Abbas agrees to peace talks based on 1967 borders
– Sun Jun 5, 6:29 am ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has told France he is ready to attend a Paris peace conference if Israel accepts talks based on the 1967 borders, an aide told AFP Sunday.Nimr Hammad, a political adviser to Abbas, said the president had told French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe that he agreed officially to a French proposal to host a peace conference in Paris before July.Juppe raised the possibility of the conference during a visit to Israel and the West Bank this week.President Abbas told foreign minister Juppe that he agrees officially to the French initiative of holding an international peace conference in Paris,Hammad told AFP.Palestinian agreement is contingent on Israel also agreeing... to start negotiations on the basis of the 1967 border of the Palestinian state.
Palestinians cancel marches toward Israeli borders
– Sat Jun 4, 2:41 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – Palestinians in Syria canceled plans to march to the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday's anniversary of the 1967 war in which Israel captured the territory. Palestinians in Lebanon have also scrapped border rallies.Similar protests turned deadly on May 15 when thousands of Arab protesters mobilized by calls on Facebook surged up to Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations. Those marches were to commemorate another key anniversary — of Israel's 1948 creation — and sparked clashes that killed at least 15 people.An organizer of Sunday's protests in Syria, Khaled Abdul-Majid, gave no explanation for the cancellation but promised the march would be held at a future date.The march in Lebanon had to be abandoned after Lebanese authorities declared the area around the border a closed military zone to prevent the demonstration. Instead, strikes were planned for all 12 of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps, organizers said Friday.In the marches in May, hundreds of Palestinians and their supporters poured across the Syrian frontier and staged riots, drawing Israeli accusations that Damascus, and its ally Iran, orchestrated the unrest to shift attention from an uprising back home.
The borders were quiet on Saturday, but Israeli security forces were bracing for possible protests.Lebanese and U.N. armored personnel carriers patrolled the Lebanon-Israel border and a U.N. helicopter flew overhead.Half a dozen Israeli soldiers stopped cars driving toward Majdal Shams, the border village in the Israeli-occupied Golan that became the epicenter of last month's protests after the border breach.
Six Israeli police vans and a water cannon were parked in a lot nearby.Village residents said Israeli tanks had been patrolling the Syrian border for the past two weeks. Since the border breach, the military has fortified the frontier with trenches and minefields.
Abbas nods at French bid to revive peace talks
By Ali Sawafta – Sat Jun 4, 4:51 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday cautiously welcomed a French proposal to convene Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Paris to try to renew collapsed peace talks.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe this week offered to host talks to discuss ideas for a Palestinian state raised last month by President Barack Obama, aiming to avert a showdown at the United Nations in September.We said that in principle that this initiative is acceptable,Abbas told Reuters, two days after his talks with Juppe in the West Bank city of Ramallah.Abbas said the French plan talks about President Obama's vision ...in which he spoke about a (Palestinian) state with the '67 borders with borders with Israel, Egypt and Jordan.Under the plan discussed with Juppe,neither side would carry out unilateral actions,Abbas added.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has yet to respond publicly to the French proposal, has rejected any withdrawal to the borders existing before Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, insisting such a frontier would be indefensible.In a statement after Netanyahu met with Juppe on Saturday the Israeli leader said he asked France to continue efforts to secure the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held since his capture in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
FRANCE SLIGHTLY OPTIMISTIC
I would be lying if I said I was very optimistic. I am slightly optimistic,Juppe said after his talks with Netanyahu.The French proposal calls for Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to meet this month or by early July with an eye to reviving talks which broke off last year in a dispute on Jewish settlement building in land Palestinians seek for a state.The Palestinians plan to unilaterally seek U.N. recognition of statehood in September -- a step Israel strongly opposes fearing it could end up isolated internationally.The United States has already said it opposes the plan, which could kill off the initiative in the Security Council before it can reach the General Assembly.France, which is also one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has not yet decided whether to back the Palestinians, Juppe said.We are convinced that if nothing happens here between now and September the situation will be very difficult for everyone at the time of the United Nations General Assembly,Juppe said during his visit this week.We have to avoid such a situation and the only way to avoid it is to do what we are proposing, that's to say return to the (negotiating) table,Juppe said.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
Pope agrees on urgent need for Palestinian state
– Fri Jun 3, 12:40 pm ET
VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in the Vatican on Friday and said there was an urgent need for a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Particular stress was laid on the urgent need to find a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,the Vatican said in a statement after the talks -- the fourth time Benedict has met Abbas since becoming pope.Any resolution to the conflict will have to respect the rights of all parties including through the attainment of the Palestinian people's legitimate aspirations for an independent state,the statement added.It was thus reiterated that soon the State of Israel and the Palestinian State must live in security, at peace with their neighbours and within internationally recognised borders,it continued.
The Vatican said the two had also discussed the irreplaceable contribution provided by Christian minorities living in the Palestinian Territories and the Middle East -- a cherished issue for the current pope.The Middle East peace process has been a constant concern for the pope, who called for the creation of two states during a visit to the Holy Land in 2009.Revolutions across the Arab world have raised tensions in the region.Israeli police and army are on alert as Palestinians gear up to mark 44 years since Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Six Day War.
The anniversary will be marked on Sunday when Palestinians in neighbouring Arab states say they are planning to march on Israel's borders.Thousands of protesters in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza last month tried to force their way across the borders in a mass show of mourning over the 1948 creation of the Jewish state.
Israel denies breakthrough on Shalit release
– Thu Jun 2, 12:33 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Thursday denied reports of a breakthrough in negotiations to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants in Gaza in 2006.Netanyahu's office issued the statement after Egyptian newspaper El-Mesryoon reported that a deal to free Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners would be completed within hours.The report cited Egypt's former ambassador to Tel Aviv, Mohammed Bassiouny, but he quickly denied having said a deal was imminent.I did not say that the deal will happen in a few hours. I did not say that, there are still problems, he told Israeli public radio by phone.The report was also roundly denied by Egyptian and Hamas officials, as well as Netanyahu's office.Following the report in Egypt concerning Gilad Shalit, the prime minister's office said that contacts over Gilad Shalit are ongoing in a continuous and intensive manner, but there is no breakthrough on the subject,the statement from Netanyahu's office said.Palestinian officials in Ramallah told AFP that envoys from Germany, Turkey and Qatar, as well as Hamas officials, were in Cairo for talks on Shalit.Israeli media also reported that senior defence ministry official Amos Gilad was in Cairo on Wednesday for a brief visit to discuss the issue.
Shalit, now 24, was seized in a 2006 dawn cross-border raid by militants from three Palestinian groups including Gaza rulers Hamas.The Islamist group, which took control of Gaza a year after Shalit's capture, has demanded hundreds of prisoners in exchange for his release, including scores of militants responsible for deadly anti-Israeli attacks.But talks have stalled, with Netanyahu warning that Palestinian militants released in previous prisoner exchanges have gone on to launch deadly attacks on Israel.Netanyahu has come under increasing criticism for his government's failure to secure Shalit's release in talks, which have been mediated by Germany.The last sign of life received from Shalit's captors was in October 2009 when a video recording showed him looking gaunt but apparently in good health.
World leaders in Rome as Mideast diplomacy heats up
– Thu Jun 2, 9:49 am ET
ROME (AFP) – Security forces locked down central Rome on Thursday as world leaders including the Israeli and Palestinian presidents attended a celebration to mark the founding of the Italian republic in 1946.The Afghan, Argentinian and Russian presidents were also among the more than 80 international delegations taking part, along with US Vice President Joseph Biden, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, on the defensive after his party's shock defeat in local elections, will be hosting talks with Biden and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev following a military parade on Thursday.Israeli military radio also reported the possibility of an impromptu summit in the Italian capital between Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Biden.Peres said he was prepared to meet Abbas but acknowledged his visit came as part of Israeli efforts to convince European nations to oppose Palestinian plans to seek UN membership as a state in September.There are differences of opinion between European countries. Europe is not united on this issue. That's why the moment has come to try to wield influence,Peres told Israeli radio.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who met Abbas in Rome on Wednesday ahead of a two-day visit to Israel.Juppe said France was ready to host a peace conference before the end of July to kickstart stalled negotiations.Air space over Rome was closed off for the parade, which featured a fly-past by the Frecce Tricolori air force aerobatic team as well as an array of military hardware from the early 20th century to the present day.The event took place along Via dei Fori Imperiali -- a spectacular avenue through the ancient Roman Forum leading to the Colosseum that was built by Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.After the end of World War II and the killing of Mussolini, Italians voted in a popular referendum on June 2, 1946 to abolish the monarchy. The yearly Feast of the Republic celebration is a public holiday in Italy.This year the celebration is particularly significant and is the first time that so many foreign officials have been invited because 2011 is also the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.Many foreign dignitaries are housed in luxurious hotels along the Via Veneto -- a famous street seen as the epitome for Rome chic as captured by Federico Fellini's cult 1960s film La Dolce Vita.
Closing Gaza gap, Israel posts Iron Dome in Sderot
By Ran Tzabar – Thu Jun 2, 6:44 am ET
SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) – Israel has deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor outside a Gaza border town that has borne the brunt of Palestinian shelling attacks, posing a new test for the fledgling system underwritten by Washington.Rolled out in March after a rushed production, Iron Dome won plaudits from U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon for downing eight out of nine Katyusha-style rockets launched at two southern Israeli cities over the course of a day.The movement this week of an Iron Dome unit to Sderot, just 4 km (2 miles) from the Gaza Strip, signaled readiness to deal with shorter-range rockets and mortars in the face of skepticism from some independent experts about the system's capabilities.Iron Dome has passed field trials for threats with ranges of between 4 kilometers to 40 kilometers, so this deployment tests the lower-most end of that spectrum, said Uzi Rubin, a missile designer who consults for Israel's Defense Ministry.Noting the recent ebb in violence along the frontier of Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza, Rubin said: Let's hope action by Iron Dome is not required. But as a rule, Israel does not bring systems that are not operational into a war zone.Disclosing the deployment on Thursday, a military source said it was part of a rotation of Israel's two Iron Domes while more of the $50 million batteries are prepared.Israel wants between 10 and 15 units to defend its Palestinian and Lebanese fronts.The Pentagon said last week it planned to help Israel buy four new Iron Domes after the U.S. Congress budgeted $203.8 million in funding assistance for the system in fiscal 2011.
15-SECOND PROBLEM
Seeing Iron Dome sent first in March and April to Beersheba and Ashkelon, residents of Sderot had accused the government of neglecting their defenses in favor of the industrial cities, whose inland locations were harder to hit from coastal Gaza.It makes me feel safer, no question there, because I've seen how the rockets explode above,a Sderot shop-keeper, who gave his name only as Rami, told Reuters on Thursday, referring to television footage of Iron Dome's shoot-downs on April 7.But another resident, Sasson Salah, doubted whether Iron Dome's radar-guided interceptor missiles would be quick enough to solve the 15-second problem -- the flight time of a mortar bomb or crude Qassam rocket fired at Sderot from northeast Gaza.Hamas joined smaller guerrilla groups in the recent round of fighting with Israel, but has largely held fire since signing a power-share accord a month ago with the rival, Western-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Seeking to play down Iron Dome's enhancement of Israel's already superior arsenal, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: The new Israeli technology to fight the rockets of the resistance will fail. The militants are able to face any Israeli security measure.(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Mideast talks must resume by September: France
– Thu Jun 2, 4:26 am ET
ROME (AFP) – French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks by September or face consequences, after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Rome on Wednesday.If nothing happens by September, France... has already said that there will be consequences,Juppe told reporters at the close of the talks.The deadline is September. Something absolutely must happen by September.The talks have been on hold since September 2010, when they ground to a halt over Israeli settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land.
Juppe is to travel on to Israel and the Palestinian territories with a message from President Nicolas Sarkozy telling both sides that peace is now within reach and that the current Middle East stalemate is untenable.We French -- and with us the whole of Europe -- are convinced... that maintaining the status quo in the Middle East would be an error,he said.Everything is changing in the region, in Egypt, Syria... it's time to take the initiative again,he added.Juppe stressed that the talks would be based on the 1967 borders, the recognition of Israel and its right to live in peace and security.Perhaps at a later point of the talks we can address the difficult question of refugees and Jerusalem,he said.
The Palestinians' key negotiator Saeb Erakat, who was present at the meeting between Juppe and Abbas, said that the priority for Palestinians was to restart talks with Israel.We hope that the Israeli government can announce its acceptance of two states on the basis of '67 borders, he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already rejected the suggestion.If it cannot do that then... we are left with no alternative but to go to the (UN) Security Council for admittance,he said.
Palestinians mobilizing support for statehood
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press – Wed Jun 1, 7:13 p ET
UNITED NATIONS – The Palestinians hope to mobilize countries, political leaders and millions of supporters to back their demand for recognition as an independent state in September, the Palestinian's top U.N. diplomat said Wednesday.Riyad Mansour told a group of reporters Wednesday that the Palestinian people are ready to take to the streets peacefully as they did in 1987, and follow in the footsteps of Tunisians and Egyptians earlier this year, to demand an end to Israel's occupation and independence.The United States, Israel's ally, is the main stumbling block to U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state because of its veto power on the Security Council. The 15-member council must recommend statehood, and only then can the 192-member General Assembly vote on membership, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority.Mansour indicated that a key Palestinian goal in the coming months is to increase the number of states recognizing Palestine from 112 at present to 130 or 140, more than the two-thirds required, and to increase pressure on President Barack Obama's administration.I need to mobilize the largest number of forces, whether in the ground or in the political front or in the recognition, where I make it possible to prevail on our agenda in September,Mansour said.This battle is not a battle of a few diplomats and a few politicians. This is a battle of the entire Palestinian people.He said the readiness of the Palestinian people is extremely high — it's exactly like the Egyptians, the Tunisians and other Arabs who are taking their cause in their hands.Mansour wouldn't say exactly what would happen between now and September in the Palestinian territories, but he indicated that there could be protests that spread elsewhere.
If hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are in the streets for weeks and weeks before D-day in September ... supported by millions of Arabs in the Arab capitals and cities ... what would be the argument of President Barack Obama in trying really to disregard this wish? he asked.Mansour said if diplomacy and peaceful protests aren't sufficient, we have other tactics that we can use in order to flex additional muscles in order to make it very, very difficult for anyone to obstruct our effort. But he refused to elaborate on what those tactics might be.After two decades of on-and-off Israeli-Palestinian talks that have produced few results, the frustrated Palestinians have set September as their goal for statehood.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he prefers to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Mideast war — through negotiations. But he said he is being pushed into unilateral steps by Israel's refusal to engage in talks on terms backed by the international community.
Obama called for a peace settlement by September.Mansour said every country that recognizes the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders is investing in peace and expediting the date when two independent states, Israel and Palestine, can live side by side in peace.He also noted that Israel did not negotiate its independence in 1948 and the United States didn't negotiate its independence in 1776.Our independence is a natural right of the Palestinian people alone ... as part of our right of self-determination, Mansour said.We will never negotiate our independence with anyone, nor will we ask for permission from anyone to be independent.
Promised donor aid not arriving: Palestinian PM
– Tue May 31, 12:44 pm ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority is facing a financial crisis because funds pledged by donor nations are not arriving on time, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday.Speaking at a press conference with Japan's representative to the Palestinian Authority, Fayyad said the slow delivery of promised aid was putting pressure on the government.The financial crisis continues until now, to varying degrees, and has continued alongside the work of the Palestinian Authority since mid-2010,Fayyad warned, saying the government was facing a serious shortfall.We need to see an acceleration in the receipt of aid that has been committed,he added, stressing that the Palestinians are not asking for anything more than what we need.In 2011, we have been receiving $52.5 million dollars a month from the Arab countries, which is much less than the amount they committed to deliver,he said.The Palestinian Authority is largely reliant on foreign donors to make up its yearly budget. It also receives tax and tariff revenue that is collected by Israel and delivered periodically.Earlier this month, Israel halted the payments temporarily in response to a reconciliation deal between the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, and rival Islamist group Hamas, which runs Gaza.
The move, which violates international accords signed by Israel, provoked international criticism and Israel agreed shortly afterwards to resume the funds transfers.
Israeli military says will stop new Gaza flotilla
– Tue May 31, 12:38 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's top general said on Tuesday the military is making preparations to stop a new aid flotilla that pro-Palestinian groups plan to dispatch in late June to the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.In the Gaza Strip, its Hamas rulers marked the first anniversary of a deadly Israeli raid on a convoy bound for the enclave by unveiling a memorial to the nine Turks killed by navy commandos who clashed with activists wielding clubs and knives.We are preparing for the flotilla in accordance with the orders of the Israeli government, Lieutenant-General Benny Ganz, the military's chief of staff, was quoted by an official as telling a parliamentary committee.We are preparing to stop it.The official, who briefs reporters on the deliberations of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, did not elaborate on Ganz's testimony.Israeli media have reported that commandos were revising their tactics in the wake of the May 31, 2010 raid that strained Israel's relations with Turkey and drew international criticism that led to an easing of its land blockade of Gaza.
At a news conference in Turkey on Monday on the deck of the Mavi Marmara, the vessel where the confrontation occurred, a coalition of 22 pro-Palestinian activist groups called on governments to press Israel to avoid a repeat of the bloodshed.The groups said 15 ships, including the Mavi Marmara, would be in the new flotilla, carrying 1,500 people from around 100 countries, humanitarian aid and construction materials.
Turkish leaders and the activists have termed Israel's blockade illegal. Israel says the restrictions help prevent more weapons from being smuggled into Gaza, where Hamas, which has called for its destruction, has been in control since 2007.Egypt eased travel restrictions for Gaza residents on Saturday, eroding the blockade, but a spokesman for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II vowed to keep challenging it.At the Gaza memorial ceremony, Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal to governments to discourage activists from sending a new flotilla.We deplore these comments and we demand they be withdrawn, Haniyeh said, urging the United Nations to carry out its duties and commitments toward an occupied people.Organizers of the convoy, he said, must press ahead and not hesitate, for the sake of their brothers in Gaza.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)
WE IN CANADA WILL BE IN TROUBLE FOR JOINING THIS ISRAEL HATER MURDER CREW.GOD WILL NOT STAND FOR US GOING AGAINST ISRAEL.
Canadians to join Gaza flotilla despite warnings
– Mon May 30, 4:40 pm ET
OTTAWA (AFP) – A group representing 200 Canadian organizations vowed on Monday to send a boat to the Gaza Strip as part of the second Freedom Flotilla despite Ottawa's warnings against provocative aid deliveries.The Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) is dismissing Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird's misinformation about the upcoming flotilla, and is promising to sail with the Freedom Flotilla II next month, the group said in a statement.CBG views Minister Baird's statement as an attempt to abdicate the Canadian government?s obligation to ensure the safety of the Canadians who will be on board the flotilla, including the Canadian boat Tahrir and to justify, in advance, any crimes Israel may commit against peaceful unarmed civilians from Canada and all over the world, as it did a year ago tomorrow,it added.CBG claims to have the support of thousands of Canadians and some 200 local non-profit organizations.Baird warned Sunday against Canadian involvement in the flotilla that organizers say will leave in June for the blockaded Gaza Strip, saying he urged those wishing to deliver humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip to do so through established channels.Unauthorized efforts to deliver aid are provocative and, ultimately, unhelpful to the people of Gaza,he said.On May 31, 2010, Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of an international aid flotilla bound for Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists in international waters and drawing international condemnation.Israel has long claimed that attempts to breach the naval blockade are political rather than genuinely humanitarian.It has also offered to transfer any bona fide aid shipments directly to Gaza, provided it can inspect the cargo to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas and other militant groups.
Palestinian government deal by June 6: Shaath
– Sun May 29, 1:00 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas expect to agree the make-up of a transitional government of independents by June 6, senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said on Sunday.Speaking at a news conference after meeting Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, Shaath declined to discuss potential ministers in the new government, which is mandated by a surprise unity deal signed by the two groups last month.It's not my role to talk about the candidates,he said, pointing out that a joint committee was studying potential ministers.There will be agreement between the parties on all the names by June 6, he said.Bitter rivals for decades, Hamas and Fatah are working to overcome their differences under the terms of a surprise reconciliation deal signed in Cairo last month.The accord calls on the two sides to work towards integrating their rival security forces and reforming the Palestine Liberation Organisation.It also mandates legislative and presidential elections within a year, with a transitional government of independents being formed to lay the groundwork for the votes.Shaath said on Sunday that the two sides were close to resolving another thorny issue -- political prisoners.
Hamas and Fatah have routinely arrested each other's members, with each side accusing the other of mistreatment and arbitrary detention.The reconciliation deal calls for the release of all political prisoners from the two sides, and Shaath said political arrests had already been halted.He said he expected that the two groups would close the political arrests file soon.There is full agreement on that, he said.The number of prisoners remaining in detention has shrunk and the file will be closed in upcoming days in accordance with the (unity) agreement,Shaath said.He gave no details about any planned prisoner releases.The reconciliation deal signed by the two parties aims to end years of bitter rivalry that boiled over in 2007, a year after Hamas won a surprise victory in legislative elections, culminating in street battles between the two groups in Gaza.Hamas routed Fatah, seizing control of the Gaza Strip and leaving Abbas's party to run a parallel government unable to extend control beyond the West Bank.
Arab League backs Palestinian statehood bid
– Sun May 29, 3:05 am ET
CAIRO – The Arab League has endorsed a Palestinian bid to seek recognition at the United Nations of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.The League says it will prepare documents to support the bid at the next General Assembly meeting in September in New York. Egypt's official MENA news agency says the announcement came after an Arab ministerial meeting in Qatar late on Saturday.The move pits the League against the United States and Israel, which oppose the Palestinian bid. The idea for the Palestinian push came after the collapse of the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.The Palestinians now hope for a U.N. recognition this fall of a state that would include the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Mideast war.
Egypt eases travel restrictions for Gaza travelers
By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Sat May 28, 6:27 pm ET
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – Egypt eased travel restrictions for residents of Gaza Saturday, eroding a blockade of the Palestinian territory imposed by Israel to isolate its Islamist Hamas rulers.Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979 but whose interim military rulers want to improve relations with Palestinians, allowed nearly 300 Gazans to enter its territory at the Rafah crossing in the first hour after it opened.By the end of the day, 450 travelers had crossed into Egypt. Only 23 were turned back because of Egyptian security concerns, a Palestinian border official said.The official said 450 was the total number of people able to cross in a day and a half last week.The Rafah crossing, Gaza's only door to the outside world not controlled by Israel, will operate six days a week instead of five and will open two hours longer per day.I believe this a unique move and positive development, said Ghazi Hamad, Hamas's deputy foreign minister.Israel maintains a tight blockade of the Gaza Strip because Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state and calls for its destruction.Israel allows most commercial goods to be brought into the Gaza Strip through land border crossings but limits the import of construction material it says could be used by Hamas to produce weapons or fortifications. It lets out a small number of Gazans, mainly for medical treatment.Weapons and consumer goods have been smuggled for years through tunnels that run under the Gaza-Egypt border.
LOOSER TRAVEL RULES
Under Egypt's new travel guidelines, women, minors and men over 40 no longer require a visa to enter the country, meaning hundreds more passengers will be able to cross every day.Previously, the terminal could cope with no more than 300 outgoing passengers per day and Hamad said with streamlined coordination he expected the daily numbers to triple.We will cooperate with Egyptian brothers to make sure the new arrangements get implemented smoothly and accurately ... We even hope that 1,000 people will be able to cross every day,Hamad, who oversees work at the crossing, told Reuters.Palestinians say the Egyptian move marks a new era in relations after the February removal in an uprising of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who helped preserve the blockade and sided with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's rival.Egypt brokered a reconciliation pact between Hamas and Fatah signed earlier this month to end a four-year feud in a move which Palestinians hope will lead to the formation of a unity government and elections within a year.Nabil Shaath, a senior Fatah official visiting the Gaza Strip, said the easing of travel for Gazans came as a result of the reconciliation deal which has made the job easier for Cairo ... as now they are dealing with one (Palestinian) entity.We are very happy, it was a brave decision by Egypt to open the crossing and to dismantle the prison imposed by Israel on the people (of Gaza),he said.The blockade has compounded poverty in the territory of 1.5 million. It was eased by Israel in the wake of an international outcry a year ago after it killed nine pro-Palestinian Turks in confrontations during a commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.Israel has said it hopes Cairo will not heed Hamas demands to allow commercial goods through the crossing, saying it fears more arms will be smuggled into the territory.Shaath rejected the fears: Opening this door does not mean Egypt wants to allow bombs and explosives ... Egypt wants to allow safe passage of individuals who want to conduct their lives.(Additional reporting by Ahmed El-Shemi in Rafah, Egypt; Editing by David Cowell)
