U.N. to deliver Gaza cargo on ships seized by Israel By Patrick Worsnip – 5:30 PM JUNE 15,10
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations has agreed to deliver to Gaza cargo aboard three aid ships seized by Israel on May 31 and has won the consent of Israel and the cargo's Turkish owners to do so, a U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.Israel's navy took control of a six-ship convoy trying to run the Jewish state's blockade of Gaza and forced it to dock in Israeli ports. Nine people were killed aboard one vessel, the Turkish-registered Mavi Mara, provoking an international outcry. Israel said its commandos acted in self-defense.U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry told the Security Council the United Nations was ready to take responsibility for delivery of the aid cargo on an exceptional basis.The world body has obtained the consent of the cargo owners of the three Turkish-registered vessels to take possession of and responsibility for the entire cargo and ensure its timely distribution in Gaza for humanitarian purposes as determined by the United Nations, Serry said.The government of Israel has agreed to release the entire cargo to the United Nations in Gaza, again on the understanding that it is for the United Nations to determine its appropriate humanitarian use in Gaza,he added.Serry said he had reason to believe that the de facto authorities in Gaza -- a reference to the Hamas militant group that controls the Palestinian territory -- would allow the United Nations to determine where the aid went.Israel has blockaded the territory since Hamas took it over three years ago, allowing in only what it considers essential goods. An Israeli cabinet minister said on Tuesday that the Jewish state is examining ways to ease the blockade.
SOON AS POSSIBLE
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees runs an extensive aid and education operation in Gaza.Serry, who was making a regular monthly report to the Security Council on the Middle East, said the United Nations would begin the distribution effort as soon as possible.He said the United Nations had not so far been approached about the cargo aboard other diverted aid ships, including the Rachel Corrie, boarded by the Israeli navy on June 5 and sailed to the port of Ashdod, but would try to help if it was.Serry also made clear that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal for a full international inquiry into the May 31 storming of the aid flotilla was in addition to the investigation Israel itself plans to carry out.Israel's cabinet on Monday approved the Israeli inquiry, whose panel will include two foreign observers.The United Nations said on Monday the Israeli probe could fit with Ban's proposal, which it said remained on the table.The two (inquiries) combined would fully meet the international community's expectation for a credible and impartial investigation,Serry said. The two approaches are complementary.Diplomats say Ban wants a neutral inquiry panel led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and including Israeli and Turkish representatives.Serry said that during a closed-door discussion in the Security Council on Tuesday,I think there was support expressed for what the secretary-general tries to do.
Israel has failed evacuated Gaza settlers: study by Gavin Rabinowitz – JUNE 15,10
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has failed the 8,000 Jewish settlers who were pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, with most still languishing in caravan parks five years on, a report said on Tuesday.The state of Israel failed in its treatment of the evacuees,said the 488-page report which looked at how the government dealt with those evacuated from Gaza and from four small settlements in the northern West Bank under the 2005 disengagement plan.In the wake of the pullout, a state commission of inquiry was set up to examine how the settlers have fared since, the conclusions of which were presented to the government on Tuesday.The commission, chaired by retired supreme court judge Eliyahu Matza, found that most of the evacuees had not been properly resettled.The vast majority are still living in temporary caravan parks, the building of most of the permanent homes has not even begun,the report said.The unemployment rate among the evacuees is double that of the general population, the economic situation among some of the evacuees is harsh, with many in need of assistance from welfare services.Israel's handling of the evacuees has been widely seen as a test case for a potentially much larger withdrawal from the West Bank under any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
After receiving the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the government would work to resolve the problems. Our aim is to ensure that every one of the evacuees is living in permanent housing; that's our commitment as a government.The Yesha Council, which represents the Jewish settlers, slammed the report, saying the commission had failed to examine the effects of the withdrawal on the political situation in the region.The broader issues of how policies of disengagement from Israeli territory are fundamentally harmful to our long-term security interests have never been adequately addressed,council chairman Naftali Bennett said in a statement.Two years after the pullout, Gaza was forcibly taken over by the radical Hamas movement which has since fired thousands of rockets into southern Israel. That prompted the Jewish state to wage a devastating 22-day war on the territory at the end of 2008, in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.There is no reason to believe that disengaging from territory under Israeli sovereignty will ever lead to a peaceful resolution with our neighbours. This should be the ultimate conclusion of any real commission of inquiry,Bennett said.
Lebanese women to send aid ship to Gaza: organisers
JUNE 15,10
BEIRUT (AFP) – An aid ship transporting medical supplies to Gaza is to leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women activists on board, one of the organisers told AFP on Tuesday.We are all independent women who believe in breaking the (Israeli) siege on Gaza,said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.But Israel warned that it will not allow the boat to pass or for Lebanon's Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah to use it to transport arms to the Gaza Strip.We will not let Iran or an organisation like Hezbollah bring weapons and rockets into Gaza which could kill Israelis,a senior Israeli government source told AFP, insisting the boat would not be allowed to reach Gaza.And a senior defence official, quoted by Israel's army radio, said Israel would hold the Lebanese government accountable if Hezbollah was involved in the aid shipment.Hajj, meanwhile, stressed that the women were not affiliated with Hezbollah or any other political organisation.This has nothing to do with Hezbollah even though it is an honour for us to be supporters of the resistance,said Hajj, whose husband Ali Hajj was one of four generals detained for nearly four years in connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.Ali Hajj, who was domestic security chief, was released from prison in April 2009 after a UN-backed tribunal said there was insufficient evidence against the generals.
Hajj's wife said so far 50 women -- Muslim, Christian and secular -- had signed up for the trip on board the cargo ship Mariam.Among them were 30 Lebanese and 20 foreigners, including several European nationals.She said all the logistics for the trip had been handled by the Free Palestine Movement, a non-governmental organisation.We are going there because it is our duty, she said.The ship will be leaving very soon,she added, without giving an exact date.Preparations are also underway by other pro-Palestinian activists to send an aid ship carrying educational supplies and journalists from Lebanon to Gaza.The planned trips come following Israel's raid on May 31 on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead and sparked international outrage.Last year, a Lebanese freighter which tried to deliver aid to Gaza in defiance of the blockade was intercepted at sea by the Israeli navy.
Hamas TV forced to halt broadcasts to Europe By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 15, 3:08 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A France-based satellite provider is halting broadcasts of the Hamas TV channel to Europe and parts of the Arab world because of concerns that it spreads incitement, a station official said Tuesday.The decision will deprive Gaza-based al-Aqsa TV of most of its viewers, said the channel's head, Hazem Sharawy.
The Hamas station — best known for its children's programs glorifying violence against Israel — is the centerpiece of a growing media operation of Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers. Losing the satellite provider will hamper the group's attempts to spread its message and raise funds abroad.The decision to cut off the Hamas station came six years after a similar move by France and the U.S. against al-Manar, the channel of Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.In Paris, Eutelsat spokeswoman Vanessa O'Connor said that last week the French broadcasting regulator CSA ordered it to stop beaming the Hamas channel into Europe by June 26. Al-Aqsa TV is part of a package of channels transmitted by Bahrain-based satellite operator Noorsat, which passes them in a single signal to Eutelsat, O'Connor said.Eutelsat has passed on the CSA's order to stop transmitting al-Aqsa TV to Noorsat. O'Connor said it was up to Noorsat to block the al-Aqsa TV signal. She would not comment on what would happen if Noorsat doesn't comply with the CSA order by the June 26 deadline.Sharawy said Noorsat called late Monday, telling al-Aqsa TV that its programs incite to hatred.The al-Aqsa chief alleged that the decision was politically motivated and meant to silence criticism of Israel. The enemy (Israel) can kill us, destroy our lands and blockade us. But we aren't allowed to expose them,Sharawy charged.The Hamas channel immediately flipped into campaign mode Monday. The top left hand corner of the channel showed a countdown and read time remaining for broadcast.The satellite broadcasts, which reach Europe, North Africa and parts of the Gulf, are expected to be halted Thursday, Sharawy said. The channel is not beamed to the U.S.Al-Aqsa's second satellite provider only reaches viewers in the Middle East, he said. Viewers can also still watch the station on the Internet.
Sharawy said he did not know how many viewers the station had, but that viewer phone calls and text messages indicate the bulk are from outside Gaza. He said the station's coverage during Israel's three-week war with Hamas in Gaza that ended in January 2009 dramatically boosted al-Aqsa TV's popularity.During the war, the station's building was bombed and employees broadcast from a secret location.In the past, Israel and others have repeatedly accused al-Aqsa TV of inciting against Israel, especially in children's programs.One of its most criticized programs, Tomorrow's Pioneers, once featured a high-pitched Mickey Mouse rip-off called Farfour who encouraged children to fight against the occupiers of Muslim countries, while taking calls from kids who were praised for singing about fighting Israel.
After a wave of criticism, the station killed off Farfour with mock-Israeli soldiers beating him to death. But it has not toned down the message of its children's programs.The station is popular with conservative Muslims in Gaza for its Islamic-based programming. Women wear headscarves and sometimes face veils on morning talk shows. Music videos show girls modestly dressed in headscarves singing, as well as gunslinging militants fighting Israel and chanting for revenge. The channel's lengthy interview programs provide the Hamas viewpoint to the world.
Hamas sees media outreach as a vital part of the movement's success.
It has another television channel that broadcasts from Lebanon, several affiliated Web sites, a radio station, a glossy magazine for its military wing and two newspapers printed in Gaza. The militant group has also produced a movie glorifying one their militants and created animations boasting about their capture of an Israeli soldier held for the last four years in Gaza. Six years ago, Hezbollah's al-Manar television was also limited. At the time, France's highest administrative body banned satellite broadcasts by the Lebanese television station. Later, the U.S. State Department placed the Hezbollah station on its list of terror organizations for broadcasting incitement.Additional reporting by Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid in Ramallah, West Bank and Greg Keller in Paris.
Hamas buying land in Jerusalem, says Israel
Tue Jun 15, 11:15 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Islamist Hamas movement is buying land in Jerusalem as Palestinian groups jockey for influence in the disputed Holy City, the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Tuesday.Hamas is working through Dawas (Islamic missionary and charity groups) to buy land within the municipal borders of the city,Yuval Diskin told the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, according to officials who attended the closed door meeting.Jerusalem, holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, is one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East peace process and has been a frequent flashpoint between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem the capital of their promised state. Israel, which captured it in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community, lays claim to the entire city as its eternal, indivisible capital.But Diskin said various Palestinian groups were also competing with each other for influence in Jerusalem, home to the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site.The main forces operating in Jerusalem are Hamas, Fatah and the Islamic Movement, he said, referring to Fatah, the secular party of Western-backed Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, and an Arab-Israeli Islamist group.They are competing for influence and presence in the field, he said.Fatah and Hamas have remained deeply divided since the Islamists seized control of Gaza in June 2007 during a week of bloody street clashes, confining Abbas's authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Israel has worked in recent years to prevent Palestinian political groups from operating in the city, shutting down buildings like Orient House, the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in east Jerusalem.
Most of the recent friction in the city, including clashes, has been linked to the construction of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.Diskin said Palestinian groups did not appear interested in expanding the conflict at the moment.All the groups acting in east Jerusalem, including the (Arab) residents, are not interested at this stage in a full scale conflict in Jerusalem,he said.
Abbas urges Hamas to sign reconciliation deal
Tue Jun 15, 8:47 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday again urged the Islamist Hamas movement to sign an Egyptian-drafted reconciliation document to pave the way for a transitional government.Abbas stressed the importance of Hamas signing the Egyptian reconciliation document,in remarks carried by Egypt's official MENA news agency, after talks with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.After that we can discuss all the demands of Hamas and other parties during the implementation of the document, Abbas said.If the paper is signed, we do not mind forming a transitional government or a government of technocrats or independents to oversee several issues, most notably receiving reconstruction funds, he said, referring to the billions of dollars pledged to rebuild Gaza following the December 2008-January 2009 war.Abbas said last week that he would send a delegation to the Gaza Strip to seek reconciliation with Hamas, following a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.His secular Fatah party and Hamas have remained deeply divided since the Islamists violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007 during a week of bloody street clashes, confining Abbas's authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Since then Egypt has made several attempts to reconcile the two main Palestinian movements, but the last round of talks ended in October 2009 when Hamas refused to sign the Egyptian document after it was inked by Fatah.Hamas has said it will only sign the document with certain amendments, while Egypt and Fatah have refused to reopen the negotiations.
Abbas described as a massacre the May 31 Israeli raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza that left nine Turkish activists dead and called for more aid convoys to pressure the Jewish state into scrapping its blockade.Israel has sealed Gaza off from all but limited humanitarian aid since the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas and other militants in June 2006 and tightened the restrictions after the Islamist takeover a year later.In the wake of the flotilla raid, Egypt which had also cut off the territory indefinitely opened its Rafah border post, the only gateway to Gaza that bypasses Israel.But it still aims to complete an underground barrier on its border with the Gaza Strip by the end of the summer,in a bid to stop the smuggling of goods and weapons into Gaza via a network of underground tunnels.
Gaza militants have 5,000 rockets, says Israel
Tue Jun 15, 8:27 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip have some 5,000 rockets, some of them with a range of up to 40 kilometres (25 miles), the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Tuesday.In the Gaza Strip, the terrorist organisations continue to arm themselves, both manufacturing and smuggling (rockets),Yuval Diskin told the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, officials at the closed door meeting said.Hamas and Islamic Jihad together have some 5,000 rockets with ranges up to 40 kilometres, he said, pointing out that 4,000 of them belonged to Gaza's Hamas rulers.Diskin warned that Hamas also had a few rockets with a greater range that could hit central Israel.In December 2008, the Jewish state launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip to stop almost-daily rocket fire on southern Israel in a 22-day operation that left around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.Diskin also spoke about the naval blockade on Gaza, which Israel imposed in 2006 in a bid to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the impoverished Strip.In recent weeks, Israel has come under huge pressure to lift or ease the blockade to allow in shipments of everyday goods for Gaza's population of 1.5 million.One of the ideas that has been bandied about is the possibility of allowing goods in to a port in Gaza, which would be thoroughly vetted by international forces before being released.
But Diskin warned that allowing Gaza to operate a port would be a huge security breach and a dangerous development for Israel,even if the ships were inspected by international forces before unloading. He did not elaborate.Global pressure over the siege has intensified dramatically since Israeli forces killed nine Turkish activists during a May 31 raid on a fleet of ships carrying aid which was trying to run the naval blockade.
Israeli police officer killed in shooting attack
Mon Jun 14, 3:51 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle in the West Bank on Monday, killing an Israeli police officer and wounding two others, police said, in a rare flare-up of violence after months of calm.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incident occurred near Hebron, a volatile city in the southern West Bank where hardline Jewish settlers live in fortified enclaves amid tens of thousands of Palestinians.There was no claim of responsibility. But Rosenfeld said police were treating the incident as an attack by Palestinian militants, and were searching the area for suspects.Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the attack and said his government would work to prevent such incidents.Experience has shown that violence harms the Palestinian national cause,he said in a statement.Israeli vehicles had been frequently targeted by Palestinian militants in West Bank drive-by shooting attacks, but such attacks have diminished considerably in recent years.
Thanks to the relative calm and increased security coordination with the Palestinians, Israel has eased many travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.The last fatal West Bank shooting attack took place in December, when a 40-year-old rabbi was shot in the head. In March 2009, two police officers were killed in a shooting attack. Their killers have never been apprehended.
Israel ready to ease Gaza blockade: Blair
Mon Jun 14, 9:05 am ET
LUXEMBOURG (AFP) – Israel has agreed in principle to greatly ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip, allowing in everyday goods while ensuring arms and military material stay out, Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Monday.The move, which according to EU officials could take weeks or months to implement, follows strong international pressure in the wake of a deadly Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla heading for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. In the conversations I've had with the Israeli prime minister there is now, in principle, agreement for Israel to allow goods in, Blair told reporters after talks in Luxembourg with EU foreign ministers.They will maintain the blockade with respect to arms and combat material but they are prepared to let in goods that are necessary for people's ordinary lives, he added.European diplomats said Israel was considering opening one or both of the Karni and Kerem Shalom land crossings for deliveries, and that the goods may be vetted by the UN, with the EU prepared to help fund the new system. Blair explained that Israel would scrap its list of items allowed to enter Gaza and would instead draw up a list of proscribed items.This is a significant change, the former British prime minister said.I believe and hope that we can, over this next period of days, reach a situation where we get a policy in respect of Gaza that is right for Israel's security (and) is humane to the people in Gaza.Last week an Israeli rights group said the military is still preventing basic goods like vinegar, coriander and toys from entering Gaza as part of the crippling embargo on the Hamas-run territory.
The report by the Gisha Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement marking three years since closures were tightened said Israel permits just 97 different items to enter, as compared to more than 4,000 that entered before June 2007.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he was engaged in discussions on ways to meet Gaza's humanitarian needs while preventing the entry of arms into the Hamas-run coastal strip.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, writing in international media on Monday, said the EU ministers shall examine a practical plan to allow the people of Gaza to bring in what they need.The comments came after Israel announced it had set up an independent public commission to investigate the raid on the aid flotilla on May 31 in which nine Turkish activists were killed.The committee, which would include two foreign observers, was established to conduct an internal investigation into the legal aspects of the operation.Ashton, arriving for the EU ministerial talks, said it was very important to have a credible investigation, into the deadly incident.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the announcement of an investigation was an important step forward and welcomed the involvement of Northern Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble.The other is Ken Watkin, a former judge advocate general of the Canadian armed forces.Clearly it is very important that it is a truly independent enquiry and a thorough investigation that the international community can respect,he added. In a joint statement, the EU ministers deeply regretted the loss of life aboard the aid flotilla and called for an immediate, full and impartial inquiry into these events and the circumstances surrounding them, including credible international participation. The EU statement called the situation in Gaza unsustainable,with the 27 foreign ministers calling for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.
Iranian aid ships head for Gaza By Robin Pomeroy – Mon Jun 14, 8:35 am ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran is sending aid ships to blockaded Gaza, state radio said on Monday -- a move likely to be considered provocative by Israel which accuses Tehran of arming the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers, Hamas.One ship left port on Sunday and another will depart by Friday, loaded with food, construction material and toys, the report said. Until the end of (Israel's) Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid, said an official at Iran's Society for the Defense of the Palestinian Nation.Iran has sent aid to the coastal territory in the past via Egypt. It was not immediately clear if the latest shipments would do the same, or try to dock in Gaza itself.In January 2009, an Israeli warship approached an Iranian aid boat heading for the Mediterranean territory and told it to leave the area, 70 km (45 miles) from Gaza. The ship went on to Egypt, which borders Gaza, but was refused permission to unload.Iran lodged a protest over the issue with Egypt, which has a peace agreement with the Jewish state.Israel has long suspected Iran of supplying weapons to Hamas. Tehran says it only provides moral support to the group.The deputy head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards played down reports that the Guards would provide a military escort to aid ships heading to Gaza -- something which would be sure to escalate tensions in the region.Such a thing is not on our agenda, Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
ENEMIES
The Islamic state has refused to recognize Israel since its 1979 revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah, and some Iranian leaders have called for the demise of the Jewish state.In another sign of reluctance to risk high-level confrontation with Israel, a delegation of parliamentarians who plan to travel to Gaza will do so via Egypt, rather than on any aid ships headed directly to the enclave.Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security committee, said Egyptian authorities were positive about the lawmaker's proposed visit, but had yet to issue formal consent.Up to a quarter of Iran's 291 lawmakers have expressed their wish to go to Gaza, Iranian media reported.The actions are in response to Israel's boarding of a flotilla of Turkish aid ships heading to Gaza on May 31 in which troops killed nine pro-Palestinian activists after they were set upon by some passengers with metal rods and knives.An official of the Iranian Red Crescent Society's youth organization said some 100,000 Iranians had volunteered as potential crew for aid ships, daily newspaper Iran reported.In the past, similar numbers have registered as potential fighters for any conflict with Israel.Israel is the most vocal opponent of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme, which it fears is aimed at developing atomic bombs -- something it sees as a threat to its survival.Iran says its nuclear programme is meant solely to yield electricity or isotopes for medicine and agriculture. It accuses the West of hypocrisy for taking little action against the nuclear arsenal which many believe Israel to have.(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Israel ready to ease entry of goods into Gaza: EU
Mon Jun 14, 7:50 am ET
LUXEMBOURG (AFP) – EU foreign ministers sought on Monday to push Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, two weeks after a deadly commando attack on an aid flotilla, with diplomats saying the pressure is working.Israel is showing willingness to significantly ease the blockade following international concern over the attack on the high seas two weeks ago which left nine Turkish activists dead, one European diplomat said.Israel appears ready in weeks or months to ease the entry of goods into the blockaded Gaza Strip via one or two land crossings, the diplomat added on the margins of a meeting of the foreign ministers in Luxembourg. The indications we are getting from Israel is that they are willing to go from a positive to a negative list,the diplomat said, referring to a change from a list of allowed items to a list of banned items, with many more previously banned ordinary goods allowed to go through.Israel had indicated that one or both of the Karni and Kerem Shalom crossings could be used for the deliveries.Another European diplomat said the crossings may be monitored by the United Nations, not by providing security but to validate the goods going in.The EU role could be "to offer support through financial aid,he added.
Last week an Israeli rights group said the military is still preventing basic goods like vinegar, coriander and toys from entering Gaza as part of the crippling embargo on the Hamas-run territory.The report by the Gisha Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement marking three years since closures were tightened said Israel permits just 97 different items to enter, as compared to more than 4,000 that entered before June 2007.Middle East envoy Tony Blair was in Luxembourg, to meet with the EU foreign ministers, and was to announce details of the Israeli proposals.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he was engaged in discussions on ways to meet Gaza's humanitarian needs while preventing the entry of arms into the Hamas-run coastal strip.Former British premier Blair swiftly welcomed Netanyahu's comments, saying they made a clear distinction between Israel's security concerns and the need to let Gazans live a normal life.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, writing in international media on Wednesday, said the EU officials shall examine a practical plan to allow the people of Gaza to bring in what they need.The comments came after Israel announced it had set up an independent public commission to investigate the raid on the aid flotilla in which nine Turkish activists were killed.The committee, which would include two foreign observers, was established to conduct an internal investigation into the legal aspects of the operation.Ashton, arriving for the EU ministerial talks, said it was very important to have a credible investigation, into the deadly incident.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the announcement of an investigation was an important step forward and welcomed the involvement of Northern Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble.The other is Ken Watkin, a former judge advocate general of the Canadian armed forces. Clearly it is very important that it is a truly independent enquiry and a thorough investigation that the international community can respect,he added. In a draft statement, the EU ministers deeply regret the loss of life aboard the aid flotilla and call for an immediate, full and impartial inquiry into these events and the circumstances surrounding them,including credible international participation.The statement, seen by AFP but yet to be approved by the ministers, calls the situation in Gaza unsustainable.They were set to call for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.
Parents of captured Israeli soldier step up campaign
Mon Jun 14, 7:10 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The parents of an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip for nearly four years vowed Monday to step up their campaign to pressure the Israeli government to secure his release.Noam Shalit, the father of Gilad Shalit, said the family would hold a protest march from their home in northern Israel to the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem later this month to mark the anniversary of his capture.We can't wait any longer. We promise we will only return home with Gilad, Noam Shalit said at a news conference.Gilad Shalit, now 23, was captured on June 25, 2006 by Hamas and two smaller armed groups in a deadly cross-border raid, and is believed to be held in a secret location somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.The announcement from Noam Shalit marked a change of tone from the family, who until now have refrained from overtly criticising the government's failure to bring their son home.He accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his predecessor of failing to make the tough decisions needed to secure a prisoner exchange.Four years, two prime ministers, two defence ministers, two chiefs of staff have failed, failed to bring back Gilad, he said.Everyone hopes that the one who comes after him will have to deal with it.
Israel has balked at Hamas demands for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including several political leaders and top militants responsible for scores of deadly attacks, in exchange for Shalit.Israel is reportedly prepared to release about 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, who also holds French citizenship.But negotiations for a possible swap hit a dead end in December, when Israel presented an offer through a German mediator to which Hamas has yet to officially respond. Each side has blamed the other over the stalled talks.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
ARAB LEAGUE CHIEF VISITS GAZA
Arab League chief visits Gaza Strip By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Sun Jun 13, 2:46 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Arab League chief Amr Moussa visited the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the highest Arab official to do so since its seizure by Hamas Islamists in 2007, and called for an end to Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.Moussa crossed into the enclave from Egypt, two weeks after Israel's deadly interception of a Gaza aid flotilla.This blockade...must be lifted and must be broken and the Arab League decision is very clear in this regard, Moussa said.Egypt had kept its Gaza border largely closed, bolstering Israel's embargo, since Hamas, which won a 2006 election, seized sole control of the Gaza Strip in a war with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction three years ago.But Cairo reopened its Rafah crossing with the enclave after Israeli marines killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in a May 31 raid on a Turkish-flagged aid vessel where passengers with metal rods and knives confronted the boarding party.Palestinian and Arab League officials said Moussa's visit was also aimed at giving momentum to reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah that Egypt has sponsored but which have failed to bridge deep mistrust between the two rivals.In an apparent bid to avoid any impression of Arab League recognition of Hamas's Gaza takeover, Moussa met Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas government, in his home rather than in his office.We see this visit as a practical step along the way toward breaking the siege, Haniyeh, with Moussa at his side, told reporters after their hour-long meeting.But Senior Fatah leader Ashraf Goma said Moussa did not hear anything new from the various political factions and, therefore, the visit showed the gap remained wide and reconciliation was yet a far reaching goal.Goma said Hamas's belief it could gain politically from the aftermath of the deadly Israeli raid on the Flotilla made it less willing to reconcile.
BLOCKADE DISCUSSIONS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks on Friday with Middle East envoy Tony Blair on the blockade.Echoing an Israeli statement after that meeting, Netanyahu told reporters on Sunday Israel would continue discussions with the international community to prevent weapons and military equipment from reaching Gaza and to allow in humanitarian aid, an apparent signal it was open to revising blockade procedures.Amid an international outcry over the bloodshed in the flotilla raid, Israel has faced mounting pressure to ease or lift a blockade critics have described as collective punishment.Speaking at a news conference as he concluded a day-long visit, Moussa voiced satire at Israel's trivial ease up of the blockade.
Taking Mayonnaise and Tomatoe salad off the ban list is not a relaxation of the siege. It is a trivial thing that makes someone laughs, Moussa said.Meeting on Sunday with members of his Likud party, Netanyahu said a retired Israeli Supreme Court justice, Jacob Turkel, would head a committee that Israel intends to establish to investigate the raid on the flotilla, officials said.Pending the outcome of consultations with the United States, Israel has not made any formal announcement of the composition of the committee, which Israeli officials said would likely include foreign observers. Washington has backed a U.N. Security Council statement that called for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation, conforming to international standards into the Israeli naval interception. The White House has said it is open to different ways of ensuring the credibility of an Israeli-led investigation, including international participation.Israel has rejected any external, international board of inquiry, saying it had a right to launch a probe on its own.(Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
Israel's Barak calls off Paris visit amid threats
Sun Jun 13, 5:08 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's defense minister is canceling a planned visit to Paris amid threats by pro-Palestinian groups to have him arrested there.Ehud Barak was to dedicate a new Israeli booth at the Eurosatory arms fair in Paris, which opens this week. But his office announced Sunday that he would stay home while Israel forms a committee to investigate its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.Pro-Palestinian activists had threatened to try to have charges brought against him for his role in the raid, which killed nine Turkish activists at sea.Activists have previously tried to arrest Barak and other Israeli officials in Europe under the principle of universal jurisdiction.That principle allows the prosecution of suspected war criminals in countries that have no direct connection with the events.
EU presidency urges strong, joint Gaza position
Sat Jun 12, 11:32 am ET
MADRID (AFP) – Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency, called Saturday for a strong, joint EU position on Gaza and Israel's blockade.We want to forge a strong, joint EU position towards what happened in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in that area, he said after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.Zapatero said his foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, would propose to his EU colleagues at a meeting on Monday that the 27-nation bloc clearly declare itself in favour of ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip.Moratinos said in a television interview this week that the ministers would discuss a plan for lifting the blockade in order to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and people.A draft text prepared for the ministers meeting in Luxembourg said Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza is unacceptable and counterproductive, including from the point or view of Israel's security.The ministers are to take into account the security concerns of Israel, which fears that arms and other military materials could be smuggled in with legitimate aid.So the EU will call for the opening of borders under a new mechanism with a list of prohibited goods and strict control over the destination of imported and exported merchandise, according to the text.
Abbas said that he is "satisfied with the EU's role and political position" on Gaza.
The Palestinian leader characterised his talks this week in Washington with US President Barack Obama as constructive, which focused on US-facilitated indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.Zapatero said we hope... that with the efforts of President Obama we will be able within a reasonable time to move to direct dialogue and negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israeli towns.
Egypt activists denied Gaza entry: official
Sat Jun 12, 11:28 am ET
RAFAH, Egypt (AFP) – Egypt banned hundreds of activists from Gaza, igniting protests at the Rafah border that is the only non-Israeli entry into the Palestinian enclave, a security official said on Saturday.Hundreds of Egyptian activists headed to the Rafah border crossing on Friday but were denied entry into the Gaza Strip, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.They spent the night in front of the crossing asking to be let in and continued protesting on Saturday, the official said.
Carrying Palestinian flags, they chanted Palestine is Arab,Open the border,and Lift the blockade, witnesses told AFP.The impoverished enclave of 1.5 million people has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.By Saturday afternoon, most of the activists had started making their way back to Cairo, the official said.Authorities also denied entry to two trucks carrying humanitarian aid sent by the people of the Egyptian province of Daqahliya.Authorities forced the truck drivers to head back to the (north Sinai) town of El-Arish saying that the Rafah crossing was only for the passage of people not goods, one of the organisers, MP Mohsen Radi, said.Amid the international outcry over an Israeli commando operation against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which killed nine Turkish activists in international waters on June 1, Egypt announced it was opening its Rafah border crossing.The surprise move has allowed some additional aid into Gaza but only some Palestinians, such as those seeking treatment or study abroad, are permitted to cross.The Egyptian opposition has long campaigned against the government's refusal to fully open the Gaza border, even at the height of the deadly offensive which Israel launched against the territory in December 2008.Opposition parties have accused the authorities of being complicit in the Israeli blockade through their construction of an underground barrier intended to prevent smugglers tunnelling under the border.
Abbas: Hope eroding for two-state Mideast solution
Fri Jun 11, 12:25 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed concern on Thursday that hope was waning for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
The concept of a Palestinian state living alongside Israel in peace and security I fear is beginning to erode, Abbas told an audience at the Brookings Institution a day after meeting President Barack Obama.The world is starting not to believe, to distrust, that we are able to reach this solution, Abbas said.Slogans were appearing in the West Bank calling for a single-state solution, something both sides would reject. This is something we do not accept and Israel also does not accept, he said.
Abbas was visiting Washington amid an international backlash against Israel over the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian activists killed when Israeli troops boarded a Turkish aid ship headed toward the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been due to visit Obama on June 1, the day after the incident, but scrapped his trip due to the crisis. He is working to reschedule a White House meeting by the end of the month, U.S. and Israeli officials said.Abbas told the think tank's audience he had urged Obama to support an international investigation of the ship raid. He said they also discussed the issue of when to move from proximity talks mediated by U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell to direct negotiations.The Palestinian leader said he was prepared to go to direct talks with Netanyahu if the two sides could find common ground on two key points.We would like to reach a solution on the two initial issues, meaning the borders and the security, Abbas said.He said the Palestinians had given their position on the issues to Mitchell to discuss with Netanyahu. If Netanyahu agreed with the groundwork approved by prior Israeli governments, then we could start direct negotiations to compete the remaining issues, Abbas said.We must not forget the other issues. The final status issues: the settlements, the refugees, Jerusalem, water, and we added another item, which is the prisoners, the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails,Abbas said.He said Obama, who launched his peace effort when he took office last year, expressed hope for signs of progress in the talks by the end of the year.(Reporting by David Alexander; editing by Chris Wilson)
Most Israelis back government in wake of boat raid: poll
Fri Jun 11, 5:58 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Most Israelis back their rightwing government in the wake of the botched May 31 assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that sparked international outrage, a poll said on Friday.The survey found that 57 percent of Israelis trust their political and military leaders more or just as before, while 37 percent trust (them) less or didn't trust them before.Israel has faced a wave of international criticism of the raid, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos who were attacked with clubs and knives aboard one of the ships when they boarded them in international waters.When asked if they were concerned that their country was becoming isolated internationally, 52 percent of respondents answered no and 41 percent said yes.The poll also found that most Israelis support the blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, with 59 percent saying it is more beneficial than harmful and just 25 percent saying the opposite.The survey, carried out by the Dialog group for the centre-left Haaretz newspaper, also found that Israelis would vote for an even more right-leaning government if elections were held today.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish Likud would pick up six seats to win 33 in the 120-member parliament. That compared to 27 for the centrist Kadima, which won the most seats in 2009 elections (28) but was unable to form a government.The ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would come in third with 13 seats (down from 15 in the current parliament), followed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas with 10 (down from 11) and the centre-left Labour with eight (down from 15).The poll surveyed 500 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the population and had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage point. Where responses do not total 100 percent respondents declined to answer or had no opinion.
Israel cool to plan for EU checks at Gaza borders
Thu Jun 10, 11:15 am ET
MONTREAL (AFP) – Israel is reluctant to grant European Union oversight of Gaza-bound ships in the wake of the Jewish state's raid on an aid flotilla, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.Israel's response to the EU proposal is rather negative,Kouchner told reporters in Montreal on Wednesday at the International Economic Forum of the Americas.Kouchner has said the EU could defuse tensions around Gaza by checking the cargo on ships bound for the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave as well as the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into the Hamas-controlled territory.
Providing further details of the proposal made last week, the French diplomatic chief said the checks could take place in Cyprus, which, unlike Gaza, has a deepwater port. Cargo could also be unloaded in the Israeli port of Ashdod.This would simplify the checks,he added, though acknowledging the plan is not a success for now.According to Kouchner, there would also be a list of banned products, but not a blanket ban on merchandise delivered to the Palestinians.He expressed pessimism for the Rafah proposal, saying it's not certain this would work because our Egyptian friends do not want us to speak directly with Hamas.But Kouchner said he believed the deadlock would end one way or another and that a whole range of proposals should be offered so that one eventually succeeds.
Obama says Mideast progress possible this year by Stephen Collinson – Thu Jun 10, 5:36 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama is pledging unwavering commitment to forging significant progress in the Middle East this year, despite the furor whipped up by Israel's raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.Welcoming Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to the White House on Wednesday, Obama promised the full weight of US diplomacy on the latest crisis and vowed to coax Israelis and Palestinians out of a dead end and into direct peace talks.He also unveiled 400 million dollars of US aid for Gaza and the West Bank for housing, education and infrastructure, as part of a US commitment to improve the day-to-day lives of Palestinians.The president also called the humanitarian situation unsustainable and warned a Palestinian state was the only long-term solution.The White House talks came with the Arab world still livid about the Israeli raid on the aid flotilla on May 31, which killed nine activists, and amid frantic US efforts to stop the uproar derailing peace efforts.
Telling Abbas he remained deeply committed to spending personal political capital in the Middle East, Obama said he still believes there could be significant progress in the peace process this year.The US leader said it may be possible to take the tragedy over the Gaza aid convoy and turn it into an opportunity to create a situation where lives in Gaza are actually, directly improved.Abbas said that the aid package was positive.He told Obama in front of reporters the Palestinians were willing to proceed to direct talks with Israel, but only after progress in the current US-mediated proximity discussions.The Palestinian leader urged the Obama administration to help implement a two-state solution as quickly as possible.The two-state solution is no longer only a Palestinian interest or an Israeli interest or a Middle East interest, but it is also an American interest,he added on the televised Charlie Rose interview show.As Obama seeks to inject new momentum into peace moves, both the White House and the Israeli government said they were trying to finalize arrangements for a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month.The Israeli leader had been due here last week, to smooth over tensions that flared during his last visit, but the Gaza crisis forced him to cancel.Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who attended the Oval Office meeting, meanwhile said US envoy George Mitchell would go back to the Middle East next week for more proximity talks.Erakat said Abbas had come to the United States with the message that progress was urgently needed.Time is of the essence, that's his message, we need to see genuine movement in the direction of a two-state solution and ending the occupation, he told AFP.Obama also called on Israel to live up to UN Security Council conditions on probing the flotilla raid, which laid out the need for credible, international involvement.I've said to the Israelis directly... it is in Israel's interest to make sure that everybody knows exactly how this happened so that we don't see these kinds of events occurring again,he added.
But Israel has rejected any international inquiry into the affair, amid calls for an easing of the three-year blockade of Gaza. Earlier, Netanyahu said he was in talks with several members of the international community but added that a probe should not focus on the role of Israeli soldiers in the raid. While stressing Israel had a right to make sure arms were not smuggled into Gaza, Obama said a framework should be hashed out to allow some non-arms shipments to reach the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave. The White House said the aid package for Palestinians would help increase access to clean drinking water, create jobs, build schools, expand the availability of affordable housing, and address critical health and infrastructure needs.The money will be mostly funneled through the US Agency for International Development and the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which deals with Palestinian refugees. The United States avoids dealing with Gaza's ruling Hamas, which it deems a terrorist organization, and has worked to shore up the West Bank government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Obama's pledge of aid for Gaza and the West Bank drew an angry response from Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who branded it a bailout of the Palestinian leadership.The help sends the message that standing in the way of peace and freedom can be quite profitable,she said, calling for cutting off US government aid to the Palestinian Authority and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
No lifting of Gaza blockade without soldier visits: Israel
Thu Jun 10, 4:43 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will not lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip unless the Islamist Hamas movement allows the Red Cross to visit an Israeli soldier captured in 2006, its foreign minister said on Thursday.We must say clearly that the minimal condition for lifting the blockade is for the Red Cross to be allowed to regularly visit Gilad Shalit, Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement, referring to the 23-year-old conscript.As long as this condition is not fulfilled, there is no reason to change the situation, he added.Hamas swiftly rejected the remarks, calling Israel's linking of Shalit's fate to the blockade an attempt to mislead and cover up international efforts to break the siege.The Islamist movement has said it will only release Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including several political leaders and top militants responsible for scores of deadly attacks.Israel has faced a surge of international criticism over the blockade -- which keeps out all but basic goods -- in the wake of its deadly seizure of an activist aid flotilla on May 31.It first imposed the closures when Shalit was captured by Hamas and other militants in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006 and tightened the sanctions when the Islamist group seized power in Gaza a year later.
Israel says the closures are necessary to contain Hamas -- which is pledged to its destruction -- and pressure it to release Shalit, while critics of the closures say they amount to collective punishment.The closures have severely hindered rebuilding efforts following Israel's devastating December 2008 war on Gaza, which severely damaged or destroyed thousands of homes in the impoverished territory.Most consumer goods are brought in through smuggling tunnels from Egypt, but construction materials are beyond the means of most of Gaza's 1.5 million residents, 80 percent of whom rely on foreign aid.US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was unsustainable and France has suggested reopening Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt and its seaways with the presence of European monitors.Hamas has said it is not opposed to a European presence on the border and that it would consider allowing the European Union to search Gaza-bound ships.
Arab lawmaker on flotilla sparks outrage in Israel By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jun 10, 4:41 am ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli-Arab lawmaker's decision to join hundreds of activists on a pro-Palestinian flotilla has elevated her from relative political obscurity, transforming her into the poster child for the growing rift between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority.Unapologetic for defying Israel's Gaza blockade and being on board the boat where activists clashed with Israeli commandos during last week's raid on the flotilla, Hanin Zoabi has received death threats, was nearly assaulted in parliament and faces high-level calls to strip her of Israeli citizenship.In an interview, Zoabi said she has no regrets. She says she was on a different part of the ship, far away from the violence that left nine activists dead and dozens wounded after the naval troops rappelled onto the boats in international waters and clashed with knife and club-wielding Turkish activists. She further enraged Israelis by accusing the military of sparking the bloodshed.The Israeli military is like a rapist that gets scratched and then blames the victim, she told The Associated Press.Israel acts like a bully. Its barbaric behavior violates international laws.Zoabi's participation on the blockade-busting flotilla was widely seen as a provocation in Israel even before the violence. Israel considers Gaza's Hamas rulers to be terrorists, and announced ahead of time that it would not allow the flotilla, led by a Turkish Islamic charity with ties to Hamas, to reach the territory.
But when it emerged that Zoabi was on the ship carrying the Turkish activists involved in the violence, she faced a wave of accusations of treason.The charges have highlighted the schism between Israeli-Arabs and their Jewish counterparts as Israel is facing widespread condemnation over the incident and is still struggling with the seemingly untenable peace process with the Arabs.Israeli Arabs make up about one-fifth of Israel's population. Although they enjoy equal citizenship rights, they have suffered from decades of discrimination, high unemployment, poverty and are often viewed through a prism of mistrust.A Palestinian uprising last decade, as well as wars against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Hamas, have added to the tensions as Arab politicians have sided with Israel's enemies. Just two weeks ago, Israel indicted two prominent Arab activists for allegedly spying for Hezbollah.The former leader of Zoabi's Balad party, Azmi Bishara, fled Israel in 2007 after police charged him with passing information to Hezbollah agents during Israel's war against the Lebanese militia the previous year.Ahmad Tibi, an Arab parliamentarian from a more mainstream Arab party, said he too has been subjected to death threats in the wake of the flotilla bloodshed.He said relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel have yet to heal since the outbreak of the bloody Palestinian uprising in 2000, when 13 Arab citizens of Israel were killed in clashes with police.
During times of violent conflicts, there is an increase in tensions, he said. Any time we take a position it is always interpreted as treason, as stabbing Israel in the back.Zoabi, 41, has irked Israel before by calling it a racist state and boycotting the playing of the national anthem when she was sworn into parliament last year.But her proximity last week to the Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara vessel sparked unprecedented outrage.Go to Gaza, you traitor, lawmaker Miri Regev screamed at her in Arabic in parliament. Another member of parliament, Yoel Hasson, called her a terrorist and suggested she be searched for weapons when entering the building.
Hanin Zoabi has crossed every possible line,he said.I told her you should be singing the praise of Israel for being a democracy that allows even someone like you to behave the way you are behaving.Another lawmaker, Anastassia Michaeli from the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu faction, had to be physically restrained from lunging at the podium to grab the microphone while Zoabi was speaking. Someone who is a traitor and does not identify with the country they represent cannot be in parliament,Michaeli said in an interview.She doesn't represent the Israeli Arabs — she represents the terror organizations.On Monday, a parliamentary committee sanctioned Zoabi for her actions aboard the flotilla, recommending that she be stripped of parliamentary privileges, such as her diplomatic passport. Israel's Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, has asked legal authorities to investigate whether Zoabi should lose her citizenship. Zoabi remained unfazed by the storm surrounding her.I understand that the rage stems from racism. Israeli society lives in a ghetto mentality,she said.I despise the Israeli parliament and its political violence.
Zoabi, a former school teacher, comes from a political family. Her great-uncle, Seif al-Din Zoabi, was mayor of the Arab-Israeli city of Nazareth and a member of the Israeli parliament shortly after it was established. Another relative, Abed al-Aziz Zoabi, was the first Arab to serve as a deputy Cabinet minister. Her departure from her mainstream lineage reflects the shift in Israeli-Arab politics. Zoabi rejects Israel as a Jewish state and thinks Jews should not receive preferential treatment. I feel very loved on the Arab street and around the world,she said. In Israel, among the Jews, I am the most hated person around.
US Senator unveils pro-Israel resolution in flotilla feud
Wed Jun 9, 5:53 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A top Republican US Senator on Wednesday unveiled a resolution fully supporting Israel's actions in its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound ship, while condemning the pro-Palestinian activists aboard.Republican Senator John Cornyn's non-binding measure, if approved, would affirm the US Senate's belief that Israel has an inherent and undeniable right to defend itself against any threat to the safety of its citizens.Many US lawmakers have expressed strong support for Washington's staunchest Middle East ally since the May 31 Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara ship, which left nine activists dead, though some have pleaded for patience until the full facts of the operation are known.The ship was part of a flotilla that aimed to break the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza in 2006 after the capture of one of its soldiers and tightened the following year when the Islamist Hamas movement seized power.Cornyn's resolution would reaffirm US support for Israel and condemn the violent attack and provocation by extremists aboard the Mavi Marmara, who created a highly destabilizing incident in a region that cannot afford further instability.It also aimed to condemn any future such attempts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the purpose of creating or provoking violent confrontation or otherwise undermining the security of Israel.The measure would condemn Hamas for rejecting Israel's right to exist, for its human rights abuses against Gaza's people, and its opposition to Middle East peace efforts, and would condemn Iran for supporting Hamas.It also would encourage Turkey, which expressed outrage at the raid, to recognize the importance of continued strong relations with Israel and express profound disappointment with the counterproductive actions of the United Nations regarding this incident.
Lebanon speaker urges fast action on offshore gas reserves
Wed Jun 9, 3:26 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday urged his government to begin exploring offshore natural gas reserves, warning that neighbouring Israel planned to lay claim to the prospective resources.Lebanon must take immediate action to defend its financial, political, economic and sovereign rights, said Berri, who has submitted a bill to launch exploration of potential offshore reserves.Exploring our options in this field is our best bet to pay off Lebanon's debts, he told reporters.Lebanon's national debt, among the highest in the world, currently stands at more than 50 billion dollars (41.6 billion euros), equivalent to some 148 percent of GDP.Israel is racing to make the case a fait accompli and was quick to present itself as an oil emirate, ignoring the fact that, according to the maps, the deposit extends into Lebanese waters, he said.In a statement on its website, Norway-based Petroleum Geo-Services recently announced it had explored Lebanese waters which contained valuable information on potential offshore gas reserves in coordination with the Lebanese energy and water ministry.
And US-based Noble Energy said on its website that it had discovered enough natural gas at the Israeli Tamar and Dalit offshore fields to meet Israel's needs for years.
It also announced the Leviathan prospect, offshore Israel in the Rachel and Amit licenses, as its next planned exploration target in the region in the fourth quarter of 2010.Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war and have no diplomatic ties.
GAZA (Reuters) – Arab League chief Amr Moussa visited the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the highest Arab official to do so since its seizure by Hamas Islamists in 2007, and called for an end to Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.Moussa crossed into the enclave from Egypt, two weeks after Israel's deadly interception of a Gaza aid flotilla.This blockade...must be lifted and must be broken and the Arab League decision is very clear in this regard, Moussa said.Egypt had kept its Gaza border largely closed, bolstering Israel's embargo, since Hamas, which won a 2006 election, seized sole control of the Gaza Strip in a war with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction three years ago.But Cairo reopened its Rafah crossing with the enclave after Israeli marines killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in a May 31 raid on a Turkish-flagged aid vessel where passengers with metal rods and knives confronted the boarding party.Palestinian and Arab League officials said Moussa's visit was also aimed at giving momentum to reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah that Egypt has sponsored but which have failed to bridge deep mistrust between the two rivals.In an apparent bid to avoid any impression of Arab League recognition of Hamas's Gaza takeover, Moussa met Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas government, in his home rather than in his office.We see this visit as a practical step along the way toward breaking the siege, Haniyeh, with Moussa at his side, told reporters after their hour-long meeting.But Senior Fatah leader Ashraf Goma said Moussa did not hear anything new from the various political factions and, therefore, the visit showed the gap remained wide and reconciliation was yet a far reaching goal.Goma said Hamas's belief it could gain politically from the aftermath of the deadly Israeli raid on the Flotilla made it less willing to reconcile.
BLOCKADE DISCUSSIONS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks on Friday with Middle East envoy Tony Blair on the blockade.Echoing an Israeli statement after that meeting, Netanyahu told reporters on Sunday Israel would continue discussions with the international community to prevent weapons and military equipment from reaching Gaza and to allow in humanitarian aid, an apparent signal it was open to revising blockade procedures.Amid an international outcry over the bloodshed in the flotilla raid, Israel has faced mounting pressure to ease or lift a blockade critics have described as collective punishment.Speaking at a news conference as he concluded a day-long visit, Moussa voiced satire at Israel's trivial ease up of the blockade.
Taking Mayonnaise and Tomatoe salad off the ban list is not a relaxation of the siege. It is a trivial thing that makes someone laughs, Moussa said.Meeting on Sunday with members of his Likud party, Netanyahu said a retired Israeli Supreme Court justice, Jacob Turkel, would head a committee that Israel intends to establish to investigate the raid on the flotilla, officials said.Pending the outcome of consultations with the United States, Israel has not made any formal announcement of the composition of the committee, which Israeli officials said would likely include foreign observers. Washington has backed a U.N. Security Council statement that called for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation, conforming to international standards into the Israeli naval interception. The White House has said it is open to different ways of ensuring the credibility of an Israeli-led investigation, including international participation.Israel has rejected any external, international board of inquiry, saying it had a right to launch a probe on its own.(Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
Israel's Barak calls off Paris visit amid threats
Sun Jun 13, 5:08 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's defense minister is canceling a planned visit to Paris amid threats by pro-Palestinian groups to have him arrested there.Ehud Barak was to dedicate a new Israeli booth at the Eurosatory arms fair in Paris, which opens this week. But his office announced Sunday that he would stay home while Israel forms a committee to investigate its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.Pro-Palestinian activists had threatened to try to have charges brought against him for his role in the raid, which killed nine Turkish activists at sea.Activists have previously tried to arrest Barak and other Israeli officials in Europe under the principle of universal jurisdiction.That principle allows the prosecution of suspected war criminals in countries that have no direct connection with the events.
EU presidency urges strong, joint Gaza position
Sat Jun 12, 11:32 am ET
MADRID (AFP) – Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency, called Saturday for a strong, joint EU position on Gaza and Israel's blockade.We want to forge a strong, joint EU position towards what happened in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in that area, he said after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.Zapatero said his foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, would propose to his EU colleagues at a meeting on Monday that the 27-nation bloc clearly declare itself in favour of ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip.Moratinos said in a television interview this week that the ministers would discuss a plan for lifting the blockade in order to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and people.A draft text prepared for the ministers meeting in Luxembourg said Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza is unacceptable and counterproductive, including from the point or view of Israel's security.The ministers are to take into account the security concerns of Israel, which fears that arms and other military materials could be smuggled in with legitimate aid.So the EU will call for the opening of borders under a new mechanism with a list of prohibited goods and strict control over the destination of imported and exported merchandise, according to the text.
Abbas said that he is "satisfied with the EU's role and political position" on Gaza.
The Palestinian leader characterised his talks this week in Washington with US President Barack Obama as constructive, which focused on US-facilitated indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.Zapatero said we hope... that with the efforts of President Obama we will be able within a reasonable time to move to direct dialogue and negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israeli towns.
Egypt activists denied Gaza entry: official
Sat Jun 12, 11:28 am ET
RAFAH, Egypt (AFP) – Egypt banned hundreds of activists from Gaza, igniting protests at the Rafah border that is the only non-Israeli entry into the Palestinian enclave, a security official said on Saturday.Hundreds of Egyptian activists headed to the Rafah border crossing on Friday but were denied entry into the Gaza Strip, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.They spent the night in front of the crossing asking to be let in and continued protesting on Saturday, the official said.
Carrying Palestinian flags, they chanted Palestine is Arab,Open the border,and Lift the blockade, witnesses told AFP.The impoverished enclave of 1.5 million people has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.By Saturday afternoon, most of the activists had started making their way back to Cairo, the official said.Authorities also denied entry to two trucks carrying humanitarian aid sent by the people of the Egyptian province of Daqahliya.Authorities forced the truck drivers to head back to the (north Sinai) town of El-Arish saying that the Rafah crossing was only for the passage of people not goods, one of the organisers, MP Mohsen Radi, said.Amid the international outcry over an Israeli commando operation against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which killed nine Turkish activists in international waters on June 1, Egypt announced it was opening its Rafah border crossing.The surprise move has allowed some additional aid into Gaza but only some Palestinians, such as those seeking treatment or study abroad, are permitted to cross.The Egyptian opposition has long campaigned against the government's refusal to fully open the Gaza border, even at the height of the deadly offensive which Israel launched against the territory in December 2008.Opposition parties have accused the authorities of being complicit in the Israeli blockade through their construction of an underground barrier intended to prevent smugglers tunnelling under the border.
Abbas: Hope eroding for two-state Mideast solution
Fri Jun 11, 12:25 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed concern on Thursday that hope was waning for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
The concept of a Palestinian state living alongside Israel in peace and security I fear is beginning to erode, Abbas told an audience at the Brookings Institution a day after meeting President Barack Obama.The world is starting not to believe, to distrust, that we are able to reach this solution, Abbas said.Slogans were appearing in the West Bank calling for a single-state solution, something both sides would reject. This is something we do not accept and Israel also does not accept, he said.
Abbas was visiting Washington amid an international backlash against Israel over the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian activists killed when Israeli troops boarded a Turkish aid ship headed toward the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been due to visit Obama on June 1, the day after the incident, but scrapped his trip due to the crisis. He is working to reschedule a White House meeting by the end of the month, U.S. and Israeli officials said.Abbas told the think tank's audience he had urged Obama to support an international investigation of the ship raid. He said they also discussed the issue of when to move from proximity talks mediated by U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell to direct negotiations.The Palestinian leader said he was prepared to go to direct talks with Netanyahu if the two sides could find common ground on two key points.We would like to reach a solution on the two initial issues, meaning the borders and the security, Abbas said.He said the Palestinians had given their position on the issues to Mitchell to discuss with Netanyahu. If Netanyahu agreed with the groundwork approved by prior Israeli governments, then we could start direct negotiations to compete the remaining issues, Abbas said.We must not forget the other issues. The final status issues: the settlements, the refugees, Jerusalem, water, and we added another item, which is the prisoners, the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails,Abbas said.He said Obama, who launched his peace effort when he took office last year, expressed hope for signs of progress in the talks by the end of the year.(Reporting by David Alexander; editing by Chris Wilson)
Most Israelis back government in wake of boat raid: poll
Fri Jun 11, 5:58 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Most Israelis back their rightwing government in the wake of the botched May 31 assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that sparked international outrage, a poll said on Friday.The survey found that 57 percent of Israelis trust their political and military leaders more or just as before, while 37 percent trust (them) less or didn't trust them before.Israel has faced a wave of international criticism of the raid, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos who were attacked with clubs and knives aboard one of the ships when they boarded them in international waters.When asked if they were concerned that their country was becoming isolated internationally, 52 percent of respondents answered no and 41 percent said yes.The poll also found that most Israelis support the blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, with 59 percent saying it is more beneficial than harmful and just 25 percent saying the opposite.The survey, carried out by the Dialog group for the centre-left Haaretz newspaper, also found that Israelis would vote for an even more right-leaning government if elections were held today.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish Likud would pick up six seats to win 33 in the 120-member parliament. That compared to 27 for the centrist Kadima, which won the most seats in 2009 elections (28) but was unable to form a government.The ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would come in third with 13 seats (down from 15 in the current parliament), followed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas with 10 (down from 11) and the centre-left Labour with eight (down from 15).The poll surveyed 500 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the population and had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage point. Where responses do not total 100 percent respondents declined to answer or had no opinion.
Israel cool to plan for EU checks at Gaza borders
Thu Jun 10, 11:15 am ET
MONTREAL (AFP) – Israel is reluctant to grant European Union oversight of Gaza-bound ships in the wake of the Jewish state's raid on an aid flotilla, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.Israel's response to the EU proposal is rather negative,Kouchner told reporters in Montreal on Wednesday at the International Economic Forum of the Americas.Kouchner has said the EU could defuse tensions around Gaza by checking the cargo on ships bound for the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave as well as the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into the Hamas-controlled territory.
Providing further details of the proposal made last week, the French diplomatic chief said the checks could take place in Cyprus, which, unlike Gaza, has a deepwater port. Cargo could also be unloaded in the Israeli port of Ashdod.This would simplify the checks,he added, though acknowledging the plan is not a success for now.According to Kouchner, there would also be a list of banned products, but not a blanket ban on merchandise delivered to the Palestinians.He expressed pessimism for the Rafah proposal, saying it's not certain this would work because our Egyptian friends do not want us to speak directly with Hamas.But Kouchner said he believed the deadlock would end one way or another and that a whole range of proposals should be offered so that one eventually succeeds.
Obama says Mideast progress possible this year by Stephen Collinson – Thu Jun 10, 5:36 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama is pledging unwavering commitment to forging significant progress in the Middle East this year, despite the furor whipped up by Israel's raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.Welcoming Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to the White House on Wednesday, Obama promised the full weight of US diplomacy on the latest crisis and vowed to coax Israelis and Palestinians out of a dead end and into direct peace talks.He also unveiled 400 million dollars of US aid for Gaza and the West Bank for housing, education and infrastructure, as part of a US commitment to improve the day-to-day lives of Palestinians.The president also called the humanitarian situation unsustainable and warned a Palestinian state was the only long-term solution.The White House talks came with the Arab world still livid about the Israeli raid on the aid flotilla on May 31, which killed nine activists, and amid frantic US efforts to stop the uproar derailing peace efforts.
Telling Abbas he remained deeply committed to spending personal political capital in the Middle East, Obama said he still believes there could be significant progress in the peace process this year.The US leader said it may be possible to take the tragedy over the Gaza aid convoy and turn it into an opportunity to create a situation where lives in Gaza are actually, directly improved.Abbas said that the aid package was positive.He told Obama in front of reporters the Palestinians were willing to proceed to direct talks with Israel, but only after progress in the current US-mediated proximity discussions.The Palestinian leader urged the Obama administration to help implement a two-state solution as quickly as possible.The two-state solution is no longer only a Palestinian interest or an Israeli interest or a Middle East interest, but it is also an American interest,he added on the televised Charlie Rose interview show.As Obama seeks to inject new momentum into peace moves, both the White House and the Israeli government said they were trying to finalize arrangements for a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month.The Israeli leader had been due here last week, to smooth over tensions that flared during his last visit, but the Gaza crisis forced him to cancel.Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who attended the Oval Office meeting, meanwhile said US envoy George Mitchell would go back to the Middle East next week for more proximity talks.Erakat said Abbas had come to the United States with the message that progress was urgently needed.Time is of the essence, that's his message, we need to see genuine movement in the direction of a two-state solution and ending the occupation, he told AFP.Obama also called on Israel to live up to UN Security Council conditions on probing the flotilla raid, which laid out the need for credible, international involvement.I've said to the Israelis directly... it is in Israel's interest to make sure that everybody knows exactly how this happened so that we don't see these kinds of events occurring again,he added.
But Israel has rejected any international inquiry into the affair, amid calls for an easing of the three-year blockade of Gaza. Earlier, Netanyahu said he was in talks with several members of the international community but added that a probe should not focus on the role of Israeli soldiers in the raid. While stressing Israel had a right to make sure arms were not smuggled into Gaza, Obama said a framework should be hashed out to allow some non-arms shipments to reach the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave. The White House said the aid package for Palestinians would help increase access to clean drinking water, create jobs, build schools, expand the availability of affordable housing, and address critical health and infrastructure needs.The money will be mostly funneled through the US Agency for International Development and the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which deals with Palestinian refugees. The United States avoids dealing with Gaza's ruling Hamas, which it deems a terrorist organization, and has worked to shore up the West Bank government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Obama's pledge of aid for Gaza and the West Bank drew an angry response from Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who branded it a bailout of the Palestinian leadership.The help sends the message that standing in the way of peace and freedom can be quite profitable,she said, calling for cutting off US government aid to the Palestinian Authority and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
No lifting of Gaza blockade without soldier visits: Israel
Thu Jun 10, 4:43 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will not lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip unless the Islamist Hamas movement allows the Red Cross to visit an Israeli soldier captured in 2006, its foreign minister said on Thursday.We must say clearly that the minimal condition for lifting the blockade is for the Red Cross to be allowed to regularly visit Gilad Shalit, Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement, referring to the 23-year-old conscript.As long as this condition is not fulfilled, there is no reason to change the situation, he added.Hamas swiftly rejected the remarks, calling Israel's linking of Shalit's fate to the blockade an attempt to mislead and cover up international efforts to break the siege.The Islamist movement has said it will only release Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including several political leaders and top militants responsible for scores of deadly attacks.Israel has faced a surge of international criticism over the blockade -- which keeps out all but basic goods -- in the wake of its deadly seizure of an activist aid flotilla on May 31.It first imposed the closures when Shalit was captured by Hamas and other militants in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006 and tightened the sanctions when the Islamist group seized power in Gaza a year later.
Israel says the closures are necessary to contain Hamas -- which is pledged to its destruction -- and pressure it to release Shalit, while critics of the closures say they amount to collective punishment.The closures have severely hindered rebuilding efforts following Israel's devastating December 2008 war on Gaza, which severely damaged or destroyed thousands of homes in the impoverished territory.Most consumer goods are brought in through smuggling tunnels from Egypt, but construction materials are beyond the means of most of Gaza's 1.5 million residents, 80 percent of whom rely on foreign aid.US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was unsustainable and France has suggested reopening Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt and its seaways with the presence of European monitors.Hamas has said it is not opposed to a European presence on the border and that it would consider allowing the European Union to search Gaza-bound ships.
Arab lawmaker on flotilla sparks outrage in Israel By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jun 10, 4:41 am ET
JERUSALEM – An Israeli-Arab lawmaker's decision to join hundreds of activists on a pro-Palestinian flotilla has elevated her from relative political obscurity, transforming her into the poster child for the growing rift between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority.Unapologetic for defying Israel's Gaza blockade and being on board the boat where activists clashed with Israeli commandos during last week's raid on the flotilla, Hanin Zoabi has received death threats, was nearly assaulted in parliament and faces high-level calls to strip her of Israeli citizenship.In an interview, Zoabi said she has no regrets. She says she was on a different part of the ship, far away from the violence that left nine activists dead and dozens wounded after the naval troops rappelled onto the boats in international waters and clashed with knife and club-wielding Turkish activists. She further enraged Israelis by accusing the military of sparking the bloodshed.The Israeli military is like a rapist that gets scratched and then blames the victim, she told The Associated Press.Israel acts like a bully. Its barbaric behavior violates international laws.Zoabi's participation on the blockade-busting flotilla was widely seen as a provocation in Israel even before the violence. Israel considers Gaza's Hamas rulers to be terrorists, and announced ahead of time that it would not allow the flotilla, led by a Turkish Islamic charity with ties to Hamas, to reach the territory.
But when it emerged that Zoabi was on the ship carrying the Turkish activists involved in the violence, she faced a wave of accusations of treason.The charges have highlighted the schism between Israeli-Arabs and their Jewish counterparts as Israel is facing widespread condemnation over the incident and is still struggling with the seemingly untenable peace process with the Arabs.Israeli Arabs make up about one-fifth of Israel's population. Although they enjoy equal citizenship rights, they have suffered from decades of discrimination, high unemployment, poverty and are often viewed through a prism of mistrust.A Palestinian uprising last decade, as well as wars against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Hamas, have added to the tensions as Arab politicians have sided with Israel's enemies. Just two weeks ago, Israel indicted two prominent Arab activists for allegedly spying for Hezbollah.The former leader of Zoabi's Balad party, Azmi Bishara, fled Israel in 2007 after police charged him with passing information to Hezbollah agents during Israel's war against the Lebanese militia the previous year.Ahmad Tibi, an Arab parliamentarian from a more mainstream Arab party, said he too has been subjected to death threats in the wake of the flotilla bloodshed.He said relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel have yet to heal since the outbreak of the bloody Palestinian uprising in 2000, when 13 Arab citizens of Israel were killed in clashes with police.
During times of violent conflicts, there is an increase in tensions, he said. Any time we take a position it is always interpreted as treason, as stabbing Israel in the back.Zoabi, 41, has irked Israel before by calling it a racist state and boycotting the playing of the national anthem when she was sworn into parliament last year.But her proximity last week to the Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara vessel sparked unprecedented outrage.Go to Gaza, you traitor, lawmaker Miri Regev screamed at her in Arabic in parliament. Another member of parliament, Yoel Hasson, called her a terrorist and suggested she be searched for weapons when entering the building.
Hanin Zoabi has crossed every possible line,he said.I told her you should be singing the praise of Israel for being a democracy that allows even someone like you to behave the way you are behaving.Another lawmaker, Anastassia Michaeli from the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu faction, had to be physically restrained from lunging at the podium to grab the microphone while Zoabi was speaking. Someone who is a traitor and does not identify with the country they represent cannot be in parliament,Michaeli said in an interview.She doesn't represent the Israeli Arabs — she represents the terror organizations.On Monday, a parliamentary committee sanctioned Zoabi for her actions aboard the flotilla, recommending that she be stripped of parliamentary privileges, such as her diplomatic passport. Israel's Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, has asked legal authorities to investigate whether Zoabi should lose her citizenship. Zoabi remained unfazed by the storm surrounding her.I understand that the rage stems from racism. Israeli society lives in a ghetto mentality,she said.I despise the Israeli parliament and its political violence.
Zoabi, a former school teacher, comes from a political family. Her great-uncle, Seif al-Din Zoabi, was mayor of the Arab-Israeli city of Nazareth and a member of the Israeli parliament shortly after it was established. Another relative, Abed al-Aziz Zoabi, was the first Arab to serve as a deputy Cabinet minister. Her departure from her mainstream lineage reflects the shift in Israeli-Arab politics. Zoabi rejects Israel as a Jewish state and thinks Jews should not receive preferential treatment. I feel very loved on the Arab street and around the world,she said. In Israel, among the Jews, I am the most hated person around.
US Senator unveils pro-Israel resolution in flotilla feud
Wed Jun 9, 5:53 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A top Republican US Senator on Wednesday unveiled a resolution fully supporting Israel's actions in its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound ship, while condemning the pro-Palestinian activists aboard.Republican Senator John Cornyn's non-binding measure, if approved, would affirm the US Senate's belief that Israel has an inherent and undeniable right to defend itself against any threat to the safety of its citizens.Many US lawmakers have expressed strong support for Washington's staunchest Middle East ally since the May 31 Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara ship, which left nine activists dead, though some have pleaded for patience until the full facts of the operation are known.The ship was part of a flotilla that aimed to break the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza in 2006 after the capture of one of its soldiers and tightened the following year when the Islamist Hamas movement seized power.Cornyn's resolution would reaffirm US support for Israel and condemn the violent attack and provocation by extremists aboard the Mavi Marmara, who created a highly destabilizing incident in a region that cannot afford further instability.It also aimed to condemn any future such attempts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the purpose of creating or provoking violent confrontation or otherwise undermining the security of Israel.The measure would condemn Hamas for rejecting Israel's right to exist, for its human rights abuses against Gaza's people, and its opposition to Middle East peace efforts, and would condemn Iran for supporting Hamas.It also would encourage Turkey, which expressed outrage at the raid, to recognize the importance of continued strong relations with Israel and express profound disappointment with the counterproductive actions of the United Nations regarding this incident.
Lebanon speaker urges fast action on offshore gas reserves
Wed Jun 9, 3:26 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday urged his government to begin exploring offshore natural gas reserves, warning that neighbouring Israel planned to lay claim to the prospective resources.Lebanon must take immediate action to defend its financial, political, economic and sovereign rights, said Berri, who has submitted a bill to launch exploration of potential offshore reserves.Exploring our options in this field is our best bet to pay off Lebanon's debts, he told reporters.Lebanon's national debt, among the highest in the world, currently stands at more than 50 billion dollars (41.6 billion euros), equivalent to some 148 percent of GDP.Israel is racing to make the case a fait accompli and was quick to present itself as an oil emirate, ignoring the fact that, according to the maps, the deposit extends into Lebanese waters, he said.In a statement on its website, Norway-based Petroleum Geo-Services recently announced it had explored Lebanese waters which contained valuable information on potential offshore gas reserves in coordination with the Lebanese energy and water ministry.
And US-based Noble Energy said on its website that it had discovered enough natural gas at the Israeli Tamar and Dalit offshore fields to meet Israel's needs for years.
It also announced the Leviathan prospect, offshore Israel in the Rachel and Amit licenses, as its next planned exploration target in the region in the fourth quarter of 2010.Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war and have no diplomatic ties.
U.N FILLED WITH MUSLIMS COUNTRIES LEADING IT
DANNY AAYLON WAS ON FAREED ZAKARIA TODAY SUN JUNE 13,10 AND ADMITTED THE IHH IS TIED TO TERRORIST GROUPS AND ISRAEL WILL NOT APPOLOGIZE FOR BOARDING THE FLOTILLA TO STOP FROM WEAPONS COMING INTO GAZA.AAYLON SAID THE FLOTILLA THREW WEAPONS OVER BOARD AS THE ISRAELIS ENTERED THE SHIP.WAY TO GO AAYLON BY SAYING ISRAEL WILL NOT SAY SORRY FOR PROTECTING ISRAELIS FROM MURDERERS.TURKEY IS THE ONES WHO HAVE TO SAY SORRY NOT ISRAEL.NO IVESTIGATION IS NEEDED IN THIS CASE BUT 10,000 ROCKETS BY THE ARABS WERE SHOT INTO ISRAEL BUT WERES THE INVESTIGATION THE U.N WHO IS SO BIAS AGAINST ISRAEL ITS REDICULAS.ALL THEY HAVE IN CHARGE IS MUSLIM COUNTRIES AT THE U.N WHO HATE ISRAEL AND CLAIM WOMEN CAN NOT TALK TO ANY OTHER MAN WITHOUT THE HUSBANDS PERMISSION OR SHE WILL BE MURDERED.AND THE U.N HAS THESE COUNTRIES IN CONTROL OF THE U.N. WHAT HOGWASH FOLD THE U.N IMMEDIATELY FOR HATING WOMEN AND SO BIAS HATING ISRAEL.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
NETANYAHU ON GAZA STINK FLOTILLA SCAM
ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;(ISRAEL) for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you,(ISRAEL) and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
ZECHARIAH 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
JEREMIAH 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:(ISRAEL) and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,(ISRAEL) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
Israel mulls flotilla probe but soldiers off limits by Patrick Moser - JUNE 9,10 11:12 AM
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Wednesday was discussing the format of an investigation into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted soldiers would be off-limits.Israel was in talks with several members of the international community about the investigation, Netanyahu said, stressing that it should focus on the pro-Palestinian activists who fought the naval commandos with knives and clubs.He insisted the soldiers involved would only answer to the Israeli military, saying that is how the armed forces of our friends in the world always act and that is how we shall also act.Israel has been trying to work out how to get US backing for a limited probe of the deadly raid and reportedly was considering easing its blockade on Gaza, which the activists had hoped to break.Netanyahu stressed that Israel already knew the facts and that investigators should look at questions which the international community prefers to ignore.Who was behind the group of extremists on the deck of this ship? Who financed this gang? How did axes, clubs, knives and other weapons find their way on board the ship? What were large sums of money doing in the pockets of these people on deck and for whom was this money intended?
He spoke after he and the other members of the Forum of Seven senior ministers met behind closed doors to discuss the mandate of the proposed investigating team in the face of world calls for a far wider probe.
Israel appears particularly keen to get US backing for the plan, which could help deflect harsh criticism of the commando operation in international waters off the Israeli coast.Contacts are continuing with Washington to obtain its approval over the outlines of such a commission, a senior official said.The plan in its current form entails a panel of Israeli jurists, joined by an American and a European observer, media reported.The Haaretz daily said the panel would lack powers such as the right to issue subpoenas, and that its recommendations would not be binding.The raid on the ships plunged Israel into a diplomatic crisis and led Netanyahu to postpone a trip to Washington.He now plans to meet US President Barack Obama later this month, following a visit by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who was expected at the White House later on Wednesday.The talks come as the deadly raid turned the spotlight on the blockade which Israel imposed on Gaza in 2006 after the capture of one of its soldiers and tightened the following year when the Islamist Hamas movement seized power.We have always called for the lifting of the blockade, Vladimir Putin told AFP in an interview.Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease the blockade in return for the international community agreeing to a limited probe into the raid.In Jerusalem, the seven ministers reportedly discussed a possible easing of the blockade while officials in Washington said Obama would discuss with Abbas specific projects to relieve the plight of the people of Gaza.International opposition to the blockade has gained momentum in recent days.
Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has said it will soon unveil a proposal for the lifting of the blockade, while France has suggested the European Union inspect the cargoes of ships heading to Gaza as well as maintain a presence at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Hamas said on Tuesday that it is not opposed to the idea of EU inspections provided there is no interference by Israel.The closure of the Gaza Strip prevents all but basic goods from entering the territory and severely limits the ability of Palestinians to travel in and out. Israel has recently authorised the delivery of snacks and some other previously restricted goods into Gaza, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.But Israel maintains an embargo on many badly needed construction materials and industrial goods.Israel says the blockade is necessary to contain Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, and to prevent the smuggling of weapons. Critics slam it as collective punishment of Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Netanyahu says ready to testify in flotilla inquiry By Jeffrey Heller - JUNE 9,10
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he was willing to testify in an inquiry Israel intends to hold into its deadly raid on a convoy of aid ships bound for the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.A formal Israeli announcement of an investigation of the May 31 bloodshed awaits the conclusion of consultations with Israel's main ally, the United States, on a format for the probe, Israeli officials said.We will be prepared to appear and give all the facts, Netanyahu said in a speech, mentioning himself, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, the military's chief of staff.Israeli commandos killed nine Turks, including one who also held U.S. nationality, after boarding the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and being swarmed by pro-Palestinian activists with clubs and knives.The bloodshed triggered an international outcry and strained relations between Israel and its once-close Muslim ally, Turkey. Israel called the troops' actions self-Defense.Turkey described the killings as state-sponsored terrorism.Amid world pressure to ease its Gaza blockade and agree to a U.S.-backed U.N. call for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation,Israel has expressed willingness to involve foreign observers in its own inquiry.
QUESTIONS
The examination must include answers to questions that some in the international community prefer to ignore: Who was behind the extremist group on the ship's deck? Who sponsored its members? Netanyahu said.All of the nine dead on the Mavi Marmara were members or volunteers for the Foundation for Human Rights and Freecoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH).The IHH says it is an Islamic charity group funded entirely by donations. Israel says the IHH supports Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and other militant Islamist groups. But it does not classify the IHH as a terrorist organization.The world needs to know the whole picture, Netanyahu said. And we will make sure the whole picture comes to light.He said Israel's investigation would also focus on how axes, clubs, knives and other light weapons were brought on board the ship and on the very large sums of money he contended were found in the pockets of those people on deck.The Israeli military has announced its own investigation, focusing on the operational aspects of a raid seen by many in Israel as a fiasco in which planners failed to gauge the strength of resistance on board.Netanyahu, echoing remarks made by a spokesman on Tuesday, said officers and soldiers would not testify at the government-ordered inquiry, which would rely on the statements they made to the military panel.Israel says its Gaza blockade is necessary to limit weapons smuggling to Hamas.The U.N. says the Israeli embargo, which includes a ban on cement crucial for reconstruction after the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war, has caused a humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Israel rejects the allegation, citing its frequent shipments of fuel and medical aid into the area.(Editing by Diana Abdallah)
Israel eases Gaza blockade on some banned foods By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer - JUNE 9,10
JERUSALEM – Israel eased a three-year blockade of Gaza Wednesday to allow in some previously banned food items in an effort to defuse the worldwide furor over its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound international flotilla. But critics said the step falls far short of what is needed in the impoverished Palestinian territory.In the first tangible step to temper the uproar caused by last week's raid, Israel only narrowly expanded the list of items that can enter by adding little more than snack foods and spices. It did not permit the most sought after items, such as cement, steel and other materials needed to rebuild the war-devastated territory and it was unlikely to ease international pressure.The international community is united in seeking an urgent and fundamental change in Israel's policy of blockading Gaza, said Maxwel Gaylard, the U.N.'s most senior humanitarian official in the Palestinian territories. A modest expansion of the restrictive list of goods allowed into Gaza falls well short of what is needed. We need a fundamental change and an opening of crossings for commercial goods.Israeli officials said the move was meant to defuse pressure for an international investigation of the May 31 raid. The clashes broke out after Israeli naval commandos boarded one of six ships on the flotilla and some of the hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on board attacked them with pipes and other makeshift weapons. The Israelis killed nine.The clash drew attention to the blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt to punish and isolate Hamas militants who seized power of Gaza in 2007. Hamas does not recognize Israel, and refuses to renounce violence. Israel also wants to put pressure on Hamas to release a captured Israeli soldier it has held for four years.
The blockade prevents all but basic humanitarian items and consumer goods from getting in, bars exports and prevents the import of goods such as metal cans and tubs of margarine needed for industrial production.Israel says the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas, a group that has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, from rearming. It claims construction materials such as cement or metal could be used for military purposes.Gaza has been mired in poverty for decades but the closure deepened the misery, erasing tens of thousands of jobs and preventing the area from repairing damage from a fierce Israeli military offensive last year launched in response to years of Hamas rocket attacks from the territory.Palestinian official Raed Fattouh, who coordinates the flow of goods into Gaza with Israel, said soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies and candy were now permitted. He said military officials began approving the expanded list of permitted products in meetings with Palestinian liaison officials last week.Fattouh said Israeli officials rebuffed Palestinian requests for construction goods, raw materials for factories to operate and medical devices.I think Israel wants to diffuse international pressure, said Fattouh.They want to show people that they are allowing things into Gaza. But it's not important for Gaza. The important thing for us is construction materials, electrical goods, notebooks, many things.A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the gesture was not worth commenting on.An Israeli government official said authorities would continue to ease the blockade but could not lift the embargo altogether as long as Hamas remains in control.The Israeli officials all spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal government announcement.Some of the items banned from Gaza seem arbitrary. Basic foodstuffs such as instant coffee and coriander were barred as luxury items, while more expensive foods such as herbal tea, salmon steaks and low-fat yogurt were permitted.
Sari Bashi, an Israeli human rights advocate whose group, Gisha, has led criticism of the blockade, called Israel's easing a cosmetic gesture.We are pleased that juice and sesame paste are no longer considered threats to Israeli security, but Israel needs to let in raw materials necessary to allow Gaza residents to engage in dignified, productive work, she said.Israel has rejected calls for an international investigation into the raid, fearing it would be biased against the Jewish state. Instead, officials are working on a formula for an investigation to be run by Israelis while including some international observers. Israel has been seeking U.S. support for this approach, but so far has not been able to reach a formula. We are conferring with various factors in the international community regarding the appropriate process of investigation that will expose the facts on the Gaza flotilla. We know the truth, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an investors' conference.Netanyahu said he, along with top government and military officials, would be willing to appear before the probe, but said it must look at key questions about the activists that clashed with the soldiers. Israel alleges they were hired mercenaries.
Obama to discuss Gaza's plight with Abbas
Wed Jun 9, 7:23 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama will discuss specific projects to improve the plight of the people of Gaza Wednesday as he welcomes Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to the White House, officials said.Abbas will meet Obama at the Oval Office with already volatile Middle East politics roiled by the aftermath of the deadly May 31 Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of boats seeking to beat the Gaza blockade.The Palestinian leader arrived in Washington on Tuesday, directly from Turkey, which fiercely condemned the raid that killed nine Turkish activists. He has called on Obama to make bold decisions to jump-start peace moves in the Middle East.The United States has joined other foreign governments and the United Nations in calling for an inquiry into the raid with an international component, saying it was key to any investigation's credibility.But Israel has rejected any international probe into the affair, a topic likely to feature in Obama's talks with Abbas.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said his country would raise the controversial issue of who should investigate the incident at the UN and called for an end to the Jewish state's blockade of the tiny Gaza Strip.He called Israel's boarding of an aid ship in international waters a crude violation of international law.At the White House, Obama and Abbas will discuss steps to improve life for the people of Gaza, including US support for specific projects to promote economic development and greater quality of life,a US official said.
Obama also wants to discuss a long-term strategy for progress that we will advance through consultations with the Palestinians, Israelis, Egyptians and other partners, the official added on condition of anonymity.Despite the fallout from the Gaza raid, the pair will consider how to forge progress in proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians mediated by US envoy George Mitchell.We look forward to engaging with President Abbas to move the process forward so that we can get to direct talks to address all the final status issues,the official said.Obama will also renew his call on Israelis and Palestinians to ensure that neither side take provocative steps that could stand in the way of progress,according to the official.Abbas will meet with Obama a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his own White House trip to deal with the fallout from the Gaza crisis.The Palestinian leader set a clear rhetorical framework last week for his long-awaited summit with the US president.My message to Obama during our meeting in Washington next week will be that we need bold decisions to change the face of the region, he said at an investment conference in the West Bank.Abbas is also scheduled to meet with US lawmakers and National Security Adviser James Jones.
Former U.S. envoy favors talking to Hezbollah By Susan Cornwell – Tue Jun 8, 7:02 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States should talk to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, former U.S. diplomat Ryan Crocker said on Tuesday. But current U.S. officials rejected dealing with the group listed as a terrorist organization by Washington.Crocker, who was U.S. ambassador in Baghdad from 2007 to 2009, suggested Washington should engage with Hezbollah in the same way that Americans had engaged with some former Sunni insurgents in Iraq. As a result, they turned against al Qaeda helped and reverse the tide of sectarian conflict.One thing I learned in Iraq is that engagement can be extremely valuable in ending an insurgency, Crocker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.We cannot mess with our adversary's mind if we are not talking to him,Crocker said. Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese political landscape, and we should deal with it directly.Hezbollah, meaning Party of God in Arabic, shares the Shi'ite Islamist ideology of Iran. It was set up with the help of Iranian Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli forces that invaded Lebanon in 1982 and aims ultimately to destroy the Jewish state.It is now part of a national unity government in Lebanon, and also the most powerful military force there. It still has strong support from Tehran and is also backed by Damascus.Crocker's suggestion followed recent comments by White House official John Brennan that the Obama administration wanted to build up moderate elements in Hezbollah.But State Department officials at Tuesday's hearing denied U.S. policy was in flux. We do not ... think that there is any room right now for engagement with Hezbollah, said Daniel Benjamin. the department's counter-terrorism coordinator.I don't anticipate that policy changing,said Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He said Washington could rethink its policy if Hezbollah would stop maintaining a militia, drop terrorist activities and evolve into a normal part of Lebanon's political fabric.Hezbollah fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006. Recently Israel accused Syria of arming Hezbollah with long-range Scud missiles capable of hitting deep inside Israel.Crocker, one of Washington's most experienced Middle Eastern hands before he retired last year, also urged senators to confirm a new ambassador to Syria. President Obama's nominee, Robert Ford, has stalled in the Senate amid concerns that Syria may have transferred Scuds to Hezbollah.(Editing by Alan Elsner)
Israel isolated as Mideast-Asia forum condemns ship raid by Nicolas Cheviron – Tue Jun 8, 4:52 pm ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Asian and Middle Eastern leaders united in condemning an Israeli deadly raid on Gaza-bound aid ships at a security summit Tuesday, as host nation Turkey warned Israel was isolated in the region.Twenty-one states -- all the members of the CICA Asia security forum except Israel -- backed the text issued in Istanbul denouncing the May 31 assault on on a flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean.The presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, as well as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas were among the leaders present for the summit.
Together they expressed their grave concern and condemnation for the actions undertaken by the Israeli Defence Forces and denounced a blatant violation of international law.The states said they deeply deplored the killing of nine Turkish activists and lent support for the United Nations to set up an international commission to investigate the raid.This is a clear manifestation of how Israel has isolated itself,Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who chaired the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), told reporters.The raid on the flotilla seeking to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip sparked global outrage and plunged Israel's already strained ties with NATO member Turkey, once a close ally, into deep crisis.It is impossible for us to forgive the bloodshed, Gul said.This can be repaired a bit only if they (the Israelis) make up for that in an acceptable way. Otherwise, it is impossible for Turkey to forget that,he added.Ankara has recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and said that economic and defence ties with Israel would be reduced to a minimum level.
Putin said Russia would raise at the United Nations the controversial issue of who should investigate the Israeli raid, which he denounced as a crude violation of international law.We can't allow a new flame to flare up in the Middle East.... We will raise the issue at the United Nations, we're working at it,he told reporters.
Turkey said Monday that normalisation of ties with Israel would be out of the question if it failed to agree to an international probe, a move the Jewish state has so far rejected.On Tuesday Israel outlined plans to hold its own limited probes into the deadly raid, which will look exclusively into the legality of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and of the May 31 raid.But the United States, Israel's closest ally, on Tuesday added its voice to the chorus calling for an international probe, echoing similar remarks by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.Tuesday's condemnation was issued as part of the chairman's conclusions to the summit, since a formal joint declaration would have required a consensus, which Israel's participation made impossible, Gul said.Israeli leaders shunned the Istanbul event, although Israeli ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy took part.An overwhelming majority of the participants also called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons -- an appeal that appeared to target Iran, which the West suspects of secretly developing an atomic bomb, and Israel, widely believed to be the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power. The CICA group was set up in 2002 on a proposal by Kazakhstan to promote peace, security and stability in Asia.
With the admission of Iraq and Vietnam on Tuesday, the number of its members reached 22, some with a history of mutual hostility such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Its other members are Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. Turkey, a NATO member vying for European Union membership, has in recent years pushed for a greater say in the Middle East.Together with Brazil, it brokered a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran last month, but the proposed accord has been dismissed by the United States, which continues to push for fresh sanctions against Tehran. Ankara's improving ties with Iran and Syria, against the backdrop of simmering tensions with Israel, have led to concerns that its governing party, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement, is shifting the country away from the West.
Jewish settlers injured as clash with police
Tue Jun 8, 9:57 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli police came under attack by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, after authorities demolished two buildings put up by settlers without authorisation, police said.Eight officers were lightly injured when a crowd of about 150 settlers hurled rocks at police vehicles and tried to slash their tyres, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.He said 10 settlers were arrested but he had no information about any injuries. Public radio said 10 settlers were hurt by blows from batons or from tear gas inhalation.The confrontation broke out after two cabins at the entrance to the Beit El settlement near Ramallah were torn down because they were built without the necessary permits.In November, Israel announced a 10-month halt to new housing construction in the West Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem, following months of US pressure for a relaunch of peace talks with the Palestinians suspended after it launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
Obama calls Thomas Palestinian remarks offensive
Tue Jun 8, 7:59 am ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he considers veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas' remarks about Israel offensive.Asked during an interview with NBC about Thomas' comments urging Israel to get out of Palestine,Obama said he believes those statements were out of line.At the same time, he said he recognized Thomas' long service covering presidents dating back to John F. Kennedy.He said it was a shame that her career has ended in controversy, but called Thomas' retirement announcement the right decision.The 89-year-old Thomas retired Monday as a columnist for Hearst News Service.
Israeli president visits SKorea amid Gaza uproar By SANGWON YOON, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 8, 6:40 am ET
SEOUL, South Korea – Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a working-level summit amid concerns the visit's timing could negatively affect South Korea's diplomatic efforts to censure North Korea at the United Nations.Seoul appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Friday to punish Pyongyang, accusing its nuclear-armed neighbor of blowing apart one of its warships with a torpedo, killing 46 sailors. It was the first time Seoul has taken Pyongyang to the Security Council over an inter-Korean dispute, despite a history of being attacked by the North.South Korea has been working to garner international backing for the diplomatic action. Israel, meanwhile, has come under intense international criticism for its raid on a ship carrying aid to Hamas-ruled Gaza that killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American. Israel claims its troops acted in self-defense.South Korean media reports have voiced worry over possibly risking its diplomatic effort against North Korea at the U.N. by hosting Peres and potentially being seen as favoring Israel.Government officials hesitated to hold the summit amid growing international criticism of Israel, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Monday, citing unnamed officials at the presidential Blue House. Cho Hyun-jin, a presidential spokesman, declined to comment.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday on its Web site that the South Korean government lowered the status of Peres' trip from an official state visit to a routine working visit because of international pressure in the wake of Israel's deadly raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla. The report did not cite any sources.Peres' office strongly denied the claim, saying that the planned trip was originally meant as a working visit. A South Korean Foreign Ministry official backed up that view, saying the trip was never intended to be a state visit. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.Peres will meet South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday, according to the Blue House.They will discuss the political relationship between the two countries and the potential for increased economic and technological cooperation,Peres' office said. Peres will also tour several South Korean research and development centers.Peres had been scheduled to receive an honorary doctorate at Korea University and deliver a speech there during his trip, but both events were canceled, the South Korean Foreign Ministry official said. Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said Israeli Embassy officials in Seoul had pushed for the two events to take place, but they later gave up on the plan. He provided no reason.South Korea's official position on the raid has been one of regret for the loss of life during the incident,according to a Foreign Ministry statement on June 1. Seoul has called for negotiations through dialogue as it is the only solution toward peace in the region.In a reflection of sensitivities over the issue, Vietnam asked Peres to put off a scheduled working visit this week.
Israeli forces rappelled from helicopters onto six vessels in an international aid flotilla on May 31 to prevent them from breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza, imposed in 2007 after Hamas overran the territory. Violence broke out on one of the ships, with video footage from the Israeli military and Turkish TV showing passengers with metal bars attacking Israeli soldiers descending on ropes onto a Turkish ship.Israel claims its troops acted in self-defense against the attackers. A preliminary autopsy report released by Turkey on Saturday said the nine men killed were shot a total of 30 times.Kim, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Peres' trip to South Korea was decided before the incident.Associated Press writers Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Israeli patrol kills four militants in diving suits By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Mon Jun 7, 4:26 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli naval patrol killed at least four Palestinian militants in diving gear off the Gaza coast on Monday, Hamas security officials and the Israeli army said.An Israeli naval patrol spotted a boat with four men in diving suits on their way to carry out a terror attack and fired at them, an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that the patrol had confirmed hitting its targets.The spokesman did not say what the army thought was the intended objective of the divers.
Hamas security sources said four bodies had been found and a fifth man was missing and presumed dead.The incident occurred eight days after Israeli marines killed nine Turks in violent confrontations on a Turkish cruise ship which was part of a six-vessel convoy that set out to challenge an Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.A second attempt by pro-Palestinian activists to break the blockade on Gaza was stopped on Saturday by the Israeli navy without incident.Israeli media said Monday's sea patrol was carried out by naval commandos from the same unit that boarded the Gaza-bound ships last week. The military spokesman declined to comment on this.In a second incident in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Hamas security and medical officials said an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a group of militants in an open area near Gaza City, seriously wounding one man.An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that a missile had targeted a group of militants trying to fire a rocket at Israel.Palestinian militants in Gaza frequently try to attack Israeli border patrols and sporadically fire rockets and mortar bombs at Israel. The military spokesman said that more than 10 had been launched at Israel in the past three weeks.
Attempts to attack from the sea are rare, however.In February, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza sent explosive devices, thought to be primitive sea mines, out to sea intending to hit naval vessels. At least three devices washed up on Israeli beaches and were detonated by sappers.(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
France seeks to stop hate incitement by Gaza TV
Mon Jun 7, 12:38 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – The French government has asked its broadcasting authority to put an end to incitement to hatred on a Hamas-run television station broadcast via a Paris-based satellite company, officials said Monday.Foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said that France had received a warning from the European Commission that Al-Aqsa TV, which is accused of inciting hatred of Jews and Israelis, had repeatedly breached European rules.The station, broadcast via the Eutelsat satellite operator, shows programmes which incite hatred or violence for reasons of religion or nationality,Valero told reporters.He said French authorities were confident the CSA broadcast authority would take rapid action to ensure content broadcast via satellites owned by French-based firms and beamed into the EU respected French and EU law.The CSA in 2008 and 2009 warned Eutelsat about breaching French laws that ban incitement to hatred, but these warnings did not lead to any change in the content broadcast via its satellites.
Eutelsat said in a statement that it had always strictly complied with decisions taken by the CSA.In 2008 and in 2009, when the CSA informed us of its decisions concerning Al Aqsa, we immediately contacted our client Noorsat, the operator which handles the broadcasting of the Al Aqsa channel within its bouquet of programmes, it said.Eutelsat at that time stressed to Noorsat the necessity for the Al Aqsa channel to comply with EU directives, the firm said.Al Aqsa TV is run by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Turkish PM presses for Palestinian unity, says ready to help
Mon Jun 7, 11:47 am ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday urged for reconciliation between feuding Palestinian factions and said Ankara was ready to help.Healing the rift between the Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip,is a must, Erdogan said, adding that Hamas welcomed a mediation role for Ankara.He made the remarks in comments on the situation in the Middle East in the wake of an Israeli raid last week on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which claimed the lives of nine Turks and plunged Turkish-Israeli ties into deep crisis.Divisions should not persist in the current circumstances... I believe we can secure peace between Hamas and Fatah, he said at a joint news conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Istanbul for a regional security meeting.Hamas officials are giving us the required mandate on this issue and they are telling us that they want the problem to be resolved.
We have to see the same approach from Fatah and I'm going to have a meeting (with them) in a while,he said, referring to scheduled talks with Abbas, who was also in Istanbul.Erdogan reiterated that Hamas -- viewed by Israel and the West as a terrorist group -- should not be excluded from peace efforts.No one in the international community has the authority to put Hamas and Fatah on different status... Saying that Fatah is a group that one can talk to and dismissing Hamas as a terrorist organisation is a very serious mistake,he said.In an angry tirade against Israel over the bloody ship raid, Erdogan said Friday he did not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation, describing the group as resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land.Ankara has previously urged the armed group, which calls for the destruction of Israel, to renounce violence and engage in peaceful politics.In February 2006, Ankara angered Israel when it hosted Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal in what Turkish officials defended as an effort to press the militant group to lay down arms.
Free Gaza Movement to close Cyprus office in protest
Mon Jun 7, 9:48 am ET
NICOSIA (AFP) – A pro-Palestinian group which helped organise the Gaza aid flotilla intercepted by the Israeli navy in a raid which cost nine lives last week on Monday announced the closure of its headquarters in Cyprus.In protest at the lack of cooperation with the mission from the Cyprus government, the Free Gaza Movement's office is to close down on Tuesday and relocate at a later date to London.The Cyprus government banned ships and passengers from leaving the island to join the sea convoy which was anchored off the island before heading for Gaza when it came under Israeli attack in international waters on May 31.We leave tomorrow (Tuesday) and the office will be closed because we feel we are not welcome anymore on Cyprus and the government has made that clear, the movement's Audrey Bomse told AFP.She said her group had not been informed in advance of a secretive executive order banning the use of Cyprus as a staging post for the attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
If we knew about it, we would never have brought European MPs to Cyprus to join the flotilla,she said.Bomse said Cyprus had cooperated with several past missions to break the blockade by sea, allowing the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) to ferry passengers headed for Gaza into international waters.This time, the government said it issued the ban to protect the island's vital interests, although it has joined international criticism of Israel's deadly intervention as a criminal act.FGM is a registered charity in Cyprus with an office established on the island since December 2008.If this is how they treat Cypriot charities, it's time we moved elsewhere, said Bomse.The pro-Palestinian group has used Cyprus as platform to challenge the Israeli blockade on Gaza since August 2008, managing to breach the siege on five out of nine attempts to date including last week's bid.The group says it will still continue to challenge Israel's sea blockade but not from Cyprus.
Iran Red Crescent to send three aid ships to Gaza by Farhad Pouladi – Mon Jun 7, 6:55 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – The Iranian Red Crescent said on Monday that it will send three aid ships to Gaza in the latest bid to break the blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory by Iran's archfoe Israel.It will also send a plane carrying 30 tonnes of medical equipment to Egypt for onward delivery to Gaza.Red Crescent director for international affairs Abdolrauf Adibzadeh told Iranian media that two ships would leave for Gaza this week, followed at a later date by a third vessel.The first two ships will head to Gaza in coordination with the Turkish government.Of the two ships, one will carry 70 aid workers such as nurses and medics and the other will have foodstuffs and medicines,Adibzadeh was quoted as saying on the state television website.The (two) ships will be sent to Gaza by end of this week,Adibzadeh told the state IRNA news agency.The news agency said the third vessel would be equipped with an onboard operating theatre and would head for the Palestinian territory at a later date.Adibzadeh said the Red Crescent had called for Iranian volunteers to act as relief workers and accompany the first two vessels.The head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Abolhassan Fakhi, told the Fars news agency that 20,000 volunteers had already registered over the past three days.Adibzadeh said an aid plane would leave in a short time for Egypt in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent.The Iranian Red Crescent had previously sent an aid ship carrying food and medicines to Gaza in December 2008 but it was prevented from reaching the territory by the Israeli navy.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said such aid ships were symbols of the protest movement against the blockade.If this symbolic campaign continues, it will result in the surrender of the Zionist regime, which will certainly be one of its biggest defeats,the state television website quoted him as saying.The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, urged Gulf countries to follow Iran's example and send aid ships to Gaza, Fars reported.
The decision to send new aid to Gaza comes hot on the heels of a report that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards had expressed readiness to escort aid flotillas to Gaza.
If the respected leader of the revolution (supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) gives an order in this regard, the Revolutionary Guards' naval forces will take a practical step using their capability and equipment to escort flotillas to Gaza, Khamenei's aide in the Guards' naval wing, Ali Shirazi, told the Mehr news agency on Sunday.It was unclear, however, how the Guards would escort the flotillas as their naval wing is largely made up of speed boats and light vessels.Last week's Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla headed for Gaza, in which nine pro-Palestinian activitists died, has sparked outrage across the political spectrum in Iran. Blaming the United States, Britain and France for the deadly raid, Khamenei called for the prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad too lashed out at Israel, demanding that it face political sanctions for the raid. The animosity between Iran and its regional archfoe has only worsened under Ahmadinejad, with top Guards commanders repeatedly boasting that the elite force has missiles capable of reaching any target in Israel.
In turn, Israel, which has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has refused to rule out a resort to military action against Iran to prevent it aquiring a nuclear weapons capability.Iran denies any such ambition.
France: EU can check ships heading to Gaza
Sun Jun 6, 6:30 pm ET
PARIS – The European Union is willing to check cargo on board ships heading to the Gaza Strip if Israel ends its blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory, France's Foreign Minister said Sunday.Bernard Kouchner, who spoke after dinner with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in Paris, noted that the EU has had monitors deployed at Gaza's border crossing with Egypt at Rafah, and could do so again.We can check the cargo of ships heading toward Gaza — we can do it, we want to do it, we would gladly do it, Kouchner said, adding that the European Union should do more for the Mideast peace process.Hague said the EU will show no lack of willingness ... to participate in solutions.France and Britain have pushed urgently for an end to the blockade since a deadly raid last week on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Nine activists were killed in an Israeli commando mission.Earlier Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said he spoke by phone to Israel's prime minister and urged him to accept an international inquiry commission into the deadly raid. Hague also said he spoke to Israel's defense minister about the need for an investigation.Israel's ambassador to the U.S. has said Israel rejects the idea.
Vatican says world ignores Christians in Mideast By VICTOR L. SIMPSON and MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS, Associated Press Writers – Sun Jun 6, 2:03 pm ET
NICOSIA, Cyprus – The Vatican said Sunday that the international community is ignoring the plight of Christians in the Middle East, and that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and political instability in Lebanon have forced thousands to flee the region.A working paper released during Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to Cyprus to prepare for a crisis summit of Middle East bishops in Rome in October also cites the extremist current unleashed by the rise of political Islam as a threat to Christians.The paper said that the line between religion and politics is blurred in Muslim countries, relegating Christians to the precarious position of being considered non-citizens, despite the fact that they were citizens of their countries long before the rise of Islam.The key to harmonious living between Christians and Muslims is to recognize religious freedom and human rights, it said.In his final Mass in Cyprus on Sunday, Benedict said he was praying that the October meeting will focus the attention of the international community on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs.He appealed for an urgent and concerted international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to greater bloodshed.
The Vatican considers mostly Greek Orthodox Cyprus as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East and invited bishops to come to the Mediterranean island to receive the working paper.The pope said Cyprus can play a particular role in promoting dialogue and cooperation in the region.A meeting between the pope and a Muslim leader was scrapped after the Turkish Cypriot official was delayed crossing the United Nations-controlled buffer zone that divides the island between ethnic Turks and Greeks, the Vatican said.Yusuf Suicmez, the head of Turkish Cypriots' religious affairs department, said he had hoped to pray with the pope for peace and brotherhood. Benedict briefly met with another Turkish Cypriot Muslim leader on Saturday as part of efforts to talk to both sides of the island's decades-old conflict and help foster reconciliation.Cyprus was ethnically split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent republic in the north in 1983, but only Turkey recognizes it, and it maintains 35,000 troops there.The island's Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu resumed long-running reunification talks in May after a two-month pause for the poll. The talks have yielded only limited progress so far.Benedict has tread a careful diplomatic path since arriving Friday on the island, but he made a poignant appeal for peace before leaving.The pope said he saw for himself the sad division of the island and that he was deeply moved by the pleas of Cypriots who wished to return to homes in the north that were lost during the war.Let me encourage you and your fellow citizens to work patiently and steadfastly with your neighbors to build a better and more certain future for all your children,the pope said.
A group of around 100 Orthodox Christian demonstrators earlier staged a peaceful protest against Benedict's visit outside the Nicosia sports stadium where the pope presided over Mass, holding aloft banners calling the pope a heretic.The Vatican estimates there are about 17 million Christians from Iran to Egypt, and that while many Christians have fled, new Catholic immigrants — mostly from the Philippines, India and Pakistan — have arrived in recent years in Arab countries to work as domestic or manual laborers.The 46-page document said input from clerics in the region blamed the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories for inhibiting freedom of movement, the economy and religious life, alleging that access to holy places is dependent on military permission that is sometimes denied on security grounds. It also complained that some Christian fundamentalists use biblical texts to justify Israel's occupation making the position of Christian Arabs an even more sensitive issue.The document said the rise of political Islam in Arab, Turkish and Iranian societies and its extremist currents are clearly a threat to everyone, Christians and Muslims alike.The Vatican expects about 150 bishops to attend the Oct. 10-24 meeting in Rome.
Israel deports seven aid ship passengers to Jordan
by Kamal Taha – Sun Jun 6, 7:59 am ET
ALLENBY BRIDGE, Jordan (AFP) – Israel deported to Jordan on Sunday seven of those who were on board the Rachel Corrie aid ship which tried to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza, an AFP correspondent at the border said.A Cuban and six Malaysians -- member of parliament Mohd Nizar Zakaria, two TV3 television journalists and three staff of the Perdana Global Peace organisation -- crossed the Allenby Bridge into the kingdom and were received by Jordanian officials.We are very disappointed because the whole idea was to get to Gaza. We should emphasise that we came with a message of hope and peace, Mattias Chang of Perdana told AFP.They did not use force with us. There was no necessity to use force against us.Chang said the organisation, chaired by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, will try to go to Gaza again.We will not stop. We will try to have another mission to bring aid to Gaza and break the siege. Israelis, Palestinians, all must come together and stop the violence,he said.We are very sad for the loss of lives. I think that a clear message should be sent to Israel through the media of the world: Don't do that any more, don't use the gun.Eleven others detained on board the aid ship by Israeli troops were due to fly out of Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv. They comprise Irish nationals, including Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire, six Filipinos and the ship's Scottish captain.
Israeli forces intercepted and seized control of the Rachel Corrie on Saturday as it tried to reach the Gaza Strip, without use of force like that on Monday when nine people were killed as commandos stormed an aid flotilla.We are very sad for the people of Gaza. We wanted to go there and help in any way to bring them the aid, Chang's colleague Ahmad Faizal said.We are very relieved now that we are able to go back home. The Israelis have made us wait under the burning sun for several hours.The Irish-owned 1,200-tonne Rachel Corrie was escorted into the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, and the activists and crew taken to Holon immigration centre near Tel Aviv for questioning before being deported.Israel deported an Indonesian journalist on Sunday who had been among the passengers wounded on Monday in the interception of the flotilla.Surya Fachrizal, 28, was shot in the upper right chest, an Indonesian embassy official said, adding that the journalist was to be admitted to hospital in the Jordanian capital Amman before being flown home.A group of Fachrizal's Indonesian friends, who had been among 126 people deported by Israel to Jordan on Wednesday, gave him a warm welcome at the border, chanting Allahu Akbar and carrying national flags.Monday's operation has sparked global outrage, and many countries, including Jordan, which singed a 1994 peace treaty with Israel, have called for an international probe.Israel has blockaded the impoverished and overcrowded Gaza Strip since militants captured a soldier in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006. It further tightened its grip after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the territory the following year.
UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes has said the disastrous raid should be used as an opportunity to press Israel to change its policy on Gaza. We very much want to see what's happened -- or use what's happened, tragic as it is -- as an opportunity to try to ... persuade Israel to change policy, Holmes told AFP in Sydney, describing the blockade as unacceptable, counterproductive, (and) very damaging for the people of Gaza.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;(ISRAEL) for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you,(ISRAEL) and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
ZECHARIAH 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
JEREMIAH 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:(ISRAEL) and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,(ISRAEL) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
Israel mulls flotilla probe but soldiers off limits by Patrick Moser - JUNE 9,10 11:12 AM
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Wednesday was discussing the format of an investigation into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted soldiers would be off-limits.Israel was in talks with several members of the international community about the investigation, Netanyahu said, stressing that it should focus on the pro-Palestinian activists who fought the naval commandos with knives and clubs.He insisted the soldiers involved would only answer to the Israeli military, saying that is how the armed forces of our friends in the world always act and that is how we shall also act.Israel has been trying to work out how to get US backing for a limited probe of the deadly raid and reportedly was considering easing its blockade on Gaza, which the activists had hoped to break.Netanyahu stressed that Israel already knew the facts and that investigators should look at questions which the international community prefers to ignore.Who was behind the group of extremists on the deck of this ship? Who financed this gang? How did axes, clubs, knives and other weapons find their way on board the ship? What were large sums of money doing in the pockets of these people on deck and for whom was this money intended?
He spoke after he and the other members of the Forum of Seven senior ministers met behind closed doors to discuss the mandate of the proposed investigating team in the face of world calls for a far wider probe.
Israel appears particularly keen to get US backing for the plan, which could help deflect harsh criticism of the commando operation in international waters off the Israeli coast.Contacts are continuing with Washington to obtain its approval over the outlines of such a commission, a senior official said.The plan in its current form entails a panel of Israeli jurists, joined by an American and a European observer, media reported.The Haaretz daily said the panel would lack powers such as the right to issue subpoenas, and that its recommendations would not be binding.The raid on the ships plunged Israel into a diplomatic crisis and led Netanyahu to postpone a trip to Washington.He now plans to meet US President Barack Obama later this month, following a visit by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who was expected at the White House later on Wednesday.The talks come as the deadly raid turned the spotlight on the blockade which Israel imposed on Gaza in 2006 after the capture of one of its soldiers and tightened the following year when the Islamist Hamas movement seized power.We have always called for the lifting of the blockade, Vladimir Putin told AFP in an interview.Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease the blockade in return for the international community agreeing to a limited probe into the raid.In Jerusalem, the seven ministers reportedly discussed a possible easing of the blockade while officials in Washington said Obama would discuss with Abbas specific projects to relieve the plight of the people of Gaza.International opposition to the blockade has gained momentum in recent days.
Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has said it will soon unveil a proposal for the lifting of the blockade, while France has suggested the European Union inspect the cargoes of ships heading to Gaza as well as maintain a presence at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Hamas said on Tuesday that it is not opposed to the idea of EU inspections provided there is no interference by Israel.The closure of the Gaza Strip prevents all but basic goods from entering the territory and severely limits the ability of Palestinians to travel in and out. Israel has recently authorised the delivery of snacks and some other previously restricted goods into Gaza, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.But Israel maintains an embargo on many badly needed construction materials and industrial goods.Israel says the blockade is necessary to contain Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, and to prevent the smuggling of weapons. Critics slam it as collective punishment of Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Netanyahu says ready to testify in flotilla inquiry By Jeffrey Heller - JUNE 9,10
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he was willing to testify in an inquiry Israel intends to hold into its deadly raid on a convoy of aid ships bound for the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.A formal Israeli announcement of an investigation of the May 31 bloodshed awaits the conclusion of consultations with Israel's main ally, the United States, on a format for the probe, Israeli officials said.We will be prepared to appear and give all the facts, Netanyahu said in a speech, mentioning himself, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, the military's chief of staff.Israeli commandos killed nine Turks, including one who also held U.S. nationality, after boarding the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and being swarmed by pro-Palestinian activists with clubs and knives.The bloodshed triggered an international outcry and strained relations between Israel and its once-close Muslim ally, Turkey. Israel called the troops' actions self-Defense.Turkey described the killings as state-sponsored terrorism.Amid world pressure to ease its Gaza blockade and agree to a U.S.-backed U.N. call for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation,Israel has expressed willingness to involve foreign observers in its own inquiry.
QUESTIONS
The examination must include answers to questions that some in the international community prefer to ignore: Who was behind the extremist group on the ship's deck? Who sponsored its members? Netanyahu said.All of the nine dead on the Mavi Marmara were members or volunteers for the Foundation for Human Rights and Freecoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH).The IHH says it is an Islamic charity group funded entirely by donations. Israel says the IHH supports Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and other militant Islamist groups. But it does not classify the IHH as a terrorist organization.The world needs to know the whole picture, Netanyahu said. And we will make sure the whole picture comes to light.He said Israel's investigation would also focus on how axes, clubs, knives and other light weapons were brought on board the ship and on the very large sums of money he contended were found in the pockets of those people on deck.The Israeli military has announced its own investigation, focusing on the operational aspects of a raid seen by many in Israel as a fiasco in which planners failed to gauge the strength of resistance on board.Netanyahu, echoing remarks made by a spokesman on Tuesday, said officers and soldiers would not testify at the government-ordered inquiry, which would rely on the statements they made to the military panel.Israel says its Gaza blockade is necessary to limit weapons smuggling to Hamas.The U.N. says the Israeli embargo, which includes a ban on cement crucial for reconstruction after the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war, has caused a humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Israel rejects the allegation, citing its frequent shipments of fuel and medical aid into the area.(Editing by Diana Abdallah)
Israel eases Gaza blockade on some banned foods By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer - JUNE 9,10
JERUSALEM – Israel eased a three-year blockade of Gaza Wednesday to allow in some previously banned food items in an effort to defuse the worldwide furor over its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound international flotilla. But critics said the step falls far short of what is needed in the impoverished Palestinian territory.In the first tangible step to temper the uproar caused by last week's raid, Israel only narrowly expanded the list of items that can enter by adding little more than snack foods and spices. It did not permit the most sought after items, such as cement, steel and other materials needed to rebuild the war-devastated territory and it was unlikely to ease international pressure.The international community is united in seeking an urgent and fundamental change in Israel's policy of blockading Gaza, said Maxwel Gaylard, the U.N.'s most senior humanitarian official in the Palestinian territories. A modest expansion of the restrictive list of goods allowed into Gaza falls well short of what is needed. We need a fundamental change and an opening of crossings for commercial goods.Israeli officials said the move was meant to defuse pressure for an international investigation of the May 31 raid. The clashes broke out after Israeli naval commandos boarded one of six ships on the flotilla and some of the hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on board attacked them with pipes and other makeshift weapons. The Israelis killed nine.The clash drew attention to the blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt to punish and isolate Hamas militants who seized power of Gaza in 2007. Hamas does not recognize Israel, and refuses to renounce violence. Israel also wants to put pressure on Hamas to release a captured Israeli soldier it has held for four years.
The blockade prevents all but basic humanitarian items and consumer goods from getting in, bars exports and prevents the import of goods such as metal cans and tubs of margarine needed for industrial production.Israel says the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas, a group that has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, from rearming. It claims construction materials such as cement or metal could be used for military purposes.Gaza has been mired in poverty for decades but the closure deepened the misery, erasing tens of thousands of jobs and preventing the area from repairing damage from a fierce Israeli military offensive last year launched in response to years of Hamas rocket attacks from the territory.Palestinian official Raed Fattouh, who coordinates the flow of goods into Gaza with Israel, said soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies and candy were now permitted. He said military officials began approving the expanded list of permitted products in meetings with Palestinian liaison officials last week.Fattouh said Israeli officials rebuffed Palestinian requests for construction goods, raw materials for factories to operate and medical devices.I think Israel wants to diffuse international pressure, said Fattouh.They want to show people that they are allowing things into Gaza. But it's not important for Gaza. The important thing for us is construction materials, electrical goods, notebooks, many things.A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the gesture was not worth commenting on.An Israeli government official said authorities would continue to ease the blockade but could not lift the embargo altogether as long as Hamas remains in control.The Israeli officials all spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal government announcement.Some of the items banned from Gaza seem arbitrary. Basic foodstuffs such as instant coffee and coriander were barred as luxury items, while more expensive foods such as herbal tea, salmon steaks and low-fat yogurt were permitted.
Sari Bashi, an Israeli human rights advocate whose group, Gisha, has led criticism of the blockade, called Israel's easing a cosmetic gesture.We are pleased that juice and sesame paste are no longer considered threats to Israeli security, but Israel needs to let in raw materials necessary to allow Gaza residents to engage in dignified, productive work, she said.Israel has rejected calls for an international investigation into the raid, fearing it would be biased against the Jewish state. Instead, officials are working on a formula for an investigation to be run by Israelis while including some international observers. Israel has been seeking U.S. support for this approach, but so far has not been able to reach a formula. We are conferring with various factors in the international community regarding the appropriate process of investigation that will expose the facts on the Gaza flotilla. We know the truth, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an investors' conference.Netanyahu said he, along with top government and military officials, would be willing to appear before the probe, but said it must look at key questions about the activists that clashed with the soldiers. Israel alleges they were hired mercenaries.
Obama to discuss Gaza's plight with Abbas
Wed Jun 9, 7:23 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama will discuss specific projects to improve the plight of the people of Gaza Wednesday as he welcomes Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to the White House, officials said.Abbas will meet Obama at the Oval Office with already volatile Middle East politics roiled by the aftermath of the deadly May 31 Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of boats seeking to beat the Gaza blockade.The Palestinian leader arrived in Washington on Tuesday, directly from Turkey, which fiercely condemned the raid that killed nine Turkish activists. He has called on Obama to make bold decisions to jump-start peace moves in the Middle East.The United States has joined other foreign governments and the United Nations in calling for an inquiry into the raid with an international component, saying it was key to any investigation's credibility.But Israel has rejected any international probe into the affair, a topic likely to feature in Obama's talks with Abbas.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said his country would raise the controversial issue of who should investigate the incident at the UN and called for an end to the Jewish state's blockade of the tiny Gaza Strip.He called Israel's boarding of an aid ship in international waters a crude violation of international law.At the White House, Obama and Abbas will discuss steps to improve life for the people of Gaza, including US support for specific projects to promote economic development and greater quality of life,a US official said.
Obama also wants to discuss a long-term strategy for progress that we will advance through consultations with the Palestinians, Israelis, Egyptians and other partners, the official added on condition of anonymity.Despite the fallout from the Gaza raid, the pair will consider how to forge progress in proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians mediated by US envoy George Mitchell.We look forward to engaging with President Abbas to move the process forward so that we can get to direct talks to address all the final status issues,the official said.Obama will also renew his call on Israelis and Palestinians to ensure that neither side take provocative steps that could stand in the way of progress,according to the official.Abbas will meet with Obama a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his own White House trip to deal with the fallout from the Gaza crisis.The Palestinian leader set a clear rhetorical framework last week for his long-awaited summit with the US president.My message to Obama during our meeting in Washington next week will be that we need bold decisions to change the face of the region, he said at an investment conference in the West Bank.Abbas is also scheduled to meet with US lawmakers and National Security Adviser James Jones.
Former U.S. envoy favors talking to Hezbollah By Susan Cornwell – Tue Jun 8, 7:02 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States should talk to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, former U.S. diplomat Ryan Crocker said on Tuesday. But current U.S. officials rejected dealing with the group listed as a terrorist organization by Washington.Crocker, who was U.S. ambassador in Baghdad from 2007 to 2009, suggested Washington should engage with Hezbollah in the same way that Americans had engaged with some former Sunni insurgents in Iraq. As a result, they turned against al Qaeda helped and reverse the tide of sectarian conflict.One thing I learned in Iraq is that engagement can be extremely valuable in ending an insurgency, Crocker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.We cannot mess with our adversary's mind if we are not talking to him,Crocker said. Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese political landscape, and we should deal with it directly.Hezbollah, meaning Party of God in Arabic, shares the Shi'ite Islamist ideology of Iran. It was set up with the help of Iranian Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli forces that invaded Lebanon in 1982 and aims ultimately to destroy the Jewish state.It is now part of a national unity government in Lebanon, and also the most powerful military force there. It still has strong support from Tehran and is also backed by Damascus.Crocker's suggestion followed recent comments by White House official John Brennan that the Obama administration wanted to build up moderate elements in Hezbollah.But State Department officials at Tuesday's hearing denied U.S. policy was in flux. We do not ... think that there is any room right now for engagement with Hezbollah, said Daniel Benjamin. the department's counter-terrorism coordinator.I don't anticipate that policy changing,said Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He said Washington could rethink its policy if Hezbollah would stop maintaining a militia, drop terrorist activities and evolve into a normal part of Lebanon's political fabric.Hezbollah fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006. Recently Israel accused Syria of arming Hezbollah with long-range Scud missiles capable of hitting deep inside Israel.Crocker, one of Washington's most experienced Middle Eastern hands before he retired last year, also urged senators to confirm a new ambassador to Syria. President Obama's nominee, Robert Ford, has stalled in the Senate amid concerns that Syria may have transferred Scuds to Hezbollah.(Editing by Alan Elsner)
Israel isolated as Mideast-Asia forum condemns ship raid by Nicolas Cheviron – Tue Jun 8, 4:52 pm ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Asian and Middle Eastern leaders united in condemning an Israeli deadly raid on Gaza-bound aid ships at a security summit Tuesday, as host nation Turkey warned Israel was isolated in the region.Twenty-one states -- all the members of the CICA Asia security forum except Israel -- backed the text issued in Istanbul denouncing the May 31 assault on on a flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean.The presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, as well as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas were among the leaders present for the summit.
Together they expressed their grave concern and condemnation for the actions undertaken by the Israeli Defence Forces and denounced a blatant violation of international law.The states said they deeply deplored the killing of nine Turkish activists and lent support for the United Nations to set up an international commission to investigate the raid.This is a clear manifestation of how Israel has isolated itself,Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who chaired the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), told reporters.The raid on the flotilla seeking to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip sparked global outrage and plunged Israel's already strained ties with NATO member Turkey, once a close ally, into deep crisis.It is impossible for us to forgive the bloodshed, Gul said.This can be repaired a bit only if they (the Israelis) make up for that in an acceptable way. Otherwise, it is impossible for Turkey to forget that,he added.Ankara has recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and said that economic and defence ties with Israel would be reduced to a minimum level.
Putin said Russia would raise at the United Nations the controversial issue of who should investigate the Israeli raid, which he denounced as a crude violation of international law.We can't allow a new flame to flare up in the Middle East.... We will raise the issue at the United Nations, we're working at it,he told reporters.
Turkey said Monday that normalisation of ties with Israel would be out of the question if it failed to agree to an international probe, a move the Jewish state has so far rejected.On Tuesday Israel outlined plans to hold its own limited probes into the deadly raid, which will look exclusively into the legality of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and of the May 31 raid.But the United States, Israel's closest ally, on Tuesday added its voice to the chorus calling for an international probe, echoing similar remarks by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.Tuesday's condemnation was issued as part of the chairman's conclusions to the summit, since a formal joint declaration would have required a consensus, which Israel's participation made impossible, Gul said.Israeli leaders shunned the Istanbul event, although Israeli ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy took part.An overwhelming majority of the participants also called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons -- an appeal that appeared to target Iran, which the West suspects of secretly developing an atomic bomb, and Israel, widely believed to be the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power. The CICA group was set up in 2002 on a proposal by Kazakhstan to promote peace, security and stability in Asia.
With the admission of Iraq and Vietnam on Tuesday, the number of its members reached 22, some with a history of mutual hostility such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Its other members are Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. Turkey, a NATO member vying for European Union membership, has in recent years pushed for a greater say in the Middle East.Together with Brazil, it brokered a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran last month, but the proposed accord has been dismissed by the United States, which continues to push for fresh sanctions against Tehran. Ankara's improving ties with Iran and Syria, against the backdrop of simmering tensions with Israel, have led to concerns that its governing party, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement, is shifting the country away from the West.
Jewish settlers injured as clash with police
Tue Jun 8, 9:57 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli police came under attack by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, after authorities demolished two buildings put up by settlers without authorisation, police said.Eight officers were lightly injured when a crowd of about 150 settlers hurled rocks at police vehicles and tried to slash their tyres, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.He said 10 settlers were arrested but he had no information about any injuries. Public radio said 10 settlers were hurt by blows from batons or from tear gas inhalation.The confrontation broke out after two cabins at the entrance to the Beit El settlement near Ramallah were torn down because they were built without the necessary permits.In November, Israel announced a 10-month halt to new housing construction in the West Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem, following months of US pressure for a relaunch of peace talks with the Palestinians suspended after it launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
Obama calls Thomas Palestinian remarks offensive
Tue Jun 8, 7:59 am ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he considers veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas' remarks about Israel offensive.Asked during an interview with NBC about Thomas' comments urging Israel to get out of Palestine,Obama said he believes those statements were out of line.At the same time, he said he recognized Thomas' long service covering presidents dating back to John F. Kennedy.He said it was a shame that her career has ended in controversy, but called Thomas' retirement announcement the right decision.The 89-year-old Thomas retired Monday as a columnist for Hearst News Service.
Israeli president visits SKorea amid Gaza uproar By SANGWON YOON, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 8, 6:40 am ET
SEOUL, South Korea – Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a working-level summit amid concerns the visit's timing could negatively affect South Korea's diplomatic efforts to censure North Korea at the United Nations.Seoul appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Friday to punish Pyongyang, accusing its nuclear-armed neighbor of blowing apart one of its warships with a torpedo, killing 46 sailors. It was the first time Seoul has taken Pyongyang to the Security Council over an inter-Korean dispute, despite a history of being attacked by the North.South Korea has been working to garner international backing for the diplomatic action. Israel, meanwhile, has come under intense international criticism for its raid on a ship carrying aid to Hamas-ruled Gaza that killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American. Israel claims its troops acted in self-defense.South Korean media reports have voiced worry over possibly risking its diplomatic effort against North Korea at the U.N. by hosting Peres and potentially being seen as favoring Israel.Government officials hesitated to hold the summit amid growing international criticism of Israel, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Monday, citing unnamed officials at the presidential Blue House. Cho Hyun-jin, a presidential spokesman, declined to comment.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday on its Web site that the South Korean government lowered the status of Peres' trip from an official state visit to a routine working visit because of international pressure in the wake of Israel's deadly raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla. The report did not cite any sources.Peres' office strongly denied the claim, saying that the planned trip was originally meant as a working visit. A South Korean Foreign Ministry official backed up that view, saying the trip was never intended to be a state visit. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.Peres will meet South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday, according to the Blue House.They will discuss the political relationship between the two countries and the potential for increased economic and technological cooperation,Peres' office said. Peres will also tour several South Korean research and development centers.Peres had been scheduled to receive an honorary doctorate at Korea University and deliver a speech there during his trip, but both events were canceled, the South Korean Foreign Ministry official said. Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said Israeli Embassy officials in Seoul had pushed for the two events to take place, but they later gave up on the plan. He provided no reason.South Korea's official position on the raid has been one of regret for the loss of life during the incident,according to a Foreign Ministry statement on June 1. Seoul has called for negotiations through dialogue as it is the only solution toward peace in the region.In a reflection of sensitivities over the issue, Vietnam asked Peres to put off a scheduled working visit this week.
Israeli forces rappelled from helicopters onto six vessels in an international aid flotilla on May 31 to prevent them from breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza, imposed in 2007 after Hamas overran the territory. Violence broke out on one of the ships, with video footage from the Israeli military and Turkish TV showing passengers with metal bars attacking Israeli soldiers descending on ropes onto a Turkish ship.Israel claims its troops acted in self-defense against the attackers. A preliminary autopsy report released by Turkey on Saturday said the nine men killed were shot a total of 30 times.Kim, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Peres' trip to South Korea was decided before the incident.Associated Press writers Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Israeli patrol kills four militants in diving suits By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Mon Jun 7, 4:26 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli naval patrol killed at least four Palestinian militants in diving gear off the Gaza coast on Monday, Hamas security officials and the Israeli army said.An Israeli naval patrol spotted a boat with four men in diving suits on their way to carry out a terror attack and fired at them, an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that the patrol had confirmed hitting its targets.The spokesman did not say what the army thought was the intended objective of the divers.
Hamas security sources said four bodies had been found and a fifth man was missing and presumed dead.The incident occurred eight days after Israeli marines killed nine Turks in violent confrontations on a Turkish cruise ship which was part of a six-vessel convoy that set out to challenge an Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.A second attempt by pro-Palestinian activists to break the blockade on Gaza was stopped on Saturday by the Israeli navy without incident.Israeli media said Monday's sea patrol was carried out by naval commandos from the same unit that boarded the Gaza-bound ships last week. The military spokesman declined to comment on this.In a second incident in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Hamas security and medical officials said an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a group of militants in an open area near Gaza City, seriously wounding one man.An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that a missile had targeted a group of militants trying to fire a rocket at Israel.Palestinian militants in Gaza frequently try to attack Israeli border patrols and sporadically fire rockets and mortar bombs at Israel. The military spokesman said that more than 10 had been launched at Israel in the past three weeks.
Attempts to attack from the sea are rare, however.In February, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza sent explosive devices, thought to be primitive sea mines, out to sea intending to hit naval vessels. At least three devices washed up on Israeli beaches and were detonated by sappers.(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
France seeks to stop hate incitement by Gaza TV
Mon Jun 7, 12:38 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – The French government has asked its broadcasting authority to put an end to incitement to hatred on a Hamas-run television station broadcast via a Paris-based satellite company, officials said Monday.Foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said that France had received a warning from the European Commission that Al-Aqsa TV, which is accused of inciting hatred of Jews and Israelis, had repeatedly breached European rules.The station, broadcast via the Eutelsat satellite operator, shows programmes which incite hatred or violence for reasons of religion or nationality,Valero told reporters.He said French authorities were confident the CSA broadcast authority would take rapid action to ensure content broadcast via satellites owned by French-based firms and beamed into the EU respected French and EU law.The CSA in 2008 and 2009 warned Eutelsat about breaching French laws that ban incitement to hatred, but these warnings did not lead to any change in the content broadcast via its satellites.
Eutelsat said in a statement that it had always strictly complied with decisions taken by the CSA.In 2008 and in 2009, when the CSA informed us of its decisions concerning Al Aqsa, we immediately contacted our client Noorsat, the operator which handles the broadcasting of the Al Aqsa channel within its bouquet of programmes, it said.Eutelsat at that time stressed to Noorsat the necessity for the Al Aqsa channel to comply with EU directives, the firm said.Al Aqsa TV is run by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Turkish PM presses for Palestinian unity, says ready to help
Mon Jun 7, 11:47 am ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday urged for reconciliation between feuding Palestinian factions and said Ankara was ready to help.Healing the rift between the Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip,is a must, Erdogan said, adding that Hamas welcomed a mediation role for Ankara.He made the remarks in comments on the situation in the Middle East in the wake of an Israeli raid last week on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which claimed the lives of nine Turks and plunged Turkish-Israeli ties into deep crisis.Divisions should not persist in the current circumstances... I believe we can secure peace between Hamas and Fatah, he said at a joint news conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Istanbul for a regional security meeting.Hamas officials are giving us the required mandate on this issue and they are telling us that they want the problem to be resolved.
We have to see the same approach from Fatah and I'm going to have a meeting (with them) in a while,he said, referring to scheduled talks with Abbas, who was also in Istanbul.Erdogan reiterated that Hamas -- viewed by Israel and the West as a terrorist group -- should not be excluded from peace efforts.No one in the international community has the authority to put Hamas and Fatah on different status... Saying that Fatah is a group that one can talk to and dismissing Hamas as a terrorist organisation is a very serious mistake,he said.In an angry tirade against Israel over the bloody ship raid, Erdogan said Friday he did not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation, describing the group as resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land.Ankara has previously urged the armed group, which calls for the destruction of Israel, to renounce violence and engage in peaceful politics.In February 2006, Ankara angered Israel when it hosted Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal in what Turkish officials defended as an effort to press the militant group to lay down arms.
Free Gaza Movement to close Cyprus office in protest
Mon Jun 7, 9:48 am ET
NICOSIA (AFP) – A pro-Palestinian group which helped organise the Gaza aid flotilla intercepted by the Israeli navy in a raid which cost nine lives last week on Monday announced the closure of its headquarters in Cyprus.In protest at the lack of cooperation with the mission from the Cyprus government, the Free Gaza Movement's office is to close down on Tuesday and relocate at a later date to London.The Cyprus government banned ships and passengers from leaving the island to join the sea convoy which was anchored off the island before heading for Gaza when it came under Israeli attack in international waters on May 31.We leave tomorrow (Tuesday) and the office will be closed because we feel we are not welcome anymore on Cyprus and the government has made that clear, the movement's Audrey Bomse told AFP.She said her group had not been informed in advance of a secretive executive order banning the use of Cyprus as a staging post for the attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
If we knew about it, we would never have brought European MPs to Cyprus to join the flotilla,she said.Bomse said Cyprus had cooperated with several past missions to break the blockade by sea, allowing the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) to ferry passengers headed for Gaza into international waters.This time, the government said it issued the ban to protect the island's vital interests, although it has joined international criticism of Israel's deadly intervention as a criminal act.FGM is a registered charity in Cyprus with an office established on the island since December 2008.If this is how they treat Cypriot charities, it's time we moved elsewhere, said Bomse.The pro-Palestinian group has used Cyprus as platform to challenge the Israeli blockade on Gaza since August 2008, managing to breach the siege on five out of nine attempts to date including last week's bid.The group says it will still continue to challenge Israel's sea blockade but not from Cyprus.
Iran Red Crescent to send three aid ships to Gaza by Farhad Pouladi – Mon Jun 7, 6:55 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – The Iranian Red Crescent said on Monday that it will send three aid ships to Gaza in the latest bid to break the blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory by Iran's archfoe Israel.It will also send a plane carrying 30 tonnes of medical equipment to Egypt for onward delivery to Gaza.Red Crescent director for international affairs Abdolrauf Adibzadeh told Iranian media that two ships would leave for Gaza this week, followed at a later date by a third vessel.The first two ships will head to Gaza in coordination with the Turkish government.Of the two ships, one will carry 70 aid workers such as nurses and medics and the other will have foodstuffs and medicines,Adibzadeh was quoted as saying on the state television website.The (two) ships will be sent to Gaza by end of this week,Adibzadeh told the state IRNA news agency.The news agency said the third vessel would be equipped with an onboard operating theatre and would head for the Palestinian territory at a later date.Adibzadeh said the Red Crescent had called for Iranian volunteers to act as relief workers and accompany the first two vessels.The head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Abolhassan Fakhi, told the Fars news agency that 20,000 volunteers had already registered over the past three days.Adibzadeh said an aid plane would leave in a short time for Egypt in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent.The Iranian Red Crescent had previously sent an aid ship carrying food and medicines to Gaza in December 2008 but it was prevented from reaching the territory by the Israeli navy.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said such aid ships were symbols of the protest movement against the blockade.If this symbolic campaign continues, it will result in the surrender of the Zionist regime, which will certainly be one of its biggest defeats,the state television website quoted him as saying.The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, urged Gulf countries to follow Iran's example and send aid ships to Gaza, Fars reported.
The decision to send new aid to Gaza comes hot on the heels of a report that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards had expressed readiness to escort aid flotillas to Gaza.
If the respected leader of the revolution (supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) gives an order in this regard, the Revolutionary Guards' naval forces will take a practical step using their capability and equipment to escort flotillas to Gaza, Khamenei's aide in the Guards' naval wing, Ali Shirazi, told the Mehr news agency on Sunday.It was unclear, however, how the Guards would escort the flotillas as their naval wing is largely made up of speed boats and light vessels.Last week's Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla headed for Gaza, in which nine pro-Palestinian activitists died, has sparked outrage across the political spectrum in Iran. Blaming the United States, Britain and France for the deadly raid, Khamenei called for the prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad too lashed out at Israel, demanding that it face political sanctions for the raid. The animosity between Iran and its regional archfoe has only worsened under Ahmadinejad, with top Guards commanders repeatedly boasting that the elite force has missiles capable of reaching any target in Israel.
In turn, Israel, which has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has refused to rule out a resort to military action against Iran to prevent it aquiring a nuclear weapons capability.Iran denies any such ambition.
France: EU can check ships heading to Gaza
Sun Jun 6, 6:30 pm ET
PARIS – The European Union is willing to check cargo on board ships heading to the Gaza Strip if Israel ends its blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory, France's Foreign Minister said Sunday.Bernard Kouchner, who spoke after dinner with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in Paris, noted that the EU has had monitors deployed at Gaza's border crossing with Egypt at Rafah, and could do so again.We can check the cargo of ships heading toward Gaza — we can do it, we want to do it, we would gladly do it, Kouchner said, adding that the European Union should do more for the Mideast peace process.Hague said the EU will show no lack of willingness ... to participate in solutions.France and Britain have pushed urgently for an end to the blockade since a deadly raid last week on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Nine activists were killed in an Israeli commando mission.Earlier Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said he spoke by phone to Israel's prime minister and urged him to accept an international inquiry commission into the deadly raid. Hague also said he spoke to Israel's defense minister about the need for an investigation.Israel's ambassador to the U.S. has said Israel rejects the idea.
Vatican says world ignores Christians in Mideast By VICTOR L. SIMPSON and MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS, Associated Press Writers – Sun Jun 6, 2:03 pm ET
NICOSIA, Cyprus – The Vatican said Sunday that the international community is ignoring the plight of Christians in the Middle East, and that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and political instability in Lebanon have forced thousands to flee the region.A working paper released during Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to Cyprus to prepare for a crisis summit of Middle East bishops in Rome in October also cites the extremist current unleashed by the rise of political Islam as a threat to Christians.The paper said that the line between religion and politics is blurred in Muslim countries, relegating Christians to the precarious position of being considered non-citizens, despite the fact that they were citizens of their countries long before the rise of Islam.The key to harmonious living between Christians and Muslims is to recognize religious freedom and human rights, it said.In his final Mass in Cyprus on Sunday, Benedict said he was praying that the October meeting will focus the attention of the international community on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs.He appealed for an urgent and concerted international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to greater bloodshed.
The Vatican considers mostly Greek Orthodox Cyprus as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East and invited bishops to come to the Mediterranean island to receive the working paper.The pope said Cyprus can play a particular role in promoting dialogue and cooperation in the region.A meeting between the pope and a Muslim leader was scrapped after the Turkish Cypriot official was delayed crossing the United Nations-controlled buffer zone that divides the island between ethnic Turks and Greeks, the Vatican said.Yusuf Suicmez, the head of Turkish Cypriots' religious affairs department, said he had hoped to pray with the pope for peace and brotherhood. Benedict briefly met with another Turkish Cypriot Muslim leader on Saturday as part of efforts to talk to both sides of the island's decades-old conflict and help foster reconciliation.Cyprus was ethnically split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent republic in the north in 1983, but only Turkey recognizes it, and it maintains 35,000 troops there.The island's Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu resumed long-running reunification talks in May after a two-month pause for the poll. The talks have yielded only limited progress so far.Benedict has tread a careful diplomatic path since arriving Friday on the island, but he made a poignant appeal for peace before leaving.The pope said he saw for himself the sad division of the island and that he was deeply moved by the pleas of Cypriots who wished to return to homes in the north that were lost during the war.Let me encourage you and your fellow citizens to work patiently and steadfastly with your neighbors to build a better and more certain future for all your children,the pope said.
A group of around 100 Orthodox Christian demonstrators earlier staged a peaceful protest against Benedict's visit outside the Nicosia sports stadium where the pope presided over Mass, holding aloft banners calling the pope a heretic.The Vatican estimates there are about 17 million Christians from Iran to Egypt, and that while many Christians have fled, new Catholic immigrants — mostly from the Philippines, India and Pakistan — have arrived in recent years in Arab countries to work as domestic or manual laborers.The 46-page document said input from clerics in the region blamed the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories for inhibiting freedom of movement, the economy and religious life, alleging that access to holy places is dependent on military permission that is sometimes denied on security grounds. It also complained that some Christian fundamentalists use biblical texts to justify Israel's occupation making the position of Christian Arabs an even more sensitive issue.The document said the rise of political Islam in Arab, Turkish and Iranian societies and its extremist currents are clearly a threat to everyone, Christians and Muslims alike.The Vatican expects about 150 bishops to attend the Oct. 10-24 meeting in Rome.
Israel deports seven aid ship passengers to Jordan
by Kamal Taha – Sun Jun 6, 7:59 am ET
ALLENBY BRIDGE, Jordan (AFP) – Israel deported to Jordan on Sunday seven of those who were on board the Rachel Corrie aid ship which tried to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza, an AFP correspondent at the border said.A Cuban and six Malaysians -- member of parliament Mohd Nizar Zakaria, two TV3 television journalists and three staff of the Perdana Global Peace organisation -- crossed the Allenby Bridge into the kingdom and were received by Jordanian officials.We are very disappointed because the whole idea was to get to Gaza. We should emphasise that we came with a message of hope and peace, Mattias Chang of Perdana told AFP.They did not use force with us. There was no necessity to use force against us.Chang said the organisation, chaired by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, will try to go to Gaza again.We will not stop. We will try to have another mission to bring aid to Gaza and break the siege. Israelis, Palestinians, all must come together and stop the violence,he said.We are very sad for the loss of lives. I think that a clear message should be sent to Israel through the media of the world: Don't do that any more, don't use the gun.Eleven others detained on board the aid ship by Israeli troops were due to fly out of Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv. They comprise Irish nationals, including Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire, six Filipinos and the ship's Scottish captain.
Israeli forces intercepted and seized control of the Rachel Corrie on Saturday as it tried to reach the Gaza Strip, without use of force like that on Monday when nine people were killed as commandos stormed an aid flotilla.We are very sad for the people of Gaza. We wanted to go there and help in any way to bring them the aid, Chang's colleague Ahmad Faizal said.We are very relieved now that we are able to go back home. The Israelis have made us wait under the burning sun for several hours.The Irish-owned 1,200-tonne Rachel Corrie was escorted into the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, and the activists and crew taken to Holon immigration centre near Tel Aviv for questioning before being deported.Israel deported an Indonesian journalist on Sunday who had been among the passengers wounded on Monday in the interception of the flotilla.Surya Fachrizal, 28, was shot in the upper right chest, an Indonesian embassy official said, adding that the journalist was to be admitted to hospital in the Jordanian capital Amman before being flown home.A group of Fachrizal's Indonesian friends, who had been among 126 people deported by Israel to Jordan on Wednesday, gave him a warm welcome at the border, chanting Allahu Akbar and carrying national flags.Monday's operation has sparked global outrage, and many countries, including Jordan, which singed a 1994 peace treaty with Israel, have called for an international probe.Israel has blockaded the impoverished and overcrowded Gaza Strip since militants captured a soldier in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006. It further tightened its grip after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the territory the following year.
UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes has said the disastrous raid should be used as an opportunity to press Israel to change its policy on Gaza. We very much want to see what's happened -- or use what's happened, tragic as it is -- as an opportunity to try to ... persuade Israel to change policy, Holmes told AFP in Sydney, describing the blockade as unacceptable, counterproductive, (and) very damaging for the people of Gaza.
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