Olmert says was ready to sign Palestinian peace deal Sun Mar 15, 9:38 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that his government had been ready to sign a peace deal with the Palestinians but that they had lacked the courage to do so.The peace negotiations with the Palestinians had made a big step forward and were more interesting and deeper than any talks held in the past by any government, including (then premier, now outgoing Defence Minister) Ehud Barak at Camp David (in the United States in 2000), Olmert said.The fact that we haven't reached one (a peace agreement) so far is due to the weakness and lack of courage on the part of the Palestinian leaders, he told the weekly cabinet meeting, likely to be one of his last.We were ready to sign a peace deal but the Palestinians unfortunately did not have the courage to do so,he said.A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas slammed the remarks.What Olmert says is entirely false, Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.The proposals (during the talks) did not include conditions for the creation of an independent Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied in 1967 with east Jerusalem as its capital.Israel did not present a single map and not a single serious position that could lead to a real peace on the base of two states,he said.
In November, Abbas charged that he had been unable to reach agreement with Israel on a single issue in 12 months of negotiations.Olmert hailed the work done by outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has led the Israeli side in the talks since their relaunch at a conference in the United States in November 2007 but who looks set to go into opposition as right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu forms a new government after last month's general election.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni headed the negotiating team and did a great amount of work that was detailed and complex and that has never been done before,he said.I have no doubt that any future government will not be able to hold negotiations without the groundwork laid by Tzipi Livni.
Olmert reiterated that Israel will have to make dramatic and painful concessions to reach a peace agreement.The outgoing premier has repeatedly irked Israeli nationalists by insisting that the Jewish state needs to share Jerusalem in any final peace deal with the Palestinians.The revival of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in 2007 came after the Islamist Hamas movement ousted forces loyal to Abbas from Gaza in June of that year, effectively confining his writ to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Nothing new in Bin Laden tape: US official Sat Mar 14, 2:50 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Saturday downplayed the latest audio recording by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, saying there was nothing new about the tape.In the recording, broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden accused moderate Arab leaders of being complicit with Israel and the West against Muslims.Al-Qaeda addresses these themes with some frequency and at this point, there doesn't appear to be anything new here,a US counterterrorism official told AFP.These are well-worn themes for Al-Qaeda.Stressing the lack of correlation between past recordings and Al-Qaeda attacks, the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said: I wouldn't read too much into the timing of the release either.In the tape, bin Laden said it has become clear that some Arab leaders were complicit with the Crusader-Zionist alliance against our people. These are the leaders that America calls moderate,without naming them.He called on jihadists to liberate Iraq from the US army and then launch attacks on Israel from Jordan.Our state after the Gaza (offensive) should not be the same as our state before it. We should work hard and prepare for jihad (holy war) in order to bring about what is right, said the Al-Qaeda leader, who carries a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head.
A US State Department official pointed to the comments as an example of the terror group's violent ideology.Al-Qaeda's message is always one that advocates murder and destruction,he told AFP.The undisputable fact is they murder indiscriminately women and children, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.The audio tape, the authenticity of which could not be verified, was the second by bin Laden in as many months in which he focused on the 22-day Israeli offensive on Gaza that killed over 1,300 Palestinians.
Two Gaza rockets hit Israel: military Sat Mar 14, 3:47 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Two rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip slammed into open fields in southern Israel overnight, without causing any casualties or damage, the Israeli military said on Saturday.The two Qassam-type devices were fired from the northern Gaza Strip and landed in the western Negev, a military spokeswoman said, referring to the crude, homemade rockets used by Palestinian armed groups.Gaza militants have fired more than 160 rockets and mortar rounds on Israel since the end of a massive Israeli offensive at the turn of the year aimed at halting the projectiles, shaking the ceasefires that ended the fighting.Israel has in turn launched several air strikes at suspected militants, weapons caches, and smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border.On Thursday Hamas said the resistance movements had nothing to do with the recent rocket fire and vowed to combat such activities, saying they came at a bad time.Egypt has been struggling since the war ended in January to mediate a more lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and a prisoner exchange to return an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza militants in June 2006.The Islamist movement has ruled Gaza since June 2007, when it violently drove out forces loyal to the Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas.
Nine nations agree plan to combat arms flow to Gaza By Adrian Croft – Fri Mar 13, 5:51pm ET
LONDON (Reuters) – The United States, Canada and seven European nations agreed Friday to try to stop the flow of weapons to Gaza by methods such as interception at sea, information sharing and diplomatic pressure.Experts from the nine nations, meeting in London, agreed on a program of action to prevent arms reaching the Palestinian enclave bordering the Mediterranean, a senior British diplomat said.But states are not obliged to join any particular action and the diplomat said that naval vessels would not use force.Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway signed up to the program, the diplomat said.Stopping the flow of arms is seen as a crucial part of international efforts to bring a durable ceasefire to Gaza and persuade Israel to lift tough restrictions on humanitarian and reconstruction aid reaching the Palestinian territory.The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the program set guidelines for steps countries could take under international law. What it does is provide a platform to start some form of practical cooperation, he said.Israel and Hamas ordered ceasefires on January 18 after a 22-day Israeli offensive against the Islamist group which controls the territory. A Palestinian human rights group said this week 1,434 Gazans, including 960 civilians, were killed.
Thirteen Israelis were killed during the offensive, which Israel said it launched to force Hamas to stop firing rockets and mortars at southern Israeli towns.The program read out by the diplomat says the nine countries, all NATO members, will take action, to the extent that national legal authorities permit and consistent with international law, to support interdiction efforts.Such efforts may include enquiry, boarding, searching, stopping, seizing, or other efforts necessary to prevent transfers of arms, ammunition and weapons components,it said, but added that naval ships would not use force.The program proposes sharing information about points of origin, carriers and transit routes of suspected arms shipments to Gaza, and cooperation to put diplomatic pressure on countries involved to stop weapons reaching Gaza.(Editing by Tim Pearce)
Hezbollah chief vows to never recognise Israel Fri Mar 13, 4:55 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Friday his movement would never recognise Israel, rejecting a US precondition for dialogue with the group it considers a terrorist organisation.To those who impose conditions on us, we say: We will never recognise Israel, he said in a speech during celebrations to recognise the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.The White House said Tuesday that both Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah must renounce violence and recognise Israel before they can expect even low-level US engagement.We reject the American conditions ... Today, tomorrow and after 1,000 years and even until the end of time, as long as Hezbollah exists, it will never recognise Israel, Nasrallah said.A senior US official said Thursday he was unhappy with a British decision to open low-level contact with Hezbollah and suggested London only indirectly informed the new US administration ahead of time.Nasrallah also saluted recent moves to smooth over Arab differences, with Saudi Arabia and Egypt seeking to improve ties with Syria, which has supported Hezbollah.All Arab reconciliation reinforces us, he said.
He called for Riyadh and Cairo to extend a hand to Iran, Hezbollah's main backer.A Hezbollah-led alliance has veto power over major decisions in the current unity government formed in July following a political crisis that brought Lebanon to the brink of civil war.Legislative elections are set for June 7 in Lebanon.
Final Gaza toll shows 960 civilians killed: group Thu Mar 12, 8:38 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel's 22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed 1,434 people, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters, a Palestinian human rights group said Thursday.Israel carried out attacks by air, land and sea from December 27 to January 18 in a bid, it said, to force Hamas and other militant Islamist groups to stop firing rockets and mortars at southern Israeli towns across their border.The Palestinian Center for Human Rights' investigations reveal that throughout the course of the assault, Israeli Occupation Forces used excessive, indiscriminate force, in violation of the principle of distinction, the group said in a report (www.pchrgaza.org).The principle of distinction obliges all parties to the conflict to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.An Israeli military spokesman said the army had made every effort to minimize harm to the civilian population" during the fighting.The army said it telephoned warnings in advance to urge residents to leave combat zones. The army statement rejected the charges it had set out to intentionally harm civilians calling the allegations absurd and false.
The group said it would publish a list of the identities of those killed next week and would post them on its website in Arabic, with an English version to follow.It said the disproportionately high rate of death amongst the civilian population, when compared to that of resistance fighters was evidence that Israeli forces had not respected this principle.The rights group said 288 children and 121 women were among civilians killed in the bombing and shelling.The Ministry of Health have also confirmed that a total of 5,303 Palestinians were injured in the assault, including 1,606 children and 828 women, it said.It called for an international investigation into crimes committed by the Israeli forces and Israel's conduct of hostilities and prosecution of all political and military officials accused.The Israeli military statement questioned why the rights group had not made references to Israeli charges that Hamas had used civilians as human shields.During the offensive, 13 Israelis were killed, including 3 by rockets fired into Israel.Israeli media have quoted officers as saying there was far less resistance from Islamist gunmen than they had expected. A Palestinian opinion poll this week showed Hamas had gained significantly in popularity since the war.(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Matthew Jones)
US discontent over British contact with Hezbollah by Lachlan Carmichael – Thu Mar 12, 7:09 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior US official said Thursday he was unhappy with a British decision to open low-level contact with Hezbollah and suggested London only indirectly informed the new administration ahead of time.The remarks contrasted with those last week from the State Department which said US officials had been informed about the move in advance and gave no sign of displeasure -- even if Washington was not ready to follow London's lead.The senior US government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to a group of journalists in Washington, clearly expressed discomfort with the British decision.He said he would like the British to explain to him the difference between the political, military and social wings of Hezbollah because we don?t see a difference between the integrated leadership that they see.
In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said March 6 that Britain had authorized low-level contact with the political wing of Lebanon's Hezbollah to stress the urgency of disbanding militias.He underscored the need to curb Shiite-led Iran's influence with the Shiite Muslim militant group and others in the region in a statement immediately hailed by Hezbollah.The US government official, when asked if London consulted Washington ahead of time, replied: I would say informed under a previous administration is a more accurate description.He was apparently referring to the administration of president George W. Bush, which was succeeded January 20 by that of President Barack Obama.The official also objected to the glorification in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut of Imad Mugnieh, a Hezbollah commander who was killed in a car bombing in February 2008 that the movement blamed on Israel.For years Hezbollah denied having any knowledge of Imad Mugnieh, for years Hezbollah pretended that Imad Mugnieh and that whole era of Hezbollah was not really Hezbollah, it was something else,the official said.And now all over south Beirut are all these posters extolling the virtues of Imad Mugnieh, said the official of the man who made America's most wanted list for his role in anti-US and anti-Israeli attacks in the 1980s and 1990s.When a journalist suggested he did not sound happy with the British decision, he replied: No.Last week, Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman said we are not ready to take the same step that the British took, declining to either praise or criticize it.However, the Obama administration, which has talked about engaging states hostile to the United States, seemed interested in the results of the British contacts with Hezbollah when Duguid said we will watch how that proceeds.And in sharp contrast to the senior government official, a State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity last week that Washington envisioned possible benefits from the British decision.
AP names 2 editors for Mideast regional desk Thu Mar 12, 12:58 pm ET
NEW YORK – The Associated Press named two veteran editors to key positions on the newly created Middle East regional desk in Cairo Thursday as it seeks to further strengthen breaking news and enterprise coverage across the volatile region.Marjorie Olster will assume the new position of day supervisor, overseeing coverage of breaking news on the Middle East desk, which fields stories from the Arab world, Israel and Iran. Olster has been an editor and supervisor on the AP's International Desk in New York.Lee Keath, a veteran correspondent and news editor for the AP, will become Enterprise Editor, also a new position, strengthening the news cooperative's in-depth coverage across formats. He and Olster will report to Middle East Regional Editor Sally Buzbee.The announcements were made by John Daniszewski, AP's managing editor for international news.The Middle East desk is one of four regional hubs outside the United States. AP created two regional desks in the United States, the South desk in Atlanta, last year, and the East desk in Philadelphia earlier this year. Additional regional centers are to open in Chicago and Phoenix.All are designed to eliminate duplication and speed editing and coordination across text, photo and TV news.Olster, 46, has worked for AP in New York since 2004. Before that she worked as a correspondent in Jerusalem and Madrid and a business reporter in New York for Reuters. She has taught financial journalism at Columbia University and holds a master's degree from the University of Florida.Keath, 40, has served as AP's Middle East news editor since 2005 and before that as an editor on the AP's International Desk in New York. He worked as a correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Cairo, Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank before joining AP. Keath holds a degree in Middle East studies from the University of Virginia.
Egypt hosts stepped-up talks on Mideast prisoner swap by Alain Navarro – Wed Mar 11, 2:03 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt hosted closed-door talks on Wednesday on a prisoner swap between the Islamist movement Hamas and Israel that would set free soldier Gilad Shalit along with hundreds of Palestinians.For a third time in two weeks, Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel returned to Cairo on Tuesday night in an effort to nail down an elusive deal, that could pave the way for a long-term truce for the Gaza Strip.Intensive and tough negotiations are underway on the names of the Hamas prisoners to be traded for Shalit, a source close to the talks told AFP, asking not to be named.Dekel is now expected to spend a second night in Egypt and will pursue talks, in an apparent sign that things are moving,the source said later on Wednesday.He said the two sides were in a race against the clock to seal a deal before an April 3 time-limit for Israeli right-wing hardliner and prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new government.Israel has insisted that any agreement for a lasting ceasefire in and around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip depends on the release of Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian guerrillas in June 2006.Dekel is locked in talks with Egypt's intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman, who has been working to mediate a deal in the absence of direct talks between Hamas and Israel -- which boycotts the group as a terrorist outfit.The negotiations coincide with talks between rival factions including Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction to try to form a unity government that would be acceptable to the international community.The latest prisoner swap efforts coincide with a visit to Cairo by Mussa Abu Marzuk, the deputy head of Hamas's politburo, for the inter-Palestinian talks.
I don't have information on Shalit. I don't even know if he is alive or not, the Damascus-based Abu Marzuk told an Arab newspaper.Only the factions holding him know, and such information comes at a price.He said 450 convicted Islamists were up for release as well as 550 other detainees: youths, women and Hamas political figures.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, Dekel has proposed a deal for the release of 400 prisoners, including 220 with blood on their hands for anti-Israeli attacks.
There are some names of terrorists (on the list) whose release would be unacceptable for Israeli public opinion,said the source close to the talks. The question is whether Hamas is flexible enough to remove such names.He said Cairo was preparing a two-stage release: about 300 Palestinians would walk free in return for Shalit's transfer to Egypt, and he would return home once the rest are released.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
US COULD MEDIATE SYRIA-ISRAEL
Israel's Netanyahu denies asking MP to meet Syrian Wed Mar 11, 6:07 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu denies he had asked a MP from his hawkish Likud party to meet a Syrian figure, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday.We flatly deny Ayub Kara was sent on our behalf or that he transmitted a message from Netanyahu, Dina Libster told AFP.Ayub Kara, a Druze minority MP, said on Tuesday he had met an important Syrian Allawite leader who expressed interest in holding talks with Israel as Netanyahu's government was expected to be sworn in next week.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a member of the country's minority Allawite community.Likud MP Yuval Steinitz nevertheless said that the Syrian figure was a prominent exiled opponent of Assad's regime who has close ties with many Israeli officials.After a short inquiry, it appears he met my friend Farid Ghadry... he knows dozens of MPs because he visited Israel two years ago... The last thing you can say is that he is somehow connected to Syria's regime, Steinitz told AFP.Israel and Syria were engaged in indirect Turkish-brokered peace talks over several months last year until they were suspended in late December over Israel's war on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Assad says US could mediate Syria-Israel talks Wed Mar 11, 5:05 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country could hold direct peace talks with Israel if the United States acted as an arbitrator, according to an interview published on Wednesday.Assad also told Japan's Asahi Shimbun that he welcomed US President Barack Obama's new administration and wants to engage in dialogue for regional peace, but he also insisted on the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.We need the United States to act as an arbitrator when we move from the current indirect negotiations to direct negotiations (with Israel), he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Japanese-language newspaper.Syria held exploratory contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators last year about resuming peace negotiations that broke off in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau.Assad cautioned that possible progress of such talks would depend on the next Israeli administration,the Asahi said.US-Syrian ties were especially tense under former president George W. Bush, who accused Damascus of supporting terrorism, helping Iran and of turning a blind eye to the flow of arms and supplies to insurgents in Iraq.Washington has not yet taken a decision about returning its ambassador to Syria, a senior US envoy said this month after visiting Damascus to mend ties.Assad harshly criticised the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hit out at Bush for putting pressure on Syria, the Asahi said.But he also stressed his willingness to help work toward regional peace.Changes do not happen overnight, Assad was quoted saying. We must first start dialogue to clarify the shared interest, which is to achieve peace.The administration of Bush did not do that, and it only cared about the benefit of his own country.Assad welcomed the Obama administration's active engagement with Syria through sending envoys and US senators for meetings, the Asahi said.It is important that we first begin dialogue and both take part in resolving problems, he told the newspaper. It is not us who have changed. It is the Americans who have changed.To achieve regional peace, the Syrian president emphasised the importance of including major parties in the peace process, adding that he would work to bring Islamist militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah to the table.
Israel-Lebanon borders stable despite attacks By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 10, 10:56 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Southern Lebanon and northern Israel have experienced their longest period of stability in many years despite the violations of a 2006 cease-fire during the recent war in Gaza, the U.N.'s special coordinator for Lebanon said Tuesday.The cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants continues to hold but much remains to be done to fully implement Security Council resolution 1701 that ended their 34-day conflict, including disarming Hezbollah and all other militias, Michael Williams told reporters after a closed-door briefing to the U.N. Security Council.In a report to the council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the firing of rockets from southern Lebanon toward Israel during the Gaza conflict as serious violations of the cease-fire resolution. The fact that Israel returned fire without prior warning to U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon is also a cause of serious concern,he said.On the positive side, the resolution has continued to ensure a cessation of hostilities between the parties and the longest period of stability that south Lebanon has known in decades, he said.There is a stability on Israel's northern border which it has not known since the 1980s.In other positive developments, Williams said the internal political situation in Lebanon in the run-up to June 7 general elections remains good.
He also cited the establishment of diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria, and moves toward reconciliation in the Arab world which I think have an enormously positive effect on the situation on the ground in Lebanon.But Williams said there are many other issues in 1701 where very little progress has been achieved.The resolution reiterates a call for the disarming of all militias in Lebanon, bans arms transfers to any group except the Lebanese armed forces, and urges the Lebanese government to secure its borders to prevent arms smuggling.Williams said the national dialogue in Lebanon under President Michel Suleiman has had enormously beneficial effect on the country in enhancing national stability, but where the question of the disarmament of armed groups is making only slow process.He expressed hope that the government elected in June can move the issue forward.It's difficult to take the weapons out of politics. it needs to be done. it needs to be a Lebanese-led process,Williams said,
Israel bans Palestinian activist from travel By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 10, 3:57 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's Supreme Court banned a Palestinian human rights activist Tuesday from traveling to Amsterdam to receive a prize.Shawan Jabarin, the West Bank-based director of Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq, had hoped to travel to the Netherlands on Friday to receive the Geuzenpenning Prize, a human rights prize, on behalf of his group.But spokeswoman Ayelet Filo says the court ruled there was real evidence that he is involved with terror organizations, and therefore he will not be allowed to leave for security concerns.In 1985, Jabarin was convicted by an Israeli court of activity on behalf of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He served nine months in prison. Israel put him in administrative detention in 1994, charging that he was still active in the PFLP, and has stopped him from traveling several times, according to Israeli documents.Jabarin denied the charges. I have been an activist in Al-Haq since 1987, and I am not an activist for the Popular Front,Jabarin told the Israeli Haaretz daily newspaper last week.Geuzen Resistance Foundation spokeswoman Edith Kwakernaak said Tuesday the organization was shocked and disappointed.Freedom of movement is a human right, too, she said.It's a shame that he can be held prisoner in this way.
Weaken Iran to help Mideast peace: Israel PM designate by Ron Bousso – Tue Mar 10, 2:14 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu believes that weakening Iran is key to ending the Middle East conflict as it would in turn weaken Hamas, a senior aide said on Tuesday.Iran's growing power and intransigence give great advantage to the radical elements among Palestinians and in Lebanon, the aide said, when asked about talks Netanyahu held with outgoing Defence Minister Ehud Barak earlier in the day.Any progress in the Middle East peace talks will require Hamas's weakening which can be achieved only if Iran is seen as weakened, he said.Israel accuses Iran of supplying weapons to both the Islamist rulers of Gaza and Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006.
Netanyahu, a hawkish former premier who heads the right-wing Likud party, said at the meeting, which was also attended by chief of staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, that he intends to focus his efforts on ending Iran's nuclear programme.Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, suspects that the Iranian programme is cover for a weapons drive but Iran insists it is solely for peaceful purposes.It will be very difficult to stablilise the situation in Lebanon or to hold negotiations with the Palestinians as long as Iran's power is on the rise, the aide quoted Netanyahu as saying.The Likud leader, who is expected to form a narrow right-wing coalition next week, has rejected establishing a Palestinian state and has advocated what he calls an economic peace with the Palestinians.This could lead to tension with the new US administration after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that Washington intends an aggressive pursuit of Middle East peace.While expressing support for international efforts to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme by diplomatic means, Israel has repeatedly refused to rule out military action to prevent any possibility of Iran developing a bomb.The military option remains on the table because it gives more chance for dialogue that will lead to a compromise with Iran, the aide said.
US President Barack Obama has vowed to engage in dialogue with Iran in an effort to end the nuclear standoff, in a policy break with the administration of George W. Bush which refuse to deal with Tehran without a prior agreement to suspend nuclear enrichment.US intelligence chief Dennis Blair warned on Tuesday that it would be difficult to convince Iran to give up its quest for nuclear technology.Although we do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop nuclear weapons, we assess Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop them, said Blair.
Pope to visit Muslim, Jewish sites in Mideast trip By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 10, 12:55 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Pope Benedict XVI will show solidarity with Jews and Muslims during his first papal trip to the Holy Land with visits to Jerusalem's Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, the papal envoy in Jerusalem said Tuesday.Benedict announced this week that he would visit in May. His presence could help ease the sometimes rocky relations between the Vatican and Israel, and between the Vatican and Muslims.It will be his first official visit to the region since he became pope in 2005.Archbishop Antonio Franco, the papal nuncio in Jerusalem, said visits to key Jewish and Muslim holy sites would be on the pope's agenda. The Dome of the Rock is one of Islam's most sacred shrines, and the nearby Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.The intent of the Holy Father's visit is to express his solidarity and closeness to the people of Israel and Palestine, and through them all the people of this region,Franco said.Benedict will also visit Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, meet with top Palestinian and Israeli leaders and make a stop in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. The pope will end his visit by celebrating Mass in Galilee — the area in northern Israel where Jesus lived and preached.Franco said the Vatican has asked Israeli authorities to ease movement restrictions on Palestinian Christians from the blockaded Gaza Strip to allow them to attend parts of the pope's visit.The papal envoy said Benedict's tour will be a religious pilgrimage, not a political mission. Still, the visit could help mend strained relations between Israel and the Roman Catholic Church.Ties were rattled recently when Benedict tried to reinstate an excommunicated bishop who denied the Holocaust. Benedict condemned the bishop's remarks, spoke out against anti-Semitism and called off the reinstatement until the bishop satisfies his demands.The controversy came shortly after a senior Vatican Cardinal, Renato Martino, described the Gaza Strip as a big concentration camp during Israel's fierce military assault on the blockaded territory in January. The offensive was meant to halt rocket fire into Israel.
The two sides also disagree over the legacy of the wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent the Holocaust or limit its scope.We are trying to clarify the issues, Franco said.Benedict will also meet the top Muslim official in the Holy Land, Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein, who will accompany the pope into the Dome of the Rock shrine.Vatican-Muslim ties were strained by a 2006 speech in which Benedict linked Islam to violence. Amid angry reactions from the Muslim world, he expressed regret for any offense caused by his remarks.
Franco said they asked Israeli authorities allow two busloads of Palestinian Christians from Gaza to attend the pope's Mass in Bethlehem.Local Christian officials said they expected at least 40,000 people to attend the Galilee Mass, which will take place on a hilltop outside the northern Israeli city of Nazareth.Palestinian Christians are a tiny, diminishing minority in the Holy Land, their community whittled away by low birthrates and emigration.
Galloway gives cars and cash to Hamas in Gaza Tue Mar 10, 7:06 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Firebrand MP George Galloway on Tuesday donated thousands of dollars and dozens of vehicles to the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip after arriving in an aid convoy.We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine,Galloway said at a press conference in Gaza City.
Galloway said he personally would be donating three cars and 25,000 pounds to Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya as he dared the West to try to prosecute him for aiding what it considers a terror group.I say now to the British and European governments, if you want to take me to court, I promise you there is no jury in all of Britain who will convict me. They will convict you.Galloway made the announcement at an outdoor conference in the presence of several senior Hamas officials, and his words were greeted by shouts of Allahu Akbar!(God is Great).Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off to all but limited humanitarian aid since Hamas seized power in June 2007 after a week of bloody street battles with forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Despite Hamas' victory in 2006 parliamentary elections, Israel, the European Union and the United States consider the movement a terrorist organisation and have no direct contacts with the group.After arriving in Gaza on Monday, Galloway protested Israel's genocidal aggression against Gaza, referring to a massive 22-day Israeli offensive launched in December that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.
The military offensive was aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, which have continued despite a January 18 ceasefire.The convoy set out from London last month but was temporarily halted in Egypt when Cairo learned it was also bearing non-medical aid destined for the impoverished coastal territory's 1.5 million residents.The convoy included 12 ambulances and a fire engine and carried aid worth more than one million pounds.
Israel's Barak rejects joining Netanyahu cabinet Sun Mar 8, 7:44 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli defence minister and Labour party leader Ehud Barak on Sunday said he would not join a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu after the premier-designate reached a deal with an ultra-nationalist party.There is no basis for opening a dialogue on joining Labour party to join a coalition due to the sweeping adoption of the demands of Yisrael Beitenu's chairman Avigdor Lieberman, Barak was quoted as telling Netanyahu.Representatives of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and Lieberman's hardline Yisrael Beitenu party appear to have moved closer to a coalition deal in recent days, in which Lieberman would be named foreign minister.
Barak, in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, said Labour would not enter a coalition in which Lieberman -- who faces a police investigation over corruption suspicions -- would have power in the appointment of the heads of all law enforcement authorities, Barak's office said in a statement.Yisrael Beitenu was to hold several key portfolios in Netanyahu's cabinet, including the justice ministry and will also have a representative in a committee naming judges, according to media reports.
Labour suffered its worst ever showing in the February 10 election, winning just 13 seats in the 120-member parliament and slipping into fourth place after Kadima, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu.Immediately after last month's election defeat Barak indicated that Labour would join the ranks of the opposition, but he has since held several talks with Netanyahu to the great ire of many of his party members.Media reports suggested Barak wants to retain his post as defence minister.
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu denies he had asked a MP from his hawkish Likud party to meet a Syrian figure, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday.We flatly deny Ayub Kara was sent on our behalf or that he transmitted a message from Netanyahu, Dina Libster told AFP.Ayub Kara, a Druze minority MP, said on Tuesday he had met an important Syrian Allawite leader who expressed interest in holding talks with Israel as Netanyahu's government was expected to be sworn in next week.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a member of the country's minority Allawite community.Likud MP Yuval Steinitz nevertheless said that the Syrian figure was a prominent exiled opponent of Assad's regime who has close ties with many Israeli officials.After a short inquiry, it appears he met my friend Farid Ghadry... he knows dozens of MPs because he visited Israel two years ago... The last thing you can say is that he is somehow connected to Syria's regime, Steinitz told AFP.Israel and Syria were engaged in indirect Turkish-brokered peace talks over several months last year until they were suspended in late December over Israel's war on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Assad says US could mediate Syria-Israel talks Wed Mar 11, 5:05 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country could hold direct peace talks with Israel if the United States acted as an arbitrator, according to an interview published on Wednesday.Assad also told Japan's Asahi Shimbun that he welcomed US President Barack Obama's new administration and wants to engage in dialogue for regional peace, but he also insisted on the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.We need the United States to act as an arbitrator when we move from the current indirect negotiations to direct negotiations (with Israel), he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Japanese-language newspaper.Syria held exploratory contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators last year about resuming peace negotiations that broke off in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau.Assad cautioned that possible progress of such talks would depend on the next Israeli administration,the Asahi said.US-Syrian ties were especially tense under former president George W. Bush, who accused Damascus of supporting terrorism, helping Iran and of turning a blind eye to the flow of arms and supplies to insurgents in Iraq.Washington has not yet taken a decision about returning its ambassador to Syria, a senior US envoy said this month after visiting Damascus to mend ties.Assad harshly criticised the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hit out at Bush for putting pressure on Syria, the Asahi said.But he also stressed his willingness to help work toward regional peace.Changes do not happen overnight, Assad was quoted saying. We must first start dialogue to clarify the shared interest, which is to achieve peace.The administration of Bush did not do that, and it only cared about the benefit of his own country.Assad welcomed the Obama administration's active engagement with Syria through sending envoys and US senators for meetings, the Asahi said.It is important that we first begin dialogue and both take part in resolving problems, he told the newspaper. It is not us who have changed. It is the Americans who have changed.To achieve regional peace, the Syrian president emphasised the importance of including major parties in the peace process, adding that he would work to bring Islamist militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah to the table.
Israel-Lebanon borders stable despite attacks By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 10, 10:56 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Southern Lebanon and northern Israel have experienced their longest period of stability in many years despite the violations of a 2006 cease-fire during the recent war in Gaza, the U.N.'s special coordinator for Lebanon said Tuesday.The cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants continues to hold but much remains to be done to fully implement Security Council resolution 1701 that ended their 34-day conflict, including disarming Hezbollah and all other militias, Michael Williams told reporters after a closed-door briefing to the U.N. Security Council.In a report to the council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the firing of rockets from southern Lebanon toward Israel during the Gaza conflict as serious violations of the cease-fire resolution. The fact that Israel returned fire without prior warning to U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon is also a cause of serious concern,he said.On the positive side, the resolution has continued to ensure a cessation of hostilities between the parties and the longest period of stability that south Lebanon has known in decades, he said.There is a stability on Israel's northern border which it has not known since the 1980s.In other positive developments, Williams said the internal political situation in Lebanon in the run-up to June 7 general elections remains good.
He also cited the establishment of diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria, and moves toward reconciliation in the Arab world which I think have an enormously positive effect on the situation on the ground in Lebanon.But Williams said there are many other issues in 1701 where very little progress has been achieved.The resolution reiterates a call for the disarming of all militias in Lebanon, bans arms transfers to any group except the Lebanese armed forces, and urges the Lebanese government to secure its borders to prevent arms smuggling.Williams said the national dialogue in Lebanon under President Michel Suleiman has had enormously beneficial effect on the country in enhancing national stability, but where the question of the disarmament of armed groups is making only slow process.He expressed hope that the government elected in June can move the issue forward.It's difficult to take the weapons out of politics. it needs to be done. it needs to be a Lebanese-led process,Williams said,
Israel bans Palestinian activist from travel By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 10, 3:57 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's Supreme Court banned a Palestinian human rights activist Tuesday from traveling to Amsterdam to receive a prize.Shawan Jabarin, the West Bank-based director of Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq, had hoped to travel to the Netherlands on Friday to receive the Geuzenpenning Prize, a human rights prize, on behalf of his group.But spokeswoman Ayelet Filo says the court ruled there was real evidence that he is involved with terror organizations, and therefore he will not be allowed to leave for security concerns.In 1985, Jabarin was convicted by an Israeli court of activity on behalf of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He served nine months in prison. Israel put him in administrative detention in 1994, charging that he was still active in the PFLP, and has stopped him from traveling several times, according to Israeli documents.Jabarin denied the charges. I have been an activist in Al-Haq since 1987, and I am not an activist for the Popular Front,Jabarin told the Israeli Haaretz daily newspaper last week.Geuzen Resistance Foundation spokeswoman Edith Kwakernaak said Tuesday the organization was shocked and disappointed.Freedom of movement is a human right, too, she said.It's a shame that he can be held prisoner in this way.
Weaken Iran to help Mideast peace: Israel PM designate by Ron Bousso – Tue Mar 10, 2:14 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu believes that weakening Iran is key to ending the Middle East conflict as it would in turn weaken Hamas, a senior aide said on Tuesday.Iran's growing power and intransigence give great advantage to the radical elements among Palestinians and in Lebanon, the aide said, when asked about talks Netanyahu held with outgoing Defence Minister Ehud Barak earlier in the day.Any progress in the Middle East peace talks will require Hamas's weakening which can be achieved only if Iran is seen as weakened, he said.Israel accuses Iran of supplying weapons to both the Islamist rulers of Gaza and Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006.
Netanyahu, a hawkish former premier who heads the right-wing Likud party, said at the meeting, which was also attended by chief of staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, that he intends to focus his efforts on ending Iran's nuclear programme.Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, suspects that the Iranian programme is cover for a weapons drive but Iran insists it is solely for peaceful purposes.It will be very difficult to stablilise the situation in Lebanon or to hold negotiations with the Palestinians as long as Iran's power is on the rise, the aide quoted Netanyahu as saying.The Likud leader, who is expected to form a narrow right-wing coalition next week, has rejected establishing a Palestinian state and has advocated what he calls an economic peace with the Palestinians.This could lead to tension with the new US administration after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that Washington intends an aggressive pursuit of Middle East peace.While expressing support for international efforts to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme by diplomatic means, Israel has repeatedly refused to rule out military action to prevent any possibility of Iran developing a bomb.The military option remains on the table because it gives more chance for dialogue that will lead to a compromise with Iran, the aide said.
US President Barack Obama has vowed to engage in dialogue with Iran in an effort to end the nuclear standoff, in a policy break with the administration of George W. Bush which refuse to deal with Tehran without a prior agreement to suspend nuclear enrichment.US intelligence chief Dennis Blair warned on Tuesday that it would be difficult to convince Iran to give up its quest for nuclear technology.Although we do not know whether Iran currently intends to develop nuclear weapons, we assess Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop them, said Blair.
Pope to visit Muslim, Jewish sites in Mideast trip By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 10, 12:55 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Pope Benedict XVI will show solidarity with Jews and Muslims during his first papal trip to the Holy Land with visits to Jerusalem's Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, the papal envoy in Jerusalem said Tuesday.Benedict announced this week that he would visit in May. His presence could help ease the sometimes rocky relations between the Vatican and Israel, and between the Vatican and Muslims.It will be his first official visit to the region since he became pope in 2005.Archbishop Antonio Franco, the papal nuncio in Jerusalem, said visits to key Jewish and Muslim holy sites would be on the pope's agenda. The Dome of the Rock is one of Islam's most sacred shrines, and the nearby Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.The intent of the Holy Father's visit is to express his solidarity and closeness to the people of Israel and Palestine, and through them all the people of this region,Franco said.Benedict will also visit Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, meet with top Palestinian and Israeli leaders and make a stop in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. The pope will end his visit by celebrating Mass in Galilee — the area in northern Israel where Jesus lived and preached.Franco said the Vatican has asked Israeli authorities to ease movement restrictions on Palestinian Christians from the blockaded Gaza Strip to allow them to attend parts of the pope's visit.The papal envoy said Benedict's tour will be a religious pilgrimage, not a political mission. Still, the visit could help mend strained relations between Israel and the Roman Catholic Church.Ties were rattled recently when Benedict tried to reinstate an excommunicated bishop who denied the Holocaust. Benedict condemned the bishop's remarks, spoke out against anti-Semitism and called off the reinstatement until the bishop satisfies his demands.The controversy came shortly after a senior Vatican Cardinal, Renato Martino, described the Gaza Strip as a big concentration camp during Israel's fierce military assault on the blockaded territory in January. The offensive was meant to halt rocket fire into Israel.
The two sides also disagree over the legacy of the wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent the Holocaust or limit its scope.We are trying to clarify the issues, Franco said.Benedict will also meet the top Muslim official in the Holy Land, Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein, who will accompany the pope into the Dome of the Rock shrine.Vatican-Muslim ties were strained by a 2006 speech in which Benedict linked Islam to violence. Amid angry reactions from the Muslim world, he expressed regret for any offense caused by his remarks.
Franco said they asked Israeli authorities allow two busloads of Palestinian Christians from Gaza to attend the pope's Mass in Bethlehem.Local Christian officials said they expected at least 40,000 people to attend the Galilee Mass, which will take place on a hilltop outside the northern Israeli city of Nazareth.Palestinian Christians are a tiny, diminishing minority in the Holy Land, their community whittled away by low birthrates and emigration.
Galloway gives cars and cash to Hamas in Gaza Tue Mar 10, 7:06 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Firebrand MP George Galloway on Tuesday donated thousands of dollars and dozens of vehicles to the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip after arriving in an aid convoy.We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine,Galloway said at a press conference in Gaza City.
Galloway said he personally would be donating three cars and 25,000 pounds to Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya as he dared the West to try to prosecute him for aiding what it considers a terror group.I say now to the British and European governments, if you want to take me to court, I promise you there is no jury in all of Britain who will convict me. They will convict you.Galloway made the announcement at an outdoor conference in the presence of several senior Hamas officials, and his words were greeted by shouts of Allahu Akbar!(God is Great).Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off to all but limited humanitarian aid since Hamas seized power in June 2007 after a week of bloody street battles with forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Despite Hamas' victory in 2006 parliamentary elections, Israel, the European Union and the United States consider the movement a terrorist organisation and have no direct contacts with the group.After arriving in Gaza on Monday, Galloway protested Israel's genocidal aggression against Gaza, referring to a massive 22-day Israeli offensive launched in December that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.
The military offensive was aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, which have continued despite a January 18 ceasefire.The convoy set out from London last month but was temporarily halted in Egypt when Cairo learned it was also bearing non-medical aid destined for the impoverished coastal territory's 1.5 million residents.The convoy included 12 ambulances and a fire engine and carried aid worth more than one million pounds.
Israel's Barak rejects joining Netanyahu cabinet Sun Mar 8, 7:44 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli defence minister and Labour party leader Ehud Barak on Sunday said he would not join a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu after the premier-designate reached a deal with an ultra-nationalist party.There is no basis for opening a dialogue on joining Labour party to join a coalition due to the sweeping adoption of the demands of Yisrael Beitenu's chairman Avigdor Lieberman, Barak was quoted as telling Netanyahu.Representatives of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and Lieberman's hardline Yisrael Beitenu party appear to have moved closer to a coalition deal in recent days, in which Lieberman would be named foreign minister.
Barak, in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, said Labour would not enter a coalition in which Lieberman -- who faces a police investigation over corruption suspicions -- would have power in the appointment of the heads of all law enforcement authorities, Barak's office said in a statement.Yisrael Beitenu was to hold several key portfolios in Netanyahu's cabinet, including the justice ministry and will also have a representative in a committee naming judges, according to media reports.
Labour suffered its worst ever showing in the February 10 election, winning just 13 seats in the 120-member parliament and slipping into fourth place after Kadima, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu.Immediately after last month's election defeat Barak indicated that Labour would join the ranks of the opposition, but he has since held several talks with Netanyahu to the great ire of many of his party members.Media reports suggested Barak wants to retain his post as defence minister.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
POPE IN ISRAEL IN MAY
Pope to visit Holy Land in May By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 8, 12:17 pm ET
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he would visit the Holy Land from May 8-15 in the first papal trip to the area since 2000.The visit would be the second official trip by a pope to Israel.Announcing the dates of the long-planned pilgrimage, the pope said he would go to sites Jesus visited and would pray for the precious gift of unity and peace for the Middle East and all of humanity.Benedict told a crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square for the traditional noontime blessing that he was asking the faithful for their spiritual support for the Holy Land pilgrimage and a trip to Africa from March 17-23.Benedict said the African trip would show the concrete closeness of myself and of the Church to the Christians and the people of that continent, which is particularly dear to me.The pope will stop in Cameroon and Angola, meeting with local bishops, Muslim representatives and women's rights advocates.The pope's Mideast tour will touch Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, with stops in cities including Amman, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, the Vatican said.Though a detailed program has not yet been announced, officials in destination countries have said they expect Benedict to visit an Amman mosque, hold public Mass in Jordan and Nazareth and make a stop at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.There has been only one other official visit by a pope to the Jewish state, Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage in 2000. Pope Paul VI made an unofficial trip there in 1964.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, who invited Benedict to visit, called the trip an important and thrilling event of the first order, that emanates a wind of peace and hope.Benedict's pilgrimage comes at a time of strained relations between Israel and the Holy See.Israel was offended when senior Vatican Cardinal Renato Martino said during Israel's recent military campaign to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip that Gaza resembled a big concentration camp.Ties were further rattled when the German-born pope reinstated an excommunicated bishop who has questioned the extent of the Holocaust. Benedict later condemned the bishop's remarks and spoke out against anti-Semitism.The two sides are also at odds over the legacy of the wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent the Holocaust.That dispute centers on a caption of a photo of Pius at Yad Vashem's museum that says he did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely neutral position.The Vatican, which is pushing Pius' sainthood cause, wants the caption changed and maintains the wartime pontiff made every effort to help Jews and other victims through quiet diplomacy.Israeli and Vatican historians met Sunday at Yad Vashem for a two-day workshop to discuss research into Pius, signaling a growing willingness to resolve the sensitive issue.Israel and Jewish groups have encouraged the Vatican to open its wartime archives to allow researchers to look for concrete examples of Pius' actions. Yad Vashem director Avner Shalev said he was pleased to learn that Benedict instructed the archive to speed up the process of cataloging the material and hoped it could now be completed in three to four years. The Vatican, which has said the work could take up to six years, had no comment on Sunday. Vatican-Muslim ties were also tested by a 2006 speech in which Benedict linked Islam to violence. Amid angry reactions from the Muslim world, he expressed regret for any offense caused by his remarks. Jordan will be the first stop on Benedict's Mideast tour. Bishop Francis Solikat, the papal nuncio in Amman, said the pope's visit to the Hussein bin Talal mosque, the largest in the country, will be another gesture on the part of the Holy Father to promote inter-religious dialogue, especially in Jordan.The pope will also stop at the site on the Jordan River where, according to tradition, Jesus was baptized, Solikat said. AP Writer Aron Heller contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
Palestinian leader seeks reconciliation with Hamas By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 8, 10:51 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged his Hamas rivals Sunday to move quickly toward a unity government able to rebuild Gaza after the devastating Israeli military offensive.Abbas made his comments as negotiators from his Fatah Party plan to meet Hamas officials in Egypt this week for what are expected to be the most serious reconciliation talks since Hamas violently seized power in Gaza nearly two years ago.We must reach a national reconciliation government, Abbas said. This government will be responsible for reconstruction (in Gaza). The faster a government is formed, the faster we will be able to rebuild in the Gaza Strip, quickly, for the sake of our people.Fatah and Hamas are expected to begin 10 days of talks in Cairo on Tuesday but it remains far from certain whether they can work out a deal.Hamas defeated Fatah in 2006 a parliamentary election, though Abbas remained president. In June 2007, after five days of civil war, Hamas routed Abbas' forces in Gaza and seized complete control. In addition to the lingering mistrust, the sides must overcome their deep differences over dealing with Israel and the international community.In his speech, the Western-backed Abbas said a new unity government must accept past Palestinian agreements. That would include recognizing Israel's right to exist — which Hamas rejects. He said the government would serve in a caretaker capacity until new elections are held by next January.Abbas' prime minister, Salam Fayyad, submitted his resignation on Saturday to clear the way for a unity government. On Sunday, Fayyad urged Palestinians to embrace Abbas' efforts to ensure the success of the dialogue that Egypt is overseeing.
A previous unity government was paralyzed by Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, before their agreement deteriorated into the 2007 Gaza civil war. Since then, Abbas' internationally recognized government has ruled in the West Bank, while the isolated Hamas regime controls Gaza. The two areas, both claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state, lie on opposite sides of Israel.In Gaza, Hamas showed few signs of flexibility heading into the latest talks. We don't accept any preconditions regarding the platform and the program of the coming government, said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. We want a government that can satisfy the needs of our people, not the conditions and dictations of others.Despite the tough line, Hamas may be forced into moderation. Israel's three-week operation in Gaza killed some 1,300 people, according to Palestinian medics and human rights groups. It also destroyed or damaged some 15,000 homes and caused heavy damage to Gaza's infrastructure.For reconstruction to take place, Israel and Egypt must lift a blockade of Gaza's borders imposed after the Hamas takeover. A unity government would have a better chance of easing the blockade to allow building materials and other supplies into Gaza.The Palestinians also will soon be dealing with a new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who advocates tough action against Hamas and says the Islamic militants should be toppled.The Israeli offensive, launched to halt Palestinian rocket attacks, ended with separate cease-fire declarations by Israel and Hamas on Jan. 18. While Egypt has been trying to broker a more lasting truce, sporadic violence has persisted.In new fighting, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty Gaza City warehouse, causing no injuries, Hamas officials said. The military said the warehouse was used to store weapons. It said aircraft also struck two tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border used to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
Three Israeli air strikes on Gaza: army Sun Mar 8, 3:07 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli army carried out three air raids on Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave, an army spokesman said.There were no reports of injuries from the strikes.Two raids hit smuggling tunnels on the territory's border with Egypt and one targeted a building that allegedly used to store arms in Gaza City, the army said.Militants in the impoverished enclave fired two rockets into Israel early on Sunday, the army said. There were no injuries.There have been repeated violations by both sides of tenuous ceasefires that Israel and Hamas separately announced on January 18 to end a 22-day war that the Jewish state unleashed on the territory in response to rocket fire.The war killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis and left large swathes of Gaza in ruins. Egypt has been brokering talks to turn the ceasefires into a lasting truce.
Palestinian PM resigns but Abbas asks him to continue By Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawafta – Sat Mar 7, 8:36 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Saturday he intended to resign by the end of March in a move that could help unity talks between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions.But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader who appointed Fayyad after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, triggering a schism amongst the Palestinians, said he had asked the prime minister to stay on until results emerged from the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks.Brother Salam Fayyad has submitted his resignation to us in order to support and strengthen the Palestinian dialogue on forming a government, Abbas told reporters.
Islamist Hamas has long criticized Fayyad, accusing him of doing the bidding of the United States and other Western powers which finance his government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The executive committee of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization, run by Abbas, said in a statement that Fayyad's resignation would pave the way to forming a new Palestinian government emanating from national dialogue.This move is meant to encourage the dialogue, an aide to Abbas said. If we do not reach an agreement, the president can ask Fayyad to continue as prime minister.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he believed Fayyad's move was motivated by internal and personal differences with Abbas and not part of an effort to promote unity.
CONTINUED HOPES FOR PEACE
In Washington a White House spokesman said it expected to see continued progress in Arab-Israeli peace despite Fayyad's resignation.This government made great strides in providing the transparency, accountability and security that will be essential to achieving a two-state solution,said White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.We expect any future Palestinian government to continue this progress, in line with the Quartet principles and consistent with President Abbas' vision,Hammer said, referring to the quartet of Middle East mediators: the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.After Hamas beat the long-dominant Fatah in a 2006 parliamentary election, the factions formed a government alliance vexed by disagreement over how, or whether, to pursue peace talks with Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state and was shunned by Western powers that continued to court Abbas.The president dissolved the government after Hamas drove his forces out of Gaza. Fayyad was appointed to replace Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, who still heads the administration in Gaza. Abbas' authority has been effectively limited to the West Bank.Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said it was unclear whether the two factions would be able to form a coalition acceptable to Western powers in Cairo talks, which entered a first round last week and will resume on March 10.
GOVERMENT OF TECHNOCRATS
Abbas wants the factions to form a unity government of non-partisan technocrats to spearhead reconstruction of Gaza after Israel's 22-day offensive and prepare the way for new Palestinian elections.A senior Western diplomat said Fayyad had said privately in recent weeks he wanted to leave his post because he doesn't see any hope of healing factional rifts or making progress in peace talks with Israel.Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has been cool to U.S.-backed peace talks and has ruled out ceding parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians and freezing Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank, key Abbas demands.The United States and the European Union have strongly backed Fayyad, and they have privately urged him to stay on, possibly to head a unity administration, diplomats said. The brief statement announcing Fayyad's resignation offered few details. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced tendering the resignation of his cabinet to President Mahmoud Abbas, effective once a government of national reconciliation is formed, but no later than the end of March, it said. A source in Fayyad's office said the prime minister's resignation would take effect by the end of month, regardless of the outcome of talks. But Abbas could then ask Fayyad to remain in the prime ministerial post or form another government.(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Debbie Charles in Washington; editing by Giles Elgood and Todd Eastham)
Jerusalem needs special regime: experts Sat Mar 7, 8:22 pm ET
OTTAWA (AFP) – A solution to Jerusalem could be a special regime that administers the Old City without dividing it, leaving the thorny issue of sovereignty for a future date, two former diplomats wrote.In the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, professors Michael Bell of Canada and Daniel Kurtzer of the United States, both former ambassadors in the Middle East, propose a way to deal with Jerusalem in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.They suggest creating an impartial, Old City Special Regime (OCSR) chosen by the Israelis and Palestinians together, that would appoint a chief administrator.The most promising alternative to a street-by-street, site-by-site division of the Old City is to construct a special regime that defers the issue of sovereignty and instead focuses on how to administer and manage the Old City with strong third-party participation, the two experts write in the magazine.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem -- which includes the Old City and its numerous holy sites for Jews, Muslims and Christians -- after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Palestinians want Jerusalem to become the capital of their future state.Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that there will never be peace in the Middle East unless Israel and the Palestinians share Jerusalem.Bell -- Canada's former ambassador to Egypt, Israel and Jordan -- and Kurtzer -- a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel -- said that quite simply, the Old City cannot be divided between the Israelis and the Palestinians.It is too small, too densely populated, too architecturally linked, and the Israelis and the Palestinians are too riven by systemic distrust for them to govern the Old City on their own.They also said too much focus has been placed on the issue of sovereignty, and that because the claims are based on such diametrically opposed historical narratives, the standard compromise solution -- shared governance -- simply will not work.They urge an OCSR comprised of senior Israelis and Palestinians and a limited number of international participants selected by both sides.The board would appoint a chief administrator for a fixed, renewable term, with independent authority to implement the OCSR's mandate and who would establish and oversee an internationally staffed police force.The regime, the two professors said, would not constitute internationalization of Jerusalem -- an idea both sides oppose -- but would operate with the framework of a two-state solution and allow both states to claim Jerusalem as their capital.
We believe it is the most promising approach to meeting the basic needs of all Jerusalem's stakeholders,the pair wrote.It may also represent the best and most realistic hope for achieving peace in the Holy Land.US President Barack Obama has vowed vigorously to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which were relaunched in November 2007 but were frozen during Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip in December and January.
No peace without shared Jerusalem: Olmert Sat Mar 7, 8:09 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks broadcast on Saturday that there will never be peace in the Middle East unless Israel and the Palestinians share Jerusalem.Let us be under no illusion, there will never be peace with the Arabs and the Palestinians if part of Jerusalem does not ultimately become the capital of a Palestinian state, he said in remarks carried on public radio.
Olmert said Israel would have to make courageous but painful decisions if it hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, including an almost total withdrawal from the West Bank.Olmert resigned from his post last year amid a series of corruption scandals and is heading a transitional government until a new coalition can be formed following February 10 elections that saw right-wing parties make major gains.In November, Olmert said Israel would have to give up most of the territories it occupied in the 1967 Six Day war, including some Arab neighbourhoods in annexed east Jerusalem, in order to secure a peace deal.Israel considers the entire city its eternal, undivided capital, but the international community has never recognised that claim and the Palestinians have demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.Olmert has held several rounds of talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas since the peace process was formally relaunched in November 2007, but the talks showed little sign of progress and were frozen during the Gaza war.The hawkish former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, likely to lead Israel's next government, has said he will postpone talks on core issues and focus on improving the economy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Barak says he is ready to join Bibi govt in Israel Fri Mar 6, 2:29 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli defence minister and Labour party leader Ehud Barak said on Friday he was willing to join a government led by prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party.Most of the people and members of the Labour party demand the formation of a broad government of national unity, the outgoing defence minister, himself a former prime minister, told the private Channel Two television station.Media reports on Monday said Netanyahu, charged by President Shimon Peres with forming the next government, was trying to woo centre-left Labour after the centrist Kadima of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni rejected his entreaties.
Labour suffered its worst ever showing in the February 10 election, winning just 13 seats in the 120-member parliament and slipping into fourth place after Kadima, Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu of Avigdor Lieberman.On Thursday a Likud official told AFP that Netanyahu was seriously considering Lieberman, whose statements on Israeli Arabs have earned him the label of racist among his critics, as foreign minister.Immediately after last month's election defeat Barak indicated that Labour would join the ranks of the opposition, but he has since been negotiating with Netanyahu, who is popularly known in Israel as Bibi.Media reports suggested Barak wants to retain his post as defence minister.Israel, which faces threats to its security and an acute economic crisis, needs a broad unity government, Barak told the channel on Friday. A government restricted to the right can only provoke problems.
But Barak's move to join a Netanyahu government is opposed by the vast majority of his party.Barak has also said he will not join a cabinet in which the current minister of justice, Daniel Friedman who is supported by Lieberman, keeps his portfolio.Netanyahu can in theory form a coalition with parties to the right of his Likud, but is widely believed to want a broader grouping that will have a better chance of lasting the notoriously tumultuous world of Israeli politics.
Israel closes Mauritania embassy after Gaza spat Fri Mar 6, 8:38 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Friday closed down its embassy in Mauritania, one of three Arab nations that has diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, the foreign ministry said, in the wake of a dispute over the Gaza war.Following a January 16 decision of the Mauritanian government to freeze ties with Israel, and at the request of Mauritania, Israel today closed its embassy in Nouakchott, a foreign ministry statement said.Mauritania called back its ambassador in Israel following the 22-day offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that was launched on December 27.In Nouakchott, an AFP correspondent said the Israeli flag and security measures, including surveillance cameras, had been taken down overnight.A diplomatic source said embassy staff were expected to leave Mauritania on Friday or Saturday.An Israeli diplomatic official declined to comment on the matter.It was not clear if the embassy closure was temporary or permanent, signalling a break in diplomatic ties which date from 1999.Egypt and Jordan are the only other Arab countries to have formal diplomatic relations with Israel.Israel's attack on Gaza in response to rocket fire killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Britain re-establishing contact with Hezbollah Thu Mar 5, 4:56 pm ET
LONDON – Britain is re-establishing contact with the militant group Hezbollah following the formation of a unity government in Lebanon, the British government said Thursday.The Foreign Office said that it has established contact with the group's political wing but still has no contact with its military wing.Britain ceased contact with members of Hezbollah in 2005 and listed the military wing as a proscribed terrorist organization last year.The Foreign Office said that it had reconsidered its position following positive developments in Lebanon.Our objective with Hezbollah remains to encourage them to move away from violence and play a constructive, democratic and peaceful role in Lebanese politics, in line with a range of UN Security Council Resolutions,the ministry said.The ministry said Britain's ambassador attended a meeting in January in Beirut alongside a Hezbollah lawmaker, and that the government was seeking to build relations with other legislators attached to the group.Israel and Hezbollah fought a brutal 34-day war in the region in 2006. More than 1,200 people in Lebanon — most of them civilians — and 159 in Israel died in the conflict.Hezbollah has a large rocket arsenal but is not believed to have used it against Israel since the 2006 war. It has denied involvement in recent rocket attacks on Israel.After showing its military strength against Israel in 2006 and then again in May 2008 against its Lebanese rivals — when it took control of large parts of Beirut by force — Hezbollah became a partner in Lebanon's government with veto power over decisions.Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Hezbollah has always been a terror group.This organization represents serious danger to any reasonable or peaceful political arrangement in the region and those who want to promote peace and compromise would be well advised to keep themselves at a safe distance from these dishonorable people,he said.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he would visit the Holy Land from May 8-15 in the first papal trip to the area since 2000.The visit would be the second official trip by a pope to Israel.Announcing the dates of the long-planned pilgrimage, the pope said he would go to sites Jesus visited and would pray for the precious gift of unity and peace for the Middle East and all of humanity.Benedict told a crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square for the traditional noontime blessing that he was asking the faithful for their spiritual support for the Holy Land pilgrimage and a trip to Africa from March 17-23.Benedict said the African trip would show the concrete closeness of myself and of the Church to the Christians and the people of that continent, which is particularly dear to me.The pope will stop in Cameroon and Angola, meeting with local bishops, Muslim representatives and women's rights advocates.The pope's Mideast tour will touch Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, with stops in cities including Amman, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, the Vatican said.Though a detailed program has not yet been announced, officials in destination countries have said they expect Benedict to visit an Amman mosque, hold public Mass in Jordan and Nazareth and make a stop at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.There has been only one other official visit by a pope to the Jewish state, Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage in 2000. Pope Paul VI made an unofficial trip there in 1964.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, who invited Benedict to visit, called the trip an important and thrilling event of the first order, that emanates a wind of peace and hope.Benedict's pilgrimage comes at a time of strained relations between Israel and the Holy See.Israel was offended when senior Vatican Cardinal Renato Martino said during Israel's recent military campaign to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip that Gaza resembled a big concentration camp.Ties were further rattled when the German-born pope reinstated an excommunicated bishop who has questioned the extent of the Holocaust. Benedict later condemned the bishop's remarks and spoke out against anti-Semitism.The two sides are also at odds over the legacy of the wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent the Holocaust.That dispute centers on a caption of a photo of Pius at Yad Vashem's museum that says he did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely neutral position.The Vatican, which is pushing Pius' sainthood cause, wants the caption changed and maintains the wartime pontiff made every effort to help Jews and other victims through quiet diplomacy.Israeli and Vatican historians met Sunday at Yad Vashem for a two-day workshop to discuss research into Pius, signaling a growing willingness to resolve the sensitive issue.Israel and Jewish groups have encouraged the Vatican to open its wartime archives to allow researchers to look for concrete examples of Pius' actions. Yad Vashem director Avner Shalev said he was pleased to learn that Benedict instructed the archive to speed up the process of cataloging the material and hoped it could now be completed in three to four years. The Vatican, which has said the work could take up to six years, had no comment on Sunday. Vatican-Muslim ties were also tested by a 2006 speech in which Benedict linked Islam to violence. Amid angry reactions from the Muslim world, he expressed regret for any offense caused by his remarks. Jordan will be the first stop on Benedict's Mideast tour. Bishop Francis Solikat, the papal nuncio in Amman, said the pope's visit to the Hussein bin Talal mosque, the largest in the country, will be another gesture on the part of the Holy Father to promote inter-religious dialogue, especially in Jordan.The pope will also stop at the site on the Jordan River where, according to tradition, Jesus was baptized, Solikat said. AP Writer Aron Heller contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
Palestinian leader seeks reconciliation with Hamas By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 8, 10:51 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged his Hamas rivals Sunday to move quickly toward a unity government able to rebuild Gaza after the devastating Israeli military offensive.Abbas made his comments as negotiators from his Fatah Party plan to meet Hamas officials in Egypt this week for what are expected to be the most serious reconciliation talks since Hamas violently seized power in Gaza nearly two years ago.We must reach a national reconciliation government, Abbas said. This government will be responsible for reconstruction (in Gaza). The faster a government is formed, the faster we will be able to rebuild in the Gaza Strip, quickly, for the sake of our people.Fatah and Hamas are expected to begin 10 days of talks in Cairo on Tuesday but it remains far from certain whether they can work out a deal.Hamas defeated Fatah in 2006 a parliamentary election, though Abbas remained president. In June 2007, after five days of civil war, Hamas routed Abbas' forces in Gaza and seized complete control. In addition to the lingering mistrust, the sides must overcome their deep differences over dealing with Israel and the international community.In his speech, the Western-backed Abbas said a new unity government must accept past Palestinian agreements. That would include recognizing Israel's right to exist — which Hamas rejects. He said the government would serve in a caretaker capacity until new elections are held by next January.Abbas' prime minister, Salam Fayyad, submitted his resignation on Saturday to clear the way for a unity government. On Sunday, Fayyad urged Palestinians to embrace Abbas' efforts to ensure the success of the dialogue that Egypt is overseeing.
A previous unity government was paralyzed by Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, before their agreement deteriorated into the 2007 Gaza civil war. Since then, Abbas' internationally recognized government has ruled in the West Bank, while the isolated Hamas regime controls Gaza. The two areas, both claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state, lie on opposite sides of Israel.In Gaza, Hamas showed few signs of flexibility heading into the latest talks. We don't accept any preconditions regarding the platform and the program of the coming government, said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. We want a government that can satisfy the needs of our people, not the conditions and dictations of others.Despite the tough line, Hamas may be forced into moderation. Israel's three-week operation in Gaza killed some 1,300 people, according to Palestinian medics and human rights groups. It also destroyed or damaged some 15,000 homes and caused heavy damage to Gaza's infrastructure.For reconstruction to take place, Israel and Egypt must lift a blockade of Gaza's borders imposed after the Hamas takeover. A unity government would have a better chance of easing the blockade to allow building materials and other supplies into Gaza.The Palestinians also will soon be dealing with a new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who advocates tough action against Hamas and says the Islamic militants should be toppled.The Israeli offensive, launched to halt Palestinian rocket attacks, ended with separate cease-fire declarations by Israel and Hamas on Jan. 18. While Egypt has been trying to broker a more lasting truce, sporadic violence has persisted.In new fighting, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty Gaza City warehouse, causing no injuries, Hamas officials said. The military said the warehouse was used to store weapons. It said aircraft also struck two tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border used to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
Three Israeli air strikes on Gaza: army Sun Mar 8, 3:07 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli army carried out three air raids on Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave, an army spokesman said.There were no reports of injuries from the strikes.Two raids hit smuggling tunnels on the territory's border with Egypt and one targeted a building that allegedly used to store arms in Gaza City, the army said.Militants in the impoverished enclave fired two rockets into Israel early on Sunday, the army said. There were no injuries.There have been repeated violations by both sides of tenuous ceasefires that Israel and Hamas separately announced on January 18 to end a 22-day war that the Jewish state unleashed on the territory in response to rocket fire.The war killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis and left large swathes of Gaza in ruins. Egypt has been brokering talks to turn the ceasefires into a lasting truce.
Palestinian PM resigns but Abbas asks him to continue By Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawafta – Sat Mar 7, 8:36 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Saturday he intended to resign by the end of March in a move that could help unity talks between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions.But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader who appointed Fayyad after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, triggering a schism amongst the Palestinians, said he had asked the prime minister to stay on until results emerged from the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks.Brother Salam Fayyad has submitted his resignation to us in order to support and strengthen the Palestinian dialogue on forming a government, Abbas told reporters.
Islamist Hamas has long criticized Fayyad, accusing him of doing the bidding of the United States and other Western powers which finance his government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The executive committee of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization, run by Abbas, said in a statement that Fayyad's resignation would pave the way to forming a new Palestinian government emanating from national dialogue.This move is meant to encourage the dialogue, an aide to Abbas said. If we do not reach an agreement, the president can ask Fayyad to continue as prime minister.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he believed Fayyad's move was motivated by internal and personal differences with Abbas and not part of an effort to promote unity.
CONTINUED HOPES FOR PEACE
In Washington a White House spokesman said it expected to see continued progress in Arab-Israeli peace despite Fayyad's resignation.This government made great strides in providing the transparency, accountability and security that will be essential to achieving a two-state solution,said White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.We expect any future Palestinian government to continue this progress, in line with the Quartet principles and consistent with President Abbas' vision,Hammer said, referring to the quartet of Middle East mediators: the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.After Hamas beat the long-dominant Fatah in a 2006 parliamentary election, the factions formed a government alliance vexed by disagreement over how, or whether, to pursue peace talks with Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state and was shunned by Western powers that continued to court Abbas.The president dissolved the government after Hamas drove his forces out of Gaza. Fayyad was appointed to replace Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, who still heads the administration in Gaza. Abbas' authority has been effectively limited to the West Bank.Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said it was unclear whether the two factions would be able to form a coalition acceptable to Western powers in Cairo talks, which entered a first round last week and will resume on March 10.
GOVERMENT OF TECHNOCRATS
Abbas wants the factions to form a unity government of non-partisan technocrats to spearhead reconstruction of Gaza after Israel's 22-day offensive and prepare the way for new Palestinian elections.A senior Western diplomat said Fayyad had said privately in recent weeks he wanted to leave his post because he doesn't see any hope of healing factional rifts or making progress in peace talks with Israel.Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has been cool to U.S.-backed peace talks and has ruled out ceding parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians and freezing Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank, key Abbas demands.The United States and the European Union have strongly backed Fayyad, and they have privately urged him to stay on, possibly to head a unity administration, diplomats said. The brief statement announcing Fayyad's resignation offered few details. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced tendering the resignation of his cabinet to President Mahmoud Abbas, effective once a government of national reconciliation is formed, but no later than the end of March, it said. A source in Fayyad's office said the prime minister's resignation would take effect by the end of month, regardless of the outcome of talks. But Abbas could then ask Fayyad to remain in the prime ministerial post or form another government.(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Debbie Charles in Washington; editing by Giles Elgood and Todd Eastham)
Jerusalem needs special regime: experts Sat Mar 7, 8:22 pm ET
OTTAWA (AFP) – A solution to Jerusalem could be a special regime that administers the Old City without dividing it, leaving the thorny issue of sovereignty for a future date, two former diplomats wrote.In the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, professors Michael Bell of Canada and Daniel Kurtzer of the United States, both former ambassadors in the Middle East, propose a way to deal with Jerusalem in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.They suggest creating an impartial, Old City Special Regime (OCSR) chosen by the Israelis and Palestinians together, that would appoint a chief administrator.The most promising alternative to a street-by-street, site-by-site division of the Old City is to construct a special regime that defers the issue of sovereignty and instead focuses on how to administer and manage the Old City with strong third-party participation, the two experts write in the magazine.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem -- which includes the Old City and its numerous holy sites for Jews, Muslims and Christians -- after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Palestinians want Jerusalem to become the capital of their future state.Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that there will never be peace in the Middle East unless Israel and the Palestinians share Jerusalem.Bell -- Canada's former ambassador to Egypt, Israel and Jordan -- and Kurtzer -- a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel -- said that quite simply, the Old City cannot be divided between the Israelis and the Palestinians.It is too small, too densely populated, too architecturally linked, and the Israelis and the Palestinians are too riven by systemic distrust for them to govern the Old City on their own.They also said too much focus has been placed on the issue of sovereignty, and that because the claims are based on such diametrically opposed historical narratives, the standard compromise solution -- shared governance -- simply will not work.They urge an OCSR comprised of senior Israelis and Palestinians and a limited number of international participants selected by both sides.The board would appoint a chief administrator for a fixed, renewable term, with independent authority to implement the OCSR's mandate and who would establish and oversee an internationally staffed police force.The regime, the two professors said, would not constitute internationalization of Jerusalem -- an idea both sides oppose -- but would operate with the framework of a two-state solution and allow both states to claim Jerusalem as their capital.
We believe it is the most promising approach to meeting the basic needs of all Jerusalem's stakeholders,the pair wrote.It may also represent the best and most realistic hope for achieving peace in the Holy Land.US President Barack Obama has vowed vigorously to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which were relaunched in November 2007 but were frozen during Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip in December and January.
No peace without shared Jerusalem: Olmert Sat Mar 7, 8:09 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks broadcast on Saturday that there will never be peace in the Middle East unless Israel and the Palestinians share Jerusalem.Let us be under no illusion, there will never be peace with the Arabs and the Palestinians if part of Jerusalem does not ultimately become the capital of a Palestinian state, he said in remarks carried on public radio.
Olmert said Israel would have to make courageous but painful decisions if it hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, including an almost total withdrawal from the West Bank.Olmert resigned from his post last year amid a series of corruption scandals and is heading a transitional government until a new coalition can be formed following February 10 elections that saw right-wing parties make major gains.In November, Olmert said Israel would have to give up most of the territories it occupied in the 1967 Six Day war, including some Arab neighbourhoods in annexed east Jerusalem, in order to secure a peace deal.Israel considers the entire city its eternal, undivided capital, but the international community has never recognised that claim and the Palestinians have demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.Olmert has held several rounds of talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas since the peace process was formally relaunched in November 2007, but the talks showed little sign of progress and were frozen during the Gaza war.The hawkish former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, likely to lead Israel's next government, has said he will postpone talks on core issues and focus on improving the economy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Barak says he is ready to join Bibi govt in Israel Fri Mar 6, 2:29 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli defence minister and Labour party leader Ehud Barak said on Friday he was willing to join a government led by prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party.Most of the people and members of the Labour party demand the formation of a broad government of national unity, the outgoing defence minister, himself a former prime minister, told the private Channel Two television station.Media reports on Monday said Netanyahu, charged by President Shimon Peres with forming the next government, was trying to woo centre-left Labour after the centrist Kadima of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni rejected his entreaties.
Labour suffered its worst ever showing in the February 10 election, winning just 13 seats in the 120-member parliament and slipping into fourth place after Kadima, Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu of Avigdor Lieberman.On Thursday a Likud official told AFP that Netanyahu was seriously considering Lieberman, whose statements on Israeli Arabs have earned him the label of racist among his critics, as foreign minister.Immediately after last month's election defeat Barak indicated that Labour would join the ranks of the opposition, but he has since been negotiating with Netanyahu, who is popularly known in Israel as Bibi.Media reports suggested Barak wants to retain his post as defence minister.Israel, which faces threats to its security and an acute economic crisis, needs a broad unity government, Barak told the channel on Friday. A government restricted to the right can only provoke problems.
But Barak's move to join a Netanyahu government is opposed by the vast majority of his party.Barak has also said he will not join a cabinet in which the current minister of justice, Daniel Friedman who is supported by Lieberman, keeps his portfolio.Netanyahu can in theory form a coalition with parties to the right of his Likud, but is widely believed to want a broader grouping that will have a better chance of lasting the notoriously tumultuous world of Israeli politics.
Israel closes Mauritania embassy after Gaza spat Fri Mar 6, 8:38 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Friday closed down its embassy in Mauritania, one of three Arab nations that has diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, the foreign ministry said, in the wake of a dispute over the Gaza war.Following a January 16 decision of the Mauritanian government to freeze ties with Israel, and at the request of Mauritania, Israel today closed its embassy in Nouakchott, a foreign ministry statement said.Mauritania called back its ambassador in Israel following the 22-day offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that was launched on December 27.In Nouakchott, an AFP correspondent said the Israeli flag and security measures, including surveillance cameras, had been taken down overnight.A diplomatic source said embassy staff were expected to leave Mauritania on Friday or Saturday.An Israeli diplomatic official declined to comment on the matter.It was not clear if the embassy closure was temporary or permanent, signalling a break in diplomatic ties which date from 1999.Egypt and Jordan are the only other Arab countries to have formal diplomatic relations with Israel.Israel's attack on Gaza in response to rocket fire killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Britain re-establishing contact with Hezbollah Thu Mar 5, 4:56 pm ET
LONDON – Britain is re-establishing contact with the militant group Hezbollah following the formation of a unity government in Lebanon, the British government said Thursday.The Foreign Office said that it has established contact with the group's political wing but still has no contact with its military wing.Britain ceased contact with members of Hezbollah in 2005 and listed the military wing as a proscribed terrorist organization last year.The Foreign Office said that it had reconsidered its position following positive developments in Lebanon.Our objective with Hezbollah remains to encourage them to move away from violence and play a constructive, democratic and peaceful role in Lebanese politics, in line with a range of UN Security Council Resolutions,the ministry said.The ministry said Britain's ambassador attended a meeting in January in Beirut alongside a Hezbollah lawmaker, and that the government was seeking to build relations with other legislators attached to the group.Israel and Hezbollah fought a brutal 34-day war in the region in 2006. More than 1,200 people in Lebanon — most of them civilians — and 159 in Israel died in the conflict.Hezbollah has a large rocket arsenal but is not believed to have used it against Israel since the 2006 war. It has denied involvement in recent rocket attacks on Israel.After showing its military strength against Israel in 2006 and then again in May 2008 against its Lebanese rivals — when it took control of large parts of Beirut by force — Hezbollah became a partner in Lebanon's government with veto power over decisions.Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Hezbollah has always been a terror group.This organization represents serious danger to any reasonable or peaceful political arrangement in the region and those who want to promote peace and compromise would be well advised to keep themselves at a safe distance from these dishonorable people,he said.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
IRAN SUPPORTS HAMAS:CONFERENCE
Iran throws conference to support Hamas By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer MAR 5,09
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran, Hamas and their supporters from 30 countries spent two days probing ways to provide assistance to the militant Palestinian group and promote resistance against Israel at an international gathering in Tehran, an Iranian lawmaker said Thursday.The conference in the Iranian capital aimed to counter an international meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on Monday that gave a powerful boost to Hamas' rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.The gathering in Egypt raised $5.2 billion in pledges to rebuild Gaza and fund Abbas' West Bank-based Palestinian Authority after Israel's recent offensive. The funds will bypass the coastal strip's Hamas rulers.Hamas wasn't invited to the Egyptian meeting and is considered a terrorist group by the Unites States, Europe and Israel. Iran, like Hamas, doesn't recognize Israel and is the militant group's chief political and financial backer.The conference in Egypt sought to weaken Hamas, promote compromise and treason against the cause of the Palestinian people, said lawmaker Mohammad Reza Mirtajoddini, one of the organizers of the Iranian gathering. But the Tehran conference speaks of resistance against the Zionist entity, which understands only the language of force.Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opened the conference Wednesday calling Israel a cancerous tumor and saying resistance against the Jewish state was the only way to save Palestinians.Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the meeting in Egypt and was quoted Tuesday by the official IRNA news agency as saying that the difference between the two conferences is like that between Satan and man.Hamas' Gaza strongman, Mahmoud Zahar, attended the Tehran conference, which organizers said focused on how to provide assistance to Palestinians. Other Palestinian militant factions, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad attended, as well as parliamentary delegations from 30 different countries.The lawmakers came from a wide range of nations, such as Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Mali. Other countries, including Turkey, Indonesia, Algeria, Bolivia, Jordan and Yemen, also had representatives.
However, it was not clear if the gathering, which ended Thursday, actually raised any funds for Hamas.Israel's three-week military offensive against Hamas meant to put a halt to Hamas' years-long rocket fire on southern Israel ended in an informal cease-fire Jan. 18. The campaign killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, and left some 15,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the war.Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' more moderate Fatah group in 2007.
Bulldozer rams cars in Jerusalem, driver killed By Ari Rabinovitch MAR 5,09
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A Palestinian driver crashed his bulldozer into a police car and hit a bus at one of Jerusalem's busiest intersections on Thursday before police and a taxi driver shot him dead.An open Koran, the Muslim holy book, was found in the driver's cabin, Niso Shaham, Jerusalem's deputy police chief, told reporters at the scene. A police spokesman said it was a terrorist attack.Israeli police and Palestinian residents identified the driver as Marei Radaydeh, a West Bank construction worker in his mid-20s who lived with his family in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.No Palestinian militant groups have claimed responsibility for the incident, which came a day after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Riyad al-Malki, information minister for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed government, described the incident as a traffic accident,and called for an investigation into why he was shot.Hamas said the attack was a natural response to Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and to the Jewish state's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist movement controls. Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah faction are rivals.Police and witnesses said the driver of the bulldozer first turned over a police car, crushing its roof and injuring two officers inside.The bulldozer then slammed the police car into a large bus but no one was hurt, police said.Radaydeh, whom police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called a terrorist,was not carrying any identification papers.
Nir Barkat, Jerusalem's mayor, said he would recommend that authorities take the harshest measures we can take by law against those involved in the attack. Two of Radaydeh's brothers were later arrested, family members said.Israel has previously threatened to demolish the homes of Palestinian attackers.Police compared Thursday's attack to three similar incidents last year, two with bulldozers and one with a BMW car.In the 2008 incidents, which police also called terrorist attacks, the drivers were identified as Palestinians from Arab East Jerusalem.One witness, who identified himself as Shai, said the bulldozer driver was shot by both a policeman and a civilian who was later identified by police as a taxi driver.Amateur video obtained by Reuters captured the sound of four gunshots fired near the bulldozer, which came to a stop at the end of a highway that leads to Jerusalem's main shopping mall.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr and Ivan Karakashian, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Ganeya in Bethlehem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah; writing by Adam Entous; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Britain re-establishing contact with Hezbollah MAR 5,09
LONDON – Britain is re-establishing contact with the militant group Hezbollah following the formation of a unity government in Lebanon, the British government said Thursday.The Foreign Office said that it has established contact with the group's political wing but still has no contact with its military wing.Britain ceased contact with members of Hezbollah in 2005 and listed the military wing as a proscribed terrorist organization last year.The Foreign Office said that it had reconsidered its position following positive developments in Lebanon.Our objective with Hezbollah remains to encourage them to move away from violence and play a constructive, democratic and peaceful role in Lebanese politics, in line with a range of UN Security Council Resolutions, the ministry said.The ministry said Britain's ambassador attended a meeting in January in Beirut alongside a Hezbollah lawmaker, and that the government was seeking to build relations with other legislators attached to the group.Israel and Hezbollah fought a brutal 34-day war in the region in 2006. More than 1,200 people in Lebanon — most of them civilians — and 159 in Israel died in the conflict.Hezbollah has a large rocket arsenal but is not believed to have used it against Israel since the 2006 war. It has denied involvement in recent rocket attacks on Israel.After showing its military strength against Israel in 2006 and then again in May 2008 against its Lebanese rivals — when it took control of large parts of Beirut by force — Hezbollah became a partner in Lebanon's government with veto power over decisions.
Israel's Netanyahu in cabinet talks with key hardliner MAR 5,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu was to hold talks on Thursday with ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman as he struggles to put together a broad-based coalition government.Representatives of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu held talks before the meeting between the two leaders to discuss the outlines of any government agreement.According to Stas Meseznikov, who is heading Yisrael Beitenu's team for the coalition talks, the outlines will include a commitment to topple the Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip using all available means.Netanyahu is considering Lieberman, whose controversial statements on Israeli Arabs have earned him the label of racist among his critics, as foreign minister, a Likud official said.There is a serious possibility that Avigdor Lieberman will take the helm of the foreign ministry, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, but added: Nothing has been decided for the moment.Yisrael Beitenu is the third largest party in parliament after winning 15 seats in the 120-member house in the February 10 election.For the moment, the Russian immigrant party is expected to be the second-largest party in a Netanyahu coalition, and is laying claim to a senior portfolio, such as foreign affairs, finance or defence.Netanyahu has excluded giving him the defence job because he lacks experience. The finance post could be a problem because of an ongoing corruption investigation into Lieberman, local media have reported.Public radio reported that in addition to foreign affairs, Netanyahu could give Lieberman's party the justice, interior and economic ministries.
Lieberman, 50, a Moldovan former bouncer, has built his reputation on statements that have earned him accusations of being a racist and fascist among critics and while his admirers hail him as a refreshing straight-talker with a tough line on security.In the three years since the last election, he has called for the execution of Israeli Arab MPs who had dealings with Hamas, for Gaza to be treated like Chechnya and for Israel to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II.A resident of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Lieberman wants to keep major settlement blocs in exchange for transferring areas with heavy concentration of Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state.Netanyahu has until April 3 to form a government.
Israeli raids kill Gaza militants after Clinton visit by Sakher Abu El Oun – Thu Mar 5, 7:19 am ET
AP GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli air raids on Hamas-run Gaza killed four militants just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her first Middle East trip vowing to breathe life into the peace process.An air strike in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday killed three militants and wounded two others, medics said.An army spokesman said the raid targeted a group who had fired an anti-tank shell at an army unit on the Israeli side of the border.Late Wednesday, an Israeli air raid killed a senior Islamic Jihad military commander as he drove through the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City.The radical Palestinian group vowed to avenge his death and on Thursday said its militants fired three rockets into Israel. None caused casualties.It was the latest blow to the tenuous ceasefire Hamas and Israel declared on January 18 to end Israel's 22-day devastating war on the tiny coastal strip. Egypt has been brokering talks to turn the ceasefires into a durable truce but has so far failed to clinch any agreement.Israeli leaders have repeatedly warned of tough action to try to stamp out the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which Israel withdrew from in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.The latest violence erupted just hours after Clinton left Israel on Wednesday after wrapping up her first trip to the Middle East since being appointed by US President Barack Obama.The United States aims to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fully realised," she said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank. Time is of the essence.She called for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, which was devastated by the war that Israel launched on December 27 in response to rocket fire and that ended up killing more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.Israel sealed the impoverished territory to all but humanitarian goods in June 2007 when Hamas, an Islamist group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized power in the enclave booting out forces loyal to moderate Abbas.We have obviously expressed concerns about the border crossings. We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza, Clinton said.
Gaza is one of the world's most densely-populated places. More than half of the 1.4 million population is under 18 and the vast majority of residents depend on foreign aid.Clinton slammed Israel's plans to raze houses in east Jerusalem that were built without building permits, notoriously difficult to obtain for the city's Palestinian residents.Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the roadmap,Clinton said, referring to a blueprint for peace talks adopted by the international community in 2003.
Obama plans to boost security aid to Abbas's forces By Adam Entous – Thu Mar 5, 3:34 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Obama administration plans to expand a program to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces in the occupied West Bank as part of a push for statehood, officials said on Thursday.Israel has given tentative backing to the program as a test of Abbas's ability to rein in militants, one of its main conditions in stalled U.S.-backed negotiations over establishing a Palestinian state.Hamas Islamists, shunned by the United States and other Western powers for refusing to recognize Israel and renounce violence, have denounced Abbas's forces as collaborators and say the program has fueled inter-Palestinian tensions.U.S. and Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration planned to boost security assistance, including funding for training conducted by Jordanian police at a base near Amman, by up to 70 percent, from $75 million in fiscal year 2008 to as much as $130 million.The State Department had no immediate comment. President Barack Obama has been vague about his policies in the region.
After talks with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to work with Abbas to address Palestinian security needs, but she has offered no details.At a donors' conference in Egypt on Monday, Clinton pledged $600 million to support Abbas's Palestinian Authority and $300 million for humanitarian aid in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which was devastated by a three-week Israeli offensive.Diplomats said it was unclear when the new money would arrive. Winning congressional approval could take months.Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has asked Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the American who has been overseeing the training of Abbas's forces, to stay on for two more years. Dayton, whose three-year assignment was due to end, has agreed, diplomats said.While the security program has garnered bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress, it could run into opposition if Egyptian-backed reconciliation talks between Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah faction result in another unity government.
Hamas, which won a 2006 election and receives support from Iran and other Islamist allies, forcibly seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing Abbas's forces there, bringing an end to a previous unity deal opposed by Washington.The extra funding would allow the United States to increase the number of battalions undergoing training and to provide them with more equipment. The United States provides non-lethal equipment like vehicles. Arms are supplied by Arab states.Some 1,600 members of Abbas's National Security Force and Presidential Guard have undergone U.S.-funded training since January 2008. Many of them have since been deployed in major West Bank cities, including Jenin, Nablus and parts of Hebron.
Hamas has accused Abbas's forces of targeting its members in the West Bank. Hamas, in turn, has rounded up Fatah activists in Gaza. Human rights groups have accused both factions of abuses.
ISRAELI SUPPORT
Israel's defense establishment has slowly warmed to the U.S. training program after initially delaying Palestinian deployment and the delivery of some equipment for Abbas's men.The training has advanced while other major initiatives launched by then-President George W. Bush, including Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, foundered.
Israel's prime minister-designate, right-wing Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to take a public position on the program. But Silvan Shalom, a Netanyahu ally and former foreign minister, expressed satisfaction with the training in a Reuters interview last week, suggesting it would enjoy support. Netanyahu has said he wants to focus on bolstering the West Bank economy by creating development zones and lifting some travel restrictions rather than pursuing thorny territorial issues linked to the creation of a Palestinian state. While he advocates greater Palestinian self-rule, Netanyahu has been vague about creation of an independent state, which he says must have limited powers of sovereignty and no army.(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Sue Pleming in Brussels; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Clinton criticizes Israel over East Jerusalem demolition By Sue Pleming and Mohammed Assadi – Wed Mar 4, 6:01 pm ET
AP RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Israel Wednesday over plans to demolish Palestinian homes in Arab East Jerusalem and said Washington would engage Israeli leaders on Jewish settlements.Calling the planned destruction of more than 80 dwellings unhelpful, Clinton said after talks with Palestinian leaders: It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem.Israel says the homes slated for demolition were built without permits.Palestinians say authorization from Israel's Jerusalem municipality is nearly impossible to obtain. They accuse Israel of trying to drive them out of East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war, to make room for Jewish families.Israel considers all of Jerusalem its united and eternal capital, a claim that does not have international recognition. The Palestinian Authority wants East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state.
At a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank, Clinton stopped short of repeating U.S. calls for an immediate cessation of Israeli settlement expansion but promised to follow up on the issue.We will be looking for a way to put it on the table along with all the other issues that need to be discussed and resolved, she said.I think at this time, we should wait until we have a new Israeli government. That will be soon and then we will look at whatever tools are available, Clinton said.She also repeated her support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
PEACE PARTNERS
Abbas said that unless Israel's incoming leaders were committed to a two-state solution and halted settlement construction and Jerusalem demolitions, we will not consider them as peace partners.Clinton, on her first visit to the region as secretary of state, said the United States planned to play a coordinating role to revive peace efforts.But at the end of the day, no one can make a decision on whether or not there will be two states or a comprehensive peace settlement except those that are directly involved, she told reporters traveling with her.It is a time of political transition in Israel, which held an election on February 10 that led to right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu being invited to form a government by April 3.The Likud party leader's reluctance to commit himself to the creation of a Palestinian state could put him on a collision course with the Obama White House.With Israel still in political flux and peace talks with the Palestinians stalled, Clinton used her Middle East visit to announce a new approach to improve U.S. relations with Syria.
She said the decision to send two senior U.S. officials to Damascus later this week was also aimed at laying the groundwork for a comprehensive peace agreement.We believe that there is an opportunity for Syria to play a constructive role if it chooses to do so, she said. Political analysts said the overture is also aimed at weakening Syria's ties with Iran and Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
Clinton, like her predecessor Condoleezza Rice, said she planned to get personally involved in peacemaking and that her special envoy, George Mitchell, would be back in the region as soon as an Israeli government was formed. Are there risks to being actively involved? Yes, there are risks in getting up in the morning and pursuing whatever your particular interests might be. I am absolutely committed to this, she said. Rice made more than a dozen trips to Israel and the Palestinian territories during her tenure but came away with no peace deal, despite public optimism that Palestinian statehood could be achieved before the end of the Bush administration. We are going to give it everything we have. We can't promise any outcomes but we can promise the very best efforts of the United States,said Clinton. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Adam Entous and Tim Pearce)
Iran urges world Muslim 'resistance' against Israel by Jay Deshmukh – Wed Mar 4, 4:18 pm ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged world Muslims on Wednesday to join the Palestinian resistance against Israel, but his call was dismissed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The only way to save Palestine is resistance, Khamenei said in an address to a global summit organised by Tehran in aid of the war-battered Gaza Strip and the Palestinians.Support and help to Palestinians is a mandatory duty of all Muslims. I now tell all Muslim brothers and sisters to join forces and break the immunity of the Zionist criminals.Iran's top military commander Mohammad Ali Jafari also declared that the Islamic republic has long-range missiles that can reach Israeli nuclear sites.Today the Islamic republic has missiles with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) and... all the land of the Zionist regime, including its nuclear installations, is within our range,Jafari, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, told the ISNA news agency.He said the Islamic republic could firmly retaliate if it was attacked by Israel, which considers Iran its biggest threat.
Khamenei said any negotiations to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict were fruitless, adding that the United States and Britain committed the crime of creation and supporting this cancerous tumour (Israel).Even the new president of the United States who came to power with the motto of changing the (George W.) Bush administration's policies talks about unconditional commitment to secure Israel. This is defending terrorism by a government.But Khamenei's call was bluntly dismissed by Abbas and Clinton after the two met during her first visit to the region since taking office.We are sending a message to the Iranians and others -- stop interfering in our affairs, Abbas said.They are interfering only to deepen the rift between Palestinians.
Clinton too said Khamenei's remarks were clear interference in the internal affairs of the Palestinian people, continuing efforts on the part of the Iranians to undermine the Palestinian Authority.Musa Abu Marzuk and Abu Zahar from the Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza and who attended the Tehran summit acknowledged the role Iran played in tackling the Middle East problem.Zahar openly said Iran and other countries have been offering aid to Palestinians, which included paying salaries of our employees since we came to power in 2006.Iran does not recognise Israel, and Khamenei has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution to solve the decades-old conflict.Shiite Iran's efforts to tackle the issue have received sceptical response from much of the Muslim world, especially from the neighbouring Sunni-ruled Arab states which are also wary of Tehran's nuclear programme.On Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal called for a joint Arab strategy to deal with the Iranian challenge at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers.In his address at the Tehran summit, Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the creation of a global anti-Zionist front.On the other hand we must seriously pursue punishing the Zionist criminals, so that by saving Palestine and the establishment of a popularly chosen government, the world gets rid of racism, lies and occupation forever.
Prominent lawmaker Khazem Jalili said the Tehran conference will suggest setting up a common fund of participating nations to channel the donations. But unfortunately, the route for delivering the aid is not open,he said referring to the Israeli blockade of Gaza.The summit, attended by officials from such neighbours as Kuwait and Bahrain, as well South Africa and Nigeria, comes two days after global donors meeting in Egypt pledged around 4.5 billion dollars to rebuild Gaza.
US says Hamas must recognise Israel Wed Mar 4, 12:32 pm ET
AP JERUSALEM (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Washington would not work with a Palestinian unity cabinet that includes Hamas unless the Islamists recognise Israel and renounce violence.If there is to be a unity government that includes Hamas, then we would expect that Hamas would comply with the principles as set forth by the Quartet,Clinton told CNN, referring to a group consisting of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia.
(Those principles) are the same: that Hamas must renounce violence, recognize Israel, and agree to abide by prior PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) commitments,she added.In the absence of Hamas agreeing to the principles that have been adopted by such a broad range of international actors, I don?t see that we or they, anyone, could deal with Hamas.When pressed, Clinton said Hamas would have to make a formal announcement recognising Israel and giving up armed struggle, as the PLO -- which includes most Palestinian factions but not Hamas -- did in 1988.The principles are clear. They have been adopted. And we would expect any unity government to abide by those,she said.Clinton made the remarks on her first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories since being appointed secretary of state, a two-day tour during which she met senior Israeli and Palestinian leaders.US President Barack Obama has vowed vigorously to pursue the peace process between Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas, but has ruled out any negotiations with Hamas.The Islamist movement -- which is sworn to Israel's destruction and blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Israel and the West -- seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Abbas.
Israel launches overnight strikes on Gaza tunnels Wed Mar 4, 1:37 am ET
GAZA CITY, (AFP) – Israeli warplanes launched two new raids early Wednesday on smuggling tunnels linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt without causing casualties, witnesses said.An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the bombings, saying three tunnels had been attacked and secondary explosions took place in one of them, indicating the presence of explosives.On Tuesday, the airforce had carried out some seven raids wounding four people, following rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory, witnesses and medics said.Palestinian witnesses said aircraft carried out at least seven strikes along Gaza's southern border, where dozens of tunnels are used for trafficking people, goods and arms into the impoverished territory.Four people were wounded in the raids, Palestinian medics said.An army spokeswoman told AFP that the air force carried out six strikes against smuggling tunnels near the southern Gaza town of Rafah in response to barrages of rockets fired over the past week.Outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had earlier warned that Israel would not shy away from striking Gaza in response to persistent rocket fire.If it turns out that Hamas has not got the message, it will be hit again, Livni told public radio hours before meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her first official visit to the Jewish state.Late Tuesday Palestinians fired more rockets at southern Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, but nobody was hurt and no damage reported, an army spokesman said, adding that the rockets fell on wasteland south of the town of Ashkelon.Some 120 rockets fired from the Palestinian coastal strip have been tallied since twin ceasefires came into force on January 18 following a three-week Israeli offensive which claimed more than 1,300 lives.
Clinton: US to support Palestinian state Tue Mar 3, 7:40 am ET
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. will vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.Clinton is making her first visit to the Mideast as the top U.S. diplomat. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, she said pursuit of a peace agreement that includes a Palestinian state seems inescapable.Clinton says the U.S. will be vigorously engaged in the pursuit of a two-state solution every step of the way.She spoke alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ahead of a meeting later in the day with Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.Netanyahu's criticism in the past of peace talks with the Palestinians and the possibility of Palestinian independence has raised concerns that his new government could clash with the U.S.
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran, Hamas and their supporters from 30 countries spent two days probing ways to provide assistance to the militant Palestinian group and promote resistance against Israel at an international gathering in Tehran, an Iranian lawmaker said Thursday.The conference in the Iranian capital aimed to counter an international meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on Monday that gave a powerful boost to Hamas' rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.The gathering in Egypt raised $5.2 billion in pledges to rebuild Gaza and fund Abbas' West Bank-based Palestinian Authority after Israel's recent offensive. The funds will bypass the coastal strip's Hamas rulers.Hamas wasn't invited to the Egyptian meeting and is considered a terrorist group by the Unites States, Europe and Israel. Iran, like Hamas, doesn't recognize Israel and is the militant group's chief political and financial backer.The conference in Egypt sought to weaken Hamas, promote compromise and treason against the cause of the Palestinian people, said lawmaker Mohammad Reza Mirtajoddini, one of the organizers of the Iranian gathering. But the Tehran conference speaks of resistance against the Zionist entity, which understands only the language of force.Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opened the conference Wednesday calling Israel a cancerous tumor and saying resistance against the Jewish state was the only way to save Palestinians.Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the meeting in Egypt and was quoted Tuesday by the official IRNA news agency as saying that the difference between the two conferences is like that between Satan and man.Hamas' Gaza strongman, Mahmoud Zahar, attended the Tehran conference, which organizers said focused on how to provide assistance to Palestinians. Other Palestinian militant factions, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad attended, as well as parliamentary delegations from 30 different countries.The lawmakers came from a wide range of nations, such as Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Mali. Other countries, including Turkey, Indonesia, Algeria, Bolivia, Jordan and Yemen, also had representatives.
However, it was not clear if the gathering, which ended Thursday, actually raised any funds for Hamas.Israel's three-week military offensive against Hamas meant to put a halt to Hamas' years-long rocket fire on southern Israel ended in an informal cease-fire Jan. 18. The campaign killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, and left some 15,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the war.Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' more moderate Fatah group in 2007.
Bulldozer rams cars in Jerusalem, driver killed By Ari Rabinovitch MAR 5,09
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A Palestinian driver crashed his bulldozer into a police car and hit a bus at one of Jerusalem's busiest intersections on Thursday before police and a taxi driver shot him dead.An open Koran, the Muslim holy book, was found in the driver's cabin, Niso Shaham, Jerusalem's deputy police chief, told reporters at the scene. A police spokesman said it was a terrorist attack.Israeli police and Palestinian residents identified the driver as Marei Radaydeh, a West Bank construction worker in his mid-20s who lived with his family in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.No Palestinian militant groups have claimed responsibility for the incident, which came a day after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Riyad al-Malki, information minister for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed government, described the incident as a traffic accident,and called for an investigation into why he was shot.Hamas said the attack was a natural response to Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and to the Jewish state's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist movement controls. Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah faction are rivals.Police and witnesses said the driver of the bulldozer first turned over a police car, crushing its roof and injuring two officers inside.The bulldozer then slammed the police car into a large bus but no one was hurt, police said.Radaydeh, whom police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called a terrorist,was not carrying any identification papers.
Nir Barkat, Jerusalem's mayor, said he would recommend that authorities take the harshest measures we can take by law against those involved in the attack. Two of Radaydeh's brothers were later arrested, family members said.Israel has previously threatened to demolish the homes of Palestinian attackers.Police compared Thursday's attack to three similar incidents last year, two with bulldozers and one with a BMW car.In the 2008 incidents, which police also called terrorist attacks, the drivers were identified as Palestinians from Arab East Jerusalem.One witness, who identified himself as Shai, said the bulldozer driver was shot by both a policeman and a civilian who was later identified by police as a taxi driver.Amateur video obtained by Reuters captured the sound of four gunshots fired near the bulldozer, which came to a stop at the end of a highway that leads to Jerusalem's main shopping mall.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr and Ivan Karakashian, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Ganeya in Bethlehem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah; writing by Adam Entous; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Britain re-establishing contact with Hezbollah MAR 5,09
LONDON – Britain is re-establishing contact with the militant group Hezbollah following the formation of a unity government in Lebanon, the British government said Thursday.The Foreign Office said that it has established contact with the group's political wing but still has no contact with its military wing.Britain ceased contact with members of Hezbollah in 2005 and listed the military wing as a proscribed terrorist organization last year.The Foreign Office said that it had reconsidered its position following positive developments in Lebanon.Our objective with Hezbollah remains to encourage them to move away from violence and play a constructive, democratic and peaceful role in Lebanese politics, in line with a range of UN Security Council Resolutions, the ministry said.The ministry said Britain's ambassador attended a meeting in January in Beirut alongside a Hezbollah lawmaker, and that the government was seeking to build relations with other legislators attached to the group.Israel and Hezbollah fought a brutal 34-day war in the region in 2006. More than 1,200 people in Lebanon — most of them civilians — and 159 in Israel died in the conflict.Hezbollah has a large rocket arsenal but is not believed to have used it against Israel since the 2006 war. It has denied involvement in recent rocket attacks on Israel.After showing its military strength against Israel in 2006 and then again in May 2008 against its Lebanese rivals — when it took control of large parts of Beirut by force — Hezbollah became a partner in Lebanon's government with veto power over decisions.
Israel's Netanyahu in cabinet talks with key hardliner MAR 5,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu was to hold talks on Thursday with ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman as he struggles to put together a broad-based coalition government.Representatives of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu held talks before the meeting between the two leaders to discuss the outlines of any government agreement.According to Stas Meseznikov, who is heading Yisrael Beitenu's team for the coalition talks, the outlines will include a commitment to topple the Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip using all available means.Netanyahu is considering Lieberman, whose controversial statements on Israeli Arabs have earned him the label of racist among his critics, as foreign minister, a Likud official said.There is a serious possibility that Avigdor Lieberman will take the helm of the foreign ministry, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, but added: Nothing has been decided for the moment.Yisrael Beitenu is the third largest party in parliament after winning 15 seats in the 120-member house in the February 10 election.For the moment, the Russian immigrant party is expected to be the second-largest party in a Netanyahu coalition, and is laying claim to a senior portfolio, such as foreign affairs, finance or defence.Netanyahu has excluded giving him the defence job because he lacks experience. The finance post could be a problem because of an ongoing corruption investigation into Lieberman, local media have reported.Public radio reported that in addition to foreign affairs, Netanyahu could give Lieberman's party the justice, interior and economic ministries.
Lieberman, 50, a Moldovan former bouncer, has built his reputation on statements that have earned him accusations of being a racist and fascist among critics and while his admirers hail him as a refreshing straight-talker with a tough line on security.In the three years since the last election, he has called for the execution of Israeli Arab MPs who had dealings with Hamas, for Gaza to be treated like Chechnya and for Israel to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II.A resident of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Lieberman wants to keep major settlement blocs in exchange for transferring areas with heavy concentration of Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state.Netanyahu has until April 3 to form a government.
Israeli raids kill Gaza militants after Clinton visit by Sakher Abu El Oun – Thu Mar 5, 7:19 am ET
AP GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli air raids on Hamas-run Gaza killed four militants just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her first Middle East trip vowing to breathe life into the peace process.An air strike in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday killed three militants and wounded two others, medics said.An army spokesman said the raid targeted a group who had fired an anti-tank shell at an army unit on the Israeli side of the border.Late Wednesday, an Israeli air raid killed a senior Islamic Jihad military commander as he drove through the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City.The radical Palestinian group vowed to avenge his death and on Thursday said its militants fired three rockets into Israel. None caused casualties.It was the latest blow to the tenuous ceasefire Hamas and Israel declared on January 18 to end Israel's 22-day devastating war on the tiny coastal strip. Egypt has been brokering talks to turn the ceasefires into a durable truce but has so far failed to clinch any agreement.Israeli leaders have repeatedly warned of tough action to try to stamp out the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which Israel withdrew from in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.The latest violence erupted just hours after Clinton left Israel on Wednesday after wrapping up her first trip to the Middle East since being appointed by US President Barack Obama.The United States aims to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fully realised," she said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank. Time is of the essence.She called for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, which was devastated by the war that Israel launched on December 27 in response to rocket fire and that ended up killing more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.Israel sealed the impoverished territory to all but humanitarian goods in June 2007 when Hamas, an Islamist group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized power in the enclave booting out forces loyal to moderate Abbas.We have obviously expressed concerns about the border crossings. We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza, Clinton said.
Gaza is one of the world's most densely-populated places. More than half of the 1.4 million population is under 18 and the vast majority of residents depend on foreign aid.Clinton slammed Israel's plans to raze houses in east Jerusalem that were built without building permits, notoriously difficult to obtain for the city's Palestinian residents.Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the roadmap,Clinton said, referring to a blueprint for peace talks adopted by the international community in 2003.
Obama plans to boost security aid to Abbas's forces By Adam Entous – Thu Mar 5, 3:34 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Obama administration plans to expand a program to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces in the occupied West Bank as part of a push for statehood, officials said on Thursday.Israel has given tentative backing to the program as a test of Abbas's ability to rein in militants, one of its main conditions in stalled U.S.-backed negotiations over establishing a Palestinian state.Hamas Islamists, shunned by the United States and other Western powers for refusing to recognize Israel and renounce violence, have denounced Abbas's forces as collaborators and say the program has fueled inter-Palestinian tensions.U.S. and Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration planned to boost security assistance, including funding for training conducted by Jordanian police at a base near Amman, by up to 70 percent, from $75 million in fiscal year 2008 to as much as $130 million.The State Department had no immediate comment. President Barack Obama has been vague about his policies in the region.
After talks with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to work with Abbas to address Palestinian security needs, but she has offered no details.At a donors' conference in Egypt on Monday, Clinton pledged $600 million to support Abbas's Palestinian Authority and $300 million for humanitarian aid in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which was devastated by a three-week Israeli offensive.Diplomats said it was unclear when the new money would arrive. Winning congressional approval could take months.Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has asked Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the American who has been overseeing the training of Abbas's forces, to stay on for two more years. Dayton, whose three-year assignment was due to end, has agreed, diplomats said.While the security program has garnered bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress, it could run into opposition if Egyptian-backed reconciliation talks between Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah faction result in another unity government.
Hamas, which won a 2006 election and receives support from Iran and other Islamist allies, forcibly seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing Abbas's forces there, bringing an end to a previous unity deal opposed by Washington.The extra funding would allow the United States to increase the number of battalions undergoing training and to provide them with more equipment. The United States provides non-lethal equipment like vehicles. Arms are supplied by Arab states.Some 1,600 members of Abbas's National Security Force and Presidential Guard have undergone U.S.-funded training since January 2008. Many of them have since been deployed in major West Bank cities, including Jenin, Nablus and parts of Hebron.
Hamas has accused Abbas's forces of targeting its members in the West Bank. Hamas, in turn, has rounded up Fatah activists in Gaza. Human rights groups have accused both factions of abuses.
ISRAELI SUPPORT
Israel's defense establishment has slowly warmed to the U.S. training program after initially delaying Palestinian deployment and the delivery of some equipment for Abbas's men.The training has advanced while other major initiatives launched by then-President George W. Bush, including Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, foundered.
Israel's prime minister-designate, right-wing Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to take a public position on the program. But Silvan Shalom, a Netanyahu ally and former foreign minister, expressed satisfaction with the training in a Reuters interview last week, suggesting it would enjoy support. Netanyahu has said he wants to focus on bolstering the West Bank economy by creating development zones and lifting some travel restrictions rather than pursuing thorny territorial issues linked to the creation of a Palestinian state. While he advocates greater Palestinian self-rule, Netanyahu has been vague about creation of an independent state, which he says must have limited powers of sovereignty and no army.(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Sue Pleming in Brussels; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Clinton criticizes Israel over East Jerusalem demolition By Sue Pleming and Mohammed Assadi – Wed Mar 4, 6:01 pm ET
AP RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Israel Wednesday over plans to demolish Palestinian homes in Arab East Jerusalem and said Washington would engage Israeli leaders on Jewish settlements.Calling the planned destruction of more than 80 dwellings unhelpful, Clinton said after talks with Palestinian leaders: It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem.Israel says the homes slated for demolition were built without permits.Palestinians say authorization from Israel's Jerusalem municipality is nearly impossible to obtain. They accuse Israel of trying to drive them out of East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war, to make room for Jewish families.Israel considers all of Jerusalem its united and eternal capital, a claim that does not have international recognition. The Palestinian Authority wants East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state.
At a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank, Clinton stopped short of repeating U.S. calls for an immediate cessation of Israeli settlement expansion but promised to follow up on the issue.We will be looking for a way to put it on the table along with all the other issues that need to be discussed and resolved, she said.I think at this time, we should wait until we have a new Israeli government. That will be soon and then we will look at whatever tools are available, Clinton said.She also repeated her support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
PEACE PARTNERS
Abbas said that unless Israel's incoming leaders were committed to a two-state solution and halted settlement construction and Jerusalem demolitions, we will not consider them as peace partners.Clinton, on her first visit to the region as secretary of state, said the United States planned to play a coordinating role to revive peace efforts.But at the end of the day, no one can make a decision on whether or not there will be two states or a comprehensive peace settlement except those that are directly involved, she told reporters traveling with her.It is a time of political transition in Israel, which held an election on February 10 that led to right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu being invited to form a government by April 3.The Likud party leader's reluctance to commit himself to the creation of a Palestinian state could put him on a collision course with the Obama White House.With Israel still in political flux and peace talks with the Palestinians stalled, Clinton used her Middle East visit to announce a new approach to improve U.S. relations with Syria.
She said the decision to send two senior U.S. officials to Damascus later this week was also aimed at laying the groundwork for a comprehensive peace agreement.We believe that there is an opportunity for Syria to play a constructive role if it chooses to do so, she said. Political analysts said the overture is also aimed at weakening Syria's ties with Iran and Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
Clinton, like her predecessor Condoleezza Rice, said she planned to get personally involved in peacemaking and that her special envoy, George Mitchell, would be back in the region as soon as an Israeli government was formed. Are there risks to being actively involved? Yes, there are risks in getting up in the morning and pursuing whatever your particular interests might be. I am absolutely committed to this, she said. Rice made more than a dozen trips to Israel and the Palestinian territories during her tenure but came away with no peace deal, despite public optimism that Palestinian statehood could be achieved before the end of the Bush administration. We are going to give it everything we have. We can't promise any outcomes but we can promise the very best efforts of the United States,said Clinton. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Adam Entous and Tim Pearce)
Iran urges world Muslim 'resistance' against Israel by Jay Deshmukh – Wed Mar 4, 4:18 pm ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged world Muslims on Wednesday to join the Palestinian resistance against Israel, but his call was dismissed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The only way to save Palestine is resistance, Khamenei said in an address to a global summit organised by Tehran in aid of the war-battered Gaza Strip and the Palestinians.Support and help to Palestinians is a mandatory duty of all Muslims. I now tell all Muslim brothers and sisters to join forces and break the immunity of the Zionist criminals.Iran's top military commander Mohammad Ali Jafari also declared that the Islamic republic has long-range missiles that can reach Israeli nuclear sites.Today the Islamic republic has missiles with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) and... all the land of the Zionist regime, including its nuclear installations, is within our range,Jafari, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, told the ISNA news agency.He said the Islamic republic could firmly retaliate if it was attacked by Israel, which considers Iran its biggest threat.
Khamenei said any negotiations to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict were fruitless, adding that the United States and Britain committed the crime of creation and supporting this cancerous tumour (Israel).Even the new president of the United States who came to power with the motto of changing the (George W.) Bush administration's policies talks about unconditional commitment to secure Israel. This is defending terrorism by a government.But Khamenei's call was bluntly dismissed by Abbas and Clinton after the two met during her first visit to the region since taking office.We are sending a message to the Iranians and others -- stop interfering in our affairs, Abbas said.They are interfering only to deepen the rift between Palestinians.
Clinton too said Khamenei's remarks were clear interference in the internal affairs of the Palestinian people, continuing efforts on the part of the Iranians to undermine the Palestinian Authority.Musa Abu Marzuk and Abu Zahar from the Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza and who attended the Tehran summit acknowledged the role Iran played in tackling the Middle East problem.Zahar openly said Iran and other countries have been offering aid to Palestinians, which included paying salaries of our employees since we came to power in 2006.Iran does not recognise Israel, and Khamenei has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution to solve the decades-old conflict.Shiite Iran's efforts to tackle the issue have received sceptical response from much of the Muslim world, especially from the neighbouring Sunni-ruled Arab states which are also wary of Tehran's nuclear programme.On Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal called for a joint Arab strategy to deal with the Iranian challenge at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers.In his address at the Tehran summit, Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the creation of a global anti-Zionist front.On the other hand we must seriously pursue punishing the Zionist criminals, so that by saving Palestine and the establishment of a popularly chosen government, the world gets rid of racism, lies and occupation forever.
Prominent lawmaker Khazem Jalili said the Tehran conference will suggest setting up a common fund of participating nations to channel the donations. But unfortunately, the route for delivering the aid is not open,he said referring to the Israeli blockade of Gaza.The summit, attended by officials from such neighbours as Kuwait and Bahrain, as well South Africa and Nigeria, comes two days after global donors meeting in Egypt pledged around 4.5 billion dollars to rebuild Gaza.
US says Hamas must recognise Israel Wed Mar 4, 12:32 pm ET
AP JERUSALEM (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Washington would not work with a Palestinian unity cabinet that includes Hamas unless the Islamists recognise Israel and renounce violence.If there is to be a unity government that includes Hamas, then we would expect that Hamas would comply with the principles as set forth by the Quartet,Clinton told CNN, referring to a group consisting of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia.
(Those principles) are the same: that Hamas must renounce violence, recognize Israel, and agree to abide by prior PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) commitments,she added.In the absence of Hamas agreeing to the principles that have been adopted by such a broad range of international actors, I don?t see that we or they, anyone, could deal with Hamas.When pressed, Clinton said Hamas would have to make a formal announcement recognising Israel and giving up armed struggle, as the PLO -- which includes most Palestinian factions but not Hamas -- did in 1988.The principles are clear. They have been adopted. And we would expect any unity government to abide by those,she said.Clinton made the remarks on her first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories since being appointed secretary of state, a two-day tour during which she met senior Israeli and Palestinian leaders.US President Barack Obama has vowed vigorously to pursue the peace process between Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas, but has ruled out any negotiations with Hamas.The Islamist movement -- which is sworn to Israel's destruction and blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Israel and the West -- seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Abbas.
Israel launches overnight strikes on Gaza tunnels Wed Mar 4, 1:37 am ET
GAZA CITY, (AFP) – Israeli warplanes launched two new raids early Wednesday on smuggling tunnels linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt without causing casualties, witnesses said.An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the bombings, saying three tunnels had been attacked and secondary explosions took place in one of them, indicating the presence of explosives.On Tuesday, the airforce had carried out some seven raids wounding four people, following rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory, witnesses and medics said.Palestinian witnesses said aircraft carried out at least seven strikes along Gaza's southern border, where dozens of tunnels are used for trafficking people, goods and arms into the impoverished territory.Four people were wounded in the raids, Palestinian medics said.An army spokeswoman told AFP that the air force carried out six strikes against smuggling tunnels near the southern Gaza town of Rafah in response to barrages of rockets fired over the past week.Outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had earlier warned that Israel would not shy away from striking Gaza in response to persistent rocket fire.If it turns out that Hamas has not got the message, it will be hit again, Livni told public radio hours before meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her first official visit to the Jewish state.Late Tuesday Palestinians fired more rockets at southern Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, but nobody was hurt and no damage reported, an army spokesman said, adding that the rockets fell on wasteland south of the town of Ashkelon.Some 120 rockets fired from the Palestinian coastal strip have been tallied since twin ceasefires came into force on January 18 following a three-week Israeli offensive which claimed more than 1,300 lives.
Clinton: US to support Palestinian state Tue Mar 3, 7:40 am ET
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. will vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.Clinton is making her first visit to the Mideast as the top U.S. diplomat. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, she said pursuit of a peace agreement that includes a Palestinian state seems inescapable.Clinton says the U.S. will be vigorously engaged in the pursuit of a two-state solution every step of the way.She spoke alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ahead of a meeting later in the day with Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.Netanyahu's criticism in the past of peace talks with the Palestinians and the possibility of Palestinian independence has raised concerns that his new government could clash with the U.S.
Monday, March 02, 2009
DONORS PLEDGE BILLIONS TO ARABS:SICK
International donors pledge billions for Palestinians by Ezzedine Said – Mon Mar 2, 3:32 pm ET
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – International donors on Monday pledged almost 4.5 billion dollars to the Palestinians and demanded the immediate lifting of Israel's crippling blockade on war-battered Gaza.But the donors meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh insisted that the aid money for the Gaza Strip must bypass its Islamist rulers Hamas, which is boycotted by the West as a terrorist group.We have gathered today 4.481 billion dollars, in addition to previous pledges, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said at the close of the conference aimed at helping to rebuild Gaza after Israel's three-week war.He said donors called for the immediate, total and unconditional opening" of Gaza's borders to ease a blockade that has prevented all but vital humanitarian aid reaching the impoverished enclave's 1.4 million inhabitants.World leaders at the conference also appealed for urgent action to breathe new life into the moribund Middle East peace process and said reconciliation between Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah was crucial.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on her first visit to the region as America's top diplomat, said the economic aid must go hand-in-hand with efforts to reach a comprehensive peace deal.The assistance we are offering is integral to our broader goals of a comprehensive peace and a two-state solution,she said.The US is prepared to engage in aggressive diplomacy with all sides in pursuit of comprehensive settlement that brings peace and security to Israel and its Arab neighbours.The Palestinian Authority had been seeking 2.8 billion dollars from the 75 countries and donor groups gathered in Sharm six weeks after the guns fell largely silent around Gaza.This conference has been 100 percent successful,Palestinian planning minister Samir Abdallah told AFP.
Abul Gheit said the amount pledged on Monday was more than expected and added to previous pledges brought the total aid to 5.2 billion dollars.More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the three-week Israeli offensive which also left large swathes of Gaza in ruins, destroying homes, schools and other infrastructure.However, it is still unclear how the aid will reach Gaza as Israel has linked any lifting of its blockade, and any agreement to a long-term truce with Hamas, to the release of a soldier held by Gaza militants since June 2006.The US administration pledged 900 million dollars, which Clinton said must not end up in the wrong hands, while the Arab monarchies of the Gulf have pledged 1.65 billion and the EU 554 million dollars.
Abbas said any economic aid was insufficient without a political settlement to the decades-old Middle East conflict, with the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.He called on the international community to take urgent steps to help revive peace talks at a time when Israel is set for a right-wing government led by hawkish former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.Clinton, who met fellow members of the Middle East Quartet to discuss the state of peace negotiations, flew into Israel later for talks with leaders there.As well as members of the outgoing administration, she is also due to meet Netanyahu.Asked in Egypt if she intended to put pressure on Israeli leaders to further US goals in the region, Clinton said: We will be discussing specific policies with the new government whenever it is formed. It is important that Israel work with its responsible Palestinian partners including Abbas and (Palestinian prime minister Salam) Fayyad,she added. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the opening of the crossings to Gaza, whose largely aid-dependent population has been suffering under the Israeli blockade since Hamas seized the territory in June 2007, was indispensible.
The situation at the border crossings is intolerable. Aid workers do not have access. Essential commodities cannot get in.Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad had said that Gaza construction could begin within six weeks if the crossing points are open.
However, Hamas said it will not accept any politicised aid and has called on the international community not to get involved in internal Palestinian divisions.
Report: Many EU nations do not track anti-Semitism By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 2, 1:10 pm ET
VIENNA – Anti-Semitism in some European countries appears to have risen since Israel's offensive in Gaza, but it fell during 2007 and most of 2008, a new report says.At the same time, the study notes that most EU countries fail to compile statistics on anti-Semitism, complicating efforts to gauge the level of animosity toward Jews within the 27-nation bloc.Monday's report by the Vienna-based European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights said a number of attacks against Jews and synagogues have been reported by the media in France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Britain since the Dec. 27 start of Israel's three-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip, during which an estimated 1,300 Palestinians died. It also cited recent reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Cyprus, Spain and the Netherlands.It did not give a total number of incidents but said German authorities recorded 292 anti-Semitic offenses during the fourth quarter of 2008.In France, home to western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities, the Interior Ministry recorded 48 anti-Semitic acts and 65 threats between Dec. 27 and Jan. 26, according to the report.
This recent surge in anti-Semitic incidents is reason for great concern,said agency director Morten Kjaerum. While it is too early to draw conclusions, there are indications that this rise could partly be affected by the situation in the Middle East, as well as by the global financial crisis.The agency said it did not have enough information to conclusively calculate an overall trend in anti-Semitic activity for the period between 2001 to 2008. But it noted that in the countries for which data are available there appears to be a decrease in such offenses in 2007 and most of 2008.That follows an increase in anti-Semitic activity between 2001 and 2002, between 2003 and 2004 and again in 2006, according to the report. However, it warned against making direct comparisons between countries since statistics are compiled in different ways.Although the report notes recent examples of anti-Semitic incidents in other EU countries, it only breaks down country-specific data for nine nations — Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.The agency's data collection work shows that most member states do not have official or even unofficial data and statistics on anti-Semitic incidents,the report says.The researchers noted that even when countries compile information, it often can't be used for comparative purposes because it's collected in different ways.Often, anti-Semitic incidents do not make it into official records because they are not labeled as such or because victims or witnesses do not report them.
Reed Brody, a Brussels-based spokesman for Human Rights Watch, described anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents as serious and growing problems in Europe and said the lack of statistics was hindering efforts to effectively fight them.It's difficult to develop an effective response when we don't know the exact scope and contours of the problem,Brody said in an interview.The European Jewish Congress said it considered the report's conclusions to be insufficient and announced it was organizing a symposium to produce proposals on monitoring anti-Semitism and implementing existing EU legislation on racism and xenophobia. The symposium will take place in Brussels on March 30.On the Net:European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights: http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/home/home_en.htm
Israel plans to double West Bank settlers by Marius Schattner – Mon Mar 2, 9:08 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's housing ministry has plans for West Bank construction that would nearly double the number of settlers in the occupied territory, the anti-settlement group Peace Now said on Monday.The group gave the estimate in research issued on the day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to visit to Israel on her first trip to the region since taking office.US President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue peace efforts in the region, and Israeli settlements on occupied land have long been one of the main obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.The ministry of construction and housing is planning to construct at least 73,000 housing units in the West Bank, said the Peace Now study, based on analysis of data on Israeli government websites.At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved,it said.Out of the units already approved, nearly 9,000 have been built, Peace Now said.
If all the plans are realised, the number of settler in the territories will be doubled,the research document said, saying the estimate is based upon an average of four people in each housing unit.The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a Palestinian state next to Israel totally unrealistic,Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer told army radio.Peace Now calculates that there are a total of more then 280,000 Israeli settlers living in some 121 settlements in the West Bank. Another estimated 200,000 live in annexed east Jerusalem.Housing ministry spokesman Eran Sidis insisted "these plans refer only to potential construction and would yet need to be approved by various government bodies.In practice only a very small part of these urbanism projects are implemented,Sidis told AFP.He claimed Peace Now mixed together unrelated data,but he did not deny the existence of the project.Included among the plans are some 17,000 housing units outside existing settlements in the Bethlehem area, the Peace Now study said.There are plans for huge construction to double the size of some settlements including Beitar Illit, Ariel, Maale Adumim and Efrat, it said.Some 19,000 units are planned to be built to the east of the controversial Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank, and the ministry plans include at least six wildcat outposts -- settlements not authorised by the Israeli government, Peace Now said.The plans published are only a small part of the overall housing plans for the occupied territories,the group said.There are other thousands of housing units in plans of the local authorities, private initiators and other public authorities, all of which we are in the process of collating.Under the internationally drafted roadmap for peace,Israel is committed to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001.But construction in Israeli settlements jumped 60 percent in 2008 in the wake of the relaunching of the Middle East peace process at a US conference at which the parties pledged to implement the roadmap.
Five Gaza rockets strike Israel: military Sun Mar 1, 7:52 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired five rockets at southern Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, further straining a fragile ceasefire.One of the rockets exploded in the yard of a house in Sderot causing some damage. The other four blew up on waste land, the military said.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed earlier Sunday to respond severely to militant rocket strikes from Gaza.If the rocket fire from Gaza continues, we will hit back severely, so much so that the terrorist organisations will understand that Israel is not ready to resign itself to this, Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting.Defence Minister Ehud Barak will give directions so that Israeli forces bring calm to southern Israel,the outgoing premier said.His comments came six weeks after the end of Israel's three-week war on Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead and destroyed homes and infrastructure throughout the Hamas-ruled territory.A donors conference takes place in Egypt Monday to finance reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.Palestinian militants have fired more than 100 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel since the fragile January 18 truce that ended Israel's massive military offensive on Gaza.Israel has in turn carried out several air raids targeting alleged militants, weapons caches and smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.Egypt has been struggling to mediate a more permanent ceasefire between the two sides in recent weeks but the talks have shown little sign of progress.
Mideast envoy Blair makes first Gaza visit by Joseph Krauss – Sun Mar 1, 11:30 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair paid a brief visit to a UN school in the Gaza Strip on Sunday on his first trip to the Hamas-run enclave since being appointed Middle East Quartet envoy.I wanted to come to hear for myself first-hand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict,Blair said at the school in the northern town of Beit Hanun.These are the people who need to be the focus of all our efforts for peace and progress from now on," he said, adding that he would relay what he saw to an international conference on Gaza reconstruction in Egypt on Monday.The Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is due to meet on the sidelines of the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Blair's visit coincided with a trip by British International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, the first to Gaza by a British minister since the Islamists violently seized power in the enclave in June 2007.Alexander pledged 30 million pounds (43 million dollars, 34 million euros) toward rebuilding and called on Israel to open the borders of the territory where he said he was horrified by the scale of human suffering.Today I am making an allocation of 30 million pounds as a new statement of our commitment to do what we can as a British government to alleviate the suffering, Alexander said at a press conference.We want to see full and unfettered access both for aid and for aid workers here in Gaza.Blair met Gaza businesspeople, members of civil society and representatives of the water authority, as well as dropping in on an English class, British consulate officials said.But unlike recent high-profile visitors to Gaza -- including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Senator John Kerry -- Blair did not visit the areas most devastated by the three-week Israeli war on the territory.
John Ging, the Gaza director of the UN refugee agency, said he hoped the visits had convinced decision-makers to change their failed policies and lift the Israeli and international blockade.We rest our case now, there is nothing more to say. They have seen it and now it's up to them to live up to their responsibility to actually change it,he said after accompanying Blair on the school visit.Focus on the people, not the politics, and get the crossings open. It's as simple as that.Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but limited humanitarian aid since Hamas, a group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized power in June 2007 after weeks of deadly street battles with secular Fatah rivals.Most of Gaza's 1.4 million population relies on aid from the outside world.Israel's 22-day onslaught in December and January caused damaged estimated at 1.95 billion dollars, the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction says.Blair was appointed Quartet representative in June 2007 after he stepped down following 10 years as prime minister.He had planned to make his maiden visit to Gaza in July 2008, but it was cancelled because of security concerns.
Since his appointment, Blair has been spearheading several projects aimed at revitalising the Palestinian economy, including three planned industrial zones in the occupied West Bank. He has also pushed development projects in Gaza, including the repair of the water treatment plant, where a reservoir burst its banks in March 2007, flooding a village with raw sewage and drowning five Palestinians. The Quartet has refused to have dealings with Hamas, which swept Palestinian elections in January 2006, saying the group first has to renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace deals.Blair said he hopes the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas can together develop a unified Palestinian response in a way that the international community can engage with the Palestinian people.
Mideast Quartet to meet alongside Gaza aid talks Sat Feb 28, 2:27 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – The international Middle East Quartet will meet on Monday on the sidelines of a conference on reconstruction in Gaza, the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Saturday.Such a meeting is planned in principle, but the details have yet to be fixed,Hossam Zaki said.The Quartet -- the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia -- in 2003 adopted a road map intended to lead by stages to a permanent settlement of the Israel-Palestinian crisis, based on the principle of the existence of two states.Hillary Clinton, on her first trip to the Middle East as US Secretary of state, will take part in the donors' conference at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and will also attend the Quartet meeting.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also expected to be at the Quartet event.The road map struggled to make progress and ground to a halt in December when Israel launched a bloody three-week assault on the Gaza Strip which killed 1,330 people and destroyed hospitals, schools and thousands of homes.Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday abandoned attempts to bring Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni into a new coalition government when she failed to persuade him to back the two-state proposal.An Arab League official said a meeting is also planned between Clinton and nine Arab foreign ministers from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Jordan tells US two states key to Mideast peace Sat Feb 28, 9:07 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan's King Abdallah II told US envoy George Mitchell on Saturday that Middle East peace can only be achieved on the basis of two states, Palestinian and Israeli, supported by all involved.There is no alternative to the solution based on two states which must be backed by all the parties, who must work with determination to achieve it,the king told the Middle East envoy of US President Barack Obama.A statement from the palace said the king, who met Mitchell in Amman, called on Washington to take concrete steps to put Israel-Palestinian negotiations back on the rails.Obama has several times called for negotiations to resume. They came briefly back to life after a US conference in November 2007 but subsequently stalled, before being completely moribund after the December-January war between Israel and Hamas.Israel launched its offensive against Gaza in response to militant rocket fire. The conflict killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including several hundred children, and 13 Israelis.Mitchell's second visit to the Middle East, aimed at trying to advance peace talks, comes ahead of a planned international conference on the reconstruction of Gaza scheduled for Monday in Egypt.Last Thursday the envoy visited Israel for talks with senior officials and on Friday met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.Israel Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday abandoned efforts to persuade Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to join a ruling coalition, after he refused to accept her call to back a two-state solution.
Rocket fired from Gaza hits Israeli school: army Sat Feb 28, 4:52 am ET
ASHKELON, Israel (Reuters) – A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip exploded near a school in Israel Saturday, causing damage but no injuries, Israel's military said.The rocket, one of three fired from the coastal territory on Saturday, landed in the courtyard of a school in the Israeli city of Ashekelon, some 12 km (7 miles) north of the Gaza border. Shrapnel flew into classrooms.Authorities said the school was empty for the weekend.Israel has responded to similar attacks with air strikes.Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas to take the place of a shaky January 18 ceasefire that ended a 22-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. There have been almost daily exchanges of fire since then.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's rocket fire.(Reporting by Yehuda Peretz, Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
EU's Solana on unprecedented Gaza visit Fri Feb 27, 8:41 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana toured the war-shattered Gaza Strip on Friday, his first such trip since the Islamist Hamas seized power in the Palestinian territory in June 2007.I came to Gaza to see by myself the situation and the destruction and to show the solidarity to the good people of Gaza who have suffered so much,he said at a news conference.I wanted to see with my eyes the level of destruction,he said of the devastation wrought by Israel's 22-day military offensive that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.He viewed the ruins of the American International School and the wasteland of Ezbet Abed Rabbo, where scores of Palestinians huddle in shanties erected on mounds of rubble that used to be their homes.His visit came ahead of an international conference in Egypt on the rebuilding of Gaza. I hope the meeting that will take place on Monday will be a good meeting with good consequences for people here,said Solana.Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere was on a similar visit to Gaza on Friday, touring areas hard hit by the Israeli offensive which ended on January 18.Neither Solana nor Stoere were due to meet any representative of Hamas, which the European Union, Israel and the United States consider a terrorist organisation.We have not had any meeting with Hamas at the political level since June 2007,said Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Haakon Svane.The Islamist movement violently seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – International donors on Monday pledged almost 4.5 billion dollars to the Palestinians and demanded the immediate lifting of Israel's crippling blockade on war-battered Gaza.But the donors meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh insisted that the aid money for the Gaza Strip must bypass its Islamist rulers Hamas, which is boycotted by the West as a terrorist group.We have gathered today 4.481 billion dollars, in addition to previous pledges, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said at the close of the conference aimed at helping to rebuild Gaza after Israel's three-week war.He said donors called for the immediate, total and unconditional opening" of Gaza's borders to ease a blockade that has prevented all but vital humanitarian aid reaching the impoverished enclave's 1.4 million inhabitants.World leaders at the conference also appealed for urgent action to breathe new life into the moribund Middle East peace process and said reconciliation between Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah was crucial.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on her first visit to the region as America's top diplomat, said the economic aid must go hand-in-hand with efforts to reach a comprehensive peace deal.The assistance we are offering is integral to our broader goals of a comprehensive peace and a two-state solution,she said.The US is prepared to engage in aggressive diplomacy with all sides in pursuit of comprehensive settlement that brings peace and security to Israel and its Arab neighbours.The Palestinian Authority had been seeking 2.8 billion dollars from the 75 countries and donor groups gathered in Sharm six weeks after the guns fell largely silent around Gaza.This conference has been 100 percent successful,Palestinian planning minister Samir Abdallah told AFP.
Abul Gheit said the amount pledged on Monday was more than expected and added to previous pledges brought the total aid to 5.2 billion dollars.More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the three-week Israeli offensive which also left large swathes of Gaza in ruins, destroying homes, schools and other infrastructure.However, it is still unclear how the aid will reach Gaza as Israel has linked any lifting of its blockade, and any agreement to a long-term truce with Hamas, to the release of a soldier held by Gaza militants since June 2006.The US administration pledged 900 million dollars, which Clinton said must not end up in the wrong hands, while the Arab monarchies of the Gulf have pledged 1.65 billion and the EU 554 million dollars.
Abbas said any economic aid was insufficient without a political settlement to the decades-old Middle East conflict, with the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.He called on the international community to take urgent steps to help revive peace talks at a time when Israel is set for a right-wing government led by hawkish former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.Clinton, who met fellow members of the Middle East Quartet to discuss the state of peace negotiations, flew into Israel later for talks with leaders there.As well as members of the outgoing administration, she is also due to meet Netanyahu.Asked in Egypt if she intended to put pressure on Israeli leaders to further US goals in the region, Clinton said: We will be discussing specific policies with the new government whenever it is formed. It is important that Israel work with its responsible Palestinian partners including Abbas and (Palestinian prime minister Salam) Fayyad,she added. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the opening of the crossings to Gaza, whose largely aid-dependent population has been suffering under the Israeli blockade since Hamas seized the territory in June 2007, was indispensible.
The situation at the border crossings is intolerable. Aid workers do not have access. Essential commodities cannot get in.Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad had said that Gaza construction could begin within six weeks if the crossing points are open.
However, Hamas said it will not accept any politicised aid and has called on the international community not to get involved in internal Palestinian divisions.
Report: Many EU nations do not track anti-Semitism By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 2, 1:10 pm ET
VIENNA – Anti-Semitism in some European countries appears to have risen since Israel's offensive in Gaza, but it fell during 2007 and most of 2008, a new report says.At the same time, the study notes that most EU countries fail to compile statistics on anti-Semitism, complicating efforts to gauge the level of animosity toward Jews within the 27-nation bloc.Monday's report by the Vienna-based European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights said a number of attacks against Jews and synagogues have been reported by the media in France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Britain since the Dec. 27 start of Israel's three-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip, during which an estimated 1,300 Palestinians died. It also cited recent reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Cyprus, Spain and the Netherlands.It did not give a total number of incidents but said German authorities recorded 292 anti-Semitic offenses during the fourth quarter of 2008.In France, home to western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities, the Interior Ministry recorded 48 anti-Semitic acts and 65 threats between Dec. 27 and Jan. 26, according to the report.
This recent surge in anti-Semitic incidents is reason for great concern,said agency director Morten Kjaerum. While it is too early to draw conclusions, there are indications that this rise could partly be affected by the situation in the Middle East, as well as by the global financial crisis.The agency said it did not have enough information to conclusively calculate an overall trend in anti-Semitic activity for the period between 2001 to 2008. But it noted that in the countries for which data are available there appears to be a decrease in such offenses in 2007 and most of 2008.That follows an increase in anti-Semitic activity between 2001 and 2002, between 2003 and 2004 and again in 2006, according to the report. However, it warned against making direct comparisons between countries since statistics are compiled in different ways.Although the report notes recent examples of anti-Semitic incidents in other EU countries, it only breaks down country-specific data for nine nations — Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.The agency's data collection work shows that most member states do not have official or even unofficial data and statistics on anti-Semitic incidents,the report says.The researchers noted that even when countries compile information, it often can't be used for comparative purposes because it's collected in different ways.Often, anti-Semitic incidents do not make it into official records because they are not labeled as such or because victims or witnesses do not report them.
Reed Brody, a Brussels-based spokesman for Human Rights Watch, described anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents as serious and growing problems in Europe and said the lack of statistics was hindering efforts to effectively fight them.It's difficult to develop an effective response when we don't know the exact scope and contours of the problem,Brody said in an interview.The European Jewish Congress said it considered the report's conclusions to be insufficient and announced it was organizing a symposium to produce proposals on monitoring anti-Semitism and implementing existing EU legislation on racism and xenophobia. The symposium will take place in Brussels on March 30.On the Net:European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights: http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/home/home_en.htm
Israel plans to double West Bank settlers by Marius Schattner – Mon Mar 2, 9:08 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's housing ministry has plans for West Bank construction that would nearly double the number of settlers in the occupied territory, the anti-settlement group Peace Now said on Monday.The group gave the estimate in research issued on the day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to visit to Israel on her first trip to the region since taking office.US President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue peace efforts in the region, and Israeli settlements on occupied land have long been one of the main obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.The ministry of construction and housing is planning to construct at least 73,000 housing units in the West Bank, said the Peace Now study, based on analysis of data on Israeli government websites.At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved,it said.Out of the units already approved, nearly 9,000 have been built, Peace Now said.
If all the plans are realised, the number of settler in the territories will be doubled,the research document said, saying the estimate is based upon an average of four people in each housing unit.The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a Palestinian state next to Israel totally unrealistic,Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer told army radio.Peace Now calculates that there are a total of more then 280,000 Israeli settlers living in some 121 settlements in the West Bank. Another estimated 200,000 live in annexed east Jerusalem.Housing ministry spokesman Eran Sidis insisted "these plans refer only to potential construction and would yet need to be approved by various government bodies.In practice only a very small part of these urbanism projects are implemented,Sidis told AFP.He claimed Peace Now mixed together unrelated data,but he did not deny the existence of the project.Included among the plans are some 17,000 housing units outside existing settlements in the Bethlehem area, the Peace Now study said.There are plans for huge construction to double the size of some settlements including Beitar Illit, Ariel, Maale Adumim and Efrat, it said.Some 19,000 units are planned to be built to the east of the controversial Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank, and the ministry plans include at least six wildcat outposts -- settlements not authorised by the Israeli government, Peace Now said.The plans published are only a small part of the overall housing plans for the occupied territories,the group said.There are other thousands of housing units in plans of the local authorities, private initiators and other public authorities, all of which we are in the process of collating.Under the internationally drafted roadmap for peace,Israel is committed to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001.But construction in Israeli settlements jumped 60 percent in 2008 in the wake of the relaunching of the Middle East peace process at a US conference at which the parties pledged to implement the roadmap.
Five Gaza rockets strike Israel: military Sun Mar 1, 7:52 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired five rockets at southern Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, further straining a fragile ceasefire.One of the rockets exploded in the yard of a house in Sderot causing some damage. The other four blew up on waste land, the military said.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed earlier Sunday to respond severely to militant rocket strikes from Gaza.If the rocket fire from Gaza continues, we will hit back severely, so much so that the terrorist organisations will understand that Israel is not ready to resign itself to this, Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting.Defence Minister Ehud Barak will give directions so that Israeli forces bring calm to southern Israel,the outgoing premier said.His comments came six weeks after the end of Israel's three-week war on Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead and destroyed homes and infrastructure throughout the Hamas-ruled territory.A donors conference takes place in Egypt Monday to finance reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.Palestinian militants have fired more than 100 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel since the fragile January 18 truce that ended Israel's massive military offensive on Gaza.Israel has in turn carried out several air raids targeting alleged militants, weapons caches and smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.Egypt has been struggling to mediate a more permanent ceasefire between the two sides in recent weeks but the talks have shown little sign of progress.
Mideast envoy Blair makes first Gaza visit by Joseph Krauss – Sun Mar 1, 11:30 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair paid a brief visit to a UN school in the Gaza Strip on Sunday on his first trip to the Hamas-run enclave since being appointed Middle East Quartet envoy.I wanted to come to hear for myself first-hand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict,Blair said at the school in the northern town of Beit Hanun.These are the people who need to be the focus of all our efforts for peace and progress from now on," he said, adding that he would relay what he saw to an international conference on Gaza reconstruction in Egypt on Monday.The Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is due to meet on the sidelines of the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Blair's visit coincided with a trip by British International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, the first to Gaza by a British minister since the Islamists violently seized power in the enclave in June 2007.Alexander pledged 30 million pounds (43 million dollars, 34 million euros) toward rebuilding and called on Israel to open the borders of the territory where he said he was horrified by the scale of human suffering.Today I am making an allocation of 30 million pounds as a new statement of our commitment to do what we can as a British government to alleviate the suffering, Alexander said at a press conference.We want to see full and unfettered access both for aid and for aid workers here in Gaza.Blair met Gaza businesspeople, members of civil society and representatives of the water authority, as well as dropping in on an English class, British consulate officials said.But unlike recent high-profile visitors to Gaza -- including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Senator John Kerry -- Blair did not visit the areas most devastated by the three-week Israeli war on the territory.
John Ging, the Gaza director of the UN refugee agency, said he hoped the visits had convinced decision-makers to change their failed policies and lift the Israeli and international blockade.We rest our case now, there is nothing more to say. They have seen it and now it's up to them to live up to their responsibility to actually change it,he said after accompanying Blair on the school visit.Focus on the people, not the politics, and get the crossings open. It's as simple as that.Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but limited humanitarian aid since Hamas, a group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized power in June 2007 after weeks of deadly street battles with secular Fatah rivals.Most of Gaza's 1.4 million population relies on aid from the outside world.Israel's 22-day onslaught in December and January caused damaged estimated at 1.95 billion dollars, the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction says.Blair was appointed Quartet representative in June 2007 after he stepped down following 10 years as prime minister.He had planned to make his maiden visit to Gaza in July 2008, but it was cancelled because of security concerns.
Since his appointment, Blair has been spearheading several projects aimed at revitalising the Palestinian economy, including three planned industrial zones in the occupied West Bank. He has also pushed development projects in Gaza, including the repair of the water treatment plant, where a reservoir burst its banks in March 2007, flooding a village with raw sewage and drowning five Palestinians. The Quartet has refused to have dealings with Hamas, which swept Palestinian elections in January 2006, saying the group first has to renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace deals.Blair said he hopes the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas can together develop a unified Palestinian response in a way that the international community can engage with the Palestinian people.
Mideast Quartet to meet alongside Gaza aid talks Sat Feb 28, 2:27 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – The international Middle East Quartet will meet on Monday on the sidelines of a conference on reconstruction in Gaza, the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Saturday.Such a meeting is planned in principle, but the details have yet to be fixed,Hossam Zaki said.The Quartet -- the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia -- in 2003 adopted a road map intended to lead by stages to a permanent settlement of the Israel-Palestinian crisis, based on the principle of the existence of two states.Hillary Clinton, on her first trip to the Middle East as US Secretary of state, will take part in the donors' conference at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and will also attend the Quartet meeting.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also expected to be at the Quartet event.The road map struggled to make progress and ground to a halt in December when Israel launched a bloody three-week assault on the Gaza Strip which killed 1,330 people and destroyed hospitals, schools and thousands of homes.Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday abandoned attempts to bring Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni into a new coalition government when she failed to persuade him to back the two-state proposal.An Arab League official said a meeting is also planned between Clinton and nine Arab foreign ministers from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Jordan tells US two states key to Mideast peace Sat Feb 28, 9:07 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan's King Abdallah II told US envoy George Mitchell on Saturday that Middle East peace can only be achieved on the basis of two states, Palestinian and Israeli, supported by all involved.There is no alternative to the solution based on two states which must be backed by all the parties, who must work with determination to achieve it,the king told the Middle East envoy of US President Barack Obama.A statement from the palace said the king, who met Mitchell in Amman, called on Washington to take concrete steps to put Israel-Palestinian negotiations back on the rails.Obama has several times called for negotiations to resume. They came briefly back to life after a US conference in November 2007 but subsequently stalled, before being completely moribund after the December-January war between Israel and Hamas.Israel launched its offensive against Gaza in response to militant rocket fire. The conflict killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including several hundred children, and 13 Israelis.Mitchell's second visit to the Middle East, aimed at trying to advance peace talks, comes ahead of a planned international conference on the reconstruction of Gaza scheduled for Monday in Egypt.Last Thursday the envoy visited Israel for talks with senior officials and on Friday met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.Israel Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday abandoned efforts to persuade Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to join a ruling coalition, after he refused to accept her call to back a two-state solution.
Rocket fired from Gaza hits Israeli school: army Sat Feb 28, 4:52 am ET
ASHKELON, Israel (Reuters) – A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip exploded near a school in Israel Saturday, causing damage but no injuries, Israel's military said.The rocket, one of three fired from the coastal territory on Saturday, landed in the courtyard of a school in the Israeli city of Ashekelon, some 12 km (7 miles) north of the Gaza border. Shrapnel flew into classrooms.Authorities said the school was empty for the weekend.Israel has responded to similar attacks with air strikes.Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas to take the place of a shaky January 18 ceasefire that ended a 22-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. There have been almost daily exchanges of fire since then.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's rocket fire.(Reporting by Yehuda Peretz, Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
EU's Solana on unprecedented Gaza visit Fri Feb 27, 8:41 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana toured the war-shattered Gaza Strip on Friday, his first such trip since the Islamist Hamas seized power in the Palestinian territory in June 2007.I came to Gaza to see by myself the situation and the destruction and to show the solidarity to the good people of Gaza who have suffered so much,he said at a news conference.I wanted to see with my eyes the level of destruction,he said of the devastation wrought by Israel's 22-day military offensive that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.He viewed the ruins of the American International School and the wasteland of Ezbet Abed Rabbo, where scores of Palestinians huddle in shanties erected on mounds of rubble that used to be their homes.His visit came ahead of an international conference in Egypt on the rebuilding of Gaza. I hope the meeting that will take place on Monday will be a good meeting with good consequences for people here,said Solana.Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere was on a similar visit to Gaza on Friday, touring areas hard hit by the Israeli offensive which ended on January 18.Neither Solana nor Stoere were due to meet any representative of Hamas, which the European Union, Israel and the United States consider a terrorist organisation.We have not had any meeting with Hamas at the political level since June 2007,said Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Haakon Svane.The Islamist movement violently seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
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