rice said.It could encourage the parties to stay out of negotiations.
Later, in a conference call with reporters, Rice added We reject in the stongest terms the legitimacy of the continued Israeli settlement activity.But Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the US veto was unfortunate and affects the credibility of the American administration.

As a result, the Palestinians will re-evaluate the entire process of negotiations towards peace in the Middle East, he said.The resolution, sponsored by 130 countries, reaffirmed that the Israeli settlements established in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.It also reiterated its demand that Israel, the occupying power, immediately and completely ceases all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Washington, although saying it views settlement activity as illegitimate, has stopped short of declaring it illegal saying that doing so could add further complications to future final status peace talks.The Palestinians balked at the US compromise despite intense diplomacy by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.The row came at some political as well as diplomatic cost to the administration as it took incoming fire from bi-partisan lawmakers who support Israel for even offering a compromise solution.Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution but the US veto effectively killed the move.

Israel reacted to the veto by calling for a resumption of direct talks with the Palestinians.And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel deeply appreciates the decision by President Obama to veto the Security Council resolution.Israel remains committed to pursuing comprehensive peace with all our neighbors, including the Palestinians, it said.We seek a solution that will reconcile the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations for statehood with Israel's need for security and recognition.The last round of peace talks broke down late last year after the expiry of an Israeli settlement building moratorium.Palestinian leaders say peace talks are impossible with construction taking place which they say undermines the territorial integrity of their future state.The United States has traditionally used its veto power in the Security Council, a body Israel deems as deeply biased, to shield the Jewish state from censure.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday turned down a request by Obama to withdraw the motion for condemnation and settle instead for a council statement calling for an Israeli settlement freeze.One senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the offer, made in an hour-long phone call late Thursday from Obama, was accompanied by veiled threats of repercussions if it were refused.Rice had proposed a three-fold package of incentives for Palestinians: a non-binding Security Council statement condemning settlement activity, a visit by a UN Security Council delegation to the region and a Mideast Quartet statement referring to 1967 borders in reference to a Palestinian state.

Palestinians say U.S. veto does not serve peace By Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawafta – Fri Feb 18, 7:18 pm ET

RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Palestinians said on Friday the U.S. veto of an Arab-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement building on occupied land harmed the cause of peace by letting Israel escape its obligations.The American veto does not serve the peace process and encourages Israel to continue settlements, and to escape the obligations of the peace process, said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a close aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.This veto will complicate matters in the Middle East, he told Reuters after the vote at the United Nations in New York.

Abbas came out of his office to meet hundreds of supporters.What we have sought and what we are seeking is that the occupiers leave our country so that we can build our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, he told them. We will not accept settlements regardless of their shape.The United States vetoed the resolution after personal appeals to Abbas by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to persuade the Palestinian leader to withdraw it or accept a non-binding motion.The other 14 council members voted in favor of the draft resolution. British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, speaking on behalf of Britain, France and Germany, condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank.They are illegal under international law, he said.U.S. ambassador Susan Rice told council members the veto should not be misunderstood to mean we support settlement activity. However, she said the draft risks hardening the position of both sides in the peace negotiations.Israel welcomed the veto, saying in a statement that it deeply appreciated Obama's decision.The decision makes it clear that the only path to peace will come through direct negotiations and not through the decisions of international bodies, a written statement issued from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

POLITICAL SUICIDE

The talks have been suspended since September over Israel's refusal to extend its 2010 moratorium on settlement building and Abbas's refusal to resume talks until the Israeli government halts construction of West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements.
Palestinian officials said it would have been political suicide to cave in to U.S. pressure. One PLO member, noting the wave of protest in the Arab world that swept away the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, said Abbas would have been toppled had he given in.Over 137 states support our endeavor. We are not giving in to any pressure, said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Abbas aide. Asked if the rebuff to Obama was a risk, he said: The real risk is if we hesitate when the freedom of the Palestinian people is at stake.It was the first U.S. veto cast by the Obama administration.In a speech in Cairo shortly after assuming the presidency, Obama said: The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.The Palestinians say continued building flouts the internationally-backed peace plan that will permit them to create a viable, contiguous state on the land after a treaty with Israel to end its occupation and 62 years of conflict. Israel says this is an excuse for avoiding peace talks and a precondition never demanded before during 17 years of negotiation, which has so far produced no agreement.A PLO official said the leadership was ready to risk a diplomatic crisis with Washington.Now we have nothing to lose,he said. (Reporting by Mohammed Assadi, Ali Sawafta and Maayan Lubell; additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York; writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Jon Boyle)

Londonhalts exports of security gear to Bahrain, Libya
– Fri Feb 18, 3:54 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – London on Friday revoked licences for the export of some security equipment to Bahrain and Libya because of the risk it might be used to suppress anti-regime protests, the Foreign Office said.A day after announcing a review of British arms export licences, the government had decided to revoke 44 licences for Bahrain and eight for Libya, said Alistair Burt, minister for the Middle East and North Africa.Licences for Yemen and other countries were under review.Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was alarmed that soldiers had fired on protesters and urged Bahraini authorities to exercise restraint.I am alarmed by reports of soldiers firing on protesters in Bahrain, said a statement from Hague, who visited the Gulf state last week as part of a visit to the Middle East and North Africa.This is an extremely worrying development.Burt said licences would not be issued where we judge there is a clear risk that the proposed export might provoke or prolong regional or internal conflicts, or which might be used to facilitate internal repression.This government takes extremely seriously its export control responsibilities. Britain has some of the most rigorous export controls in the world,he added.

Burt added that the government had no evidence of British equipment being used in the unrest in Bahrain.A British government source said the revoked licences were mainly for riot control equipment, including tear gas and rubber bullets.France announced earlier Friday it had suspended exports of security equipment to Libya and Bahrain.Bahraini security forces opened fire Friday on anti-regime protesters in the capital Manama, wounding dozens, while demonstrations in Libya have cost at least 27 lives, a newspaper reported.

Hague urged authorities to show restraint.The circumstances of what happened are not yet clear, but I call on the Bahrain authorities to avoid violence and the use of excessive force and to exercise restraint, he said.The right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly must be respected.He praised a pledge from Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa to open a national dialogue once calm returns, urging Bahrain to take steps to meet legitimate aspirations for greater social and political freedoms.

Mideast regimes counter protests with deadly force
– Fri Feb 18, 12:03 pm ET

MANAMA (AFP) – Bahraini police opened fire on protesters in the capital Manama on Friday, wounding dozens, as embattled regimes across the Middle East took their fight for survival to the opposition.A week on from the overthrow of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, hundreds of thousands flooded Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square to celebrate his departure.But the mood was distinctly ugly in other of the region's capitals as deadly clashes erupted in Yemeni and supporters of the Iranian government massed to demand the execution of its leading critics.But the most dramatic scenes came in Bahrain, a tiny but strategically important island kingdom in the Gulf which is home to the US Fifth Fleet.Despite pleas from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday for the authorities to exercise restraint, witnesses said that police had opened fire with live bullets against demonstrators near Manama's Salmanniya hospital.Marchers had been trying to reach Pearl Square, the epicentre of the protests, when police opened fire.Amid the turmoil, Bahrain's crown prince promised to start a national dialogue once calm is restored.But thousands chanted slogans calling for the fall of the al-Khalifa dynasty at funerals for four people killed in Thursday's pre-dawn storming of Pearl Square. A banner carried at one of the funerals condemned concerns by Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone that next month's Bahrain Grand Prix could be affected.Mr. Ecclestone, are our lives a price for your Formula One? it asked.Police were not visible at the funerals but army tanks and troops kept tight control on the streets of Manama before the shooting erupted near the hospital.

Yemen, another ally of the United States in the battle against Al-Qaeda, also resorted to lethal force in the face of mounting protests.Three people were killed as Yemeni police dispersed a demonstration in the southern port city of Aden, medical sources said.And two more people were killed and dozens injured when anti-regime protesters in the volatile city of Taez were blasted with a hand grenade.A local official told AFP the grenade was lobbed at protesters from a speeding car with government number plates.In the capital Sanaa, the scene of a sixth straight day of demonstrations, at least four protesters were wounded in an attack by followers of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in office for 32 years.The US embassy in Yemen slammed the spate of attacks as disturbing and urged Saleh to keep a pledge to uphold the right to peacefully demonstrate.Followers of the region's longest-serving leader, Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, also took a hard line against those challenging his 41-year rule. After an opposition day of anger on Thursday turned into a bloodbath that a rights group said cost at least 24 lives, Kadhafi loyalists threatened any more such shows of defiance would be met with violence.The response of the people and the Revolutionary Forces to any adventure by these small groups will be sharp and violent, the Revolutionary Committees said on the website of their newspaper.

The committees are the backbone of Kadhafi's regime.The tough line came after security forces on Thursday gunned down at least eight people in Benghazi and 16 in Al-Baida, according to a detailed account from Human Rights Watch.Several thousand mourners on Friday went straight from weekly prayers to funerals for the Benghazi dead, with one witness saying that 13 victims were buried in the city's Hawari cemetery.After Mubarak's toppling, US President Barack Obama said the people of Egypt would settle for nothing less than genuine democracy.Egypt's military, placed in charge after Mubarak's downfall, has pledged to implement widespread reforms before elections in September.But activists are unhappy that political detainees remain locked up, and hundreds of thousands massed Friday to press the army to meet its pledges.In a sermon held in Tahrir Square, influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi urged Arab leaders to listen to the people.The world has changed, the world has progressed, and the Arab world has changed within, said al-Qaradawi.The Arab uprisings have also inspired the opposition movement in Iran which staged an anti-government protest on Monday that ended in deadly clashes.Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, former pillars of the Islamic regime who now are outspoken critics, have been placed under de facto house arrest and were the target on Friday of death threats at a pro-government rally.Many of the tens of thousands who took part carried posters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanting Allahu Akbar! (God is greatest).Death to Mousavi! Death to Karroubi! Mousavi, Karroubi should be hanged! worshippers chanted as they emerged from Friday prayers at Tehran University.

Abbas: No elections if Gaza doesn't take part By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press – Thu Feb 17, 1:43 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that elections won't be held by September as planned if the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers won't allow balloting there.Abbas' West Bank-based government called the long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections over the weekend, but the rival Islamic Hamas has said Gaza will not take part in the vote.Unless we are capable of holding elections in both the West Bank and Gaza, then we will not hold elections, Abbas told reporters in Ramallah on Thursday.Abbas governs the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in a violent 2007 takeover. Several attempts to reconcile the two factions have failed.Abbas aides said the Palestinian president had not backed down on his commitment to the vote. Senior adviser Yasser Abed Rabbo said that if necessary, the Palestinian Authority would find a creative way to circumvent any Hamas opposition so Gazans would be able to take part. Measures being explored include voting by Internet, Palestinian officials have said.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri disputed Abbas' sincerity in calling for elections.This confusion of the Palestinian Authority reflects the internal crisis it is going through and shows their call for elections is not an honest one, he said.

The scheduling of the long-overdue vote was seen as a response to widespread Mideast protests against autocratic regimes that have toppled longtime dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.Abbas and President Barack Obama spoke by telephone for 50 minutes on Thursday, said Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Aburdeneh. He said they discussed the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and the Palestinian-backed proposed resolution in the U.N. Security Council declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Obama is looking for a compromise to avert an American veto of the resolution.The Palestinian Authority has not held elections since 2006, leaving Abbas and members of parliament in office after their elected terms ended.Abbas' four-year term expired in 2009, though it has been extended indefinitely. The parliament's term expired in 2010, but the legislature remains in office, although its work is hindered by the split between the territories.

West Bank field trip for Israeli kids stirs anger
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press – Thu Feb 17, 12:38 pm ET

JERUSALEM – At a time when peace talks with the Palestinians are stalled over Jewish settlements, the Israeli government plans to send schoolchildren on field trips to a disputed holy site in one of the West Bank's most volatile flash points.Education Minister Gideon Saar says the visits to Hebron, the traditional burial site of the biblical patriarch Abraham and home to some of Israel's most radical settlers, are part of a plan to acquaint Israeli youngsters with their heritage.It is a place of emotional, religious and historical power, Saar, a leading member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, told Israel Radio on Wednesday. It is the place where our ancestors are buried and it is part of our history. Whoever objects to this, in my view, is trying to disconnect us from our roots.Palestinian and Israeli critics both call it an exercise in indoctrination that will ignore the thousands of dispossessed Palestinians living nearby.Palestinian children in Hebron are forbidden to walk on the street (leading to the tomb compound) and visit the area — but Israeli schoolchildren can? It's incitement against the Palestinians, said Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist in Hebron.The children visiting will hear the views of ... the Jewish extremists, Amro said.It will divide the two sides more.This will be the first time the ministry is sponsoring trips to Hebron, a city bristling with tension because it is the only place in the West Bank where settlers live in the heart of a Palestinian city.Set to begin next year on a trial basis, it is the latest in a series of steps by Saar that critics say have politicized the education curriculum with a nationalist bent. Saar has pushed for field trips to the section of Jerusalem claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians — and has ordered textbooks for Israeli Arab schoolchildren to remove references to what Palestinians call the catastrophe of their displacement as a result of Israel's creation.

Hebron is sacred to both Muslims and Jews because tradition holds that it is the place where their shared patriarch, Abraham, or Ibrahim to Muslims, bought a burial plot. The site is known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque. The schoolchildren will visit the site.Israel captured the city when it seized the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. For devout Jews, it was a reclaiming of a biblical birthright. Today more than 600 Jews live in fortified enclaves amid 170,000 Palestinians in Hebron.Under accords signed in the 1990s, the semiautonomous Palestinian government in the West Bank controls 80 percent of the city and Israel controls the remainder, including the holy site.This arrangement has turned the Palestinian city center into a ghost town, with entire streets of Palestinian stores shuttered — some by army order during a Palestinian uprising, others because of restrictions on Palestinian movement.The plan comes at a time when Israel is under fire internationally for refusing to stop building settlements on lands Palestinians want for a future state. The Palestinians refuse to resume talks until the building halts.Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib called the field trip plan another provocative step that will generate more tension.

Hebron has a history of violence. In 1929, Arabs killed 67 Jews in a rampage still seared into Israeli minds. By the time Israel was established in 1948, no Jews were living in Hebron.In 1994, an American-born Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, entered the room in the cave that serves as a mosque and shot dead 29 Palestinian worshippers before survivors overwhelmed him and beat him to death.The field trips are not meant to impose a certain political perspective, Saar said.Asked whether the schoolchildren will learn about how Palestinians live in Hebron, Saar replied, the objective of the tours is mostly historical. He did not say what grades would participate.Hebron settlers welcomed the planned visits. David Wilder, a community spokesman, said they will make very clear the importance of this site to the Jewish people.Amnon Rubinstein, a dovish former Israeli education minister, deplored the idea.Speaking on Israel Radio, he said the visitors will see just the part that is holy to Jews and not see the political and ethical price we've paid.Diaa Hadid, Dalia Nammari and Josh Lederman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Rights group wants funds cut to Palestinian forces By DANIEL ESTRIN, Associated Press - Thu Feb 17, 6:56 am ET

JERUSALEM – The U.S. and the European Union should cut off funds to Palestinian security services in the West Bank until the Palestinians investigate accusations of abuse against protesters, a human rights group said.Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that Palestinians demonstrating in support of Egypt's anti-government protest movement were assaulted on three occasions, most recently at a Feb. 5 rally.

There was no immediate comment from a Palestinian Authority spokesman.The United States and European Union have poured millions of dollars into training Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, considering it a vital prerequisite for an independent Palestinian state. The Israeli army has praised the forces for maintaining law and order in West Bank cities once ridden with militant groups.But the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, has repeatedly responded to peaceful demonstrations with violent attacks, even as its security services enjoy impunity for systematic torture, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.What further evidence could the U.S. and the EU possibly need that they should not hand over even more money to Palestinian security agencies until they are held accountable? Whitson asked in a news release issued Wednesday.

Demonstrators at the Feb. 5 rally, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, chanted slogans in support of Egyptian protesters. They also called on Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, which control rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to reconcile.The rights group said plainclothes security officers at the rally groped female demonstrators and beat at least four protesters, dragging them to a police station.One man said he was interrogated throughout the night and was denied food and drink for 14 hours, Human Rights Watch said. Another said security officials accused him of tearing down a poster of President Mahmoud Abbas, beat him and demanded his e-mail and Facebook account passwords.Since January 2009, Palestinians have filed more than 360 allegations of torture against Palestinian security agencies with the official Palestinian ombudsman for human rights abuses, but no Palestinian Authority security official has been convicted of torture or other abuses, Human Rights Watch said.The group also called on Abbas to order an independent investigation into claims that Palestinian interrogators tortured a Palestinian man to death last year.Haitham Amer died while detained by interrogators in the West Bank city of Hebron. A Palestinian military court acquitted the five security officers accused in his death because of a lack of evidence, despite an autopsy report stating that he had died due to torture, Human Rights Watch said.

IMF urges targeted subsidies in Middle East
By Lesley Wroughton – Wed Feb 16, 5:50 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday urged Middle East countries to target government subsidies at the poorest households after a wave of social unrest toppled rulers in Egypt and Tunisia.The protests have highlighted the need to ensure that economic growth benefits everyone and not just a select few, IMF Director for the Middle East Masood Ahmed told reporters.These events have brought into sharp focus the need for more inclusive growth and better governance, Ahmed said.With anger still smoldering in Egypt and Tunisia over rising prices, low wages and economic hardships, governments face a delicate balancing act in accommodating demands unleashed by the protests.Ahmed said while governments may feel the need to increase subsidies to ease social pressures, it would be more effective -- and affordable -- to target such assistance at those who need it the most instead of providing general subsidies that also help the rich.Instead of subsidizing products you'd be targeting people, said Ahmed.Such targeted assistance would also help ease the burden on the poor from rising global commodity prices, especially for food.We think that it is important to improve and modernize the existing safety nets and to make them well-targeted and permanent, Ahmed added.

Such targeted social programs in countries such as Brazil and Mexico, in which governments provide the poor with cash in exchange for children going to school or mothers taking children to clinics, have been successful in tackling poverty.Also, government subsidies on food most consumed by the poor are other examples of programs that have worked.Even where transitioning to that kind of scheme ... there are things you can do to look at what products you are subsidizing and whether those products are likely to be consumed by people who need them the most, he added.Ahmed noted that fuel subsidies tend to be less effective in helping the poor than certain kinds of food subsidies. Surveys show that some 80 percent of poor families' disposable incomes is spent on basic foodstuffs.

NO NEED FOR IMF FUNDING

Ahmed said the turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia will impact economic growth but that neither country has requested IMF funding to deal with immediate pressures on their budgets.The largest impact on Egypt's and Tunisia's economies from weeks of political and social turmoil will be from a drop in tourism and foreign direct investment, he said.If either the Tunisian or Egyptian authorities decide financial support would be useful from the IMF then of course it will be ready to help, he said.But at this stage neither Tunisia nor Egypt have indicated that they feel financial support from the IMF is something they are looking to get right now, Ahmed added.He said it was hard to know when economic activity will rebound as it depends on how long it takes for tourism and investment -- both important sources of foreign revenues -- to pick up again. He said it was difficult to make firm projections for economic growth in Egypt because the situation was still unfolding. For Tunisia, however, the government's 2011 growth forecasts of 2 to 3 percent were reasonable, he added.He said there would be pressure on Tunisian government finances, which would increase the budget deficit because of the fall in economic activity. (Editing by Andrew Hay and Dan Grebler)

Israel says Iran warships to transit Suez for Syria
By Dan Williams – Wed Feb 16, 5:06 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Two Iranian warships planned to sail through the Suez Canal en route to Syria on Wednesday, Israel's foreign minister said, calling it a provocation, but the vessels were seen as posing no serious military threat.Israel's state-funded Channel One television said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a vociferously far-right partner in the conservative coalition, had spoken out of turn as the Defense Ministry had preferred to ignore the ships' approach.Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was tracking them and had alerted friendly nations in the region accordingly.Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper described the two Iranian ships as a MK-5 frigate and a supply vessel, which would not present a significant danger to the Jewish state.Still, with Israeli-Iranian tensions long running high, the theoretical possibility of the geographically distant enemies encountering each others' forces in the Mediterranean Sea was enough to send oil prices surging.

Brent crude rose to 29-month highs, helped by jitters over clashes in Iran, Yemen and Bahrain that raised concern about oil flow disruption. Brent crude rose $2.40 to $104.04 at 12:08 p.m. EST.Syria is one of Israel's neighboring adversaries. It has an alliance with Iran which has deepened along with Tehran's isolation from the West over its disputed nuclear program, which the Jewish state sees as an existential threat.Tonight, two Iranian warships are meant to pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and reach Syria, something that has not happened in many years, Lieberman said in a speech.To my regret, the international community is not showing readiness to deal with the recurring Iranian provocations. The international community must understand that Israel cannot forever ignore these provocations.The U.S. reaction was cautious. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington was aware of the ships but had no information about what they were doing or where they were going.I don't know that we have any understanding at this point of what those ships are doing there or where they are going ... We'll follow this with some curiosity, he said.

IRANIAN NAVY CADET TRAINING MISSION

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on January 26 that Iranian navy cadets were going on a year-long training mission into the Red Sea and through Suez to the Mediterranean.They were training to defend the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against the threat of Somali pirates, it said.The vessels will dock at a Syrian port for a year, a senior Israeli official told Yedioth Ahronoth, adding there was no justification for Iran to put warships into the Mediterranean.The Suez Canal is a vital commercial and strategic waterway between Europe and the Middle East and Asia.The Suez Canal does not (stop) any commercial ships from passing as long as we are not in a state of war, said Ahmed El Manakhly, a member of Egypt's Suez Canal board.He said warships of any country need approval to pass from Egypt's defense and foreign ministries. Neither ministry had sent word as yet of an Iranian request.Yedioth Ahronoth reported that no Iranian naval vessels had passed through Suez since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979, poisoning Tehran-Cairo relations.As long as they (Iranians) are not conducting some sort of belligerent operation I think they would have a right to go through the canal like any other country,said James Kraska, professor of international law at the U.S. Naval War College.

Middle East analyst Neil Partrick said he presumed Iran planned the mission before Egypt's popular uprising overthrew President Hosni Mubarak last week, but the decision not to cancel the journey, once the turmoil in the region had begun, could be a sign that Iran is prepared to risk tensions.This might be a provocative move at a time when Egypt is moving into a period of uncertainty, he said.A Syrian berth would put the ships near Lebanon, whose Hezbollah movement, an Iran ally, fought Israel in 2006.U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, a former navy officer, said Iranian warships transiting the Suez Canal would be legal and also provocative, but this does not pose a threat to Israel. They could sink these vessels in a long hour. But this did show the increased reach of the Iranian navy, Kirk added.Most military ships that pass through the canal are American, along with some French and British. Two Israeli destroyers and submarine passed through last year.Admiral James Burnell-Nugent, former commander-in-chief, fleet, of Britain's Royal Navy, described the action as a form of mischief.I would put it in the manipulative, stirring the pot category, rather than the military, strategic category.And the more wound up the Israelis get over it, the more the Iranians will be laughing.(Additional reporting by Douglas Hamilton in Jerusalem, Dina Zayed and Andrew Hammond in Cairo, William Maclean and Jonathan Saul in London, Susan Cornwell in Washington; editing by Mark Heinrich)