Israel says killed Hamas man involved in soldier kidnap
– Sat Apr 9, 3:44 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli military said on Saturday a top militant killed in a predawn raid was directly and physically involved in the 2006 capture of Gilad Shalit, a soldier Israel believes is still being held in the Gaza Strip.Tayser Abu Snima, who Palestinian medics said was killed in an air strike on a vehicle along the Gaza-Egyptian border, was a key figure in the Hamas Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.The Israeli statement called Abu Snima a senior Hamas operative in Gaza and said he was directly and physically involved in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,a soldier who disappeared in a June 2006 cross-border raid.Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, said Snima's killing will not affect our work and dismissed Israel's claims.He said Israel "does not have the information about Shalit's capture to be able to say who among our leaders had a role in its execution.Ubaida also accused Israel of looking for an achievement as a cover for their crimes,referring to Israel's punishing strikes in Gaza in the past three days since Hamas rocketed an Israeli school bus, badly wounding an Israeli teen.
Israel has killed 19 Palestinian militants and civilians in these strikes since Thursday's attack on the bus.Israeli efforts to secure Shalit's release have been a political hot potato for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and it was not clear whether these would be impacted by Snima's slaying.Netanyahu faces growing public calls to secure the soldier's release, while at the same time he is also under pressure to avoid meeting Hamas's demands to swap Shalit for imprisoned Palestinian militants charged with masterminding lethal bombings inside Israel over the past decade.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Sophie Hares)
In new protests, Egyptians challenge army rulers
By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – Fri Apr 8, 5:25 pm ET
CAIRO – Egypt's protesters stepped up their challenge to the country's ruling military Friday, as tens of thousands massed to demand it prosecute ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his family for alleged corruption — and a smaller group tested out the army's tolerance with a march on Israel's embassy.The mass rally in Cairo's central Tahrir Square was the biggest by protesters in weeks, and hundreds remaining there shortly before midnight said they were planning to camp out overnight. A smaller group of more than 1,000 marched on the Israeli Embassy, angered by strikes on the Gaza Strip earlier in the day, and pushed for Egypt's new rulers to close the mission and stop Egypt's natural gas exports to Israel.The march was the first significant anti-Israeli demonstration since Egypt's upheaval began nearly three months ago — and it was an unusual test of the military, which took power after Mubarak's ouster on Feb. 11. The generals have promised Egyptians greater freedom of expression but at the same time have sought to reassure Israel and its ally the United States that the fall of Mubarak would not mean an anti-Israeli turn in Egypt's foreign policy.In the past, Mubarak's security forces strictly prevented any protests from getting anywhere close to the embassy, located in a residential building overlooking a bridge over the Nile. Soldiers Friday allowed the demonstration to get nearer than others in the past — to a checkpoint yards (meters) away from the building. At the same time, officers at the checkpoint tried to convince the crowd to disperse.Enough, we have your demands! one officer told the protesters.
At the checkpoint, the crowd waved Palestinian flags and banners that called for Egypt to stop selling natural gas to Israel and close the embassy. Some were members of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, who earlier in the day had been leading anti-Israel chants among the crowds in Tahrir and burned an Israeli flag there.
Remove the flag before we remove it! protesters chanted, referring to the Israeli flag on the top floor of the building. Tanks and armored vehicles, along with armed Egyptian military police, were stationed at the building's entrance. After several hours, the demonstration dwindled.The Israel-Arab issue has not featured strongly in the 18 day wave of mass protests that led to Mubarak's ouster or in demonstrations since by activists trying to shape the transition period being led by the military. The focus has been more on uprooting Mubarak's authoritarian regime and ensuring a democratic Egypt emerges. Still, the protests have been interspersed with complaints about Mubarak's close ties with Israel, which remains deeply unpopular among Egyptians.If the demonstration outside the embassy was a test of what the military will tolerate, the mass gathering in Tahrir was a show of Egyptians' increasing impatience with the army, as some protesters accused it of protecting Mubarak and his family from prosecution.More than in previous protests, chants and banners Friday directly criticized the military's Supreme Council, headed by Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, a former Mubarak loyalist. At one point, a group of protesters walked behind a contingent of military police in Tahrir, shouting, The people want the fall of the field marshal, and haranguing the soldiers until they left the square.After dark, protesters formed a human barricade to block military police trying to detain five army officers in uniform who had joined the demonstration. The officers, addressing the crowd from a stage, accused the military's ruling Supreme Council of corruption.Corruption was widespread under Mubarak's 29-year-rule, and anger over it particularly accelerated in the last years of his rule, as his son Gamal — an investment banker-turned-politician — rose to prominence and brought into power a group of millionaire tycoons who implemented a program of economic liberalization. Several of those businessmen-politicians are now on trial or under investigation for allegedly using their positions to amass personal fortunes.But Egyptians insist the corruption goes right to the top.Trying to assuage the public anger, the military appeared to be trying to accelerate prosecutions. Authorities announced Thursday that Mubarak's former chief of staff, Zakariya Azmi, had been detained for questioning on corruption allegations, the highest-ranking member of his regime to be arrested so far.
The army denies it is protecting the ousted president — a former military man himself. But so far, there has been no move against Mubarak or Gamal, who was widely seen as his choice as successor. Since his ouster, Mubarak and his family have been under house arrest at a presidential palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, their assets frozen.Execution, execution, some in the square chanted as others accused the army of protecting Mubarak and giving immunity to his family, a claim the military denies.On a stage, protesters set up a cage with the pictures of Mubarak, his family and top aides inside. An activist read out charges against them, and the crowd responded, We testify that Mubarak, his family and their cronies have corrupted Egypt, politically, economically, impoverished the people and committed crimes of torture and killings.He lives in a palace and our poor still in the shanty towns, one protester chanted in a microphone at the square. We are not leaving here until Mubarak is on trial, another speaker vowed. One protester in the crowd, 51-year-old Ahmed Dessouqi, accused the military council of going after the small fish rather than the bosses.The council is incapable of going against Mubarak. They started with the tail without touching the head. Can that work? he said. Mubarak was the one who appointed the members of this council, and this is why they delay his prosecution.Since Mubarak's fall, the unprecedented youth movement that ousted him has seen some fragmentation, as the military pushed ahead with a quick timetable for new parliament and presidential elections to be held in September and November. That has sent various factions scrambling to get organized to contest the vote. But the corruption issue provides a unifying theme that resonates among most Egyptians. It's not just financial malfeasance — many Egyptians also want to see the leadership punished for years of political repression, including widespread vote fraud during elections and security crackdowns.Protesters said that the announcement of the Azmi prosecution was part of a pattern — on the day before a big protest rally, a decision to prosecute someone is announced, apparently in hopes of defusing public anger.It is clear now that no demands are met except under pressure, said Mohammed Abbas, a member of the coalition of youth activists who organized the 18-day wave of mass demonstrations that forced Mubarak out of power.Mubarak is the one who stole our money. Why is he still in Sharm el-Sheikh?
Prosecutor Assem al-Gawhari told the state-run news agency on Thursday that former chief of staff Azmi was detained for 15 days for questioning on using his position to amass a fortune. Azmi was considered Mubarak's trusted right-hand man. Authorities also said investigators would begin questioning another senior regime insider, former ruling party chief, Safwat el-Sharif. Days earlier, Egypt's former housing minister, Mohammed Ibrahim Suleiman, was arrested on suspicion he was involved in the illegal sale of state lands for cut-rate prices.But protesters said that was not enough without Mubarak.The past 30 years have created a thick layer of corruption. It is still there despite everything and it is still untouched, retired armed forces officer Mahmoud Hanafi said.And slow justice is in itself unjust.Another, a women in her 60s, said she won't accept compromises.Mubarak must be executed along with his son, Ragia Mahmoud said.This is what I want to see happening right now.
Turkey helps Iran avoid sanctions -Israel tells U.S.: cables
– Fri Apr 8, 6:28 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel believes Turkey is actively helping Iran to sidestep economic sanctions and has also turned a blind eye to Iranian weapons smuggling into Syria, according to leaked U.S. diplomatic cables published on Friday.Citing documents obtained by WikiLeaks, Haaretz newspaper said senior Israeli officials had told the United States that Turkey was moving ever-closer to Iran because it needed Iranian energy supplies and because it was revising its global strategy.Israel used to enjoy excellent relations with Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, but these have grown fraught in recent years, with the Jewish state deeply concerned by Ankara's warm ties with its arch-foe Iran.(Israeli secret services) said (the) Turkish government is now assisting Iran in by-passing international financial sanctions and is ignoring Iranian weapons smuggling to Syria ... through Turkey, a U.S. cable dated November 2009 said.The United Nations has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran in an effort to get Tehran to curtail its ambitious nuclear program that critics say is aimed at obtaining the atomic bomb. Iran denies this and says it is a civilian energy project.Notes from a meeting with the then-Israeli national security adviser, Uzi Arad, suggested that Israel was gloomy about prospects for improving its once strong relations with Turkey.(Israel) believes there is little it can do to prevent a further decline in relations with Turkey, but it is trying to preserve what it can by minimizing disputes and seeking gradually escalating diplomatic exchanges, the cable said.Six months after this document was written, ties between the two countries deteriorated much further after Israeli marines killed nine Turkish activists aboard a boat that was trying to break Israel's blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Israeli officials said Turkey's ruling AK Party, led by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, sympathized with the Islamist group Hamas, which governs Gaza and refuses to recognize Israel.The (Israeli spy agency) Mossad thinks the AKP sees historical similarities between Hamas and the early days of their party's struggle against Turkey's secular establishment, the U.S. cable said.The AKP thinks it can help Hamas become more moderate and mainstream, as the AKP has done, it added, quoting a senior Israeli army official, Colonel Shimon Arad.Arad also told U.S. diplomats that Turkey did not actively support the smuggling of Iranian weapons via Syria to the Shi'ite group Hezbollah in Lebanon, but added that Ankara intervened only under specific international pressure.He suggested that the Turks might be more responsive to U.S. pressure on this issue than they have been to Israeli complaints,the cable said.
(Writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by David Stamp)
US condemns attack on southern Israel
– Thu Apr 7, 3:35 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States Thursday denounced an attack in southern Israel after Hamas claimed responsibility for firing an anti-tank missile at a school bus, critically injuring a teenager.We condemn the attack on innocent civilians in southern Israel in the strongest possible terms as well as ongoing rocket fire from Gaza, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.We have reiterated many times there is no justification of the targeting of innocent civilians and those responsible for these terrorist acts should be held accountable, Toner said.We are particularly concerned about reports that indicate the use of an advanced anti-tank weapon in an attack against civilians, he said.He added the United States reiterate that all countries have obligations under relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition,said Toner.After the missile slammed into the bus, the Palestinians lobbed at least 45 mortar rounds into southern Israel, and the Israeli army responded by staging multiple raids across the enclave, reportedly killing three people.The Israeli medical services said a 16-year-old boy was critically wounded in the bus attack, while the driver sustained only light injuries. It was the first time an anti-tank missile had hit a civilian target in Israel.Any attack on innocent civilians is abhorrent but certainly the nature of the attack is particularly so, Toner said when asked to comment on the fact the school bus appeared to have been targeted.
Israel's PM says new defense shield successful
– Thu Apr 7, 3:33 pm ET
PRAGUE – Israel's prime minister has hailed the first successful action of his country's new missile-defense system after it intercepted two missiles fired by militants from the Gaza Strip.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after a meeting in Prague Thursday that Israel's new Iron Dome system — activated in the last few days without proper testing — intercepted two projectiles successfully.Netanyahu said the action took place during his meeting with Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas.He added that the new system can't protect his country from every missile, but gives hope that over time we can develop some better defense for our civilians.
Netanyahu said Israel is ready to take any measures — defensive and offensive — to cope with a recent increase in militant action from Gaza, including a missile that struck a school bus in southern Israel Thursday.
Merkel calls for Mideast progess by September
– Thu Apr 7, 1:08 pm ET
BERLIN (AFP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel called Thursday on Israel to make progress in the peace process by September but said that Germany would not unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state.We feel that there should, and there could, be progress made by the autumn, by September 2011, Merkel said after talks in Berlin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.When it comes to the question of recognising a Palestinian state, I repeat again that Germany is working for there to be a two-state solution, Merkel said.Unilateral recognitions therefore definitely do not contribute to achieving this aim... This is our stance now and it will be our stance in September.She added: There needs to be mutual recognition, otherwise it is not a two-state solution.The Palestinians have pledged to seek UN recognition of their independent state within the 1967 borders and with east Jerusalem as its capital in a move widely expected to take place in September.Germany currently holds a non-permanent seat in the Security Council.Netanyahu, with whom Merkel reportedly had a distinctly frosty phone call in February, asked for patience and said that the only way to achieve lasting peace was by returning to the negotiating table.I will definitely address this soon. I promise it and I ask you to be patient,he said through an interpreter.
Merkel also said that in view of the current turmoil in the Arab world, getting momentum back into the stalled Middle East peace process was more pressing than ever.
The meeting followed media reports that the two leaders had a tense phone call in February, with Netanyahu berating Merkel after Germany supported a UN Security Council resolution criticising Israeli settlement construction.Merkel herself said the reports were unrealistic.She also issued a warning on Iran's nuclear programme and slammed Tehran's brutal repression of pro-democracy protests.Iran's nuclear programme is more than ever a threat. Everything must be done to stop Iran being in possession of nuclear weapons, she said.We should also not forget all the people who are in prison and are suffering there.
Peace plan from ex-Israeli defense chiefs positive: US
– Wed Apr 6, 4:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States Wednesday welcomed a new peace plan put forward by former Israeli defense chiefs as a positive contribution to try to break a stalemate in Middle East talks.We remain committed to achieving an agreement... we also support the goal of fully normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.We welcome all ideas to achieve those goals and we look forward to hearing more about the Israel peace initiative. We believe it could possibly make a positive contribution.The plan, an outline of which was seen by AFP, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with mutually-agreed land swaps, and the division of Jerusalem to become the capital of two states.It is based on a 2002 initiative launched by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and endorsed by the Arab League, which offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for exactly such an arrangement.The proposal was signed by more than 50 prominent Israelis many of them former leading figures in the defense establishment.
The initiative proposes a solution to the thorny issue of refugees, suggesting that they be financially compensated and allowed to return to the Palestinian state, with a symbolic number even allowed to return to Israel.It also calls for Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, occupied from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war in which it also seized the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.Talks between the Israelis and Palestinians resumed in September in Washington after a long freeze, but then broke down again when Israel lifted a moratorium on new Jewish settlement building in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
World Bank chief: citizens need voice in Arab world
By Lesley Wroughton – Wed Apr 6, 12:41 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Middle East governments moving away from dictatorship must deliver quick wins through job creation to meet immediate hopes of street protesters but longer-term reforms need to ensure a more inclusive society, the head of the World Bank said on Wednesday.In a speech on the ongoing turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa, World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that a break from a past where societies were driven by autocrats to one that includes citizens in decision-making will be vital for the region's transition.Our message to our clients, whatever their political system, is that you cannot have successful development without good governance and without the participation of your citizens, Zoellick told a gathering at the Peterson Institute.The unrest in the Arab world will loom large as finance officials from around the globe gather next week for the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.Zoellick, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state and chief trade negotiator, also set out a new role for the development lender, saying it must become flexible enough to adjust to a rapidly shifting political landscape in client countries.He suggested that might mean having the World Bank become more directly involved in supporting citizen groups and private foundations, rather than working solely through governments.Such sweeping proposals would take the bank into unchartered territory and could stir controversy among World Bank member countries and require authorization from contributors like the United States, Europe and China.
REINVENTION
Unprecedented street protests against Arab autocrats is transforming an oil-rich region that has largely ignored the wishes of the masses. Ordinary people taking to the streets swept away president of Egypt and Tunisia, while leaders of Libya and Yemen are fighting for survival.The region faces enormous unemployment among youths. The World Bank estimates that 40 million new jobs will need to be created over the next decade.Zoellick said there was an immediate need to create jobs, but it was important any job program not lead because to greater economic distortions and a more bloated civil service.Governments should also entice investors by signaling early on that the private sector is welcome through measures such as cutting governmental red tape, reforming bankruptcy laws and easing regulations that restrict business.Zoellick cautioned that a successful transition must give ordinary citizens a voice in running their own affairs.Inaction poses risks. So will the wrong actions, he said. Over the short term, the priority may be quick wins to build confidence and political buy in.Reforms must be transparent and must be fast, he added.Zoellick said the World Bank would work with governments to make them more effective and accountable. Among other things, that would mean the World Bank would not directly finance budgets unless governments published them.
He said just as the institution moved over the last six decades to support the private sector from originally financing just governments, it should now consider helping citizen groups as a way of making governments more accountable to people.We could back this work with seed capital, and with knowledge exchange and research aimed at improving the enabling environment for social accountability, Zoellick said. He said the bank would encourage governments to publish information, enact Freedom of Information Acts, open up their budget and procurement processes, build independent audit functions, and sponsor reforms of justice systems.But the World Bank chief acknowledged that his proposals may be too political for an institution that is meant to be seen as a neutral broker in the fight against global poverty.
Some of that may be what we think of as politics, but most of it is also what we know is good economics; most of it is what we know is good for fighting corruption; most of it is what we know is good for inclusive and sustainable development, Zoellick said.(Editing by Neil Stempleman)
Poll: 32% of Palestinians support settler attack
– Wed Apr 6, 12:32 pm ET
JERUSALEM – A team of Israeli and Palestinian pollsters says a third of Palestinians surveyed said they supported an attack last month that saw five members of an Israeli family stabbed to death in their home in a West Bank settlement.A young couple and three of their children, ages 11, 4 and 3, were killed in the March 11 attack. It is assumed to have been a Palestinian attack.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the attack despicable, immoral and inhuman. The poll found 63 percent opposed the attack and 32 percent backed it.Pollsters from Hebrew University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research surveyed 1,270 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.The poll was published Wednesday.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — A team of Israeli and Palestinian pollsters says a third of Palestinians surveyed said they supported an attack last month that saw five members of an Israeli family stabbed to death in their home in a West Bank settlement.A young couple and three of their children, ages 11, 4 and 3, were killed in the March 11 attack. It is assumed to have been a Palestinian attack.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the attack "despicable, immoral and inhuman. The poll found 63 percent opposed the attack and 32 percent backed it.Pollsters from Hebrew University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research surveyed 1,270 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.The poll was published Wednesday.
