Palestinians: Talks with Israel won't stop UN bid
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press – Thu Jun 23, 9:19 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – The Palestinians will seek membership as an independent state at the U.N. in September even if peace negotiations with Israel are underway, the Palestinian U.N. envoy said Thursday.Riyad Mansour said the Palestinians are working on three separate tracks — restarting negotiations, completing the institutions for an independent state and gaining additional recognition for a Palestinian state.If we succeed in opening the door for negotiations, we're not going to stop from attaining what belongs to us as Palestinians in this General Assembly starting on Sept. 20, Mansour told reporters after the Security Council's monthly meeting on the Mideast. Whether we succeed in the negotiations or we don't, the other two tracks are continuing.Mansour dismissed speculation that the Palestinians would decide against taking action to promote an independent Palestinian state and U.N. membership at the annual gathering of world leaders and ministers at the General Assembly.Some Palestinians have said privately that the project is problematic and promises a messy and unclear outcome that could change little on the ground — and might backfire politically or even spark new violence if Palestinians emerge disappointed with the result.U.N. membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council — which means no veto by the United States, Israel's closest ally — and approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly, or 128 countries. The U.S. has repeatedly said there should be a negotiated peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians before Palestine becomes a U.N. member state.Earlier this month, U.S. officials told a visiting Palestinian delegation that seeking U.N. recognition in the absence of a peace deal was a nonstarter — the latest indication that the U.S. would veto a resolution at the Security Council.Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor told reporters that doing anything unilateral would not be constructive.The Palestinians insist they will not resume peace talks until Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — lands it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which the Palestinians want for their future state. Israel maintains that the Palestinians should not set conditions for talks and that settlements didn't stop them negotiating in the past.
Mansour criticized Israel for refusing to halt settlement building and agree to resume negotiations based on 1967 borders, with agreed land swaps, as U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed.Israel's Prosor said I think both sides are working together now to find ways to go into direct negotiations.I know that unilateral steps don't bring anything constructive, but on the contrary, he said,so we all should try and work as much as we can with the time that we have in order to set down with the difficult issues that we still have to address.Mansour wouldn't say exactly what the Palestinians will do at the U.N. in September. Asked when the Palestinians would submit an application for U.N. membership to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he replied: When we are ready.He predicted that more than two-thirds of the 192 U.N. member states would recognize an independent Palestinian state before September, up from around 120 countries at present.Then, we want to know if there is a position in the Security Council of depriving us of our natural right and legal right to join the community of nations as a state, he said.What would be the argument if more than two-thirds of nations are supporting us in that endeavor?Mansour said he believes this year the Palestinians are facing a historic moment because the international community is sick and tired of the continuation of this conflict.No one can stop the wheel of history that is rotating,he said.They want to see it ending — and it has to be ending on the basis of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel determined to halt Gaza flotilla: UN envoy
by Pierre-Antoine Donnet – Thu Jun 23, 1:22 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Israel is determined to stop an activist flotilla that will try to reach the besieged Gaza Strip next week, the country's UN envoy said Thursday.
Setting off a new dispute with his Palestinian counterpart, ambassador Ron Prosor said:Israel is determined to stop this flotilla. Israel has the right to self defense.He called the protest a provocation.The flotilla has nothing constructive -- there is nothing humanitarian or anything that has to do with Palestinian welfare in the organizing of this flotilla,he told reporters as the UN Security Council held talks on the Middle East including the flotilla.Prosor called the organizers extremists.About 10 boats are to take part in the flotilla which is set to leave 13 months after Israeli commandos halted a previous aid armada heading for Gaza, killing nine people, mainly Turkish nationals.A group of pro-Palestinian activists, led by several Turkish groups, have said they plan to sail to Gaza, mainly from Greek ports, in a repeat of the mission violently halted on May 31 last year.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a number of governments have warned the flotilla not to start. The US government has warned its nationals against taking part in the protest.Israel has strongly urged Turkey to block the flotilla from leaving. The United Nations has said that aid shipments should be sent through formal UN structures.The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyadh Mansour, spoke up for the flotilla protest however. If this blockade of Gaza was lifted there might not be the need for many of the things which are happening and might happen, he told reporters.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2006 after militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. A ban on civilian goods and foodstuffs was eased last year but many restrictions remain in place.Mansour rejected the Israeli envoy's condemnation of Palestinian moves to seek international recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September. Prosor said the unilateral action risked putting back peace efforts.The biggest illegal action we have seen for a long time is the illegal settlement campaign by Israel against our people, Mansour said.Palestinians were ready to negotiate on final status issues with Israel, he said. Our independence is not one of these six final status issues.
Americans warned against sailing in Gaza flotilla
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press – Wed Jun 22, 2:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The State Department is warning Americans against participating in an international flotilla aimed at breaking Israel's sea blockade of the Palestinian Gaza Strip.In a new travel advisory for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, the department says the Gaza coast is dangerous and volatile.The advisory notes that the Israeli navy has stopped previous attempts to enter Gaza by sea, and that's resulted in deaths, injuries and arrests.The U.S. says those participating may face arrest, prosecution and deportation. Israeli authorities say they will seek to ban anyone attempting to break the blockade from traveling to Israel for 10 years.A group of 36 U.S. citizens has announced plans to sail aboard a U.S.-flagged vessel in a flotilla to this month to challenge the blockade.
Palestine may be partner: Council of Europe assembly head – Wed Jun 22, 1:56 pm ET
STRASBOURG, France (AFP) – The Palestinian National Council could this year gain partner for democracy status at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based body said Wednesday.The assembly's Turkish head, Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking as Morocco gained the same status, said he hoped that during our next session (in October) we shall also be able to grant the Partner for Democracy status to Palestine and that other countries will soon apply.The Council introduced the new status last year to strengthen cooperation with parliaments of non-member states that wish to participate in debates that transcend European borders.The Palestinian National Council, the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization, officially applied for the status last November.Tiny Kox, the Dutch rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the case, visited the Palestinian territories in March when he invited president Mahmud Abbas to address the European body, which may happen at the October session.The partnership status allows parliamentary delegates from countries from the southern Mediterranean, the Middle East and Central Asia to take part in PACE's activities, though without the right to vote -- which is reserved for parliamentarians from the 47 Council of Europe member states.Morocco on Tuesday became the first parliament to receive the recognition which comes with certain obligations.These include the holding of free and fair elections and working for the total abolition of the death penalty.Kox recently hailed the signing in Cairo of a reconciliation agreement between feuding Palestinian groups.Three countries have a separate observer status at the PACE; Canada, Mexico and Israel.
Saudis give $70m for Palestinian housing in Gaza
– Wed Jun 22, 1:20 pm ET
AMMAN, Jordan – A U.N. agency aiding Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia is contributing $70 million for new housing units in the Gaza Strip.Israel has authorized construction of the 1,200 new homes and 18 badly needed schools in Gaza, in what would be one of the largest housing projects in the seaside territory in years.Israel, which controls the cargo crossings into Gaza, has largely banned the entry of construction materials into the coastal strip since Hamas militants seized control in 2007. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday that the test of Israel's decision would be whether it allows thousands of trucks to ferry building material into Gaza's border town of Rafah, where the houses are to be built.The Israeli military said it had no objections to Saudi funding for the project, as long as international groups were overseeing the construction.Japan is also funding the project.
Israeli leaders test nuclear bunker in defense drill
By Dan Williams – Wed Jun 22, 8:22 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli leaders holed up in a new underground nuclear bunker on Wednesday as part of annual maneuvers to prepare for a possible missile war with Iran, Syria and their Lebanese and Palestinian guerrilla allies.Officials said it was the first time the security cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had tested the National Management Center carved out beneath the government complex in Jerusalem over the past decade.The bunker includes living quarters as well as command facilities. It can be accessed through the western foothills leading to the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv.This is the proper place from which to run the State of Israel in wartime, Homefront Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio in an interview.Israel instituted increasingly sweeping civil defense drills after the 2006 Lebanon war in which Hezbollah fighters fired thousands of short-range rockets at its northern towns.There have been similar salvoes from Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to the south, and Israeli officials say a future war could involve non-conventional missile strikes by Syria and Iran.Wednesday's exercise, dubbed Turning Point 5, envisaged heavy shelling and thousands of dead and wounded on several Israeli fronts. Police and medics practiced mass-casualty incidents and air raid sirens were scheduled to sound twice.It is certainly an extreme scenario (although) we assume that our enemies would not dare to operate this way, given our deterrent power,Vilnai said.
Reputed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, Israel bombed an Iraqi reactor in 1981 under what it called a policy of denying foes the means to threaten its destruction.Israel launched a similar sortie against Syria in 2007 but its veiled threats to tackle Iran's remote and fortified uranium enrichment sites have often been dismissed as bluster given the tactical challenges involved. World powers say they prefer a negotiated resolution with Iran, which denies seeking the bomb.
Disclosures of the Jerusalem bunker's existence prompted some Israelis to question whether their country, which has also been developing an elaborate ballistic missile shield, was taking a more passive approach to potential nuclear threats.Officials say that providing Israeli leaders with a secret haven from which to respond to attacks would in itself discourage, or at least contain, any future war.(Editing by Alison Williams)
Syria regime lashes out at EU over sanctions
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press – Wed Jun 22, 3:51 pm ET
BEIRUT – The Syrian regime, besieged by street protests at home and condemnation abroad, on Wednesday lashed out at European governments for threatening a new round of sanctions and accused the West of trying to sow chaos and conflict in the Arab nation.But Foreign Minister Walid Moallem also reiterated the president's call for national dialogue and spoke of democracy over the horizon — a bold assertion after more than four decades of iron-fisted rule by the Assad family and months of bloody reprisals.It was the regime's latest attempt to blunt three months of widespread demonstrations, a movement that was inspired by pro-democracy upheavals elsewhere in the Mideast and that has persisted despite the reported killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces. A skeptical opposition rejected the overture while the Syrian military is occupying towns and shooting protesters. Seven were reported killed on Tuesday.An official said the European Union is planning to hit the Syrian regime with more sanctions, targeting seven more individuals and four companies in a bid to stop the crackdown against protests. That would bring to 34 the number of Syrian individuals and entities that are hit with an asset freeze and travel ban.
The EU official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The 27-member bloc also has an embargo on sales of arms and equipment that can be used to suppress demonstrations.Moallem said the suggestion amounts to (an act) of war and warned we will forget that Europe is on the map.Stop intervening in Syria's affairs, do not stir chaos nor strife, the Syrian people ... are capable of making their own future away from you,he said.Any external intervention is rejected.
The televised statements by the longtime trusted Assad aide also went beyond the vague promises of reform made Monday by President Bashar Assad and amounted to a rare official admission that Syria has ignored basic democratic principles.In his speech, President Assad had said he was forming a committee to study constitutional amendments, including one that would open the way to political parties other than the ruling Baath Party. He said a package of reforms was expected by September or no later than the end of the year.Moallem added a promise that the Damascus government would soon present an unprecedented example of democracy in the troubled Middle East.
There will be social justice, equality before the law and accountability,he said, when asked about his vision for Syria in three months. But he gave no specifics.
Moallem called for regime opponents to enter into political talks, and urged Syrian exiles to return, pledging that even the harshest opponent of the regime will not be arrested.Whoever wants to test our seriousness should come to the national dialogue to be a partner in shaping the future,he said.But a prominent dissident rejected the idea of talks.There can be no dialogue when a gun is being held to your head, Damascus-based activist Hassan Abdul-Azim said.Responding to Moallem's statements, the dissident Abdul-Azim said dialogue was impossible with the regime's security forces still cracking down on dissent. Such a dialogue would provide a cover for the security crackdown,he told The Associated Press.That view was echoed at the highest level of the United Nations later Wednesday, when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told New York reporters he didn't see much credibility in the Assad statements because the situation has been continuing.The U.N. chief suggested unified Security Council action to pressure Syria would be helpful.Russia and China have opposed such action.
The U.S. State Department also demanded action instead of words, saying the status quo was unacceptable.They've thrown around a lot of rhetoric, and meanwhile, they've used unremitting violence against innocent civilians,State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.Syria dissidents noted that previous talk of reform has produced little change in Syria's autocratic system.We are not against dialogue in principle, but we currently have no confidence or guarantees that anything would be implemented, said London-based Syrian activist Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human RightsAmong the opposition's demands is the withdrawal of Syrian troops from cities, trials for security personnel responsible for killing protesters and the release of all political prisoners.The opposition estimates 1,400 people have been killed and 10,000 detained in the attempted suppression of the 3-month-old pro-democracy movement, which was inspired by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers have also been killed.Activists said the sweeping arrests have continued even after Assad's speech. Abdul-Rahman and others said dozens of students were beaten and others detained, including female students, during a raid at Damascus University dormitories Tuesday night.Abdul-Azim said the scattered opposition movement would announce within a week the formation of a National Coordination Council for democratic change, encompassing all groups inside and outside Syria.The foreign minister sounded confident there would be no Western military intervention or no-fly zone over Syria, saying the international community is mired in the scandals of its military intervention in Libya.Moallem added that Arab countries without exception support Damascus. The Arab League on Monday issued a statement of support for Syria and opposition to foreign intervention there.
Moallem also denied that Syrian allies Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement are helping the Damascus regime put down unrest. The U.S. has accused Iran of sending reinforcements and equipment to Syria.Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Brussels and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.Zeina Karam can be reached on http://twitter.com/zkaram
Israel allows new Palestinian housing in Gaza
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – Tue Jun 21, 3:06 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel has authorized construction of 1,200 new homes for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in what would be one of the largest housing projects in the troubled seaside territory in years, military authorities said Tuesday.The body that coordinates Israeli activities in the Palestinian areas said it has authorized the construction of the 1,200 homes, as well as 18 badly needed schools, in southern Gaza.Israel, which controls the cargo crossings into Gaza, has largely banned the entry of construction materials into the coastal strip since Hamas militants seized control of the area in 2007. Israel fears items like cement, metal and glass could be used for military purposes by Gaza's Hamas rulers.Gaza's construction needs are dire, especially following an Israeli military offensive against Hamas two and a half years ago. The United Nations estimates that 60,000 homes were damaged or destroyed during the three-week operation.Israel has sporadically approved a series of housing projects since that war, but U.N. officials say the limited approvals, combined with the slow entry of materials into the territory, have done little to alleviate the situation.U.N. officials said Defense Minister Ehud Barak relayed the decision to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation on Monday.
Ban's Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, welcomed the significant step.We will continue to work together with the relevant U.N. agencies to implement these projects in a timely fashion so as to improve the situation in Gaza,Serry said.Officials with UNRWA, the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees, said it was important that Israel follow through and allow large quantities of construction materials into Gaza.
Adnan Abu Hassna, a spokesman for the U.N. agency, said the approval would allow two major housing projects in southern Gaza. He said they would replace homes that were demolished by Israel's military in 2003 and 2004, a period of heavy fighting between the Jewish state and Palestinian militants. He said the projects are being funded by Saudi Arabia and Japan.We are now waiting for practical steps to allow thousands of trucks loaded with construction materials to enter, which will allow us to start the building process needed to ease the lives of thousands of families,he said.He said the new schools would alleviate a crunch that has forced students to attend U.N. schools in three shifts throughout the day.Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.
Israel to let $100 million of building goods into Gaza – Tue Jun 21, 1:59 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has approved the building of $100 million worth of new houses and schools in the Gaza Strip, Israeli and U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
Israel, together with Egypt, tightened a blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists seized it from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.Guy Inbar, a military spokesman, said Israel had given the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) the green light to bring building materials for 18 new schools and 1,200 new houses into the Hamas-controlled territory.He said the approval was immediate and the process could begin as soon as UNRWA was ready.I welcome this significant step and I hope it will happen in a timely fashion, said U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry.Israel says its Gaza blockade, which prevents many needed supplies from entering the Strip, stops weapons from reaching Hamas, a militant group that refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and frequently fires cross-border rockets.Palestinians believe the Israeli sea blockade is illegal and say it is helping to strangle the underdeveloped Gazan economy.Israel has made clear it will prevent a planned pro-Palestinian aid flotilla from reaching Gaza. A year ago, nine Turkish activists, including one with dual U.S.-Turkish nationality, were killed in an Israeli raid on a similar convoy.
Israel, calling the new flotilla a provocation, has stepped up diplomatic efforts to block it. Organizers say the sea convoy, which they hope will set sail this month, will carry humanitarian aid and construction materials.One foreign diplomat, speaking anonymously, suggested that Tuesday's approval for UNRWA to deliver housing materials may have been an Israeli attempt to undercut the rationale for sending another flotilla.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch, Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Palestinian leader in Turkey for talks
– Tue Jun 21, 1:20 pm ET
ANKARA (AFP) – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas arrived here Tuesday for talks with Turkish leaders amid disagreements over the formation of a Palestinian unity government, officials said.Abbas will have a private programme before talks with Turkish leaders on Thursday and Friday, a Turkish diplomat told AFP, without elaborating.The Palestinian leader is to meet with President Abdullah Gul on Thursday, a presidential aide said.He will also hold talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.Bilateral relations with Palestine will be discussed during the talks, and consultations will take place on the situation in Palestine and the Middle East peace process following the national compromise between Fatah and Hamas, the presidency said in a statement.On Sunday, a Palestinian official cited the trip among the reasons for the indefinite postponement of a meeting between Abbas, who heads Fatah, and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, which had been scheduled for Tuesday in Cairo.
The two were to have finalised the formation of a unity government.But other officials said later that disagreement over who should be the next Palestinian premier were holding up the creation of an interim government of independents agreed last month between old rivals Fatah and Hamas.The Cairo meeting was postponed due to Hamas opposition to the reappointment of Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad, they said.Under the unity deal signed in May, Fatah and Hamas must agree on independent figures to make up a government that will lay the groundwork for legislative and presidential elections within a year.Turkey has sought to mediate in efforts to reconcile the two factions, braving Israel's ire over contacts with Hamas.The Islamist-rooted government in Ankara insists that peace cannot be achieved in the Middle East if Hamas is excluded from the process.
