US envoy in Mideast in latest bid to relaunch peace talks
by Patrick Moser APR 23,10 9:30 AM
JERUSALEM (AFP) – US envoy GeorgeMitchell met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday on his latest trip to the region aimed at convincing Middle East leaders to restart peace negotiations.Despite a recent cooling of relations with Washington, Netanyahu said he looked forward to working with US President Barack Obama and his envoy to advance peace.We're serious about it. We know you're serious about it. We hope the Palestinians respond,Netanyahu told Mitchell at the start of the meeting in Jerusalem.We have to move this process forward.In a brief statement after the talks, Netanyahu's office said the two had a good meeting that dealt with kickstarting the peace process -- which was broken off in late 2008 -- and that they will meet again on Sunday.
Mitchell also held talks with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
Later in the day, he planned to head to Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and other officials.Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina stressed that any concrete proposal for a restart of talks with Israel would have to be discussed with Arab leaders.Any decision to participate in any negotiations will be taken in consultation with the Arabs, he said.Abu Rudeina also strongly criticised Israel's rejection of international demands for a halt to settlement construction in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.The statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Israel?s intention to continue settlement activities in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories show that his government is placing hurdles in the way of negotiations, whether direct or indirect, he said.A frequent visitor to the region, Mitchell had managed last month to convince the Palestinians to hold indirect talks, only to see the agreement collapse when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem.The plan, announced just as US Vice President Joe Biden was in Jerusalem to promote the peace talks, infuriated Washington and sparked a bitter row between the two allies.But Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted he has no intention of caving in to Western pressure to halt settlement activity in east Jerusalem.There will be no freeze on construction in Jerusalem, Netanyahu reiterated on Thursday.Everyone knows it,he told Channel Two television.There is perfect agreement on the fact that there cannot be preconditions to negotiations, he added, in an apparent reference to Palestinian demands that settlement construction be halted before direct talks can resume.Israel captured the Arab part of the city in the 1967 Middle East War and then annexed it, claiming the whole of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.The issue of settlements, alongside that of Jerusalem's status, are among the thorniest in efforts to achieve a resolution of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The international community considers all Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, to be illegal. Peace talks, revived in late 2007 after a seven year hiatus, collapsed again after Israel launched a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008. The Palestinians have insisted they will not return to the negotiating table unless there is a total freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem. In November, Netanyahu's government announced a partial, 10-month moratorium on construction of settlement construction in the West Bank, excluding east Jerusalem.
Lebanon lodges complaint with UN over Israeli memorial
Fri Apr 23, 5:54 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon has lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council over a memorial Israel inaugurated this week in the disputed Shebaa Farms border region, the foreign ministry said Friday.The ministry said the memorial was inaugurated on Wednesday but did not specify the nature of the edifice.This is a flagrant violation of international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701,the ministry said.
Resolution 1701 helped bring an end to a devastating war between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.The Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of land rich in water resources measuring 25 square kilometres (10 square miles), is located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.The area has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war and caught in a tug-of-war over ownership ever since.
Tracking smuggled Scud missiles not so simple: experts
by Dan De Luce – Thu Apr 22, 7:43 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – As Syria faces charges it may have supplied Hezbollah with Scud missiles, experts say spotting the weapons is no easy task -- which US and British forces learned in the first Gulf war.Smuggling missiles and mobile launchers into Lebanon without US or Israeli intelligence agencies noticing would be possible, but difficult,one US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
All you have to do is separate the tail from the missile, which is something you can do easily. And then move it to some other vehicle,said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.Moble launchers could also be taken apart to avoid detection, analysts said.Israel has accused Syria of arming Hezbollah with the ballistic missiles, a charge Damascus vehemently denies. US officials meanwhile say they cannot confirm if the weapons have been delivered to the Lebanese Shiite militia.In the 1990-91 Gulf war, allied aircraft -- along with US and British special forces on the ground -- struggled to track and take out Saddam Hussein's mobile Scuds, which were hidden in gullies and culverts and quickly shifted out of sight after any launch.
We flew thousands of missions to try to destroy Saddam?s Scuds which he was firing at Israel and Saudi Arabia. After the war we discovered we had missed every single time,said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Sensors and other military technology have improved since then, and Lebanon offers a smaller area to monitor than Iraq.Moreover, Israel has very good intelligence there, Riedel said, so they would probably do better.Once inside Lebanon, the missiles and launchers could be reassembled and hidden until Hezbollah was ready to use them.The missiles are most vulnerable when they are preparing to launch. Still it would be difficult to destroy every launcher before they fired, he said.Scud-type missiles, originally designed and produced by the Soviets, are usually about 11 meters (yards) long and have a range of roughly 300 kilometers (186 miles), though some versions can strike beyond 500 kilometers.Adding Scuds to Hezbollah's arsenal of rockets would strengthen the militia's position even though Israel would retain its military edge, analysts said.It does not dramatically change the equation but it means Hezbollah can fire at any target in Israel, Cordesman said.
A much bigger concern for Israel would be if the Scuds came with chemical warheads, experts said, but no one has made that allegation so far.Whether or not Scuds have been delivered, the Obama administration is convinced that Syria is stepping up military support to Hezbollah, US officials said.There's a narrow question of Scuds but there is a much broader concern about advanced weaponry,a US official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.The cooperation between Syria and Hezbollah is escalating and we think that is potentially destabilizing and adds risks in a region that already has more risks than it knows what to do with.It remained unclear why the accusation against Syria was leveled by the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and not by military or intelligence officials offering details or evidence, analysts said. It's unusual for someone like Peres to make such an announcement,Cordesman said. Some lawmakers in Congress have seized on the allegations to argue against US efforts to promote dialogue with Syria. President Barack Obama in February appointed Robert Ford as the first US ambassador to Damascus in five years, although the Senate has yet to confirm him. Opting to supply Hezbollah with more powerful weaponry would fit in with a recent pattern in which Syria appears to have adopted a triumphalist mindset,wrote Steven Heydemann at the US Institute of Peace.
US and European diplomacy has failed so far to persuade Syria to move away from Iran's orbit and forge stronger ties to the West, he wrote on the Foreign Policy website. Instead, Syria's leaders have pocketed their gains and raised the stakes, strengthening Hezbollah's arsenal and deepening its strategic ties with Iran," Heydemann wrote.
Spain urges Israel to support Mediterranean Union
Thu Apr 22, 4:13 pm ET
MADRID (AFP) – Spain called on Israel Thursday to support the nascent Mediterranean Union as well as efforts to reach peace in the Middle East during a visit to Madrid by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos asked Lieberman for Israel's full cooperation with the Mediterranean Union, which is of maximum interest to Spain and all of its Euro-Mediterranean partners,the foreign ministry said in a statement.Moratinos also reiterated Spain's full support for the efforts of the administration of US President President Barack Obama to reach peace in the Middle East, it added.The 43-nation Mediterranean Union, whose headquarters is in Barcelona, was established in 2008 in Paris by France and Egypt.It groups all 27 EU member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as well as Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.Earlier this month talks in Barcelona between Mediterranean Union members aimed at adopting a water management strategy for the region ended in failure due to a row between Israel and Arab countries over a reference to the Palestinian territories.The stalemate was seen as a strong blow against the body, which will hold its first summit in Barcelona in June.
Netanyahu: Iran provoking Israel-Syria conflict
Thu Apr 22, 1:57 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is trying to provoke a war between Israel and Syria.Netanyahu says Iran is trying to convince Syria that an Israeli attack is imminent, which he says is a lie.Tensions have been high recently between Israel and Syria. The sides have traded threats, and last week Israel accused Syria of smuggling powerful rockets to the Lebanese guerillas of Hezbollah. Syria denied the charge.Speaking in an interview Thursday with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu repeated the charge that Syria and Iran are arming Hezbollah.
The Israeli leader also called on the U.S. to impose sanctions to block Iran's nuclear program.
Jordan confirms blast near Israeli city
Thu Apr 22, 11:15 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – A blast hit the outskirts of the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba on Thursday, a minister told AFP, adding the kingdom had no information of reported rocket fire on the nearby Israeli resort of Eilat.An explosion occurred on Thursday morning in a refrigeration warehouse in the northern part of the city of Aqaba, causing no casualties and minimal damage,Information Minister Nabil Sharif said.
An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosion, added the minister.Earlier, a senior Jordanian official said on condition of anonymity that the blast occurred in a plant on the outskirts of Aqaba at about 7:00 am (0400 GMT).
We know of no rockets in Eilat, he said.Other Jordanian officials told AFP that contacts had been made with Israeli authorities and that they made no mention of any rockets having fallen onto the Jewish state's territory.Israel's private Channel 10 television station reported that two Katyusha rockets fell near Eilat, one of them landing in the Red Sea off the port city and the other exploding outside Aqaba.The channel said it was also possible that the rockets were launched from Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
Neither the Israeli army nor the police would immediately confirm the incident.
The plant contains rubber products and lies on the northern outskirts of Aqaba, which belongs to a special economic zone established by the Jordanian city's authorities in 2001.Aqaba and Eilat are the neighbouring Red Sea ports of Jordan and Israel, which signed a peace agreement in October 1994 after decades of strained ties and conflict.The two ports are nestled in the Gulf of Aqaba, a narrow stretch of water bordered on one side by Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the other by Saudi Arabia.In August 2005, three Katyusha rockets were fired in Aqaba, missing two US warships docked in the port but one hit a warehouse killing a Jordanian soldier while another landed across the border in Israel.
Mideast peace would thwart Iran ambitions: Obama aide By Matt Spetalnick – Wed Apr 21, 10:30 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's administration said on Wednesday that progress toward Middle East peace would help thwart Iran's ambitions by preventing it from cynically using the conflict to divert attention from its nuclear program.Drawing an explicit link between Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and Washington's drive to isolate Iran, Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, urged bold steps to revive long-stalled Middle East negotiations.U.S. officials hope that shared Arab-Israeli concerns about Iran can be exploited to spur old foes to help advance Israeli-Palestinian peace and restrain Tehran's nuclear activities and rising influence in the region.Jones coupled an appeal to Israel and its Arab neighbors to take risks for peace with a warning to Iran that it would face real consequences for its nuclear defiance. Obama is leading a push to tighten U.N. sanctions on Tehran.One of the ways that Iran exerts influence in the Middle East is by exploiting the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict,Jones told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Advancing this peace would ... help prevent Iran from cynically shifting attention away from its failures to meet its obligations, he said.The Israeli government, locked in a dispute with the United States over Jewish settlement policy, has made clear it sees confronting Iran as more of a security priority for Washington, and Middle East peace should be handled on a separate track.
Jones -- while voicing disappointment over the failure to jumpstart U.S.-sponsored indirect peace talks -- insisted progress toward peace is a U.S. interest as well.
That seemed to echo Obama's assertion last week that a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict was a vital national security interest,adding to speculation that he was considering his own broad peace proposal.
U.S.-ISRAELI BOND UNBREAKABLE
While acknowledging disagreements with Israel, Jones said the U.S. commitment to its ally was unbreakable.There is no space -- no space -- between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security,he said.Still, he urged all sides to avoid provocative actions, including Israeli actions in East Jerusalem and Palestinians' incitement that fuels suspicion rather than trust.Jones reasserted that Washington is determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons,saying U.S. efforts are aimed at avoiding a nuclear arms race in the region and the proliferation of nuclear technology to terrorist organizations.Israel is the only assumed nuclear weapons power in the Middle East. Western powers accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a bomb, but it insists its nuclear activities are peaceful.The Obama administration's Middle East peace moves have been stymied by a dispute over Jewish settlement construction in and around Jerusalem and by divisions among the Palestinians.Washington has tried to get Israel and the Palestinians to launch proximity talks but has made scant headway. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave little ground in White House talks with Obama last month.(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Chris Wilson)
US: Syria missile reports deeply troubling By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 21, 4:38 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Wednesday it has warned Syria numerous times in recent weeks that transferring ballistic missiles to Lebanon's Hezbollah militia could lead to a new war in the Middle East.The administration's top diplomat for the region, Jeffrey Feltman, told a congressional committee that the message had been conveyed to senior Syrian officials at least five times since late February.
Feltman would not confirm reports that Syria has sent Scud missiles to Hezbollah, but said such giving such weapons to Hezbollah would be an incendiary, provocative action that could affect war and peace in (the) region. He said the U.S. viewed the matter with the gravest concern and would keep all options open to deal with it.The dire warning comes as Israel, which regards Hezbollah as a major threat, has accused Syria of providing the group with Scuds. Scuds have a far longer range and can carry a much bigger warhead than rockets Hezbollah has used in the past and could reach anywhere in Israel from Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon. Syria has denied the charge, as has Lebanon's Western-backed prime minister.If these reports turn out to be true, we're going to have to review the whole range of tools that are available for us in order to make Syria reverse what would be an incendiary, provocative action,Feltman told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.I expect that all options are going to be on the table looking at this.He did not elaborate.Beginning on Feb. 26, U.S. officials summoned Syria's U.S. ambassador because we were so concerned with information we had that Syria was passing increasingly sophisticated ballistic weapons to Hezbollah,Feltman said. Similar warnings were passed to the ambassador or his deputy on March 1, March 10 and March 19, he said.In addition, Feltman said he had raised the matter earlier Wednesday in a phone call with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. He added the concerns underscored the need to send a new U.S. ambassador to Damascus to ensure that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad understands the situation.
When President Assad is taking decisions that could affect war and peace in his region he needs to have clear understanding of what the implications are, what the U.S. positions are and what the red lines are,Feltman said.Some lawmakers are threatening to hold up the confirmation of the administration's choice to be the first U.S. ambassador Syria in five years, career diplomat Robert Ford, because of the Scud reports.Feltman argued that limiting American access to Assad would be a mistake since the Syrian president is speaking with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.President Assad is making decisions in a very volatile and dangerous region, he said.Syria has made mistakes before and Syria has, in fact, paid the consequences for those mistakes.He is listening to people like Hassan Nasrallah, he is listening to people like Ahmadinejad,Feltman said.We need to be making our message to him loud and clear and directly.
Jerusalem reopens popular Old City gate By GRANT SLATER, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 21, 11:34 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel reopened a 16th-century gate to Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday, completing a two-month renovation and cleaning project that drew criticism from Palestinian officials.Jaffa Gate, one of four main entrances to the Old City, was built by Jerusalem's Ottoman rulers and inaugurated in 1538. It is the most common entrance for tourists entering the walled Old City — home to key holy sites in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as well as a popular outdoor marketplace.
The restoration was part of a $4 million project launched by the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2007 to spruce up all two and a half miles (four kilometers) of the Old City's walls.The authority replaced broken stones, reattached an elaborate inscription above the gate and cleaned the facade with lye. Because Jaffa Gate provides one of the few entrances for vehicles, the stones had a decades-old coating of car exhaust residue, said Yoram Saad, who headed the renovation.The portal stands at a right angle to the western exterior wall of the Old City, made of the same large, 16th-century sand-colored hewn stone blocks. The entrance is about 20 feet (6 meters) high, and the wall rises another 20 feet (6 meters) above it.The renovation project has proven challenging because of the difficulty in restoring ancient stones and the project's political and religious overtones.It's very sensitive of course and very complex from a logistical point of view, Saad said. The organization is saving the Damascus Gate, which leads from the Muslim Quarter to a bustling Arab neighborhood, for last.The Old City is in east Jerusalem, the section of the city claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital. It is also home to the most sensitive holy site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — a hilltop compound revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.Even the smallest changes to the appearance of the Old City can raise tensions or even spark violence, as evidenced by recent Arab protests that erupted after Israel renovated an ancient synagogue in the Jewish Quarter.
Wednesday's ceremony proceeded without incident, though recent improvements around Jaffa Gate, including an upscale pedestrian mall, have fueled Palestinian concerns that city officials are trying to shift commerce away from the bustling Damascus Gate.It is an attempt to hit hard at commercial life in the Old City, especially the Muslim Quarter,said Hatem Abdel Qader, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Jerusalem's mayor, Nir Barkat, said city authorities have a duty to repair and restore the walls of the Old City, calling them a national asset and a place for pilgrims.The most important thing is that it's the right thing to do. That's the only angle people should view it from, Barkat said.
Jaffa Gate was not used heavily until the end of the 19th century when part of the wall nearby was torn down to allow Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II to enter the Old City in his carriage.It was the scene of intense fighting in 1948 and remained closed while Jerusalem was a divided city until 1967, when Israel captured the city's eastern sector and annexed it. The antiquities authority left the pockmarked stones from firefights in place.
I WOULD ASK THE QUESTION? WHAT IS A ONE STATE SOLUTION? A ISRAEL WITHOUT ISRAEL IS MY GUESS ON THE PALESTINIANS PART OR WAY OF THINKING.
Growing number of Palestinians back one-state solution: poll
Wed Apr 21, 4:18 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A growing number of Palestinians support the establishment of a single state for Jews and Arabs including Israel and the occupied territories, according to a poll released on Wednesday.The survey by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre (JMCC) found that support for a bi-national state in which Israelis and Palestinians would have equal rights had grown to 33.8 percent from 20.6percent in June 2009.During the same period, support for a negotiated two-state solution dropped from 55.2 percent to 43.9 percent, while 32.1 percent of respondents said the peace process is dead in response to a separate question.Most Palestinians, 43.7 percent, support peaceful negotiations, while 29.8 percent support armed struggle and 21.9 percent support peaceful resistance as the best strategy for ending the Israeli occupation, the poll found.Concerning internal politics, the poll found that 39.7 percent of voters would back the secular Fatah movement if elections were held this year, compared to just 14.4 percent would would vote for the Islamist Hamas.The Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas remains the most popular leader, and would receive 19.1 percent of the vote compared to his closest Hamas rival Ismail Haniyah, who would receive 11.2 percent.However, nearly 30 percent of Palestinians said they would not vote in legislative or presidential elections if they were held now.
Pollsters conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,198 adults throughout the West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on April 10-15. The survey had a margin of error of three percent.The international community along with Israeli and Palestinian leaders formally committed to a two-state solution with the 2003 roadmap agreement, and the idea of a single state has little support outside of academic circles.Israel adamantly opposes a one-state solution because it would most likely have a Palestinian majority and result in the end of Israel as a Jewish state.
Hezbollah probably has Scud missiles: US senator
Tue Apr 20, 6:02 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has most likely acquired Scud missiles and improved its rocket-firing technology to the point of real danger for Israel, a top US senator warned Tuesday.I believe there is a likelihood that there are Scuds that Hezbollah has in Lebanon. A high likelihood, Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, told AFP.
The rockets and missiles in Lebanon are substantially increased and better technologically than they were and this is a real point of danger for Israel, Feinstein added.There's only one thing that's going to solve it, and that's a two-state solution,she said, referring to stalled international efforts to create an independent, viable Palestinian state living at peace with Israel.Israeli President Shimon Peres on April 13 accused Syria of providing Hezbollah with Scud ballistic missiles, prompting Washington to warn that the trade potentially puts Lebanon at significant risk.
Syria has strongly denied the accusations.The US State Department says it is yet to determine the veracity of the claims but summoned a senior Syrian diplomat Monday to demand an immediate end to arms transfers to Hezbollah.Feinstein spoke after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri likened Israel's charges to false weapons of mass destruction claims that fed the US case for invading Iraq in 2003.Asked about the alleged arms transfer, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry told AFP on Tuesday: that has not been confirmed.I think it's safe to say we're inquiring and trying to get more information about it. I wouldn't comment on what it is, or isn't, at this point in time, he said.There are concerns about rocketry in general, and clearly Hezbollah has been rearmed, but I don't think there's clarity as to which weapons yet, with specificity, and where. Where is very important in this question.
Israelis celebrate Jewish state's 62nd birthday
Tue Apr 20, 12:37 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israelis fired up barbecues in packed campgrounds and beaches across the country on Tuesday as they celebrated the 62nd anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state.The air force and navy held displays, including a helicopter overflight of the president's residence in Jerusalem.President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and chief of staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi staged a singalong of Israeli songs at the presidential residence.Celebrations kicked off at sundown on Monday with fireworks in honour of Israel's founding on May 14, 1948, corresponding this year to April 20, according to the Jewish calendar.The occupied West Bank was sealed off from Israel and annexed Arab east Jerusalem for the duration of Israel's only secular public holiday.US President Barack Obama released a statement to honour the anniversary and affirm his country's unbreakable bond with Israel.He said he looked forward to continuing our efforts with Israel to achieve comprehensive peace and security in the region, including a two-state solution with the Palestinians.We once again honour the extraordinary achievements of the people of Israel, and their deep and abiding friendship with the American people,he said.
Ties between Israel and its main ally have been deeply strained as Netanyahu has rebuffed US and Palestinian demands for a halt to settlement construction in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, one of just two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, also used the occasion to call for renewed peace efforts.I am pleased to congratulate you on the occasion of your Independence Day celebrations, he said in a letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres.I would like to take this opportunity to call on you once again to redouble your efforts to get the Middle East peace process back on track in order to end the cycle of violence and bloodshed.Meanwhile, thousands of Israel's Arab citizens marked the Nakba, or catastrophe,that attended the Jewish state's creation, when some 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Protesters carrying Palestinian flags and signs with the names of destroyed Arab villages marched to the site of the village of Maskah, emptied in 1948, to demand the right of return for those exiled following Israel's birth.Today more than 4.7 million UN-registered refugees live in camps in the occupied territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and their fate is one of the thorniest issues in the decades-old Middle East conflict.
THIS WILL HAPPEN I BELIEVE.THE FAKE PEACE PLAN WILL BE FORCED ON ISRAEL THAT WHY WW3 KILLS 1/2 OF EARTHS POPULATION FOR DIVIDING JERUSALEM.
Imposed Mideast solution would stoke violence: Israel FM
Tue Apr 20, 4:21 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – In a veiled warning to President Barack Obama, Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that any move to impose a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians would lead to greater conflict.Any attempt to force a solution on the parties without establishing the foundation of mutual trust will only deepen the conflict, Avigdor Lieberman told the assembled diplomatic corps at an event marking Israel's Independence Day.Though he made no reference to the United States, the remark appeared to be a response to recent speculation in Washington that Obama may consider proposing a peace settlement in the absence of a negotiated deal between the Palestinians and Israel.Lieberman, who leads a far-right, pro-settler party in the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that before negotiating a final settlement of the 62-year-old conflict, it would be necessary first to establish a new reality in which Israel enjoys security, the Palestinians greater prosperity and both sides more stability.He also told the assembled ambassadors in the grounds of the presidential residence in Jerusalem that Israel would never give up its control of all of Jerusalem, a city at the heart of the conflict.Many foreign powers support a negotiated settlement of the dispute over Jerusalem that would satisfy Palestinian aspirations to have the capital of their future state in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in a war in 1967.(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Andrew Roche)
U.S. warns Syria on weapons transfers By Andrew Quinn – Mon Apr 19, 9:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States summoned the senior Syrian diplomat in Washington on Monday to address provocative behavior regarding the potential transfer of Scud missiles to Hezbollah that it said could be a threat to both Lebanon and Israel.The United States condemns in the strongest terms the transfer of any arms, and especially ballistic missile systems such as the SCUD, from Syria to Hezbollah, the statement, issued by State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid, said.
The transfer of these arms can only have a destabilizing effect on the region, and would pose an immediate threat to both the security of Israel and the sovereignty of Lebanon.The U.S. statement stopped short of confirming the alleged transfer of long-range Scud missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, which if true could cast doubt on U.S. President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach to Syria.The State Department said this was the fourth time in recent months that Washington has raised the issue with the Syrian Embassy.U.S. officials said last week they believed Syria intended to transfer the weaponry, but had doubts about whether the missiles were delivered fully assembled or had actually been transferred to Lebanon.Damascus has denied the transfer and said Israel might be using the accusation as a pretext for a military strike against Syrian targets.
WARNING TO DAMASCUS
The U.S. statement was a strong warning to Damascus, saying that weapons transfers were an obstacle to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and noting that Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was tied to its support for groups such as Hezbollah.The risk of miscalculation that could result from this type of escalation should make Syria reverse the ill-conceived policy it has pursued in providing arms to Hezbollah, the statement said.We call for an immediate cessation of any arms transfers to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region.
A senior U.S. official, while declining to confirm any U.S. intelligence related to the Scuds, said the statement was a sign that the allegations were being taken seriously.We wouldn't have called them in if we didn't think something was going on, the official said.The alleged deal to transfer the Scud missiles to Hezbollah has fueled cross-border tensions with Israel, which remains wary of the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Islamist group that it went to war with in 2006.With Iranian support, Hezbollah has replenished its arsenal beyond levels it had in the 2006 war with Israel, according to a Pentagon report on Iran's military sent to Congress and made public on Monday.Scud missiles in Hezbollah hands could strike deep inside Israel, while a partial transfer could involve weapons parts, documents or funding, according to U.S. officials.If the transfer is confirmed, it could create fresh obstacles to U.S. Senate confirmation of a new ambassador being returned to Damascus after a five-year absence.The Obama administration has said that improved U.S. diplomatic ties with Syria are an important part of the Mideast peace process. (Additional reporting by Joanne Allen, Editing by Philip Barbara)
Hamas leader vows to capture more Israeli soldiers
Mon Apr 19, 4:55 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – The leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has vowed to capture more Israeli soldiers to use in bargaining for the release of Palestinian prisoners.Khaled Mashaal accused Israel of obstructing a deal to trade Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit for hundreds of jailed militants.Gaza militants captured Schalit in a 2006 cross-border raid. A deal brokered by Egypt and Germany for his release had appeared close in November.The exiled Mashaal also said America's insistence that Hamas recognize Israel was to blame for the failure of talks to reconcile the Gaza militants with their moderate Palestinian rivals in the West Bank. The split has complicated peace efforts.Mashaal spoke Monday at a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.
Israel celebrates independence, remembers fallen by Gavin Rabinowitz – Mon Apr 19, 2:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israelis celebrated 62 years since the founding of the Jewish state with fireworks and street parties after sundown on Monday.The festivities will continue until sundown on Tuesday, with thousands expected to flock to parks and nature reserves for traditional barbecues and family gatherings.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the day as a double miracle in the life of the Jewish people.The first miracle is the restoration of Jewish sovereignty, Netanyahu said in an Independence Day message.The second miracle is what we've done since the establishment of the Jewish state. Israel is fast becoming a regional economic power and one of the world's leading technological powers,he said.Israel was founded on May 14, 1948, which according to the Jewish calendar corresponds this year to April 20.Celebrations began after a state ceremony that marks the annual transition from a day of mourning for Israel's fallen to Independence Day celebrations.
Also Monday, about 1,000 people, mostly Israeli peace activists and Israeli Arabs, held an alternative ceremony in Jerusalem where they championed human rights and called on the Jewish state to end its occupation of the West Bank.Earlier in the day, traffic ground to a halt across Israel as drivers joined pedestrians in two minutes of silence while sirens wailed in commemoration of fallen soldiers and attack victims.The memorial day started at sunset Sunday and continues for 24 hours. For the duration, radio stations play sombre music and television channels replace regular entertainment programmes with documentaries on Israel's wars.The two minutes of silence was announced by air raid sirens at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) and official ceremonies were scheduled at dozens of military cemeteries and memorials.President Shimon Peres paid homage to the dead in a ceremony on Sunday at Judaism's holiest site, the Western or Wailing Wall in the Old City of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed.As flags flew at half-mast, Peres called on Israel's enemies, including arch-foe Iran, not to underestimate Israel's capacity to defend itself.Israel, which has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has never ruled out a resort to military action to prevent the development of an atomic bomb by Iran which, it regards as its principal strategic threat.Iran has repeatedly predicted Israel's demise and warned of a devastating response to any attack on its territory.
According to government data, 112 members of the Israeli security forces, including police and the Shin Bet internal intelligence agency, have died on active service in the past 12 months.
Israeli PM dismisses Jerusalem settlement freeze
Mon Apr 19, 10:44 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed demands for a freeze on Jewish settlements in annexed east Jerusalem as a non-starter, in a US television interview aired Monday.The issue of settlements, and construction in east Jerusalem in particular, have caused a rare public row between the Israeli and US governments, and soured Netanyahu's visit to Washington last month.The Palestinian demand is that we prevent Jews from building in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Netanyahu told the ABC News show Good Morning America.You know, that is an unacceptable demand. If we made it in London or made it in New York or in Paris, people would cry foul.Netanyahu was careful in the interview to attribute calls for a halt to such settlements to the Palestinians, and not the United States, which has also condemned such activity in east Jerusalem.Washington has reportedly called on Netanyahu to embrace a four-month settlement freeze in east Jerusalem, one of several demands to improve the chances of relaunching peace talks with the Palestinians.But the Israeli leader argued in the interview that the status of Jerusalem would only be decided in final status talks with Palestinians on a two-state solution to the conflict.
This demand that they've now introduced, the Palestinians, to stop all construction, Jewish construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, is totally, totally a non-starter.Palestinians, however, counter that Israeli settlement construction is an attempt to establish facts on the ground before final status talks, and have demanded a total freeze on such activity.Israel in November announced a 10-month halt to new construction in the occupied West Bank following months of US pressure on both sides to relaunch peace talks suspended after the outbreak of the Gaza war in late 2008.The Palestinians dismissed the move as insufficient because it left out east Jerusalem -- which they view as their future capital -- as well as public buildings and housing projects already underway.Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it, in a move not recognised by the international community. It views all of Jerusalem as its capital.The United States has warned that new construction in east Jerusalem or the West Bank endangers the prospect of proximity talks it is trying to broker between the two sides.
Israel must tackle core Mideast issuest: Barak
Mon Apr 19, 9:46 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel must tackle the core issues of its conflict with the Palestinians in order to close a rift with top ally the United States, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday.The tension that is developing with the United States is not in Israel's interest, he told public radio.We must radically alter this situation through a political initiative dealing with the core issues at the heart of the conflict with the Palestinians, he said.The so-called core issues of the decades-old conflict include the future status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and final borders.Israel and the US administration have been locked in a bitter spat since last month's announcement that 1,600 new settler homes would be built in Arab east Jerusalem, which coincided with a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.Barak stressed Israel must realise the international community is not willing to accept decades more of Israeli rule over the Palestinians.He also dismissed concerns voiced by Jordan's King Abdullah II over the risks of a new conflict in the region.I believe and think that there is no reason for war to break out,Barak said.Certainly we have no intention of starting something like that, and I hope there will be no deterioration from other directions.In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Abdullah said last week that if there is no Middle East peace process by the summer there's a very good chance for conflict.
Barak said he did not interpret Abdullah's words as a threat.Obviously he doesn't mean that Jordan will start it. It's a very important peace-loving country,he said.
Jordan became the second Arab state after Egypt to conclude a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.The Middle East peace talks were halted in December 2008 when Israel launched its devastating Gaza offensive aimed at halting Palestinian rocket fire.The Palestinians had reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks with the Israelis last month, but that deal collapsed days later when the new east Jerusalem settlement plans were announced.
Israel population nears 7.6 million
Sun Apr 18, 9:55 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's population is nearing 7.6 million, official figures showed on Sunday ahead of the 62nd anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state.
Of the 7,587,000 population, 5,726,000, or 75.5 percent, are Jews and 1,548,000, or 20.4 percent, are Arabs, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.The population has grown by 137,000 people in the past year, a 1.8 percent increase.The official statistics for Israel's Arab population include 270,000 Palestinians living in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.They carry permanent residency IDs but the vast majority have declined citizenship of Israel, which this year celebrates its independence from sunset on Monday to sunset the following day.Israel's nearly 1.3 million Arab citizens are descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained in the Jewish state after the Middle East war that erupted following Israel's creation in 1948.About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out during the conflict, and now more than 4.7 million UN-registered refugees live in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and neighbouring Arab countries.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
ISRAEL SEALS WEST BANK AREA AS PRECAUTION
Ahmadinejad extolls Iran's military might By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer - APR 18,10
TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday extolled Iran's military might during an annual army parade, saying the country is so powerful today that no one would dare attack it.The parade in Tehran showcased Iran's surface-to-surface Ghadr, Sajjil and Shahab-3 missiles, which have a range of up to 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) that puts Israel and U.S. bases in the region within Iran's reach.The Shahab-3 missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Although Tehran doesn't have one, this has been a source for Western concerns along with Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program, which the international community fears masks ambitions for an atomic bomb.Today, our armed forces have so much power that no enemy will harbor evil thoughts about laying its hands on Iranian territory, Ahmadinejad said at the parade marking National Army Day. The speech was broadcast live on state TV, which also showed segments of the parade.Ahmadinejad also urged the U.S. to stop supporting Israel and to dismantle the American military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.Tehran sees American troops on its doorstep in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf as a threat, and Ahmadinejad reiterated his allegations that the U.S. presence is the source of the region's instability.They have to leave our region, this is not a request, it is an order from the nations of the region. It is the will of the regional nations,said Ahmadinejad. If they are interested in helping the security of the region, they have to dismantle their military presence in the region and stop supporting Israel.The U.S. has been pressing for new round of international sanctions against Iran after Tehran spurned President Barack Obama's offer for dialogue over its accelerated nuclear development. The administration has pursued what it calls pressure track — a combination of stepped-up military activity in Iran's neighborhood and sanctions that would pinch Iran economically.
But, according to a report by The New York Times on Sunday, a January memo from U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the White House warned that the U.S. lacks a nimble long-term plan for dealing with Iran's nuclear program.Gates' three-page memo set off efforts in the Pentagon, White House and intelligence agencies to come up with new options, including the use of the military, the Times said, quoting unnamed government officials.However, White House officials Saturday night strongly disagreed the memo caused a reconsideration of the U.S. approach to Iran.It is absolutely false that any memo touched off a reassessment of our options, National Security Council spokesman Benjamin Rhodes told The Associated Press.This administration has been planning for all contingencies regarding Iran for many months.Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.Tehran has been also looking to upgrade its defenses, especially as Israel has refused to rule out an airstrike over concerns that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Tehran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, such as electricity production
The advances in Iran's military technology cannot be independently verified.
Iranian news agencies reported that the parade Sunday also displayed an air defense system similar to Russian-made S-300, which is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missile warheads at ranges of over 90 miles (145 kilometers) and at altitudes of about 90,000 feet.Iran ordered Russia's advanced S-300 air defense system in 2007 but none have been delivered, allegedly due to technical glitches, though many believe the delay stems from international opposition to the sale.Associated Press National Security Writer Anne Gearan and AP writer Jackie Quinn contributed to this report.
Israel should reconsider settlement curb: minister
Sun Apr 18, 4:57 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel should consider reversing a limited moratorium on new settlement construction if the Palestinians do not return to US-backed peace negotiations, a minister said in comments published on Sunday.If another month or two pass, and the Palestinians don?t come to the negotiations, we ought to cancel or reconsider the freeze, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the online edition of the Jerusalem Post.If you take a step that is not at all effective and may even be counter-productive... then it needs to be reconsidered,he said.Israel in November announced a 10-month halt to new construction in the occupied West Bank following months of US pressure on both sides to relaunch peace talks suspended after the outbreak of the Gaza war in late 2008.The Palestinians dismissed the move as insufficient because it left out east Jerusalem -- which they view as their future capital -- as well as public buildings and housing projects already under way.
Israel has adamantly refused to halt construction in east Jerusalem, which it occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community. It views all of Jerusalem as its capital.Steinitz, a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, said the prime minister had made major concessions to the Palestinians by slowing settlement growth, easing movement restrictions in the West Bank and accepting a Palestinian state in principle.He added that any further pressure from Washington would be a mistaken request and an unfair one and that Israel was thus far disappointed with the Palestinian response.
Israel seals West Bank as security precaution
Sun Apr 18, 3:17 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel has barred the entry of nearly all Palestinians from the West Bank as a security measure because of observances for Memorial Day and Independence Day.
The closure is to be lifted at midnight Tuesday.
Israel is always on a heightened state of precaution during national observances. Memorial Day begins on Sunday night and is followed by Independence Day, which begins Monday night and lasts through Tuesday.The military says Palestinians in need of medical attention will be permitted to enter for care. A small number of media crews and professional groups such as lawyers and religious workers will be allowed to cross over. Humanitarian aid will also be allowed to pass.
Hamas, Fatah join ranks to call for Israel to free prisoners by Adel Zaanoun – Sat Apr 17, 9:49 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas and Fatah closed ranks on Saturday to mark Palestinian Prisoners' Day on Saturday, in the first joint initiative by the bitter rivals since the latter was routed from Gaza in 2007.Representatives of the two factions, joined by members of smaller militant groups, relatives of prisoners and international activists, staged a sit-down protest and 24-hour fast outside the Gaza City offices of the Red Cross.Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, made a brief visit to call for Palestinian reconciliation and urge all Palestinians to fight Israeli occupation by any means and pressure Israel to free thousands of prisoners.
We must put aside anything that can harm our unity, Fatah representative Raafat Hamdouna said, hailing Saturday's joint protest with the Islamist movement Hamas which expelled Fatah in deadly street fighting in June 2007.This year's rallies and vigils in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem in support of the prisoners came a day after a detainee died in Israeli custody.In Ramallah, about 1,000 people marched through the centre of the West Bank city, carrying pictures of imprisoned relatives and of Marwan Barghuti, a jailed leader of the mainstream Fatah party.Barghuti, architect of the 2000 uprising against Israeli occupation, is serving five life terms but remains popular and is often spoken of as a successor to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.We shall not rest until the prisoners issue is resolved, prisoners' affairs minister Issa Qaraqae told the crowd in Ramallah.Abbas said in a statement for the annual Prisoners' Day that there could be no end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without the release of the prisoners.
There cannot be a solution or peace in our region without a final resolution of the prisoner issue and the release of all Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons,he said.A man serving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder died in his prison cell in southern Israel late on Friday, Qaraqae's ministry said, adding he was the 19th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody over the past decade.Israeli prisons service officials, quoted in the media, said the man, Raed Abu Hamad, 31, had a history of medical problems and that his death was being investigated.In east Jerusalem, relatives held pictures of their jailed loved ones at the entrance to the walled Old City.In Gaza City, Haniya met prisoners' aid officials and called on Arab countries to donate funds for prisoners and their families, in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.More than 7,000 Palestinians, including 270 under the age of 18, are currently being held in Israeli prisons, according to data released by the Palestinian central bureau of statistics.Three of the prisoners have been in jail for more than 30 years, and 315 for more than 15 years, the office said in a statement released on the eve of Prisoners' Day.Of those held, 264 are under administrative detention, meaning they are being held without trial.Since Israel seized the West Bank along with other Arab territories in the 1967 Middle East war, it has detained a total of more than 760,000 Palestinians, the statement said.
Scud allegations may prompt Israeli raid: Hezbollah
Sat Apr 17, 9:44 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – US concern over allegations that Syria has been supplying Scud missiles to Hezbollah serves to encourage Israel to attack Lebanon, the Lebanese Shiite militant group said on Saturday.Israeli President Shimon Peres has accused Damascus of providing Hezbollah with the missiles, prompting Washington to warn that the trade potentially puts Lebanon at significant risk.With this position, (the Americans) are encouraging Israel to carry out an aggression against Lebanon that they are trying to endorse at the international level,Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad told AFP.The United States is thus placing itself in a position of complicity in the event of aggression and it will have to take responsibility,he said.Fayyad said that Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, did not comment on Israeli inventions on its arsenal but Peres's accusation on Tuesday had made the situation more tense than before.Such statements exacerbate tension and directly threaten the stability of the region,the MP said, accusing Washington of trying to cover up its failures as well as those of Israel in the Middle East.According to Arab media and some think-tanks, Syria has been sending some of its own arsenal of Scuds to Lebanon, an allegation denied by Damascus.We are obviously increasingly concerned about the sophisticated weaponry that is allegedly being transferred, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday.We have expressed our concerns to those governments and believe that steps should be taken to reduce any risk and any danger, Gibbs said, apparently referring to the Israeli and Syrian governments.Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 fought a 34-day war which killed 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
Iran wins regional support for its nuclear programme
Sat Apr 17, 8:38 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Syria, Lebanon and Iraq backed Iran's atomic programme on Saturday, which they said has peaceful aims, and insisted that Israel be stripped off its nuclear arsenal.The foreign ministers of these three countries also stressed that Israel, the Middle East's sole but undeclared holder of a nuclear arsenal, must join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).We back Iran for pursuing peaceful nuclear technology,said Syria's Walid Muallem in a speech at the opening of a two-day nuclear disarmament conference hosted by Tehran, according to ISNA news agency.His Lebanese counterpart, Ali al-Shami, said Iran was seeking nuclear energy for peaceful aims and it was not deviating from the treaty,the official IRNA news agency reported.And Hoshyar Zebari, foreign minister of former foe Iraq, said: We reject any threat against Iran and insist on Iran's rights to use peaceful nuclear energy.
The three leaders, however, strongly urged for Israel to join the NPT.The major threat in the region is Israel which has nuclear warheads. Israel must join this treaty and take quick steps to destroy its nuclear weapons which number over 200 warheads, Muallem said.Shami said Israel needed to be stripped off its nuclear arsenal.There is more need to strip Israel of its nuclear arsenal, as the international community is aware of its nuclear weapons capability and that this regime has defiantly declared it will use these weapons whenever it wants,he said.
Since the atomic weapons of the Zionist regime are not inspected, there is a danger of these weapons being used in future. This regime must join the NPT without any conditions.Zebari said Israel must allow UN inspectors in to its nuclear facilities, the state television website said.Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to stop its atomic programme which the West suspects is aimed at making weapons.Tehran denies the charge.
Hezbollah says its missiles not Israel's business By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 16, 11:28 am ET
BEIRUT – A Hezbollah government minister refused Friday to confirm or deny Israeli allegations that the militant Lebanese group has acquired Scud missiles.In the first Hezbollah comment on the Israeli charges, Minister Hussein Haj Hassan said the group was always arming and preparing itself but, what we have is not their business.Israeli defense officials have said they believe Hezbollah has obtained Scud missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in Israel. Israel's President Shimon Peres earlier this week directly accused Damascus of providing the weapons.
Israel has not offered proof to back up the claim, and Syria's Foreign Ministry strongly denied the charge, saying it believes that Israel aims through these claims to further strain the atmosphere in the region.It added that Israel could be setting the stage for a possible aggression in order to run away from the requirements of a just and comprehensive peace.Haj Hassan also told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV Friday that Israel possessed all kinds of weapons, including nuclear warheads.It's only natural for Lebanon to have the means to defend itself against an Israeli attack,he said.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.
Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has said his militants have more than 30,000 rockets and are capable of hitting anywhere in Israel. Those claims match Israeli intelligence assessments.Some Scud missiles have a range of hundreds of miles (kilometers), meaning that guerrillas could launch them from deeper inside Lebanon and farther from Israel's reach. Scuds can carry a warhead of up to 1 ton, making them far larger than the biggest rockets previously in Hezbollah's arsenal, and are also more accurate.Also Friday, around 20 villagers from the southern Lebanese town of Abbasiyeh removed a barbed wire that was set up three days earlier by Israeli troops just south of the Blue Line, which separates Israeli and Lebanese forces.A spokesman for Israel's armed forces said the military is aware of the demonstration but unaware of any damage caused to the fence.He would not comment further.The demonstration was a protest against the fence, placed by the Israelis earlier this week. Some Lebanese says the blue line is not accurate and had given parts of Lebanon to Israel. The villagers were led by a lawmaker close to Hezbollah, Qassem Hashem.U.N. spokesman, Andrea Teneti said the villagers also removed a minefield sign and placed Lebanese flags near the location.
Israel warns visitors to leave their iPads at home
Fri Apr 16, 9:58 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Friday warned visitors to leave their iPads at home or have the hot-selling tablet computer seized on arrival as the device's wireless signal is 40 times stronger than allowed.Communications ministry spokesman Yechiel Shavi said several of the appliances already impounded by officials at Israel's Ben Gurion airport would be returned to their owners on departure.In the case of Israeli residents whose Apple device was confiscated, they can sell them to Americans, he told AFP.The touchscreen gadget is so far only on sale in the United States, where federal regulations allow much higher Wi-Fi signal strength than the European standard followed in Israel.At least 10 iPads have so far been taken from travellers who declared them at Israeli customs, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported. An unknown number could have entered undeclared.When a version of the device set to European standards goes on the market it would be welcome in Israel, the communications ministry said.But the onus was on the individual to ascertain that any Wi-Fi equipment they plan to bring into the country meets local standards.
Around the world thousands of models of computers are manufactured and therefore a customer who buys a device abroad must check that it is suitable for use in Israel, a ministry statement said.
Olmert, ex-mayor set for interrogation room face-off by Patrick Moser – Fri Apr 16, 4:49 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Former Israeli premier Ehud Olmert is set for an interrogation room face-off in the Holyland real estate scandal with a fellow suspect, who like him is an ex-Jerusalem mayor, YNet news said Friday.The investigators are expected to face them off because each one of them says the other is responsible, the online news site reported.Just hours after he was officially named in the corruption affair, Olmert, 64, on Thursday called the claims against him an attempt at character assassination.In a brief television statement, the former prime minister appeared to blame Uri Lupolianski, who succeeded him as mayor of the Holy City in 2003, and who is under house arrest as a suspect in the scandal.The affair revolves around the upscale Holyland, a residential complex which media has lambasted as a monstrous blot on Jerusalem's landscape.On Thursday, police lifted a gag order that had prevented the naming of Olmert among the suspects in the scandal in which officials are alleged to have received bribes to smooth the way for construction of the grandiose hilltop complex in the 1990s.Israeli media say Olmert is suspected of having taken a bribe of 3.5 million shekels (almost one million dollars at the current exchange rate).Police last week also arrested former Olmert associate Uri Messer and several other suspects, including Lupolianski.
Messer is himself a witness in a separate graft trial currently under way against Olmert.In December, Olmert pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption linked to three other cases. He resigned under pressure in September 2008 after police recommended he be indicted.He is accused of unlawfully accepting gifts of cash-stuffed envelopes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talanski and of multiple-billing for foreign trips.Olmert has also been charged with cronyism in relation to an investment centre which he oversaw when he was trade and industry minister between 2003 and 2006.The 61-page indictment includes allegations of fraud, breach of trust, registering false corporate documents and concealing fraudulent earnings.
That case is expected to drag on for several months, if not years. If found guilty, Olmert could face a prison term, although it is unclear for how long.Attorney General Menachem Mazuz dropped three other corruption probes against Olmert, who was named by Time Magazine as Israel's most able politician when he took over as premier from the ailing Ariel Sharon in May 2006.All the charges relate to a period before Olmert became premier. Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003 and then served as trade and industry minister.
Israel PM must show sincerity on peace: Clinton by Shaun Tandon – Thu Apr 15, 11:13 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prove his commitment to a Palestinian state, warning that prolonged conflict only strengthened extremists.Amid US tensions with Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged bold leadership from all sides to resolve one of the world's most intractable disputes and also pressed Arab states to show they wanted to make peace.Speaking at a dinner attended by the ambassadors of Israel and several Arab states, Clinton was forthright in her demands of Netanyahu, urging Israel to refrain from unilateral statements and actions that could undermine peace.Prime Minister Netanyahu has embraced the vision of the two-state solution,Clinton said.
But easing up on access and movement in the West Bank, in response to credible Palestinian security performance, is not sufficient to prove to the Palestinians that this embrace is sincere,she said.We encourage Israel to continue building momentum toward a comprehensive peace by demonstrating respect for the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, stopping settlement activity and addressing the humanitarian needs in Gaza.Clinton warned that the long freeze in the peace process was strengthening hardliners, including Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Praising efforts by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to tackle violence, corruption and economic woes, Clinton said she feared his constituents would look to the Islamist movement Hamas if he is unable to show achievements.What I worry about is that the failure to act now when there are changed circumstances... will not just set us back but may irreversibly prevent us from going forward,she said.Clinton was speaking at the dedication of a Center for Middle East Peace named after US entrepreneur Danny Abraham, a longtime advocate for Israeli peace efforts who created the Slim-Fast dieting drink.President Barack Obama's administration has vowed to remain steadfast in US support for Israel but has also pushed to resolve the Middle East conflict, saying it was a vital interest for the United States.
Clinton said that when she was first lady in the 1990s, the Middle East was rarely a top issue on travels to far-flung parts of the world.Now it is the first, second or third item on nearly every agenda of every country I visit,she said.On a visit to Israel last month, Vice President Joe Biden was said to have argued that Middle East peace would help improve the safety of the tens of thousands of US troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.Biden's trip turned into a fiasco when Israeli officials announced plans to build 1,600 Jewish settlements in annexed east Jerusalem while he was still on the visit. Clinton later called the Israeli move insulting.The Obama administration has come under harsh attack by some of Israel's US supporters, who say that the United States is putting the Jewish state at risk.Representative Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the House, said the White House has applied a severe double standard that refuses to hold the Palestinians accountable for their many provocations.It makes one wonder where the responsible adults are in the administration,said Cantor, the only Jewish House member from the minority party.
Cantor accused the Obama administration of manufacturing fights with Israel to ingratiate itself with some in the Arab world.By confusing the firefighter with the arsonist we only dilute our moral standing on the world stage,Cantor said. Clinton in her speech also pressed the Arab world, calling on the Palestinian Authority to increase efforts against anti-Israeli incitement and violence and for Arab leaders to do more to reconcile with Israel. She called for action, not just rhetoric on the so-called Arab Peace Initiative in which Arab states agreed in general terms to normalize ties with Israel in return for its withdrawal from Palestinian lands. If the Arab Peace Initiative is indeed the genuine offer it appears to be, we should not face threats by certain Arab states that it will be taken off the table each time there is a setback,Clinton said.
Hamas executes 2 suspected informers for Israel By RIZEK ABDEL JAWAD, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 15, 3:41 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Hamas government on Thursday executed two men accused of collaborating with Israel, signaling an escalation in the militant Palestinian group's method of controlling the Gaza Strip.It was the first time the death penalty has been carried out in Gaza since Hamas violently seized power in the coastal area in 2007.The bullet-riddled bodies of the men, convicted by military tribunals in 2008 and 2009, were dumped by armed men at Gaza City's main hospital before dawn on Thursday, a hospital employee said. A brother of one of the men said both families were summoned to the prison late Wednesday for a visit but were not told of the pending executions.The killings drew condemnations from human rights groups and were likely to deepen Hamas' international isolation. Human rights groups have criticized the Hamas military tribunals, saying they often rely on confessions obtained through torture.Amnesty International called the military proceedings unfair and said it was gravely concerned about the fate of other Palestinian prisoners held by Hamas.Three more convicted informers remain on death row in Gaza, along with six murderers. Six other men have been sentenced to death in absentia, according to the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.
In addition, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations accused Hamas gunmen of killing suspected collaborators during the chaos surrounding Israel's Gaza offensive in the winter of 2008-2009.During the war, 17 people were found dead after fleeing a Gaza prison damaged in an Israeli airstrike. Most had been held as suspected collaborators.Palestinian law allows the death penalty for those convicted of collaborating with Israel and other offenses. Technically, execution orders require a signature by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Since taking office in 2005, Abbas has signed such an order once, approving the execution of four convicted murderers in June 2005.Hamas' takeover of Gaza left Abbas' Western-backed government in control only of the West Bank, and Hamas did not ask for or receive Abbas' approval for Thursday's executions.Ghassan Khatib, a spokesman for Abbas' government in the West Bank, said Hamas has made many changes to Gaza's legal system since its violent takeover.For us, all its resolutions and activities are illegal and unacceptable,Khatib said, adding that carrying out an execution without Abbas' approval deepens the Palestinian rift.The executions were announced by Ahmed Atallah, the head of Gaza's military court. In a statement on the Hamas Interior Ministry Web site, Atallah said the two defendants had provided information to Israel and helped with attacks on Gaza militants for several years.
Atallah said Mohammed Ismail, 36, was convicted of planting devices in the cars of militants, presumably to help track them. Nasser Abu Freh, 33, a former Palestinian police captain before the Hamas takeover, allegedly started receiving money to work with Israel in 1998.A brother of one of the men said both families were summoned by Hamas police for a prison visit late Wednesday but were not told of the pending executions.He said his family was called back to the prison after daybreak Thursday and was briefly shown the body, covered by a sheet from the nose down. He said the family was not allowed to take the body, but was later informed his brother had been buried in a Gaza cemetery. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.Israel's Shin Bet security service maintains a network of informers in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Collaborators are often recruited through blackmail, payment or the promise of entry and work permits to Israel.Associated Press Writer Ben Hubbard in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
Syria says Israel may strike after Scud accusation By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – Thu Apr 15, 11:20 am ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Israel might be preparing a military strike against Syria by accusing Damascus of supplying Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with long-range Scud missiles, the Syrian government said on Thursday.Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of sending Hezbollah long-range Scuds. The United States said on Wednesday it was increasingly concerned about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Islamist group that fought a war with Israel in 2006.Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression,the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.The Syrian Arab Republic denies these fabrications.Hezbollah hit Israel with shorter range rockets during the 2006 war as at that time it lacked a longer-ranger missile capability.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled to Hezbollah in the past two months.The United States said the move would have a possible destabilizing effect on the region. The presence of more advanced missiles in Lebanon could raise the prospects of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in February that if Israel struck Beirut's airport, the group would hit Israel's Ben-Gurion airport.While tension between Syria and Israel has increased this year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last month he remained committed to seeking peace with the Jewish state.
Syrian and Israeli forces last fought each other in Lebanon in the 1980s. A 1974 ceasefire has kept the front between the two quiet on the Golan Heights, which Israeli occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.The two sides held four rounds of indirect peace talks in 2008, only eight months after Israeli planes bombed a target in eastern Syria the United States, Israel's chief ally, said was an illegal nuclear project.Syria said the target was a non-nuclear military installation, and reserved the right to respond in the appropriate time and place.(Editing by Jon Hemming)
Former Jerusalem mayor arrested in bribery scandal By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 14, 7:26 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli police arrested a former mayor of Jerusalem on Wednesday in connection with a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal that has been linked to a key confidant of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.The arrest of Uri Lupolianski marks the latest twist in a scandal that has riveted Israel.Last week, a longtime Olmert associate and five others were arrested in the affair, in which huge sums of money allegedly changed hands to promote several real-estate projects, including a large development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws.Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem when the bribery allegedly took place, and the construction was done during Lupolianski's tenure.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Lupolianski was arrested and appeared before a court in central Israel. The court ordered he be held in custody for five days.This is part of the ongoing Holyland investigation, Rosenfeld said, referring to the gigantic Jerusalem housing complex at the center of the affair.
Olmert was forced to resign in 2008 to battle separate corruption charges. Last week, an Israeli court suspended his trial on those charges for four weeks after his lawyers said the former Israeli leader couldn't receive a fair hearing in the current climate.The formal charges against Olmert include fraud and breach of trust. Israel's Justice Ministry has not said what penalties Olmert could face, but the fraud charge alone could carry a prison term of up to five years.The incidents in question, which include illegally accepting funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad, date from his time as Jerusalem mayor and later as a Cabinet minister, but emerged after he was elected prime minister in 2006.The American supporter, businessman Morris Talansky, said he had given Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in envelopes stuffed with bills.The 63-year-old Olmert returned to Israel from Europe early Thursday and went home without talking to reporters at the airport, Israel Radio reported.Olmert has denied any connection to the latest scandal. In a statement, Olmert's spokesman Amir Dan said Olmert would cut his trip short and return to Israel late Wednesday because of reports that police are interested in questioning him.Olmert's lawyer Eli Zohar has said he does not expect the ex-premier to be arrested when he returns.Olmert has not been implicated directly in the latest case, and there is a partial gag order on it. But local newspapers have identified a senior personality matching Olmert's initials as the official who received the bribes.
Among those arrested in the latest scandal was Uri Messer, a longtime Olmert confidant, whom police suspect acted as a middleman, funneling bribes to a high-ranking city hall official who was not identified.The other suspects arrested were a former city hall official and property developers. Messer was responsible for Olmert's campaign finances, and the two were partners in a law office.
TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday extolled Iran's military might during an annual army parade, saying the country is so powerful today that no one would dare attack it.The parade in Tehran showcased Iran's surface-to-surface Ghadr, Sajjil and Shahab-3 missiles, which have a range of up to 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) that puts Israel and U.S. bases in the region within Iran's reach.The Shahab-3 missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Although Tehran doesn't have one, this has been a source for Western concerns along with Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program, which the international community fears masks ambitions for an atomic bomb.Today, our armed forces have so much power that no enemy will harbor evil thoughts about laying its hands on Iranian territory, Ahmadinejad said at the parade marking National Army Day. The speech was broadcast live on state TV, which also showed segments of the parade.Ahmadinejad also urged the U.S. to stop supporting Israel and to dismantle the American military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.Tehran sees American troops on its doorstep in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf as a threat, and Ahmadinejad reiterated his allegations that the U.S. presence is the source of the region's instability.They have to leave our region, this is not a request, it is an order from the nations of the region. It is the will of the regional nations,said Ahmadinejad. If they are interested in helping the security of the region, they have to dismantle their military presence in the region and stop supporting Israel.The U.S. has been pressing for new round of international sanctions against Iran after Tehran spurned President Barack Obama's offer for dialogue over its accelerated nuclear development. The administration has pursued what it calls pressure track — a combination of stepped-up military activity in Iran's neighborhood and sanctions that would pinch Iran economically.
But, according to a report by The New York Times on Sunday, a January memo from U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the White House warned that the U.S. lacks a nimble long-term plan for dealing with Iran's nuclear program.Gates' three-page memo set off efforts in the Pentagon, White House and intelligence agencies to come up with new options, including the use of the military, the Times said, quoting unnamed government officials.However, White House officials Saturday night strongly disagreed the memo caused a reconsideration of the U.S. approach to Iran.It is absolutely false that any memo touched off a reassessment of our options, National Security Council spokesman Benjamin Rhodes told The Associated Press.This administration has been planning for all contingencies regarding Iran for many months.Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.Tehran has been also looking to upgrade its defenses, especially as Israel has refused to rule out an airstrike over concerns that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Tehran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, such as electricity production
The advances in Iran's military technology cannot be independently verified.
Iranian news agencies reported that the parade Sunday also displayed an air defense system similar to Russian-made S-300, which is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missile warheads at ranges of over 90 miles (145 kilometers) and at altitudes of about 90,000 feet.Iran ordered Russia's advanced S-300 air defense system in 2007 but none have been delivered, allegedly due to technical glitches, though many believe the delay stems from international opposition to the sale.Associated Press National Security Writer Anne Gearan and AP writer Jackie Quinn contributed to this report.
Israel should reconsider settlement curb: minister
Sun Apr 18, 4:57 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel should consider reversing a limited moratorium on new settlement construction if the Palestinians do not return to US-backed peace negotiations, a minister said in comments published on Sunday.If another month or two pass, and the Palestinians don?t come to the negotiations, we ought to cancel or reconsider the freeze, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the online edition of the Jerusalem Post.If you take a step that is not at all effective and may even be counter-productive... then it needs to be reconsidered,he said.Israel in November announced a 10-month halt to new construction in the occupied West Bank following months of US pressure on both sides to relaunch peace talks suspended after the outbreak of the Gaza war in late 2008.The Palestinians dismissed the move as insufficient because it left out east Jerusalem -- which they view as their future capital -- as well as public buildings and housing projects already under way.
Israel has adamantly refused to halt construction in east Jerusalem, which it occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community. It views all of Jerusalem as its capital.Steinitz, a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, said the prime minister had made major concessions to the Palestinians by slowing settlement growth, easing movement restrictions in the West Bank and accepting a Palestinian state in principle.He added that any further pressure from Washington would be a mistaken request and an unfair one and that Israel was thus far disappointed with the Palestinian response.
Israel seals West Bank as security precaution
Sun Apr 18, 3:17 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel has barred the entry of nearly all Palestinians from the West Bank as a security measure because of observances for Memorial Day and Independence Day.
The closure is to be lifted at midnight Tuesday.
Israel is always on a heightened state of precaution during national observances. Memorial Day begins on Sunday night and is followed by Independence Day, which begins Monday night and lasts through Tuesday.The military says Palestinians in need of medical attention will be permitted to enter for care. A small number of media crews and professional groups such as lawyers and religious workers will be allowed to cross over. Humanitarian aid will also be allowed to pass.
Hamas, Fatah join ranks to call for Israel to free prisoners by Adel Zaanoun – Sat Apr 17, 9:49 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas and Fatah closed ranks on Saturday to mark Palestinian Prisoners' Day on Saturday, in the first joint initiative by the bitter rivals since the latter was routed from Gaza in 2007.Representatives of the two factions, joined by members of smaller militant groups, relatives of prisoners and international activists, staged a sit-down protest and 24-hour fast outside the Gaza City offices of the Red Cross.Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, made a brief visit to call for Palestinian reconciliation and urge all Palestinians to fight Israeli occupation by any means and pressure Israel to free thousands of prisoners.
We must put aside anything that can harm our unity, Fatah representative Raafat Hamdouna said, hailing Saturday's joint protest with the Islamist movement Hamas which expelled Fatah in deadly street fighting in June 2007.This year's rallies and vigils in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem in support of the prisoners came a day after a detainee died in Israeli custody.In Ramallah, about 1,000 people marched through the centre of the West Bank city, carrying pictures of imprisoned relatives and of Marwan Barghuti, a jailed leader of the mainstream Fatah party.Barghuti, architect of the 2000 uprising against Israeli occupation, is serving five life terms but remains popular and is often spoken of as a successor to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.We shall not rest until the prisoners issue is resolved, prisoners' affairs minister Issa Qaraqae told the crowd in Ramallah.Abbas said in a statement for the annual Prisoners' Day that there could be no end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without the release of the prisoners.
There cannot be a solution or peace in our region without a final resolution of the prisoner issue and the release of all Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons,he said.A man serving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder died in his prison cell in southern Israel late on Friday, Qaraqae's ministry said, adding he was the 19th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody over the past decade.Israeli prisons service officials, quoted in the media, said the man, Raed Abu Hamad, 31, had a history of medical problems and that his death was being investigated.In east Jerusalem, relatives held pictures of their jailed loved ones at the entrance to the walled Old City.In Gaza City, Haniya met prisoners' aid officials and called on Arab countries to donate funds for prisoners and their families, in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.More than 7,000 Palestinians, including 270 under the age of 18, are currently being held in Israeli prisons, according to data released by the Palestinian central bureau of statistics.Three of the prisoners have been in jail for more than 30 years, and 315 for more than 15 years, the office said in a statement released on the eve of Prisoners' Day.Of those held, 264 are under administrative detention, meaning they are being held without trial.Since Israel seized the West Bank along with other Arab territories in the 1967 Middle East war, it has detained a total of more than 760,000 Palestinians, the statement said.
Scud allegations may prompt Israeli raid: Hezbollah
Sat Apr 17, 9:44 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – US concern over allegations that Syria has been supplying Scud missiles to Hezbollah serves to encourage Israel to attack Lebanon, the Lebanese Shiite militant group said on Saturday.Israeli President Shimon Peres has accused Damascus of providing Hezbollah with the missiles, prompting Washington to warn that the trade potentially puts Lebanon at significant risk.With this position, (the Americans) are encouraging Israel to carry out an aggression against Lebanon that they are trying to endorse at the international level,Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad told AFP.The United States is thus placing itself in a position of complicity in the event of aggression and it will have to take responsibility,he said.Fayyad said that Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, did not comment on Israeli inventions on its arsenal but Peres's accusation on Tuesday had made the situation more tense than before.Such statements exacerbate tension and directly threaten the stability of the region,the MP said, accusing Washington of trying to cover up its failures as well as those of Israel in the Middle East.According to Arab media and some think-tanks, Syria has been sending some of its own arsenal of Scuds to Lebanon, an allegation denied by Damascus.We are obviously increasingly concerned about the sophisticated weaponry that is allegedly being transferred, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday.We have expressed our concerns to those governments and believe that steps should be taken to reduce any risk and any danger, Gibbs said, apparently referring to the Israeli and Syrian governments.Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 fought a 34-day war which killed 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
Iran wins regional support for its nuclear programme
Sat Apr 17, 8:38 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Syria, Lebanon and Iraq backed Iran's atomic programme on Saturday, which they said has peaceful aims, and insisted that Israel be stripped off its nuclear arsenal.The foreign ministers of these three countries also stressed that Israel, the Middle East's sole but undeclared holder of a nuclear arsenal, must join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).We back Iran for pursuing peaceful nuclear technology,said Syria's Walid Muallem in a speech at the opening of a two-day nuclear disarmament conference hosted by Tehran, according to ISNA news agency.His Lebanese counterpart, Ali al-Shami, said Iran was seeking nuclear energy for peaceful aims and it was not deviating from the treaty,the official IRNA news agency reported.And Hoshyar Zebari, foreign minister of former foe Iraq, said: We reject any threat against Iran and insist on Iran's rights to use peaceful nuclear energy.
The three leaders, however, strongly urged for Israel to join the NPT.The major threat in the region is Israel which has nuclear warheads. Israel must join this treaty and take quick steps to destroy its nuclear weapons which number over 200 warheads, Muallem said.Shami said Israel needed to be stripped off its nuclear arsenal.There is more need to strip Israel of its nuclear arsenal, as the international community is aware of its nuclear weapons capability and that this regime has defiantly declared it will use these weapons whenever it wants,he said.
Since the atomic weapons of the Zionist regime are not inspected, there is a danger of these weapons being used in future. This regime must join the NPT without any conditions.Zebari said Israel must allow UN inspectors in to its nuclear facilities, the state television website said.Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to stop its atomic programme which the West suspects is aimed at making weapons.Tehran denies the charge.
Hezbollah says its missiles not Israel's business By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 16, 11:28 am ET
BEIRUT – A Hezbollah government minister refused Friday to confirm or deny Israeli allegations that the militant Lebanese group has acquired Scud missiles.In the first Hezbollah comment on the Israeli charges, Minister Hussein Haj Hassan said the group was always arming and preparing itself but, what we have is not their business.Israeli defense officials have said they believe Hezbollah has obtained Scud missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in Israel. Israel's President Shimon Peres earlier this week directly accused Damascus of providing the weapons.
Israel has not offered proof to back up the claim, and Syria's Foreign Ministry strongly denied the charge, saying it believes that Israel aims through these claims to further strain the atmosphere in the region.It added that Israel could be setting the stage for a possible aggression in order to run away from the requirements of a just and comprehensive peace.Haj Hassan also told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV Friday that Israel possessed all kinds of weapons, including nuclear warheads.It's only natural for Lebanon to have the means to defend itself against an Israeli attack,he said.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.
Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has said his militants have more than 30,000 rockets and are capable of hitting anywhere in Israel. Those claims match Israeli intelligence assessments.Some Scud missiles have a range of hundreds of miles (kilometers), meaning that guerrillas could launch them from deeper inside Lebanon and farther from Israel's reach. Scuds can carry a warhead of up to 1 ton, making them far larger than the biggest rockets previously in Hezbollah's arsenal, and are also more accurate.Also Friday, around 20 villagers from the southern Lebanese town of Abbasiyeh removed a barbed wire that was set up three days earlier by Israeli troops just south of the Blue Line, which separates Israeli and Lebanese forces.A spokesman for Israel's armed forces said the military is aware of the demonstration but unaware of any damage caused to the fence.He would not comment further.The demonstration was a protest against the fence, placed by the Israelis earlier this week. Some Lebanese says the blue line is not accurate and had given parts of Lebanon to Israel. The villagers were led by a lawmaker close to Hezbollah, Qassem Hashem.U.N. spokesman, Andrea Teneti said the villagers also removed a minefield sign and placed Lebanese flags near the location.
Israel warns visitors to leave their iPads at home
Fri Apr 16, 9:58 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Friday warned visitors to leave their iPads at home or have the hot-selling tablet computer seized on arrival as the device's wireless signal is 40 times stronger than allowed.Communications ministry spokesman Yechiel Shavi said several of the appliances already impounded by officials at Israel's Ben Gurion airport would be returned to their owners on departure.In the case of Israeli residents whose Apple device was confiscated, they can sell them to Americans, he told AFP.The touchscreen gadget is so far only on sale in the United States, where federal regulations allow much higher Wi-Fi signal strength than the European standard followed in Israel.At least 10 iPads have so far been taken from travellers who declared them at Israeli customs, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported. An unknown number could have entered undeclared.When a version of the device set to European standards goes on the market it would be welcome in Israel, the communications ministry said.But the onus was on the individual to ascertain that any Wi-Fi equipment they plan to bring into the country meets local standards.
Around the world thousands of models of computers are manufactured and therefore a customer who buys a device abroad must check that it is suitable for use in Israel, a ministry statement said.
Olmert, ex-mayor set for interrogation room face-off by Patrick Moser – Fri Apr 16, 4:49 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Former Israeli premier Ehud Olmert is set for an interrogation room face-off in the Holyland real estate scandal with a fellow suspect, who like him is an ex-Jerusalem mayor, YNet news said Friday.The investigators are expected to face them off because each one of them says the other is responsible, the online news site reported.Just hours after he was officially named in the corruption affair, Olmert, 64, on Thursday called the claims against him an attempt at character assassination.In a brief television statement, the former prime minister appeared to blame Uri Lupolianski, who succeeded him as mayor of the Holy City in 2003, and who is under house arrest as a suspect in the scandal.The affair revolves around the upscale Holyland, a residential complex which media has lambasted as a monstrous blot on Jerusalem's landscape.On Thursday, police lifted a gag order that had prevented the naming of Olmert among the suspects in the scandal in which officials are alleged to have received bribes to smooth the way for construction of the grandiose hilltop complex in the 1990s.Israeli media say Olmert is suspected of having taken a bribe of 3.5 million shekels (almost one million dollars at the current exchange rate).Police last week also arrested former Olmert associate Uri Messer and several other suspects, including Lupolianski.
Messer is himself a witness in a separate graft trial currently under way against Olmert.In December, Olmert pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption linked to three other cases. He resigned under pressure in September 2008 after police recommended he be indicted.He is accused of unlawfully accepting gifts of cash-stuffed envelopes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talanski and of multiple-billing for foreign trips.Olmert has also been charged with cronyism in relation to an investment centre which he oversaw when he was trade and industry minister between 2003 and 2006.The 61-page indictment includes allegations of fraud, breach of trust, registering false corporate documents and concealing fraudulent earnings.
That case is expected to drag on for several months, if not years. If found guilty, Olmert could face a prison term, although it is unclear for how long.Attorney General Menachem Mazuz dropped three other corruption probes against Olmert, who was named by Time Magazine as Israel's most able politician when he took over as premier from the ailing Ariel Sharon in May 2006.All the charges relate to a period before Olmert became premier. Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003 and then served as trade and industry minister.
Israel PM must show sincerity on peace: Clinton by Shaun Tandon – Thu Apr 15, 11:13 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prove his commitment to a Palestinian state, warning that prolonged conflict only strengthened extremists.Amid US tensions with Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged bold leadership from all sides to resolve one of the world's most intractable disputes and also pressed Arab states to show they wanted to make peace.Speaking at a dinner attended by the ambassadors of Israel and several Arab states, Clinton was forthright in her demands of Netanyahu, urging Israel to refrain from unilateral statements and actions that could undermine peace.Prime Minister Netanyahu has embraced the vision of the two-state solution,Clinton said.
But easing up on access and movement in the West Bank, in response to credible Palestinian security performance, is not sufficient to prove to the Palestinians that this embrace is sincere,she said.We encourage Israel to continue building momentum toward a comprehensive peace by demonstrating respect for the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, stopping settlement activity and addressing the humanitarian needs in Gaza.Clinton warned that the long freeze in the peace process was strengthening hardliners, including Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Praising efforts by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to tackle violence, corruption and economic woes, Clinton said she feared his constituents would look to the Islamist movement Hamas if he is unable to show achievements.What I worry about is that the failure to act now when there are changed circumstances... will not just set us back but may irreversibly prevent us from going forward,she said.Clinton was speaking at the dedication of a Center for Middle East Peace named after US entrepreneur Danny Abraham, a longtime advocate for Israeli peace efforts who created the Slim-Fast dieting drink.President Barack Obama's administration has vowed to remain steadfast in US support for Israel but has also pushed to resolve the Middle East conflict, saying it was a vital interest for the United States.
Clinton said that when she was first lady in the 1990s, the Middle East was rarely a top issue on travels to far-flung parts of the world.Now it is the first, second or third item on nearly every agenda of every country I visit,she said.On a visit to Israel last month, Vice President Joe Biden was said to have argued that Middle East peace would help improve the safety of the tens of thousands of US troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.Biden's trip turned into a fiasco when Israeli officials announced plans to build 1,600 Jewish settlements in annexed east Jerusalem while he was still on the visit. Clinton later called the Israeli move insulting.The Obama administration has come under harsh attack by some of Israel's US supporters, who say that the United States is putting the Jewish state at risk.Representative Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the House, said the White House has applied a severe double standard that refuses to hold the Palestinians accountable for their many provocations.It makes one wonder where the responsible adults are in the administration,said Cantor, the only Jewish House member from the minority party.
Cantor accused the Obama administration of manufacturing fights with Israel to ingratiate itself with some in the Arab world.By confusing the firefighter with the arsonist we only dilute our moral standing on the world stage,Cantor said. Clinton in her speech also pressed the Arab world, calling on the Palestinian Authority to increase efforts against anti-Israeli incitement and violence and for Arab leaders to do more to reconcile with Israel. She called for action, not just rhetoric on the so-called Arab Peace Initiative in which Arab states agreed in general terms to normalize ties with Israel in return for its withdrawal from Palestinian lands. If the Arab Peace Initiative is indeed the genuine offer it appears to be, we should not face threats by certain Arab states that it will be taken off the table each time there is a setback,Clinton said.
Hamas executes 2 suspected informers for Israel By RIZEK ABDEL JAWAD, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 15, 3:41 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Hamas government on Thursday executed two men accused of collaborating with Israel, signaling an escalation in the militant Palestinian group's method of controlling the Gaza Strip.It was the first time the death penalty has been carried out in Gaza since Hamas violently seized power in the coastal area in 2007.The bullet-riddled bodies of the men, convicted by military tribunals in 2008 and 2009, were dumped by armed men at Gaza City's main hospital before dawn on Thursday, a hospital employee said. A brother of one of the men said both families were summoned to the prison late Wednesday for a visit but were not told of the pending executions.The killings drew condemnations from human rights groups and were likely to deepen Hamas' international isolation. Human rights groups have criticized the Hamas military tribunals, saying they often rely on confessions obtained through torture.Amnesty International called the military proceedings unfair and said it was gravely concerned about the fate of other Palestinian prisoners held by Hamas.Three more convicted informers remain on death row in Gaza, along with six murderers. Six other men have been sentenced to death in absentia, according to the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.
In addition, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations accused Hamas gunmen of killing suspected collaborators during the chaos surrounding Israel's Gaza offensive in the winter of 2008-2009.During the war, 17 people were found dead after fleeing a Gaza prison damaged in an Israeli airstrike. Most had been held as suspected collaborators.Palestinian law allows the death penalty for those convicted of collaborating with Israel and other offenses. Technically, execution orders require a signature by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Since taking office in 2005, Abbas has signed such an order once, approving the execution of four convicted murderers in June 2005.Hamas' takeover of Gaza left Abbas' Western-backed government in control only of the West Bank, and Hamas did not ask for or receive Abbas' approval for Thursday's executions.Ghassan Khatib, a spokesman for Abbas' government in the West Bank, said Hamas has made many changes to Gaza's legal system since its violent takeover.For us, all its resolutions and activities are illegal and unacceptable,Khatib said, adding that carrying out an execution without Abbas' approval deepens the Palestinian rift.The executions were announced by Ahmed Atallah, the head of Gaza's military court. In a statement on the Hamas Interior Ministry Web site, Atallah said the two defendants had provided information to Israel and helped with attacks on Gaza militants for several years.
Atallah said Mohammed Ismail, 36, was convicted of planting devices in the cars of militants, presumably to help track them. Nasser Abu Freh, 33, a former Palestinian police captain before the Hamas takeover, allegedly started receiving money to work with Israel in 1998.A brother of one of the men said both families were summoned by Hamas police for a prison visit late Wednesday but were not told of the pending executions.He said his family was called back to the prison after daybreak Thursday and was briefly shown the body, covered by a sheet from the nose down. He said the family was not allowed to take the body, but was later informed his brother had been buried in a Gaza cemetery. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.Israel's Shin Bet security service maintains a network of informers in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Collaborators are often recruited through blackmail, payment or the promise of entry and work permits to Israel.Associated Press Writer Ben Hubbard in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
Syria says Israel may strike after Scud accusation By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – Thu Apr 15, 11:20 am ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Israel might be preparing a military strike against Syria by accusing Damascus of supplying Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with long-range Scud missiles, the Syrian government said on Thursday.Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of sending Hezbollah long-range Scuds. The United States said on Wednesday it was increasingly concerned about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Islamist group that fought a war with Israel in 2006.Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression,the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.The Syrian Arab Republic denies these fabrications.Hezbollah hit Israel with shorter range rockets during the 2006 war as at that time it lacked a longer-ranger missile capability.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled to Hezbollah in the past two months.The United States said the move would have a possible destabilizing effect on the region. The presence of more advanced missiles in Lebanon could raise the prospects of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in February that if Israel struck Beirut's airport, the group would hit Israel's Ben-Gurion airport.While tension between Syria and Israel has increased this year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last month he remained committed to seeking peace with the Jewish state.
Syrian and Israeli forces last fought each other in Lebanon in the 1980s. A 1974 ceasefire has kept the front between the two quiet on the Golan Heights, which Israeli occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.The two sides held four rounds of indirect peace talks in 2008, only eight months after Israeli planes bombed a target in eastern Syria the United States, Israel's chief ally, said was an illegal nuclear project.Syria said the target was a non-nuclear military installation, and reserved the right to respond in the appropriate time and place.(Editing by Jon Hemming)
Former Jerusalem mayor arrested in bribery scandal By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 14, 7:26 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli police arrested a former mayor of Jerusalem on Wednesday in connection with a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal that has been linked to a key confidant of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.The arrest of Uri Lupolianski marks the latest twist in a scandal that has riveted Israel.Last week, a longtime Olmert associate and five others were arrested in the affair, in which huge sums of money allegedly changed hands to promote several real-estate projects, including a large development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws.Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem when the bribery allegedly took place, and the construction was done during Lupolianski's tenure.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Lupolianski was arrested and appeared before a court in central Israel. The court ordered he be held in custody for five days.This is part of the ongoing Holyland investigation, Rosenfeld said, referring to the gigantic Jerusalem housing complex at the center of the affair.
Olmert was forced to resign in 2008 to battle separate corruption charges. Last week, an Israeli court suspended his trial on those charges for four weeks after his lawyers said the former Israeli leader couldn't receive a fair hearing in the current climate.The formal charges against Olmert include fraud and breach of trust. Israel's Justice Ministry has not said what penalties Olmert could face, but the fraud charge alone could carry a prison term of up to five years.The incidents in question, which include illegally accepting funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad, date from his time as Jerusalem mayor and later as a Cabinet minister, but emerged after he was elected prime minister in 2006.The American supporter, businessman Morris Talansky, said he had given Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in envelopes stuffed with bills.The 63-year-old Olmert returned to Israel from Europe early Thursday and went home without talking to reporters at the airport, Israel Radio reported.Olmert has denied any connection to the latest scandal. In a statement, Olmert's spokesman Amir Dan said Olmert would cut his trip short and return to Israel late Wednesday because of reports that police are interested in questioning him.Olmert's lawyer Eli Zohar has said he does not expect the ex-premier to be arrested when he returns.Olmert has not been implicated directly in the latest case, and there is a partial gag order on it. But local newspapers have identified a senior personality matching Olmert's initials as the official who received the bribes.
Among those arrested in the latest scandal was Uri Messer, a longtime Olmert confidant, whom police suspect acted as a middleman, funneling bribes to a high-ranking city hall official who was not identified.The other suspects arrested were a former city hall official and property developers. Messer was responsible for Olmert's campaign finances, and the two were partners in a law office.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
JORDAN SCOLDS ISRAEL OVER WEST BANK THREAT
Jordan slams Israel over West Bank evictions threat
Wed Apr 14, 11:47 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan condemned Israel on Wednesday over a military order that could lead to the eviction of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, demanding it be revoked.The Amman government strongly condemned the Israeli decision, describing the move as illegal and a flagrant violation of international law and conventions, as well as the Jewish state's obligations as an occupying power.
In a statement, the government urged the international community to act to halt such unilateral measures,which would block peace efforts and raise tensions in the Middle East.It added that Foreign Minister Nasser Jawdeh, who is in Washington with King Abdullah II, had already started to contact his counterparts about the matter during a nuclear meeting there this week.Meanwhile, Israel Ambassador Dani Nevo was summoned to the foreign ministry and given a note of protest, the official Petra news agency reported.The note underlined Jordan's strong denunciation of the Israeli decision ... and the need to immediately stop its application, as well as the reaffirmation of the right of the Palestinian people to live in and move about freely on their national territory, Petra said.Jordan said on Monday it had received assurances from Israel that the order would not lead to expulsions of Palestinians living in the West Bank.The Israeli military insists the new orders merely formalise existing procedures and said there would be no new wave of deportations from the territory.On Tuesday, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called the orders illegal,while the Arab League called on the Palestinians to refuse to heed them.
Obama voices frustration on stalled Mideast peace By Matt Spetalnick – Tue Apr 13, 6:44 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama voiced frustration on Tuesday over stalled Middle East peace efforts, saying Israelis and Palestinians may not be ready to resolve their conflict no matter how much pressure Washington exerts.Obama, speaking to reporters after hosting a nuclear security summit, made clear he harbored little hope for swift progress toward Middle East peace, more than a year after taking office and declaring it a high priority for his administration.U.S.-led peace moves have been stymied by a dispute over Jewish settlement construction on occupied land that has strained ties between Washington and its close ally Israel, and by divisions among the Palestinians.The truth is in some of these conflicts the United States can't impose solutions unless the participants in these conflicts are willing to break out of old patterns of antagonism,Obama told a news conference.
The Obama administration has tried to get Israel and the Palestinians to launch indirect peace talks but has made scant headway. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave little ground in White House talks with Obama last month.Obama recently acknowledged he had underestimated the obstacles to a renewed peace process that bedeviled many of his predecessors, and some critics have called his approach naive.The Israeli people, through their government, and the Palestinian people, through the Palestinian Authority, as well as other Arab states may say to themselves, We are not prepared to resolve these issues no matter how much pressure the United States brings to bear,Obama said.But Obama insisted the United States would press on, constantly present, constantly engaged.He said progress on issues like Middle East peace, nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament would be measured not in days, not in weeks.It's going to take time, and progress will be halting,he said.And there will be frustrations.
The White House promised on Friday not to surprise anybody at any time with a dramatic shift in Middle East peace strategy and said no decision had been made for Obama to offer his own solution to the conflict.While dampening expectations for a revamped U.S. approach, national security adviser Jim Jones left open the possibility of further internal discussions, following reports a broad new Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal was under consideration.(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Israel warns nationals of imminent kidnap threat in Egypt by Marius Schattner – Tue Apr 13, 5:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel warned its nationals on Tuesday that there was an imminent risk of kidnap attempts by militants against holidaymakers in the neighbouring Sinai peninsula in Egypt.Israel's anti-terrorism unit said it had concrete information about an imminent risk of a terrorist abduction operation.Israel already issued a general warning to its citizens in February about the dangers of travel over the next few months to the Red Sea resort area which is a major draw.But despite the travel advice, some 20,000 Israeli tourists still holidayed in the Sinai over the Jewish Passover holiday in late March and early April.The anti-terrorism unit cited threats from (Lebanese Shiite militant group) Hezbollah and Iran.A senior Egyptian security official contacted by AFP said the interior ministry was looking into the Israeli travel warning.But other officials played it down, saying that it was based on rumours and that there was no credible intelligence suggesting tourists were under threat.Israeli military radio reported that the warning was issued following an unconfirmed rumour about the kidnapping of an Israeli.The Sinai has been the scene of three major bombing attacks targeting Israeli or Western tourists.
In April 2006, 20 people were killed in the resort of Dahab; in July 2005, 70 people were killed in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh; and in October 2004, 34 people were killed in Taba, hard by the Israeli border.In April last year, Egyptian authorities said they had unveiled a plot by sympathisers of Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, to kidnap or kill Israelis in the Sinai.The security forces carried out extensive search operations in the peninsula's mountainous interior at the time, sparking protests among the indigenous Bedouin nomads.An Egyptian court is to hand down its verdict later this month against 26 suspected members of the alleged Hezbollah cell. Prosecutors have called for death sentences in the trial, in which all but four of the accused are in the dock.
Hezbollah has said repeatedly that its only operatives in Egypt have been exclusively engaged in smuggling arms and money to the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza.Egypt depends heavily on its tourism industry. Revenues totalled 10.76 billion dollars last year despite a 2.1 percent decline in receipts in the face of the recession hitting its main European markets.Around 12.5 million tourists visited the country in 2009, including more than two million from Russia.Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana said in February that the government hoped to see arrivals rise to 14 million this year, bringing in revenues of 11.5 billion dollars.
Israel's Peres calls for urgent relaunch of peace talks
Tue Apr 13, 3:56 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Israeli President Shimon Peres called on Tuesday for stalled negotiations with Palestinians to be urgently relaunched, on the first day of an official visit to Paris.A year has already gone by and it's already late. The negotiations have to be urgently taken up again and we can get to a compromise, Peres said after a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.We should help create a Palestinian state, it's in Israel's interest. We need to tell our Palestinian friends that too much time has been lost towards the resumption of talks,he added.The Israeli president also paid tribute to France for the extraordinary role that it constantly plays in the peace process.Paris has offered to host a peace conference as long as the talks lead to results, while also firmly criticising Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Turning to Syria, Peres renewed his attacks against Damascus, which he accuses of supplying Scud missiles to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah while publicly talking peace.As regards Syria, the question is always the same: where are they going? what do they want, because they speak of peace at the same time they encourage Hezbollah ... which has only one sole objective which is to attack Israel, he said.The Syrians have to be clear. They have to decide whether they want to speak about peace or whether they want to support Hezbollah against Israel, he said.On Iran, Peres said that Israel and France completely agree on the need to show firmness towards Tehran over nuclear security.Peres is to meet with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday, the second day of a three-day trip to Paris, before meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a working lunch on Thursday.
Israeli stores pull book criticizing settlers By GRANT SLATER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 13, 2:31 pm ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli bookstore chain pulled a book that criticizes Jewish settlers as hypnotized zombies plagued by messianic madness after customers complained about it, the company said Tuesday.The decision set off protests from some academics and public figures, who accused the store of bowing to political pressure.The book also criticizes the Israeli right for its strong ties to West Bank Jewish settlers. The chain, called Tzomet Hasfarim, or Books Junction, packaged the book with an Israeli flag magnet ahead of Israel's independence day next week and sold it for one shekel, about 27 cents.The store said customers objected to the packaging of the book with the flag magnet for a symbolic price, implying that the chain endorsed the message of the book. For that reason, the store said it pulled the book from its shelves.The store issued a statement saying it has no connection and does not support one side or the other.
In response, some Israeli academics and public figures called for a boycott of the store. Their petition criticizes the chain for caving in to political pressure, saying its decision constitutes a critical blow to freedom of expression.About 300,000 Israeli settlers live among some 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Many Israelis oppose the settlements and are in favor of removing them in exchange for peace with the Palestinians.Dani Dayan, chairman of Settlers Council, blasted the book.This blasphemous publication attacks our communities with vulgar language, Dayan said, adding that he did not object to the book being published.The book was self-published by its authors, Shmuel Hasfari and Eldad Yaniv, and all of the bookstore's copies have been returned to the authors, the chain said.Yaniv told the Israeli Haaretz newspaper he intended to publish more copies of the book and distribute them for free on university campuses.I think that today (the settlers) proved what the book says about them is justified,Yaniv told Haaretz.It's time to put them in their place and say that we are Zionist and Israeli and want to stop the occupation of the West Bank.Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and started building settlements there shortly afterward. The Palestinians claim the West Bank for part of their future state and want the settlements removed.
Med water conference ends in failure due to Israel-Arab row by Pierre Ausseill – Tue Apr 13, 1:55 pm ET
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – Talks aimed at adopting a water management strategy for the Mediterranean failed Tuesday due to a row between Israel and Arab countries over a reference to the Palestinian territories, participants said.The stalemate was seen as a strong blow against the nascent 43-nation Mediterranean Union, which was set up two years ago to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.
Unfortunately we can not reach an agreement,French secretary of state for European affairs Pierre Lellouche said at the end of the 4th Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water in Barcelona where the body is based.The conference aimed to reach an agreement on a strategy for managing fresh water in the Mediterranean to ensure equal access to the non-renewable resource and prevent the issue from becoming a source of conflict in the future.But a reference to occupied territories in a proposed draft text prevented the approval of a final accord event though delegates were in agreement on 99 percent of the technical issues related to water management, said Lellouche.Israel disagreed with this wording while Arab nations opposed to the alternative formulation of territories under occupation proposed by European participants, he added.The head of the body, Jordan's Ahmad Masa'deh, said he was saddened by the failure to reach an agreement at the conference because it casts doubt on the future of the Mediterranean Union.The union groups all 27 EU member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as well as Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in the region.It was established in 2008 in Paris by France and Egypt but was temporarily mothballed in early 2009 because of tensions caused by Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.My disappointment is matched only by my hope, this structure is irreversible,said Lellouche, adding the body is a fundamental project for peace in this region and it has not lost any validity.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau rejected responsibility for the failure of the talks and blamed Arab nations instead.We wanted to concentrate solely on the problems of water and avoid entering into political themes. But Arab League nations lapsed into pure propaganda and made political declarations against the state of Israel,he said.They decided to obstruct the meeting, he added.The issue of access to water is of crucial importance for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin.Some 290 million people in the region could lack water by 2025 due to the combined effects of population growth, rising needs of agriculture, industry and tourism and global warming, according to the United Nations.Over 180 million people in the region already lack water and over 60 million people face chronic shortages, according to Mediterranean Union experts.Water management is a major source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians.Israel largely controls joint water resources and supplies most of the water consumed in the West Bank. International organisations say Israel's water supplies fall short of Palestinian needs, but also that the Palestinians have failed to set up the infrastructure and institutions needed in the water sector.
Jerusalem plans to build synagogue in settlement
Tue Apr 13, 6:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Jerusalem authorities plan to give the green light to build a new synagogue and school in east Jerusalem on land seized from Palestinians, Israeli army radio reported on Tuesday.The land was seized from its Palestinian owners shortly before planning for the buildings started in the 1990s, the radio said.The construction project in the Gilo neighbourhood, a Jewish settlement, still needs final approval from the city's planning commission, whose head Kobi Khalon said this would be a formality.But Khalon, who is also deputy mayor, added: We must act with prudence and responsibility as Jerusalem is an explosive city.The status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements are major stumbling blocks in Middle East peace efforts.Israel has considered the Holy City its eternal and indivisible capital since it seized Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as part of the occupied West Bank and want it to be the capital of their promised state.The announcement of a plan for 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden last month triggered a major row with Washington, which has pushed for a freeze of settlement activity.
Israel's seven-strong security cabinet met on Monday to discuss Washington's demands for specific confidence-building measures to promote a restart of Middle East peace talks.The demands were made last month during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington that appeared to deepen the row with the administration of President Barack Obama.Under Netanyahu's orders, Jerusalem's planning commission -- whose approval is needed for any construction project in the city -- has not met since the ill-timed announcement during Biden's visit, said city council member Meir Margalit.Its first meeting for more than a month will be on Thursday, when it is expected to approve the Gilo project, said the leftwinger.
World Bank urges Israel to ease West Bank limits
Mon Apr 12, 3:28 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The World Bank warned on Monday that continued economic growth in the occupied West Bank would depend on Israel taking further steps to lift restrictions on movement.The fiscal position of the (Palestinian Authority) remains precarious. Despite evidence of economic growth in the West Bank, its sustainability remains in question, the Bank said ahead of a donors conference in Madrid.The warning came a day after the International Monetary Fund said the West Bank economy grew 8.5 percent in 2009 following Palestinian reforms, the easing of some restrictions, and nearly two billion dollars of foreign aid.Both bodies have cautioned that those gains could be in danger if Israel does not remove more of the hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints it maintains in the West Bank, which it says are necessary for security.The World Bank recommended that continued easing of the economic restrictions on the West Bank, and lifting the Gaza blockade, remain a top priority for the government of Israel.Specifically, it urges unlocking of the economic potential of Area C in the West Bank, it said, referring to the more than 60percent of the territory that is under complete Israeli civil and military control.
It also urged the liberalising of economic linkages with east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed in a move not recognised internationally, and which the Palestinians view as their capital.Both the World Bank and the IMF called for the lifting of sanctions on Gaza imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, which have crippled the private sector and spawned an informal smuggling economy based on tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.All parties must bear in mind that economic integration of the West Bank and Gaza is critical to the viability of a Palestinian state in the medium and long terms,World Bank regional vice president Shamshad Akhtar said.The current political and security uncertainty, as well as the movement restrictions, pose substantial impediments to the necessary integration of the Palestinian economy within the Middle East as well as globally.
Netanyahu at Holocaust ceremony: Stop Iran By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 11, 2:39 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The specter of Iran hovered over the start of Israel's annual memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazis in the Holocaust of World War II, as Israeli leaders warned of an Iranian nuclear program they believe is aimed at weapons production.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained bitterly about international reaction to what he called Iran's drive toward nuclear bombs and its intention to destroy Israel, but he did not hint at a possible Israeli response.
We encounter in the best case a limp reaction, and even that is fading,Netanyahu said Sunday.We do not hear the necessary rejection, no harsh denunciation, no outcry.
Netanyahu spoke at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial authority, before hundreds of Holocaust survivors and their families, Israeli leaders, diplomats and others. A military honor guard stood at one side of the podium and a girls' choir on the other.If we have learned anything from the Holocaust,Netanyahu said,it is that we must not be silent or be deterred in the face of evil.In his address at the ceremony, President Shimon Peres recalled visiting the village in Poland where he was born. Of all the Jewish homes and synagogues, not a single beam remains,he said.Turning to the present, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate urged the world to confront threats of genocide, singling out Iran's nuclear program. Israel dismisses Iranian claims that it is not making nuclear bombs.Peres said, Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those capable of mass destruction, with voices encouraging that destruction — that is the most perilous combination to world peace.
The day is one of the most solemn on Israel's calendar. Restaurants, cafes and places of entertainment closed down across Israel Sunday evening at the start of the annual remembrance day. Local TV channels scrapped their light entertainment and substituted documentaries about the Holocaust and other similarly serious programming. Radio networks aired interviews with survivors and panel discussions about the significance of the genocide and lessons for the future.At midmorning Monday, air raid sirens are set to wail across the country, marking two minutes of silence in memory of the victims.Yad Vashem picked Voices of the Survivors as the theme for this year's commemoration. About 220,000 survivors live in Israel, all of them aging, some of them destitute and alone. In a statement on its Web site, Yad Vashem said,The voice of the survivors is the link that binds the painful and tormented history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to the future, to hope and to rebirth.On Monday, Holocaust memorial day ceremonies include gatherings around the country, starting in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, where people read the names of victims of the Holocaust. The project, called Every Person Has a Name,is meant to break down the number of 6 million into stories of individuals, families and communities wiped out during the war.
A study released hours before the opening ceremony found that anti-Semitic incidents doubled worldwide last year compared with 2008. The Tel Aviv University report concluded that Muslim groups and radical leftists used Israel's bruising 22-day invasion to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, starting in late December 2008, as a wedge to expand their anti-Jewish agenda.Researchers counted 1,129 incidents, more than double the toll of the year before and the highest in two decades of studies. Researchers said they found an orchestrated and concerted attempt to delegitimize the Jewish people and Jewish state in Europe.The report by the Steven Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism charged that radical leftists and Muslim groups channeled Israel's invasion of Gaza into a campaign of anti-Semitism.Dina Porat, the report's editor, said the study tracked only instances of physical violence against Jewish targets. Verbal violence is violence, of course, but we don't count it,Porat said.
Israeli army detains 14 in West Bank land protest
Sat Apr 10, 9:33 am ET
BEIT OMAR, West Bank (AFP) – Israeli forces clashed with several dozen Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, arresting 14 people, the army and witnesses said.The protesters were joined by Israeli peace activists and foreigners at the rally near Beit Omar village, charging that Jews from nearby Bat Ayin settlement were farming on Palestinian-owned land.The demonstrators threw rocks and set fire to crops, the army and witnesses said.Security forces used riot dispersal means to disperse the protesters. The army declared the area a closed military zone and arrested 14 people,an army spokeswoman said.No casualties were reported in the incident in Beit Omar, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron which has been a frequent flashpoint in recent weeks between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
Thousands of Jews visit disputed West Bank tombs By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 9, 3:09 pm ET
KIFL HARES, West Bank – Thousands of devout Jews descended on a Palestinian village Friday in a rare pilgrimage to three disputed tombs, praying and dancing at a site they claim holds the remains of biblical ancestors.The visit, made under the guard of soldiers enforcing a curfew on local residents, took place before dawn Friday to try to avoid provoking trouble with the Palestinians of Kifl Hares, who say the graves hold the remains of Muslims.Such visits are especially sensitive because Palestinians fear Israeli hard-liners are using religious claims to buttress demands for areas the Palestinians want for a future state.Earlier this year, a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to add two West Bank shrines to a list of Israeli heritage sites set off weeks of clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli troops in the biblical city of Hebron. Both of those sites, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, hold great significance for Muslims and Jews.No clashes were reported during the pilgrimage to Kifl Hares, which began late Thursday and ended early Friday. The Palestinian mayor, however, called it a serious bother.
Israeli soldiers, some using glow sticks to direct traffic in the darkness, imposed a curfew on the Palestinian residents. The Jewish visitors, some carrying children or pushing strollers, walked the village's narrow streets. Near the tombs, groups of ultra-Orthodox men with sidelocks and black hats recited prayers, sang and danced in circles.Some devout Jews claim biblical Joshua, along with his father, Nun, and companion Caleb are buried in Kifl Hares. Local Palestinians say the graves hold the remains of Muslims.About 5,000 Jews from around Israel and its West Bank settlements flocked to the village on Thursday night, many on buses chartered for the trip. Israeli soldiers lined the streets, directing visitors to the three tombs.At the tomb pilgrims believe to be Joshua's, men in black hats and long coats jostled to enter. They recited prayers, read psalms and snapped photos. Women in long skirts, covering their hair with hats or scarves, prayed in a separate section.Outside, merchants hawked religious books, CDs and bumper stickers. Others distributed soft drinks and slices of noodle cake. Later, groups of Orthodox men joined arms and danced in a circle, singing praise songs.It's a unique opportunity where they are able to reach the burial place of one of the most important leaders of the Jewish people,said David Haivri, one of the organizers.The Israeli military says Jewish worshippers can only enter Palestinian communities with army escorts. In the West Bank, tensions continue to run high, particularly between Palestinian villagers and hard-line Jewish settlers, who in recent months have stepped up rampages in Palestinian communities.Ahmed Bouzia, the mayor of Kifl Hares, called the most recent visit a serious bother and said many villagers worry Israel will try to take the sites away from them.All three are Islamic graves,Bouzia said, adding that one contains the remains of an ancestor.Anyone who uses his eyes and head can see that these are Islamic graves.
Israel viewed as world's sixth nuclear power: analysts
Fri Apr 9, 1:14 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – Israel, whose prime minister withdrew Friday from next week's US-hosted nuclear summit, is viewed as the sixth country to have acquired nuclear weapons -- a title it has neither denied nor confirmed.Analysts at British defence specialists Jane's believe the Jewish state has between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads, putting them among the more advanced nuclear weapons states and roughly on a par with Britain.The London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) estimates Israel has up to 200 warheads delivered on land-based short-range Jericho 1 and medium-range Jericho 2 missiles.The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US advocacy group co-created by Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, puts the figure at 100 to 200.Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East with a programme dating back to the 1950s under Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.It was developed with the help of France and is centred on the Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert.According to Jane's, the Israeli strategic force could be deployed by the Jericho 2 missile, which has a range of up to 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles), or the five-year-old Jericho 3, which reaches up to 7,800 kilometres.It is also believed to be able to deploy by air, using F-16 fighter jets, and even by sea through its submarine fleet, providing an opportunity for a second strike if its land systems are attacked.Israel acquired three diesel-powered Dolphin-class submarines in 1999-2000 which are capable of launching adapted Harpoon cruise missiles fitted with nuclear warheads.
In addition, Jane's says some observers believe Jerusalem has developed tactical nuclear weapons such as landmines and artillery shells.Some analysts believe that Israel probably keeps most, if not all, of its nuclear arsenal in an unassembled mode,the latest Jane's briefing says, adding that fully functional weapons could be completed in a matter of days.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly withdrew Friday from next week's nuclear summit in Washington, underscoring Israeli reluctance to expose its own nuclear programme to scrutiny.
Wed Apr 14, 11:47 am ET
AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan condemned Israel on Wednesday over a military order that could lead to the eviction of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, demanding it be revoked.The Amman government strongly condemned the Israeli decision, describing the move as illegal and a flagrant violation of international law and conventions, as well as the Jewish state's obligations as an occupying power.
In a statement, the government urged the international community to act to halt such unilateral measures,which would block peace efforts and raise tensions in the Middle East.It added that Foreign Minister Nasser Jawdeh, who is in Washington with King Abdullah II, had already started to contact his counterparts about the matter during a nuclear meeting there this week.Meanwhile, Israel Ambassador Dani Nevo was summoned to the foreign ministry and given a note of protest, the official Petra news agency reported.The note underlined Jordan's strong denunciation of the Israeli decision ... and the need to immediately stop its application, as well as the reaffirmation of the right of the Palestinian people to live in and move about freely on their national territory, Petra said.Jordan said on Monday it had received assurances from Israel that the order would not lead to expulsions of Palestinians living in the West Bank.The Israeli military insists the new orders merely formalise existing procedures and said there would be no new wave of deportations from the territory.On Tuesday, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called the orders illegal,while the Arab League called on the Palestinians to refuse to heed them.
Obama voices frustration on stalled Mideast peace By Matt Spetalnick – Tue Apr 13, 6:44 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama voiced frustration on Tuesday over stalled Middle East peace efforts, saying Israelis and Palestinians may not be ready to resolve their conflict no matter how much pressure Washington exerts.Obama, speaking to reporters after hosting a nuclear security summit, made clear he harbored little hope for swift progress toward Middle East peace, more than a year after taking office and declaring it a high priority for his administration.U.S.-led peace moves have been stymied by a dispute over Jewish settlement construction on occupied land that has strained ties between Washington and its close ally Israel, and by divisions among the Palestinians.The truth is in some of these conflicts the United States can't impose solutions unless the participants in these conflicts are willing to break out of old patterns of antagonism,Obama told a news conference.
The Obama administration has tried to get Israel and the Palestinians to launch indirect peace talks but has made scant headway. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave little ground in White House talks with Obama last month.Obama recently acknowledged he had underestimated the obstacles to a renewed peace process that bedeviled many of his predecessors, and some critics have called his approach naive.The Israeli people, through their government, and the Palestinian people, through the Palestinian Authority, as well as other Arab states may say to themselves, We are not prepared to resolve these issues no matter how much pressure the United States brings to bear,Obama said.But Obama insisted the United States would press on, constantly present, constantly engaged.He said progress on issues like Middle East peace, nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament would be measured not in days, not in weeks.It's going to take time, and progress will be halting,he said.And there will be frustrations.
The White House promised on Friday not to surprise anybody at any time with a dramatic shift in Middle East peace strategy and said no decision had been made for Obama to offer his own solution to the conflict.While dampening expectations for a revamped U.S. approach, national security adviser Jim Jones left open the possibility of further internal discussions, following reports a broad new Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal was under consideration.(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Israel warns nationals of imminent kidnap threat in Egypt by Marius Schattner – Tue Apr 13, 5:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel warned its nationals on Tuesday that there was an imminent risk of kidnap attempts by militants against holidaymakers in the neighbouring Sinai peninsula in Egypt.Israel's anti-terrorism unit said it had concrete information about an imminent risk of a terrorist abduction operation.Israel already issued a general warning to its citizens in February about the dangers of travel over the next few months to the Red Sea resort area which is a major draw.But despite the travel advice, some 20,000 Israeli tourists still holidayed in the Sinai over the Jewish Passover holiday in late March and early April.The anti-terrorism unit cited threats from (Lebanese Shiite militant group) Hezbollah and Iran.A senior Egyptian security official contacted by AFP said the interior ministry was looking into the Israeli travel warning.But other officials played it down, saying that it was based on rumours and that there was no credible intelligence suggesting tourists were under threat.Israeli military radio reported that the warning was issued following an unconfirmed rumour about the kidnapping of an Israeli.The Sinai has been the scene of three major bombing attacks targeting Israeli or Western tourists.
In April 2006, 20 people were killed in the resort of Dahab; in July 2005, 70 people were killed in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh; and in October 2004, 34 people were killed in Taba, hard by the Israeli border.In April last year, Egyptian authorities said they had unveiled a plot by sympathisers of Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, to kidnap or kill Israelis in the Sinai.The security forces carried out extensive search operations in the peninsula's mountainous interior at the time, sparking protests among the indigenous Bedouin nomads.An Egyptian court is to hand down its verdict later this month against 26 suspected members of the alleged Hezbollah cell. Prosecutors have called for death sentences in the trial, in which all but four of the accused are in the dock.
Hezbollah has said repeatedly that its only operatives in Egypt have been exclusively engaged in smuggling arms and money to the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza.Egypt depends heavily on its tourism industry. Revenues totalled 10.76 billion dollars last year despite a 2.1 percent decline in receipts in the face of the recession hitting its main European markets.Around 12.5 million tourists visited the country in 2009, including more than two million from Russia.Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana said in February that the government hoped to see arrivals rise to 14 million this year, bringing in revenues of 11.5 billion dollars.
Israel's Peres calls for urgent relaunch of peace talks
Tue Apr 13, 3:56 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Israeli President Shimon Peres called on Tuesday for stalled negotiations with Palestinians to be urgently relaunched, on the first day of an official visit to Paris.A year has already gone by and it's already late. The negotiations have to be urgently taken up again and we can get to a compromise, Peres said after a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.We should help create a Palestinian state, it's in Israel's interest. We need to tell our Palestinian friends that too much time has been lost towards the resumption of talks,he added.The Israeli president also paid tribute to France for the extraordinary role that it constantly plays in the peace process.Paris has offered to host a peace conference as long as the talks lead to results, while also firmly criticising Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Turning to Syria, Peres renewed his attacks against Damascus, which he accuses of supplying Scud missiles to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah while publicly talking peace.As regards Syria, the question is always the same: where are they going? what do they want, because they speak of peace at the same time they encourage Hezbollah ... which has only one sole objective which is to attack Israel, he said.The Syrians have to be clear. They have to decide whether they want to speak about peace or whether they want to support Hezbollah against Israel, he said.On Iran, Peres said that Israel and France completely agree on the need to show firmness towards Tehran over nuclear security.Peres is to meet with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday, the second day of a three-day trip to Paris, before meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a working lunch on Thursday.
Israeli stores pull book criticizing settlers By GRANT SLATER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 13, 2:31 pm ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli bookstore chain pulled a book that criticizes Jewish settlers as hypnotized zombies plagued by messianic madness after customers complained about it, the company said Tuesday.The decision set off protests from some academics and public figures, who accused the store of bowing to political pressure.The book also criticizes the Israeli right for its strong ties to West Bank Jewish settlers. The chain, called Tzomet Hasfarim, or Books Junction, packaged the book with an Israeli flag magnet ahead of Israel's independence day next week and sold it for one shekel, about 27 cents.The store said customers objected to the packaging of the book with the flag magnet for a symbolic price, implying that the chain endorsed the message of the book. For that reason, the store said it pulled the book from its shelves.The store issued a statement saying it has no connection and does not support one side or the other.
In response, some Israeli academics and public figures called for a boycott of the store. Their petition criticizes the chain for caving in to political pressure, saying its decision constitutes a critical blow to freedom of expression.About 300,000 Israeli settlers live among some 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Many Israelis oppose the settlements and are in favor of removing them in exchange for peace with the Palestinians.Dani Dayan, chairman of Settlers Council, blasted the book.This blasphemous publication attacks our communities with vulgar language, Dayan said, adding that he did not object to the book being published.The book was self-published by its authors, Shmuel Hasfari and Eldad Yaniv, and all of the bookstore's copies have been returned to the authors, the chain said.Yaniv told the Israeli Haaretz newspaper he intended to publish more copies of the book and distribute them for free on university campuses.I think that today (the settlers) proved what the book says about them is justified,Yaniv told Haaretz.It's time to put them in their place and say that we are Zionist and Israeli and want to stop the occupation of the West Bank.Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and started building settlements there shortly afterward. The Palestinians claim the West Bank for part of their future state and want the settlements removed.
Med water conference ends in failure due to Israel-Arab row by Pierre Ausseill – Tue Apr 13, 1:55 pm ET
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – Talks aimed at adopting a water management strategy for the Mediterranean failed Tuesday due to a row between Israel and Arab countries over a reference to the Palestinian territories, participants said.The stalemate was seen as a strong blow against the nascent 43-nation Mediterranean Union, which was set up two years ago to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.
Unfortunately we can not reach an agreement,French secretary of state for European affairs Pierre Lellouche said at the end of the 4th Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water in Barcelona where the body is based.The conference aimed to reach an agreement on a strategy for managing fresh water in the Mediterranean to ensure equal access to the non-renewable resource and prevent the issue from becoming a source of conflict in the future.But a reference to occupied territories in a proposed draft text prevented the approval of a final accord event though delegates were in agreement on 99 percent of the technical issues related to water management, said Lellouche.Israel disagreed with this wording while Arab nations opposed to the alternative formulation of territories under occupation proposed by European participants, he added.The head of the body, Jordan's Ahmad Masa'deh, said he was saddened by the failure to reach an agreement at the conference because it casts doubt on the future of the Mediterranean Union.The union groups all 27 EU member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as well as Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in the region.It was established in 2008 in Paris by France and Egypt but was temporarily mothballed in early 2009 because of tensions caused by Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.My disappointment is matched only by my hope, this structure is irreversible,said Lellouche, adding the body is a fundamental project for peace in this region and it has not lost any validity.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau rejected responsibility for the failure of the talks and blamed Arab nations instead.We wanted to concentrate solely on the problems of water and avoid entering into political themes. But Arab League nations lapsed into pure propaganda and made political declarations against the state of Israel,he said.They decided to obstruct the meeting, he added.The issue of access to water is of crucial importance for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin.Some 290 million people in the region could lack water by 2025 due to the combined effects of population growth, rising needs of agriculture, industry and tourism and global warming, according to the United Nations.Over 180 million people in the region already lack water and over 60 million people face chronic shortages, according to Mediterranean Union experts.Water management is a major source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians.Israel largely controls joint water resources and supplies most of the water consumed in the West Bank. International organisations say Israel's water supplies fall short of Palestinian needs, but also that the Palestinians have failed to set up the infrastructure and institutions needed in the water sector.
Jerusalem plans to build synagogue in settlement
Tue Apr 13, 6:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Jerusalem authorities plan to give the green light to build a new synagogue and school in east Jerusalem on land seized from Palestinians, Israeli army radio reported on Tuesday.The land was seized from its Palestinian owners shortly before planning for the buildings started in the 1990s, the radio said.The construction project in the Gilo neighbourhood, a Jewish settlement, still needs final approval from the city's planning commission, whose head Kobi Khalon said this would be a formality.But Khalon, who is also deputy mayor, added: We must act with prudence and responsibility as Jerusalem is an explosive city.The status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements are major stumbling blocks in Middle East peace efforts.Israel has considered the Holy City its eternal and indivisible capital since it seized Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as part of the occupied West Bank and want it to be the capital of their promised state.The announcement of a plan for 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden last month triggered a major row with Washington, which has pushed for a freeze of settlement activity.
Israel's seven-strong security cabinet met on Monday to discuss Washington's demands for specific confidence-building measures to promote a restart of Middle East peace talks.The demands were made last month during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington that appeared to deepen the row with the administration of President Barack Obama.Under Netanyahu's orders, Jerusalem's planning commission -- whose approval is needed for any construction project in the city -- has not met since the ill-timed announcement during Biden's visit, said city council member Meir Margalit.Its first meeting for more than a month will be on Thursday, when it is expected to approve the Gilo project, said the leftwinger.
World Bank urges Israel to ease West Bank limits
Mon Apr 12, 3:28 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The World Bank warned on Monday that continued economic growth in the occupied West Bank would depend on Israel taking further steps to lift restrictions on movement.The fiscal position of the (Palestinian Authority) remains precarious. Despite evidence of economic growth in the West Bank, its sustainability remains in question, the Bank said ahead of a donors conference in Madrid.The warning came a day after the International Monetary Fund said the West Bank economy grew 8.5 percent in 2009 following Palestinian reforms, the easing of some restrictions, and nearly two billion dollars of foreign aid.Both bodies have cautioned that those gains could be in danger if Israel does not remove more of the hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints it maintains in the West Bank, which it says are necessary for security.The World Bank recommended that continued easing of the economic restrictions on the West Bank, and lifting the Gaza blockade, remain a top priority for the government of Israel.Specifically, it urges unlocking of the economic potential of Area C in the West Bank, it said, referring to the more than 60percent of the territory that is under complete Israeli civil and military control.
It also urged the liberalising of economic linkages with east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed in a move not recognised internationally, and which the Palestinians view as their capital.Both the World Bank and the IMF called for the lifting of sanctions on Gaza imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, which have crippled the private sector and spawned an informal smuggling economy based on tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.All parties must bear in mind that economic integration of the West Bank and Gaza is critical to the viability of a Palestinian state in the medium and long terms,World Bank regional vice president Shamshad Akhtar said.The current political and security uncertainty, as well as the movement restrictions, pose substantial impediments to the necessary integration of the Palestinian economy within the Middle East as well as globally.
Netanyahu at Holocaust ceremony: Stop Iran By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 11, 2:39 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The specter of Iran hovered over the start of Israel's annual memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazis in the Holocaust of World War II, as Israeli leaders warned of an Iranian nuclear program they believe is aimed at weapons production.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained bitterly about international reaction to what he called Iran's drive toward nuclear bombs and its intention to destroy Israel, but he did not hint at a possible Israeli response.
We encounter in the best case a limp reaction, and even that is fading,Netanyahu said Sunday.We do not hear the necessary rejection, no harsh denunciation, no outcry.
Netanyahu spoke at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial authority, before hundreds of Holocaust survivors and their families, Israeli leaders, diplomats and others. A military honor guard stood at one side of the podium and a girls' choir on the other.If we have learned anything from the Holocaust,Netanyahu said,it is that we must not be silent or be deterred in the face of evil.In his address at the ceremony, President Shimon Peres recalled visiting the village in Poland where he was born. Of all the Jewish homes and synagogues, not a single beam remains,he said.Turning to the present, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate urged the world to confront threats of genocide, singling out Iran's nuclear program. Israel dismisses Iranian claims that it is not making nuclear bombs.Peres said, Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those capable of mass destruction, with voices encouraging that destruction — that is the most perilous combination to world peace.
The day is one of the most solemn on Israel's calendar. Restaurants, cafes and places of entertainment closed down across Israel Sunday evening at the start of the annual remembrance day. Local TV channels scrapped their light entertainment and substituted documentaries about the Holocaust and other similarly serious programming. Radio networks aired interviews with survivors and panel discussions about the significance of the genocide and lessons for the future.At midmorning Monday, air raid sirens are set to wail across the country, marking two minutes of silence in memory of the victims.Yad Vashem picked Voices of the Survivors as the theme for this year's commemoration. About 220,000 survivors live in Israel, all of them aging, some of them destitute and alone. In a statement on its Web site, Yad Vashem said,The voice of the survivors is the link that binds the painful and tormented history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to the future, to hope and to rebirth.On Monday, Holocaust memorial day ceremonies include gatherings around the country, starting in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, where people read the names of victims of the Holocaust. The project, called Every Person Has a Name,is meant to break down the number of 6 million into stories of individuals, families and communities wiped out during the war.
A study released hours before the opening ceremony found that anti-Semitic incidents doubled worldwide last year compared with 2008. The Tel Aviv University report concluded that Muslim groups and radical leftists used Israel's bruising 22-day invasion to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, starting in late December 2008, as a wedge to expand their anti-Jewish agenda.Researchers counted 1,129 incidents, more than double the toll of the year before and the highest in two decades of studies. Researchers said they found an orchestrated and concerted attempt to delegitimize the Jewish people and Jewish state in Europe.The report by the Steven Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism charged that radical leftists and Muslim groups channeled Israel's invasion of Gaza into a campaign of anti-Semitism.Dina Porat, the report's editor, said the study tracked only instances of physical violence against Jewish targets. Verbal violence is violence, of course, but we don't count it,Porat said.
Israeli army detains 14 in West Bank land protest
Sat Apr 10, 9:33 am ET
BEIT OMAR, West Bank (AFP) – Israeli forces clashed with several dozen Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, arresting 14 people, the army and witnesses said.The protesters were joined by Israeli peace activists and foreigners at the rally near Beit Omar village, charging that Jews from nearby Bat Ayin settlement were farming on Palestinian-owned land.The demonstrators threw rocks and set fire to crops, the army and witnesses said.Security forces used riot dispersal means to disperse the protesters. The army declared the area a closed military zone and arrested 14 people,an army spokeswoman said.No casualties were reported in the incident in Beit Omar, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron which has been a frequent flashpoint in recent weeks between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
Thousands of Jews visit disputed West Bank tombs By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 9, 3:09 pm ET
KIFL HARES, West Bank – Thousands of devout Jews descended on a Palestinian village Friday in a rare pilgrimage to three disputed tombs, praying and dancing at a site they claim holds the remains of biblical ancestors.The visit, made under the guard of soldiers enforcing a curfew on local residents, took place before dawn Friday to try to avoid provoking trouble with the Palestinians of Kifl Hares, who say the graves hold the remains of Muslims.Such visits are especially sensitive because Palestinians fear Israeli hard-liners are using religious claims to buttress demands for areas the Palestinians want for a future state.Earlier this year, a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to add two West Bank shrines to a list of Israeli heritage sites set off weeks of clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli troops in the biblical city of Hebron. Both of those sites, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, hold great significance for Muslims and Jews.No clashes were reported during the pilgrimage to Kifl Hares, which began late Thursday and ended early Friday. The Palestinian mayor, however, called it a serious bother.
Israeli soldiers, some using glow sticks to direct traffic in the darkness, imposed a curfew on the Palestinian residents. The Jewish visitors, some carrying children or pushing strollers, walked the village's narrow streets. Near the tombs, groups of ultra-Orthodox men with sidelocks and black hats recited prayers, sang and danced in circles.Some devout Jews claim biblical Joshua, along with his father, Nun, and companion Caleb are buried in Kifl Hares. Local Palestinians say the graves hold the remains of Muslims.About 5,000 Jews from around Israel and its West Bank settlements flocked to the village on Thursday night, many on buses chartered for the trip. Israeli soldiers lined the streets, directing visitors to the three tombs.At the tomb pilgrims believe to be Joshua's, men in black hats and long coats jostled to enter. They recited prayers, read psalms and snapped photos. Women in long skirts, covering their hair with hats or scarves, prayed in a separate section.Outside, merchants hawked religious books, CDs and bumper stickers. Others distributed soft drinks and slices of noodle cake. Later, groups of Orthodox men joined arms and danced in a circle, singing praise songs.It's a unique opportunity where they are able to reach the burial place of one of the most important leaders of the Jewish people,said David Haivri, one of the organizers.The Israeli military says Jewish worshippers can only enter Palestinian communities with army escorts. In the West Bank, tensions continue to run high, particularly between Palestinian villagers and hard-line Jewish settlers, who in recent months have stepped up rampages in Palestinian communities.Ahmed Bouzia, the mayor of Kifl Hares, called the most recent visit a serious bother and said many villagers worry Israel will try to take the sites away from them.All three are Islamic graves,Bouzia said, adding that one contains the remains of an ancestor.Anyone who uses his eyes and head can see that these are Islamic graves.
Israel viewed as world's sixth nuclear power: analysts
Fri Apr 9, 1:14 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – Israel, whose prime minister withdrew Friday from next week's US-hosted nuclear summit, is viewed as the sixth country to have acquired nuclear weapons -- a title it has neither denied nor confirmed.Analysts at British defence specialists Jane's believe the Jewish state has between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads, putting them among the more advanced nuclear weapons states and roughly on a par with Britain.The London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) estimates Israel has up to 200 warheads delivered on land-based short-range Jericho 1 and medium-range Jericho 2 missiles.The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US advocacy group co-created by Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, puts the figure at 100 to 200.Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East with a programme dating back to the 1950s under Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.It was developed with the help of France and is centred on the Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert.According to Jane's, the Israeli strategic force could be deployed by the Jericho 2 missile, which has a range of up to 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles), or the five-year-old Jericho 3, which reaches up to 7,800 kilometres.It is also believed to be able to deploy by air, using F-16 fighter jets, and even by sea through its submarine fleet, providing an opportunity for a second strike if its land systems are attacked.Israel acquired three diesel-powered Dolphin-class submarines in 1999-2000 which are capable of launching adapted Harpoon cruise missiles fitted with nuclear warheads.
In addition, Jane's says some observers believe Jerusalem has developed tactical nuclear weapons such as landmines and artillery shells.Some analysts believe that Israel probably keeps most, if not all, of its nuclear arsenal in an unassembled mode,the latest Jane's briefing says, adding that fully functional weapons could be completed in a matter of days.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly withdrew Friday from next week's nuclear summit in Washington, underscoring Israeli reluctance to expose its own nuclear programme to scrutiny.
Friday, April 09, 2010
NO US MIDEAST PEACE PLAN
Obama adviser says no US Mideast peace plan ready
Fri Apr 9, 8:44 am ET
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – President Barack Obama's national security adviser says the administration discussing how to jump-start the lagging Mideast peace process, but doesn't have a new U.S. plan to offer.Speaking to reporters accompanying Obama back to Washington Friday from Prague, Gen. James Jones said, There's been no decision on that.There had been reports earlier this week that the administration was poised to offer a new U.S. peace proposal to the Israelis and Palestinians that would build on understandings reached at Camp David, Md., in 2000.Jones said the Mideast strategy came up during a meeting Obama recently had with a half-dozen former national security advisers. He said these are ongoing discussions and said that we don't intend to surprise anybody at any time.
Gaza power plant shuts down for lack of fuel
Fri Apr 9, 7:46 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The sole power plant in the besieged Gaza Strip was shut down on Friday because fuel supplies ran out, with Palestinians and Israel blaming each other.The power plant shut down completely this morning as a result of a shortage of fuel caused by the Israeli siege, said Kanaan Obeid, assistant director of Gaza's electricity authority, referring to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since its 2007 takeover by the Islamist Hamas movement.But Israel said the shut-down was caused by a rift over funding among the Palestinians, and that the Hamas rival, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, had stopped fuel purchases.The industrial diesel needed to run the power plant -- which supplies about 25 percent of Gaza's energy -- comes through an Israeli-controlled fuel terminal, with Israel setting import quotas.The imports have declined since November when the European Commission transferred responsibility for buying the fuel to the Palestinian Authority, after its aid program expired.The Israeli army said the Palestinians had stopped buying fuel in recent days after Hamas failed to pay its share of the costs.There is no Israeli involvement; if they buy fuel we will let it in as we do on a daily basis, said Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli military liaison to Gaza.
Fuel supplies were particularly low in the past weeks, in part because there were no deliveries for two days over the recent Jewish Passover holiday.Only 550,000 litres (145,294 gallons) were delivered this week, and 721,660 litres (190,642 gallons) the week before that, compared with the 3.5 million litres (924,602) a week normally needed to operate the plant, according to the OXFAM aid group.Israel supplies about 70 percent of Gaza's power and Egypt provides five percent, with the remainder from the closed power plant.Since March 3, the facility had been producing only 30 megawatts of electricity, or 38 percent of its full capacity.This has led to blackouts of eight to 12 hours a day in parts of the impoverished territory, affecting the provision of essential services, including water supply, medical treatment and sewage disposal, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.The power plant has had to shut down on several occasions in the past because of fuel shortages.
Netanyahu pulls out of summit to avoid nuclear spotlight by Gavin Rabinowitz – Fri Apr 9, 5:39 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abrupt withdrawal on Thursday from next week's nuclear summit in Washington has underscored Israeli reluctance to expose its own nuclear programme to scrutiny.The invitation to attend the 47-nation summit on nuclear security hosted by US President Barack Obama posed a dilemma for Netanyahu.Israel desperately wanted to discuss the perceived threat from Iran's nuclear drive and the risk that Islamist extremists could get hold of an atomic bomb.
At the same time, it did not want the spotlight turned on its own alleged nuclear arsenal.From the start, everyone said attending the conference would put him in a trap, but Netanyahu insisted, the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper said on Friday.The prime minister wanted to go. He is very committed to the agenda set for the conference, how to maintain nuclear safety and prevent terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons,a senior Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu will instead send Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor.
Israel's commitment to halting nuclear proliferation in the region is evident, as is its uniquely aggressive approach -- bombing an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and reportedly attacking what many believe to have been a nascent Syrian reactor in 2007.
Israel has threatened to strike Iran to goad the international community towards imposing further sanctions on arch-foe Tehran. Israel and the West believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.Israel also fears the consequences of a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups that have vowed to destroy the Jewish state.This is a very, very serious issue that nuclear weapons, even crude nuclear weapons, would find their way into the hands of terrorists and the consequences could be very very dire for all of humanity, Netanyahu said on Wednesday.But in the end this commitment was overshadowed by fears that the conference would be hijacked to focus on Israel's nuclear programme.
Recently we learned some countries were going to use it as an excuse to bash Israel over the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Israeli official said, explaining the late-night decision to pull out.Like nuclear-armed countries India, Pakistan, and North Korea, Israel is not party to the nuclear NPT in order to avoid international inspections.Foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear warheads, but Israel has never publicly acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity since it inaugurated its Dimona nuclear reactor in 1965.Israel has consistently insisted it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.In 1969, Israeli leaders undertook not to make any statement on their country's nuclear potential or carry out any nuclear test, while Washington agreed to refrain from exerting pressure on the issue.
However, some believe that Netanyahu backed out of the trip not over nuclear concerns but because of Israel's recent rift with Washington. It is more connected to Israel's relations with the US. It was a mistake to go to Washington last time and they learned the lesson,said Efraim Inbar, the director of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies. Netanyahu returned from talks with Obama last month to a wave of derision in the Israeli press, with a showdown over Jewish settlement construction in east Jerusalem unresolved amid some of the most open hostility in US-Israeli relations in years. Netanyahu has not yet come up with a response to US demands aimed at paving the way for fresh peace talks with the Palestinians. Even before Netanyahu's announcement, the White House had said Obama had no plans to hold talks with the Israeli leader during the nuclear meeting in light of their recent tete-a-tete behind closed doors.Because Israel has not answered Obama's demands, why expose him to more pressure and have Obama treat him badly again? said Inbar.
Rival groups clash at Palestinian base in Lebanon By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 8, 3:35 pm ET
BEIRUT – Rival groups armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers battled for hours Thursday inside a Palestinian military camp in a remote part of eastern Lebanon, killing one person, security officials said.The Ein al-Bayda camp is one of several bases run by Palestinian militant groups in Lebanon. Most of them are located in the eastern Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria, whose government supports the groups.The bases, which are separate from the country's Palestinian refugee camps, are illegal. Lebanese authorities, however, have left them be for fear that any clash with the groups could be explosive.Thursday's fighting was between rival Palestinian groups and lasted three hours, Lebanese security officials said. The camp is run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.A senior military official said the fighting stopped after four militants — three Palestinians and a Lebanese man — handed themselves over to Lebanese troops. Lebanese forces were seen taking up positions near the base but did not intervene.
Police officials said a member of the militant group was killed in the fighting.The security and military officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Israel corruption trial for ex-PM suspended By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer - Thu Apr 8, 11:16 am ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli court suspended the corruption trial of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday, a day after a longtime confidant of the ex-premier was arrested in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal.Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem when the bribery allegedly took place. It is not clear whether he was implicated in that case because there is a partial gag order on it.The money allegedly changed hands to promote several real-estate projects, including a large development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws.On Wednesday, police arrested six men suspected of involvement in the case. Among them was Olmert's longtime confidant Uri Messer, who police suspect acted as a middleman, funneling bribes to a high-ranking city hall official who was not identified. The other suspects included a former city hall official and property developers.Messer was responsible for Olmert's campaign finances and the two were partners in a law office.Olmert is standing trial on separate corruption charges that include illegally accepting funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. Messer has been questioned numerous times over the charges.The formal charges against Olmert include fraud and breach of trust. Israel's Justice Ministry has not said what penalties Olmert could face, but the fraud charge alone could carry a prison term of up to five years.
The incidents in question date from his time as Jerusalem mayor and later as a Cabinet minister, but emerged after he was elected prime minister in 2006.American supporter, businessman Morris Talansky, said he had given Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in envelopes stuffed with bills. His testimony helped galvanize public opinion, and in late 2008 Olmert was forced to resign.The trial began last September. On Thursday, the Jerusalem district court agreed to suspend the case until May — a four-week delay — after Olmert's lawyers said he couldn't receive a fair trial in the current climate.At the hearing, Olmert's lawyer Eli Zohar demanded to stop this trial here and now. Another Olmert lawyer made a personal plea to the court to allow for more time to prepare.The judges read a statement saying they partially accepted the request to suspend the trial and that it would resume May 6.The 63-year-old Olmert has largely been out of the public eye since leaving politics.Olmert is currently abroad on business and is expected to return to Israel next week. His spokesman, Amir Dan, said he had no plans to cut short his trip.Zohar did not expect the ex-premier to be arrested when he returns. He told Israel's Channel 10 TV,I can't imagine a reason, logic or basis for something like that to occur.
France launches joint Industrial Park in Bethlehem
Thu Apr 8, 10:06 am ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – French Industry Minister Christian Estrosi laid the foundation stone on Thursday of a Franco-Palestinian industrial park in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.The project, Estrosi said, underlines France's commitment to the economic development of Palestine.National economy minister Hassan Abu Lidbeh represented the Palestinian side at the ceremony for the project aimed at creating between 500 and 1,000 jobs while boosting the private sector.The 20 hectare (almost 50 acre) industrial park south of Bethlehem has a target opening date of January 2011.France has set aside 10 million euros (13.3 million dollars) to connect the site to the water and electricity networks as well as to build access roads.The project forms part of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad's efforts for the establishment of a de facto state by August 2011.The Bethlehem project was launched in June 2008 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Israel, US have not settled east Jerusalem spat By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 7, 3:10 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister acknowledged Wednesday that his government has yet to iron out its differences with the U.S. over Israeli construction in east Jerusalem, a dispute that has stalled American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.Benjamin Netanyahu said both countries are still working to find a solution but staunchly defended his government's contentious settlement plans in the disputed holy city, calling them a long-standing Israeli policy.There are things we agree on, things we don't agree on, things we are closing the gap on, Netanyahu said of his talks with Washington. We are making an effort.The worst crisis in U.S.-Israeli ties in years erupted last month when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, drawing sharp condemnation from Washington and calls to cancel the construction.The announcement also derailed U.S.-mediated indirect peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians just before they were slated to start.The Obama administration has pressured Israel to halt construction in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state, and has also pushed for a broader building freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
In November, Netanyahu agreed to a 10-month freeze on most West Bank construction in order to get peace talks started, but refused to include east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 and considers part of its capital.Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed talk of a crisis with Washington and accused the media of blowing the disagreement out of proportion — despite the tension in U.S.-Israeli ties.What is being published doesn't fit what we are talking about, he said. Apparently the discussion between us is more serious and more to the point than what is generally believed.The Palestinians, meanwhile, are wary of Netanyahu and his hawkish coalition partners, and have refused to resume direct negotiations until Israel halts all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim those territories, along with the Gaza Strip, for their future state.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did, however, agree last month to return to the negotiating table for indirect talks, only to back off after Israel announced the new construction plans in east Jerusalem.Netanyahu, however, blamed the Palestinians for the delay in negotiations, saying the Palestinians simply climbed up the tree on the first day (of talks) and said, We're not coming to negotiations, we're setting all kinds of conditions.He also said his government has taken steps to boost conditions in the West Bank, removing dozens of military checkpoints and roadblocks in the territory to help revive the Palestinian economy. He also endorsed the concept of Palestinian independence for the first time last year, although with conditions the Palestinians say are unacceptable.
Netanyahu, who leads the hard-line Likud Party, took office in March 2009 on pledges he would take a different approach to peacemaking than his predecessor, Ehud Olmert. The more dovish Olmert has said he offered a broad pullout from the West Bank and some Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.Peace talks broke down in the waning days of Olmert's term, after Israel launched a bruising military offensive in the Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire coming from the territory.Also Wednesday, Israel expressed outrage after a report on Israeli TV showed that a street in the West Bank administrative center of Ramallah was named after Yehiya Ayyash, a master Hamas bombmaker blamed for attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis.
The Israeli statement called the decision "an outrageous glorification of terrorism by the Palestinian Authority.Ayyash was killed in 1996 in a blast assumed to have been set off by Israeli agents.
Israel PM doubts sanctions have teeth to dissuade Iran by Gavin Rabinowitz – Wed Apr 7, 12:37 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he doubts the sanctions being mulled against Iran would be tough enough to rein in the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.I doubt that such a programme will have teeth and the real ability to stop Iran's nuclear drive, he said at a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to US-led efforts to slap new UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear defiance.Netanyahu stressed that the only real effective sanctions would those which hit Iran's energy market, either the imports of refined fuel or the production of petroleum.Israel shares the US conviction that Iran, its arch-foe, is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies.The sole, if undeclared, nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, the Jewish state has repeatedly said it would not rule out a military option in dealing with Iran.Netanyahu made the comments ahead of next week's international summit on nuclear security summit in Washington, which he will attend.The US administration said in a policy document presented on Tuesday that it would only use atomic arms in extreme circumstances and would not attack non-nuclear states, although Iran and North Korea were exceptions.
The Nuclear Posture Review described nuclear terrorism as an immediate and extreme threat, with efforts to prevent the spread of atomic weapons given top priority.This is a very, very serious issue that nuclear weapons, even crude nuclear weapons, would find their way into the hands of terrorists and the consequences could be very very dire for all of humanity, Netanyahu said.Responding to a question, he deflected concerns the spotlight could be turned onto Israel's nuclear arsenal.I'm not concerned that anyone will think that Israel is a terrorist regime. Everybody knows a terrorist and rogue regime when they see one, and believe me they see quite a few around Israel.Israel has never publicly acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity since it inaugurated its Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert in 1965.This policy of ambiguity constitutes one of the pillars of Israeli national security and the Americans consider it very important, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told army radio.There is no reason for the Americans to change their approach or for Israel to change its position, he said.
For the past four decades, Israeli governments have insisted the Jewish state will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East.This policy will continue and no pressure from any country will make it change, Ayalon said.In a slight departure from the usual wording, Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said in an interview with CNN last year that to introduce meant to deploy.
Foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear weapons. In 1969, Israeli leaders undertook not to make any statement on their country's nuclear potential or carry out any nuclear test, while Washington agreed to refrain from exerting pressure on the issue. The Israeli programme is under military censorship. Like nuclear-armed countries India, Pakistan and North Korea, Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in order to avoid inspections by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel to maintain nuclear ambiguity
Wed Apr 7, 4:38 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel plans to remain ambiguous over its nuclear policy, with US backing, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Wednesday.This policy of ambiguity constitutes one of the pillars of Israeli national security and the Americans consider it very important, Ayalon told army radio.There is no reason for the Americans to change their approach or for Israel to change its position, he said.
For the past four decades, Israeli governments have insisted the Jewish state will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East.This policy will continue and no pressure from any country will make it change, Ayalon said.But foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear weapons.Ayalon's comments came ahead of next week's nuclear security summit in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be among the leaders attending the international gathering.Israel has maintained its policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear programme since it inaugurated its Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert in 1965.In 1969 it reached an understanding with the United States under which Israeli leaders refrain from making any statement on their country's nuclear potential and do not carry out any nuclear test, while Washington refrains from exerting any pressure on the issue.
The programme is under military censorship.Like nuclear-armed countries India, Pakistan and North Korea, Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in order to avoid inspections by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel FM insists no settlement freeze in Jerusalem
Tue Apr 6, 3:31 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated on Tuesday that there would be no halt to construction in east Jerusalem despite international demands for a complete settlement freeze.We cannot freeze construction in Jerusalem, neither in the east nor the west, neither for Arabs nor for Jews, because it would jeopardise our sovereignty as a state in our own capital, he told public radio.Israel seized mostly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it shortly thereafter in a move not recognised by the international community or the Palestinians, who consider it the capital of their promised state.Lieberman, the tough-talking head of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, said international demands that Israel withdraw from the entire West Bank, including east Jerusalem, were unrealistic.The international community wants us to go back to the lines of June 1967, which would not end the conflict but move it closer to Tel Aviv, he said.The United States has been struggling for months to relaunch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians suspended after the launch of the Gaza war in December 2008.The Palestinians have refused to hold negotiations, direct or indirect, with Israel without a complete settlement freeze, including in east Jerusalem.
Israel in November imposed a 10-month halt to new settlement construction, but the move was rejected by the Palestinians as insufficient because it left out east Jerusalem, public buildings and projects already under way.In March the Palestinians, with Arab backing, reluctantly agreed to indirect US-brokered talks for a period of four months, but those plans collapsed days later when Israel said during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden that it would build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem.
Israeli inquiry criticizes soldiers in 4 Palestinians deaths
Mon Apr 5, 8:09 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Israeli military inquiry has criticised soldiers in the death of four Palestinians last month in clashes near the West Bank city of Nablus, an army spokesman said late Monday.In a first incident on March 20 in the village of Iraq Burin, a soldier fired rubber bullets at Palestinians after getting out of a vehicle during a riot, a statement from the spokesman said.Palestinians Osayed Qadus, 20, and 17-year-old Mohammed Qadus died of their wounds.The conclusions of the investigative team show that the rioters were apparently hit by live rounds, the statement said said.It added that the army could not verify the autopsy and could therefore not confirm that the rioters were in fact hit by live rounds.Israeli human rights association B'Tselem and medical sources said shortly after the clash that the two Palestinian youths had been killed by live rounds.According to the military investigators, the situation on the ground should have led to different actions than those taken by the force when it entered the village.
This operational incident is considered unnecessary, and its results severe,the inquiry concluded.In a second incident the following day in the village of Awarta, security forces were inspecting two Palestinians when one of the suspects began acting suspiciously and finally assaulted one of the soldiers with a bottle.
According to the inquiry, one of the soldiers felt his life was in danger and fired at the Palestinian.At that point, the second suspect, who was a few meters away, raised his hand holding a sharp object, causing the soldier to believe that he, too, was attempting to attack. As a result, the soldier fired and killed the Palestinian.
The inquiry found that the soldiers could have operated in a more professional manner and thus could have avoided the need to use fire although the first soldier operated correctly and in accordance with the rules of engagement.However,the second suspect was far enough so that the soldiers should have been able to disarm him without using live fire, the report said.Military authorities were currently considering taking steps against the commanding levels involved in the incident and the inquiries conclusions would be transmitted to the general staff, the statement added.The region around Nablus is the site of frequent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers.The deaths of the four Palestinians cames amid high tensions between the Palestinians and Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Fri Apr 9, 8:44 am ET
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – President Barack Obama's national security adviser says the administration discussing how to jump-start the lagging Mideast peace process, but doesn't have a new U.S. plan to offer.Speaking to reporters accompanying Obama back to Washington Friday from Prague, Gen. James Jones said, There's been no decision on that.There had been reports earlier this week that the administration was poised to offer a new U.S. peace proposal to the Israelis and Palestinians that would build on understandings reached at Camp David, Md., in 2000.Jones said the Mideast strategy came up during a meeting Obama recently had with a half-dozen former national security advisers. He said these are ongoing discussions and said that we don't intend to surprise anybody at any time.
Gaza power plant shuts down for lack of fuel
Fri Apr 9, 7:46 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – The sole power plant in the besieged Gaza Strip was shut down on Friday because fuel supplies ran out, with Palestinians and Israel blaming each other.The power plant shut down completely this morning as a result of a shortage of fuel caused by the Israeli siege, said Kanaan Obeid, assistant director of Gaza's electricity authority, referring to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since its 2007 takeover by the Islamist Hamas movement.But Israel said the shut-down was caused by a rift over funding among the Palestinians, and that the Hamas rival, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, had stopped fuel purchases.The industrial diesel needed to run the power plant -- which supplies about 25 percent of Gaza's energy -- comes through an Israeli-controlled fuel terminal, with Israel setting import quotas.The imports have declined since November when the European Commission transferred responsibility for buying the fuel to the Palestinian Authority, after its aid program expired.The Israeli army said the Palestinians had stopped buying fuel in recent days after Hamas failed to pay its share of the costs.There is no Israeli involvement; if they buy fuel we will let it in as we do on a daily basis, said Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli military liaison to Gaza.
Fuel supplies were particularly low in the past weeks, in part because there were no deliveries for two days over the recent Jewish Passover holiday.Only 550,000 litres (145,294 gallons) were delivered this week, and 721,660 litres (190,642 gallons) the week before that, compared with the 3.5 million litres (924,602) a week normally needed to operate the plant, according to the OXFAM aid group.Israel supplies about 70 percent of Gaza's power and Egypt provides five percent, with the remainder from the closed power plant.Since March 3, the facility had been producing only 30 megawatts of electricity, or 38 percent of its full capacity.This has led to blackouts of eight to 12 hours a day in parts of the impoverished territory, affecting the provision of essential services, including water supply, medical treatment and sewage disposal, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.The power plant has had to shut down on several occasions in the past because of fuel shortages.
Netanyahu pulls out of summit to avoid nuclear spotlight by Gavin Rabinowitz – Fri Apr 9, 5:39 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abrupt withdrawal on Thursday from next week's nuclear summit in Washington has underscored Israeli reluctance to expose its own nuclear programme to scrutiny.The invitation to attend the 47-nation summit on nuclear security hosted by US President Barack Obama posed a dilemma for Netanyahu.Israel desperately wanted to discuss the perceived threat from Iran's nuclear drive and the risk that Islamist extremists could get hold of an atomic bomb.
At the same time, it did not want the spotlight turned on its own alleged nuclear arsenal.From the start, everyone said attending the conference would put him in a trap, but Netanyahu insisted, the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper said on Friday.The prime minister wanted to go. He is very committed to the agenda set for the conference, how to maintain nuclear safety and prevent terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons,a senior Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu will instead send Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor.
Israel's commitment to halting nuclear proliferation in the region is evident, as is its uniquely aggressive approach -- bombing an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and reportedly attacking what many believe to have been a nascent Syrian reactor in 2007.
Israel has threatened to strike Iran to goad the international community towards imposing further sanctions on arch-foe Tehran. Israel and the West believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.Israel also fears the consequences of a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups that have vowed to destroy the Jewish state.This is a very, very serious issue that nuclear weapons, even crude nuclear weapons, would find their way into the hands of terrorists and the consequences could be very very dire for all of humanity, Netanyahu said on Wednesday.But in the end this commitment was overshadowed by fears that the conference would be hijacked to focus on Israel's nuclear programme.
Recently we learned some countries were going to use it as an excuse to bash Israel over the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Israeli official said, explaining the late-night decision to pull out.Like nuclear-armed countries India, Pakistan, and North Korea, Israel is not party to the nuclear NPT in order to avoid international inspections.Foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear warheads, but Israel has never publicly acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity since it inaugurated its Dimona nuclear reactor in 1965.Israel has consistently insisted it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.In 1969, Israeli leaders undertook not to make any statement on their country's nuclear potential or carry out any nuclear test, while Washington agreed to refrain from exerting pressure on the issue.
However, some believe that Netanyahu backed out of the trip not over nuclear concerns but because of Israel's recent rift with Washington. It is more connected to Israel's relations with the US. It was a mistake to go to Washington last time and they learned the lesson,said Efraim Inbar, the director of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies. Netanyahu returned from talks with Obama last month to a wave of derision in the Israeli press, with a showdown over Jewish settlement construction in east Jerusalem unresolved amid some of the most open hostility in US-Israeli relations in years. Netanyahu has not yet come up with a response to US demands aimed at paving the way for fresh peace talks with the Palestinians. Even before Netanyahu's announcement, the White House had said Obama had no plans to hold talks with the Israeli leader during the nuclear meeting in light of their recent tete-a-tete behind closed doors.Because Israel has not answered Obama's demands, why expose him to more pressure and have Obama treat him badly again? said Inbar.
Rival groups clash at Palestinian base in Lebanon By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 8, 3:35 pm ET
BEIRUT – Rival groups armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers battled for hours Thursday inside a Palestinian military camp in a remote part of eastern Lebanon, killing one person, security officials said.The Ein al-Bayda camp is one of several bases run by Palestinian militant groups in Lebanon. Most of them are located in the eastern Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria, whose government supports the groups.The bases, which are separate from the country's Palestinian refugee camps, are illegal. Lebanese authorities, however, have left them be for fear that any clash with the groups could be explosive.Thursday's fighting was between rival Palestinian groups and lasted three hours, Lebanese security officials said. The camp is run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.A senior military official said the fighting stopped after four militants — three Palestinians and a Lebanese man — handed themselves over to Lebanese troops. Lebanese forces were seen taking up positions near the base but did not intervene.
Police officials said a member of the militant group was killed in the fighting.The security and military officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Israel corruption trial for ex-PM suspended By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer - Thu Apr 8, 11:16 am ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli court suspended the corruption trial of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday, a day after a longtime confidant of the ex-premier was arrested in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal.Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem when the bribery allegedly took place. It is not clear whether he was implicated in that case because there is a partial gag order on it.The money allegedly changed hands to promote several real-estate projects, including a large development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws.On Wednesday, police arrested six men suspected of involvement in the case. Among them was Olmert's longtime confidant Uri Messer, who police suspect acted as a middleman, funneling bribes to a high-ranking city hall official who was not identified. The other suspects included a former city hall official and property developers.Messer was responsible for Olmert's campaign finances and the two were partners in a law office.Olmert is standing trial on separate corruption charges that include illegally accepting funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. Messer has been questioned numerous times over the charges.The formal charges against Olmert include fraud and breach of trust. Israel's Justice Ministry has not said what penalties Olmert could face, but the fraud charge alone could carry a prison term of up to five years.
The incidents in question date from his time as Jerusalem mayor and later as a Cabinet minister, but emerged after he was elected prime minister in 2006.American supporter, businessman Morris Talansky, said he had given Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in envelopes stuffed with bills. His testimony helped galvanize public opinion, and in late 2008 Olmert was forced to resign.The trial began last September. On Thursday, the Jerusalem district court agreed to suspend the case until May — a four-week delay — after Olmert's lawyers said he couldn't receive a fair trial in the current climate.At the hearing, Olmert's lawyer Eli Zohar demanded to stop this trial here and now. Another Olmert lawyer made a personal plea to the court to allow for more time to prepare.The judges read a statement saying they partially accepted the request to suspend the trial and that it would resume May 6.The 63-year-old Olmert has largely been out of the public eye since leaving politics.Olmert is currently abroad on business and is expected to return to Israel next week. His spokesman, Amir Dan, said he had no plans to cut short his trip.Zohar did not expect the ex-premier to be arrested when he returns. He told Israel's Channel 10 TV,I can't imagine a reason, logic or basis for something like that to occur.
France launches joint Industrial Park in Bethlehem
Thu Apr 8, 10:06 am ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – French Industry Minister Christian Estrosi laid the foundation stone on Thursday of a Franco-Palestinian industrial park in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.The project, Estrosi said, underlines France's commitment to the economic development of Palestine.National economy minister Hassan Abu Lidbeh represented the Palestinian side at the ceremony for the project aimed at creating between 500 and 1,000 jobs while boosting the private sector.The 20 hectare (almost 50 acre) industrial park south of Bethlehem has a target opening date of January 2011.France has set aside 10 million euros (13.3 million dollars) to connect the site to the water and electricity networks as well as to build access roads.The project forms part of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad's efforts for the establishment of a de facto state by August 2011.The Bethlehem project was launched in June 2008 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Israel, US have not settled east Jerusalem spat By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 7, 3:10 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister acknowledged Wednesday that his government has yet to iron out its differences with the U.S. over Israeli construction in east Jerusalem, a dispute that has stalled American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.Benjamin Netanyahu said both countries are still working to find a solution but staunchly defended his government's contentious settlement plans in the disputed holy city, calling them a long-standing Israeli policy.There are things we agree on, things we don't agree on, things we are closing the gap on, Netanyahu said of his talks with Washington. We are making an effort.The worst crisis in U.S.-Israeli ties in years erupted last month when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, drawing sharp condemnation from Washington and calls to cancel the construction.The announcement also derailed U.S.-mediated indirect peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians just before they were slated to start.The Obama administration has pressured Israel to halt construction in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state, and has also pushed for a broader building freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
In November, Netanyahu agreed to a 10-month freeze on most West Bank construction in order to get peace talks started, but refused to include east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 and considers part of its capital.Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed talk of a crisis with Washington and accused the media of blowing the disagreement out of proportion — despite the tension in U.S.-Israeli ties.What is being published doesn't fit what we are talking about, he said. Apparently the discussion between us is more serious and more to the point than what is generally believed.The Palestinians, meanwhile, are wary of Netanyahu and his hawkish coalition partners, and have refused to resume direct negotiations until Israel halts all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim those territories, along with the Gaza Strip, for their future state.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did, however, agree last month to return to the negotiating table for indirect talks, only to back off after Israel announced the new construction plans in east Jerusalem.Netanyahu, however, blamed the Palestinians for the delay in negotiations, saying the Palestinians simply climbed up the tree on the first day (of talks) and said, We're not coming to negotiations, we're setting all kinds of conditions.He also said his government has taken steps to boost conditions in the West Bank, removing dozens of military checkpoints and roadblocks in the territory to help revive the Palestinian economy. He also endorsed the concept of Palestinian independence for the first time last year, although with conditions the Palestinians say are unacceptable.
Netanyahu, who leads the hard-line Likud Party, took office in March 2009 on pledges he would take a different approach to peacemaking than his predecessor, Ehud Olmert. The more dovish Olmert has said he offered a broad pullout from the West Bank and some Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.Peace talks broke down in the waning days of Olmert's term, after Israel launched a bruising military offensive in the Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire coming from the territory.Also Wednesday, Israel expressed outrage after a report on Israeli TV showed that a street in the West Bank administrative center of Ramallah was named after Yehiya Ayyash, a master Hamas bombmaker blamed for attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis.
The Israeli statement called the decision "an outrageous glorification of terrorism by the Palestinian Authority.Ayyash was killed in 1996 in a blast assumed to have been set off by Israeli agents.
Israel PM doubts sanctions have teeth to dissuade Iran by Gavin Rabinowitz – Wed Apr 7, 12:37 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he doubts the sanctions being mulled against Iran would be tough enough to rein in the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.I doubt that such a programme will have teeth and the real ability to stop Iran's nuclear drive, he said at a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to US-led efforts to slap new UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear defiance.Netanyahu stressed that the only real effective sanctions would those which hit Iran's energy market, either the imports of refined fuel or the production of petroleum.Israel shares the US conviction that Iran, its arch-foe, is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies.The sole, if undeclared, nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, the Jewish state has repeatedly said it would not rule out a military option in dealing with Iran.Netanyahu made the comments ahead of next week's international summit on nuclear security summit in Washington, which he will attend.The US administration said in a policy document presented on Tuesday that it would only use atomic arms in extreme circumstances and would not attack non-nuclear states, although Iran and North Korea were exceptions.
The Nuclear Posture Review described nuclear terrorism as an immediate and extreme threat, with efforts to prevent the spread of atomic weapons given top priority.This is a very, very serious issue that nuclear weapons, even crude nuclear weapons, would find their way into the hands of terrorists and the consequences could be very very dire for all of humanity, Netanyahu said.Responding to a question, he deflected concerns the spotlight could be turned onto Israel's nuclear arsenal.I'm not concerned that anyone will think that Israel is a terrorist regime. Everybody knows a terrorist and rogue regime when they see one, and believe me they see quite a few around Israel.Israel has never publicly acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity since it inaugurated its Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert in 1965.This policy of ambiguity constitutes one of the pillars of Israeli national security and the Americans consider it very important, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told army radio.There is no reason for the Americans to change their approach or for Israel to change its position, he said.
For the past four decades, Israeli governments have insisted the Jewish state will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East.This policy will continue and no pressure from any country will make it change, Ayalon said.In a slight departure from the usual wording, Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said in an interview with CNN last year that to introduce meant to deploy.
Foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear weapons. In 1969, Israeli leaders undertook not to make any statement on their country's nuclear potential or carry out any nuclear test, while Washington agreed to refrain from exerting pressure on the issue. The Israeli programme is under military censorship. Like nuclear-armed countries India, Pakistan and North Korea, Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in order to avoid inspections by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel to maintain nuclear ambiguity
Wed Apr 7, 4:38 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel plans to remain ambiguous over its nuclear policy, with US backing, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Wednesday.This policy of ambiguity constitutes one of the pillars of Israeli national security and the Americans consider it very important, Ayalon told army radio.There is no reason for the Americans to change their approach or for Israel to change its position, he said.
For the past four decades, Israeli governments have insisted the Jewish state will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East.This policy will continue and no pressure from any country will make it change, Ayalon said.But foreign military experts believe Israel has an arsenal of several hundred nuclear weapons.Ayalon's comments came ahead of next week's nuclear security summit in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be among the leaders attending the international gathering.Israel has maintained its policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear programme since it inaugurated its Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert in 1965.In 1969 it reached an understanding with the United States under which Israeli leaders refrain from making any statement on their country's nuclear potential and do not carry out any nuclear test, while Washington refrains from exerting any pressure on the issue.
The programme is under military censorship.Like nuclear-armed countries India, Pakistan and North Korea, Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in order to avoid inspections by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel FM insists no settlement freeze in Jerusalem
Tue Apr 6, 3:31 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated on Tuesday that there would be no halt to construction in east Jerusalem despite international demands for a complete settlement freeze.We cannot freeze construction in Jerusalem, neither in the east nor the west, neither for Arabs nor for Jews, because it would jeopardise our sovereignty as a state in our own capital, he told public radio.Israel seized mostly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it shortly thereafter in a move not recognised by the international community or the Palestinians, who consider it the capital of their promised state.Lieberman, the tough-talking head of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, said international demands that Israel withdraw from the entire West Bank, including east Jerusalem, were unrealistic.The international community wants us to go back to the lines of June 1967, which would not end the conflict but move it closer to Tel Aviv, he said.The United States has been struggling for months to relaunch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians suspended after the launch of the Gaza war in December 2008.The Palestinians have refused to hold negotiations, direct or indirect, with Israel without a complete settlement freeze, including in east Jerusalem.
Israel in November imposed a 10-month halt to new settlement construction, but the move was rejected by the Palestinians as insufficient because it left out east Jerusalem, public buildings and projects already under way.In March the Palestinians, with Arab backing, reluctantly agreed to indirect US-brokered talks for a period of four months, but those plans collapsed days later when Israel said during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden that it would build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem.
Israeli inquiry criticizes soldiers in 4 Palestinians deaths
Mon Apr 5, 8:09 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Israeli military inquiry has criticised soldiers in the death of four Palestinians last month in clashes near the West Bank city of Nablus, an army spokesman said late Monday.In a first incident on March 20 in the village of Iraq Burin, a soldier fired rubber bullets at Palestinians after getting out of a vehicle during a riot, a statement from the spokesman said.Palestinians Osayed Qadus, 20, and 17-year-old Mohammed Qadus died of their wounds.The conclusions of the investigative team show that the rioters were apparently hit by live rounds, the statement said said.It added that the army could not verify the autopsy and could therefore not confirm that the rioters were in fact hit by live rounds.Israeli human rights association B'Tselem and medical sources said shortly after the clash that the two Palestinian youths had been killed by live rounds.According to the military investigators, the situation on the ground should have led to different actions than those taken by the force when it entered the village.
This operational incident is considered unnecessary, and its results severe,the inquiry concluded.In a second incident the following day in the village of Awarta, security forces were inspecting two Palestinians when one of the suspects began acting suspiciously and finally assaulted one of the soldiers with a bottle.
According to the inquiry, one of the soldiers felt his life was in danger and fired at the Palestinian.At that point, the second suspect, who was a few meters away, raised his hand holding a sharp object, causing the soldier to believe that he, too, was attempting to attack. As a result, the soldier fired and killed the Palestinian.
The inquiry found that the soldiers could have operated in a more professional manner and thus could have avoided the need to use fire although the first soldier operated correctly and in accordance with the rules of engagement.However,the second suspect was far enough so that the soldiers should have been able to disarm him without using live fire, the report said.Military authorities were currently considering taking steps against the commanding levels involved in the incident and the inquiries conclusions would be transmitted to the general staff, the statement added.The region around Nablus is the site of frequent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers.The deaths of the four Palestinians cames amid high tensions between the Palestinians and Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
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