Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East DEC 24,08 by Patrick Moser
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The Catholic leader in the Holy Land Thursday prayed for Mideast peace, telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his sermon at midnight mass in Bethlehem, just a few meters from the grotto that marks the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born in a stable.On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns, he told pilgrims from around the world who celebrated Christmas in this Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.His words rang out as violence escalated in the Gaza Strip where fighters of the Hamas movement that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded with a deadly air raid.The silence of the grotto gives life to those whose voice has been suffocated by tears and who have sought refuge in silence and impotence, he told the crowd that packed the church, which included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The cry of the widows and the children is mixed with the noise of cannons and submachine guns, said Twal who delivered his sermon in his native Arabic and then again in French.
Peace, Twal said, is the solution for all conflicts and differences. War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability.The highest of walls do not assure security, he told the faithful, many of whom had driven through a gate at the eight-metre (26-feet) high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and forms part of the projected 700-kilometer West Bank separation barrier Israel says is needed for security.It was heartbreaking to see that wall, it's a blot on Israel, said Jessica Kelly, 22.She and her boyfriend Sean Wright, 30, both said they felt torn between the joy of Christmas and the sadness at the reality of the wall.The two students from Sydney were among thousands of Christians who flocked to Bethlehem.
Throughout the day, pilgrims prayed in the Church of the Nativity and the adjoining St Catherine's Church where midnight mass was celebrated.Others milled in Manger Square just outside, where Boy Scout marching bands kicked off celebrations playing hymns on bagpipes and drums.It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment, said Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest who was on a pilgrimage with his family.Souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling nativity scenes carved in olive wood, rosaries and religious trinkets.Elsa Marie Kierkegaard, a Dane who converted to Catholicism five years ago, was taken aback by what she felt was crass commercialism.It's like one big market, she said looking at the food stands, garlands of lights, synthetic pine trees and inflatable Santas.But the visitors, returning in the largest numbers yet since the 2000 start of the second Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer. Bethlehem welcomed over one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007 and the highest number since 1999, Palestinian officials said. The tourist boom is a welcome respite for the Palestinian territory, whose economic growth has been severely hurt by hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and the separation barrier that restrict movement of goods and people. In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in what he called a protest against the violence and the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians, he said in his sermon to about 200 faithful.
Christians celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem DEC 24,08 By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Christians celebrated Bethlehem's merriest Christmas in eight years Wednesday, with hotels booked solid, Manger Square bustling with families and Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperating to make things run smoothly.The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with Hamas-run Gaza. While revelers in Bethlehem launched pink fireworks from a rooftop, militants fired more than 80 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and villages, sending people scrambling for bomb shelters.The latest attacks, and an Israeli air strike on rocket-firers that killed one person and wounded two, appeared to have buried an unwieldy six-month cease-fire that expired last week.But 45 miles away, outside the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, good-natured crowds of pilgrims and townspeople gathered for the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday's highlight.Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal said in an address during the late-night service that true security comes from God.War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability. The highest of walls do not assure security, said Twal, the Catholic Church's top cleric in the Holy Land. Peace is a gift of God, and only God can give that peace.Pope Benedict XVI also celebrated Midnight Mass at the Vatican. In his Christmas address, the pontiff spoke of peace in Bethlehem, the land in which Jesus lived, and which he loved so deeply. And let us pray that peace will be established there, that hatred and violence will cease.Earlier, a dozen pilgrims from India, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and other countries sang impromptu renditions of Christmas carols. David Bogenrief, 57, of Sioux City, Iowa, played the trumpet.
Jesus was the prince of peace, and he can bring that peace to you. We pray for you, Bogenrief told a gaggle of children who gathered to listen.In Manger Square, vendors hawked roasted peanuts and Santa hats. Many in the square were Muslims out to enjoy their town's annual moment at the center of world attention.Bethlehem is like the soul of the universe, and it's like an explosion of love here, said Stefano Croce, 46, a fashion photographer from Rome, Italy.Bethlehem has suffered from the Israeli-Palestinian fighting of recent years, and is now surrounded on three sides by concrete slabs and fences — part of a barrier Israel has built against Palestinian suicide attackers, some of whom came from Bethlehem. The Palestinians see the barrier as a land grab and say it has strangled the town's economy.Emigration has cut the town's Christian population to an estimated 35 to 50 percent of its 40,000 people, compared with 90 percent in the 1950s.Israel has held peace talks over the past year with the moderate West Bank government of President Mahmoud Abbas, and the spirit of cooperation has allowed Palestinian forces a limited measure of independence in places like Bethlehem, under Israel's overall security control.
Eyad Sirhan, the Israeli military officer responsible for coordination in Bethlehem, said this week that he can talk to his Palestinian counterpart any time, 24 hours a day, about everything from police patrols to garbage collection. Every detail of the holiday preparations was meticulously discussed by the sides, Sirhan said.Safer times mean the Palestinians have counted more than 1 million visitors to Bethlehem so far this year, a rise of more than 20,000 from 2007.The situation is dramatically different in Gaza, controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas which seized the territory by force in June last year. An Israeli blockade prevents Gazans from leaving the territory and causes shortages of fuel and basic supplies.The missiles fired from Gaza are inaccurate and Israelis are well drilled in taking cover, so no one was injured Wednesday, though dozens were treated for shock. One target was Ashkelon, a Mediterranean city of 120,000. We demand the government take action, Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin told Israel's Channel 1 TV. People are hiding in bomb shelters and our children are taking cover under desks at school. This cannot continue.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, running for prime minister in February elections, said in a speech Wednesday: There is a point where every country and every leadership says — and this is what we say tonight as well — enough is enough.
Security officials said a big military campaign against Gaza militants had already been approved but was being delayed by bad winter weather. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Israel's military plans. Meanwhile, the military said, it has decided to hook up an improved warning system against missiles — an indication of mounting concern that Gaza militants have dramatically expanded their range. To protest Israel's blockade, the head of Gaza's tiny Roman Catholic community — 300 in a population of 1.4 million — canceled Christmas midnight Mass. Father Manuel Musallem said the parish would instead hold an evening mass. Associated Press Writers Anna Johnson in Bethlehem and Associated Press Writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.
Hamas rockets pound Israel as truce hopes fade by Sakher Abu El Oun Sakher Abu El Oun – Wed Dec 24, 4:57 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas fighters fired off a barrage of rockets on Wednesday against Israel, which retaliated with a deadly air raid in an escalation of Gaza violence that is dimming prospects of a new truce.Israel warned it would strike back if it continued to be hit from the impoverished Palestinian enclave, which has been under an increasingly tight Israeli blockade since the Islamists violently seized power in June 2007.Hamas is responsible for these rocket attacks, and it will pay a big price, said Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Israeli television Wednesday night.We will not allow this situation to last.Hamas gunmen launched more than 70 projectiles, the largest barrage since before an Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect in and around Gaza in June but expired five days ago.UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm about the violence and issued an urgent appeal for calm.But Hamas -- which said Wednesday's rocket fire was in retaliation for the killing of three militants the day before -- vowed to step up attacks if Israel responded with strikes against Gaza.(Israel) should know that any decision to attack the Gaza Strip will open the gates of hell and we will make you regret your stupidity with tears of blood, the group's armed wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said.Israel's stupidity will push us to expand (operations) and put in our line of fire thousands of new Zionists to defend the Palestinian people.Israel in turn warned it would hit back, although analysts said it was likely to be wary of major action ahead of a February election.
President Shimon Peres, on a visit to the town of Sderot which has borne the brunt of rocket attacks, said Israel's response must be measured, responsible and efficient.Israel's security cabinet met for five hours to discuss possible action, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert imposed a black-out.Late on Wednesday, Hamas fighter Yahi al-Shaaher, 23, was killed and four other Palestinians wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles near the southern town of Rafah, medics and witnesses said.An Israeli army spokesman said the raid targeted rocket-firing terrorists.Wednesday's rocket barrage did not cause injuries but sowed panic among Israelis living near Gaza. An alert system has been set up to warn towns and villages near the border of any imminent strike.Two of the rockets were longer-range Grads, which struck 13 kilometres (eight miles) north of Gaza, hitting a house and an amusement park in the city of Ashkelon, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Grads are not fired often by Gaza militants, who usually launch home-made projectiles dubbed Qassams, which have a shorter range and are less accurate.A UN statement said Ban was gravely concerned about the situation and that he condemned the rocket attacks, while also calling for an urgent easing of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Since Friday's expiry of the Egyptian-mediated truce, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza and Hamas warned it would retaliate by resuming suicide attacks inside the Jewish state. Israel, which considers Hamas a terrorist group as it is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, kept Gaza sealed on Wednesday. Aid groups have warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the tiny enclave, virtually cut off from the outside world since Hamas violently ousted its rivals from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction. They have repeatedly appealed to Israel to ease its blockade and allow shipments into Gaza, where most of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid. Mahmud Zahar, a hardline Hamas leader, said on Tuesday that the group was ready to renew the truce if Israel lifted its blockade and stopped raids.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was due to travel to Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the ceasefire. Both Israel and Hamas face delicate balancing acts in dealing with the escalation. Ahead of the election, the Israeli leadership is maintaining a tough line in public, but is wary of launching a large-scale offensive for fear it does not score a decisive victory against Hamas, analysts say. And Hamas, despite its bellicose public statements, does not want an all-out Israeli assault that could threaten its position, they say.
The Two-State Solution Now a Three-Way Stalemate By TONY KARON Tony Karon – Wed Dec 24, 2:30 pm ET
VP-Elect Bidens Brings Holiday Cheer To Wilmington CBS 3 Philadelphia President Bush had hoped to leave office with Israelis and Palestinians having agreed on a two-state peace solution. Instead, he'll leave behind a situation more akin to a three-state standoff primed to explode in a new bout of violence. And the embattled Palestinian leader upon whom the Bush administration has been depending in its peace efforts looks likely to see his role diminish even further.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who made a valedictory visit to the White House on Friday, has seen his political authority steadily enfeebled since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections almost three years ago, and then seized military control over Gaza 18 months later. Today, it is with Hamas that Israel has to deal - via Egyptian intermediaries - when it seeks to stop Palestinian rocket fire onto its territory. Abbas may enjoy the good offices of a lame-duck U.S. President, but he has been reduced once again to a powerless spectator as Israel and Hamas tussle over whether the tahdiyah truce, declared dead after six months by the militant group last week, will be revived.And there may be worse to come for Abbas. Although Hamas has continued to recognize Abbas as the legitimate President of the Palestinian Authority, that may be about to change. Abbas' presidential term expires on January 9. Although his own Fatah party makes a case that the term could legitimately be extended by another year, Hamas is having none of it. In the second week of 2009, it will no longer recognize Abbas as President, thereby formalizing the political divorce between the two Palestinian entities. Abbas has long since withdrawn recognition of the duly-elected Hamas government in the West Bank, which is controlled by his security forces in concert with the Israelis; now Hamas will formalize its de facto denial of Abbas' authority in Gaza.
As long as that duality persists, Israel will be able to argue that it has no Palestinian interlocutor capable of enforcing a peace agreement, even if it were in a mood to negotiate one - and it is unlikely to be if, as polls predict, February's Israeli election is won by hawkish Likud leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And both Fatah and Hamas believe that they will gain more politically at the expense of the other if there is no progress toward peace. (See images of Gaza border tension)Meanwhile, the dynamic between Israel and Hamas remains one of low-key violence that could erupt into a full-blown confrontation at any moment. Hamas last week announced that it would not renew the truce brokered by Egypt last summer, arguing that Israel had failed to restore the normal flow of commercial traffic into Gaza that the movement had been expecting. Israel claims it had reached no such understanding, and cites ongoing rocket fire from Gaza onto towns in southern Israel, which has dramatically escalated since an Israeli raid on November 5. Diplomatic efforts continue, however, and Hamas on Monday announced a 24-hour truce, at Egypt's request, to allow for further negotiations. Israeli politicians, in the thick of an election campaign, are under pressure to respond forcefully to the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza. But the Israeli military is reluctant to launch a full-blown invasion of Gaza because of the cost in civilian and military casualties, and because Israel lacks a plausible exit strategy and wants to avoid resuming responsibility for the territory. Hamas also wants to prevent a full-blown Israeli invasion, which would eliminate its capacity to govern even if it remained the premier resistance organization. But while both sides have an interest in containing their low-key war, the problem is that the rockets fired from Gaza are hardly precision-guided. The moment a missile hits a school or a bus, Israel's leaders will be compelled to launch a more robust military response. That, of course, may be what President Abbas - and others in the Arab world hostile to Hamas - are counting on, as the only plausible scenario for restoring Fatah's control over Gaza. Abbas has threatened to call new presidential and parliamentary elections if Hamas won't recognize him as president after January 9, but that's an empty threat. Hamas controls Gaza, and it rejects holding new parliamentary elections there ahead of schedule. And Abbas is hardly assured of winning a solid mandate even in the West Bank, where the Fatah party's retains control but is beset by an image of corruption. Calling an election on the West Bank would risk seeing a turnout so low as to make a mockery of the poll. With such dubious prospects for an election, the most likely scenario for changing the balance of power in Gaza remains Israeli military intervention.
The Palestinian Authority is expecting the Israeli Defense Force to go into Gaza and defeat Hamas, and then restore the control of Abu Mazen [Abbas], an Israeli security official tells TIME. But the Israeli security establishment is skeptical of Abbas' ability to maintain control in Gaza, and continues to see risk outweighing reward from an invasion - although that calculation could change very quickly if a rocket fired from Gaza inflicted mass casualties in Israel. Last week, the U.N. Security Council characterized as irreversible the Israeli-Palestinian talks that have been held at the behest of the Bush Administration over the past year. But they have simply been conversations that have resulted in no actual movement forward on the ground. The grim reality confronting all three sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the Obama Administration, in the New Year, is that the situation remains deadlocked, and that the stalemate will more likely be broken by a new round of violence than it is by any peace talks. With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem and Jamil Hamad/Bethlehem,View this article on Time.com
Pope to visit Holy Land in May by Patrick Moser Patrick Moser – Tue Dec 23, 7:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Holy Land in May on his first trip to the region as pontiff, Jerusalem's Latin patriach said on Monday.With joy we would like to announce to you the desire of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Holy Land as a pilgrim next May, Fuad Twal, the Catholic leader in the Holy Land, told reporters.It was the first official confirmation of Benedict's widely mooted trip to the region -- his first since being elected pope in 2005.The supreme pontiff wishes to pray with us and for us, and to acquire a first-hand knowledge of the hard conditions of our region, Twal said in his Christmas message.We are confident in the Lord that this pontifical pilgrimage and pastoral visit will be a blessing for all of us as well as a substantial contribution to better understanding among the various nations of the region, lifting the barriers and helping solve the problems, removing distress and consolidating good relations among people, religions and denominations, Twal said.He did not give specific dates. We are studying the programme with the local authorities, he said. Last week the Italian newspaper Il Foglio said the pope would travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories from May 8 to 15.
According to Il Foglio, the pope will celebrate mass in Jerusalem and again in Nazareth and Bethlehem where he will meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.No meeting is planned with representatives of the radical Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, the report said.Earlier in December, Israeli President Shimon Peres said he met a Vatican delegation to discuss preparations for a possible visit by Benedict to Israel next year.During a visit to Italy in September 2007, Peres invited the pope to Israel. The pope responded that he would be happy to accept the invitation, but no date was set.Already uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been further strained by the prospect that Nazi-era Pope Pius XII will be declared a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.The controversy, which has lingered for decades, resurfaced in October as the pontiff defended the memory of his wartime predecessor and said he hope his beatification -- the first step towards sainthood -- would go forward quickly.But, citing Jewish sensitivities, the Vatican later indicated that Benedict was holding off the beatification process.Peres has stressed that the row should not affect plans for the proposed papal trip.Benedict's visit will come at a time when Church leaders bemoan a shrinking Roman Catholic population in the Holy Land over recent years.Churches suffer from the ongoing emigration of the Christians due to the lack of peace and the deterioration of the political situation, Twal said.
He also railed against the greed, injustice, violence and persecution that he said beset the Holy City, as well as the building of settlements that strangle it.All this makes us anxious for the future of the Christian community in the Homeland of Christ, Twal said. Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit Israel, in 1964, and Pope John Paul II visited in 2000.
Olmert in Turkey for indirect Israel-Syria peace talks Mon Dec 22, 7:51 pm ET
ANKARA (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Monday to discuss the indirect talks that Turkey is mediating between the Jewish state and Syria.On his short visit to the Turkish capital, Olmert was expected to thank Turkey for its efforts to work out an eventual peace between the two neighbouring nations, which have been in a state of war since 1948, according to a diplomatic source.In a related development Erdogan told Hamas on Monday he would ask Olmert to lift the blockade of Gaza, a spokesman for the Islamist movement said.Ismail Haniya, the prime minister in the Hamas government of Gaza, had a telephone conversation with Erdogan who told him of his intention to ask Olmert to end aggressions and the siege of Gaza, spokesman Taher al-Nunu said.
Israeli and Syrian negotiators have met four times since May with Turkish diplomats in Istanbul, but so far without any evident results.However, the indirect talks are a sign that Turkey, a Muslim but secular state, wants to play a significant role in resolving the conflicts in the Middle East.Erdogan's chief adviser, Ahmed Davutoglu, an academic who holds the rank of ambassador, has visited Israel and Syria several times, as well as the Palestinian territories and the capitals of Arab states, to put out feelers if conditions are ripe for negotiating an accord.Olmert, who is resigning under the cloud of a corruption probe, said on Thursday that a peace accord with Syria was within the realm of possibility.He will remain in office until a new government is formed following Israel's legislative elections set for February 10.But the leading challenger to succeed him, opposition hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu, has dismissed Olmert's peace efforts, saying Friday any concessions he might make do not and will not obligate a government that I shall head.In exchange for peace, the Syrians want the return of all of the Golan Heights which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981, a move never recognised by the international community.Israel for its part is calling on Damascus to sever its ties with the current regime in Iran and stop its support for militants, namely the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movements.Olmert also met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and held a working dinner with Erdogan. No press conference had been announced.
Lebanon leaders put off reconciliation talks to New Year Mon Dec 22, 11:27 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon's feuding leaders on Monday postponed until the New Year talks about the arsenal of Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- the single most contentious issue in the country's fractious politics.On January 22, faction chiefs will hold a fourth round of talks on the issue which plunged Lebanon into devastating conflict with Israel in summer 2006, a statement from President Michel Sleiman's office said.It added the third round focused on the issue of the national defence strategy... and plans to form a committee of experts to find the conclusions and common denominators between the various proposals that were submitted.Three of the dialogue participants -- former president Amin Gemeyel, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Syrian-backed Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun -- submitted defense proposals at the meeting.Hezbollah put forward its own plan, one participant who requested anonymity told AFP.Mohamed Raad said during the meeting that Hezbollah also has a defence strategy it will submit on paper, the participant said.Hezbollah has faced sustained allegations of rearming illegally from Syria in breach of a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that brought the conflict to a close.Monday's session follows two rounds of talks in September and November and is being attended by 14 leaders representing each of the main parliamentary blocs.Lebanon endured a damaging 18-month political crisis that brought the country close to civil war earlier this year before a Qatari-brokered deal between the rival groups.
Hamas agrees to 24-hour truce in Gaza Mon Dec 22, 7:27 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza agreed on Monday to hold rocket and mortar fire against Israel for 24 hours at the request of Egyptian mediators, a leader of the Islamist group said.The militants in the Gaza Strip have accepted a calm for a 24-hour period following Egyptian mediation in excahnge for the delivery of aid from Egypt, Ayman Taha told AFP.
Israel tells UN it will respond to Gaza rocket fire Mon Dec 22, 3:12 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel notified UN chief Ban Ki-moon that it will respond to continuing rocket fire from Gaza following the expiry of a truce with Hamas, a foreign ministry official said Monday.Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev sent the letter to Ban on Sunday as part of a diplomatic campaign to garner international support for any offensive against the territory, the senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.(Israel) will not hesitate to react militarily if necessary to rockets fired by militants from the Gaza Strip, Shalev said in her letter, according to public radio.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the governing Kadima party, is due to soon meet with foreign ambassadors to Israel and to speak with her counterparts abroad, the official said.Violence around the impoverished Gaza Strip has steadily escalated since Friday, when Hamas said it would not renew a six-month truce with Israel.Since then, the army has carried out several air strikes, killing one militant, and Palestinians have launched several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, wounding a handful of people.On Sunday, Israeli officials threatened to launch a major offensive against the territory, which has been ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since June 2007.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
WESTBANK EVICTION
West Bank settler eviction offers warning, hope By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 21, 12:59 pm ET
HEBRON, West Bank – Israel's swift eviction of Jewish zealots from one of the most volatile West Bank flashpoints offers encouragement to people both inside and outside Israel who hope it is still possible to uproot settlers to make room for a Palestinian state.Israeli police and soldiers encountered little resistance this month when they expelled some 200 extremists from a contested house in Hebron, near the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of Muslims and Jews.But the shooting and arson attacks by settlers on Palestinians following the eviction were a reminder of how quickly the West Bank could plunge into violence, taking down any hopes of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.Removing tens of thousands of Jews from the West Bank as part of a peace accord is becoming an increasingly difficult proposition as radicals resort to violence to keep land they believe God promised them.An increasingly alienated minority of the 280,000 Jews who have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured it from Jordan in 1967 is taking matters into its own hands. They attack Palestinian civilians and Israeli troops every time the government acts against them, calling the operation price tag — meaning the toll they would exact in resisting evacuation.Some settlers worry that the extreme violence — including hurling rocks and bleach and firing weapons — could backfire, making it easier for Israelis to see them as the enemy and stomach using force against them.I believe that if Israel hates us, then they'll give up Judea and Samaria, settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.Still, settlers have been pushed back before, most notably when Israel evicted 8,500 from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Ephraim Sneh, former top military administrator of the West Bank, said settlers have used the threat of violence to compensate for weakened political influence.I believe that most Israelis understand that more than 90 percent of the West Bank should be evacuated. So in this sense, the political influence of the settlers is diminished, Sneh said.On the other hand, a very small but militant and fanatic group of settlers is trying to create a balance of horror vis-a-vis the government, he said.Many Israelis see a pullout of these settlers as their only escape from a demographic race they are bound to lose to the faster-growing Arab population.The fact that outposts haven't been evacuated in any serious way is a clear sign that the government is really afraid of the violent confrontations that would be involved, said Gershom Gorenberg, who has written extensively about the Jewish extremists who settle in West Bank territories.In March 2007, settlers moved into a house in the middle of a heavily populated Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron and defied government eviction orders for over a year.The only way security forces could remove them was to operate by stealth and strike when they thought they were on the verge of an agreement with the government, settler leader David Wilder said.Next time authorities might not find it so easy, he said.Rocket attacks on Israeli towns from Gaza, and Hamas' takeover of the territory following Israel's withdrawal, have emboldened those opposing further concessions.Also, Israel's removal of the settlers in West Bank territories might become harder if the nationalist Likud Party is returned to power in elections Feb. 10. Several of its candidates for parliament are ardent supporters of the settlers. Israeli governments are always reluctant to use guns or clubs on settlers, seeking instead to overwhelm the settlers in numbers. Three years ago, it took thousands of soldiers and police to knock down nine houses in the unauthorized outpost of Amona. More than 200 people were wounded, most of them soldiers and police. To empty the house in Hebron, hundreds of border police were mobilized. If it takes 2,000 cops to demolish nine houses in Amona, a huge contingent to evacuate a house in Hebron, how are you going to evacuate Ofra or Beit-El? Gorenberg asked, referring to older settlements with populations of 3,000 and more than 5,000 respectively. The settlers are trying strategic deterrence, he said, and he believes it's working. Would settlers who use weapons against Palestinians do so against their own army? No one can be sure, but Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's internal security service, has warned of a very high willingness among this public to use violence — not just stones, but live weapons — in order to prevent or halt a peace process.
Kuwait's Global says creditor response very good By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer – Sun Dec 21, 10:08 am ET
CAIRO, Egypt – The managing director of Global Investment House, Kuwait's largest investment bank, said Sunday its lenders were responding positively to debt restructuring efforts begun after two international agencies downgraded its credit rating on default worries.Samir El Alaily, Global's vice chairman, said the investment firm was meeting with about 20 banks in an effort to restructure short-term loans into medium-term positions that would enable us to weather the storm.The overall debt level in question was about 800 million Kuwaiti dinars ($2.86 billion) —far more than the single maturing loan of $200 million that resulted in the downgrades last week by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's.Global's downgrades were but one of several such moves in the oil-rich Gulf Arab nations as concerns mounted that the region's companies were overextended after years of spending and development fueled by hefty oil revenues in the region.Fitch had downgraded Global's long-term rating from BBB to C, and its individual rating from C to E after the firm missed the Dec. 15 repayment of the loan. S&P quickly followed suit, lowering the company's rating to SD/SD from BBB-A 3. The downgrade to selective default meant that some payments may not be made on some financial obligations, the rating agency said.Global scrambled to cover its position, appointing the Commercial Bank of Kuwait as an adviser while the Central Bank of Kuwait was working to secure a $1 billion loan for the investment bank, which manages assets totaling $10 billion.
We are sitting with the banks today, El Alaily told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an investment conference in Egypt. We think we will reach the settlement agreement with the banks very soon.It was a very good response, he said. Most of the banks have come, and most of them are willing to speak to us.El Alaily said the debt issue emerged from the bank being very active in treasury.About 60 percent of our profits are coming from proprietary investments, he said. Those investments are either trading on the secondary markets with shares, or we are leveraging ourselves when we invest in companies.With the sharp downturn in Kuwait's stock exchange, as well as other bourses regionally — a decline fueled by the global economic crisis — El Alaily said Global did not want to sell now fearing a big loss on our balance sheet.We want better paying terms, and we want to show a profit on our balance sheet, he said.Global is not alone in facing difficulties. Kuwait's Central Bank last month helped engineer a bailout of Gulf Bank — the country's second largest lender by assets — after it sustained over $1 billion in losses stemming from derivatives trading.Moody's Investors Service, in a report on the country's banking sector last week, warned of potential challenges stemming from the deteriorating global economic condition and the banks' exposure to the real estate sector.
Moody's said that exposure could weigh on (Kuwaiti banks') performance in the event that the observed slowdown continues and leads to rising loan delinquencies.The Gulf Arab region, including Kuwait, have seen a sharp uptick in property development recently, with a landscape that just decades ago was little more than desert quickly transforming into skylines that promise to house some of the world's tallest buildings.S&P last week said its revised its outlook on six of companies with ties to the Dubai government, DIFC Investments LLC, DP World Ltd, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group LLC, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, Jebel Ali Free Zone and JAFC Sukuk Ltd. Ratings for all six were lowered from stable to negative.S&P analyst Farouk Soussa said the medium-term risks to Dubai's economy have, in our view, increased as demand in the all-important real estate sector shows clear signs of abating, raising the possibility of a sharp correction in the real estate market, and an associated contraction in development and construction.
Palestinian leader Abbas visits Russia's Chechnya Sat Dec 20, 7:05 pm ET
GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived on Sunday in Grozny, capital of Russia's troubled region of Chechnya.Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed Abbas at the airport to take him to his residence along a road decorated with photos of their previous meetings.Kadyrov is seen by Chechens as dedicated to the revival of the Muslim religion and has met several influential Muslim leaders from Arab states.We feel at home here. We thank the Almighty that we came to the Chechen Republic, Abbas told journalists through an interpreter.Kadyrov, a former rebel who now declares loyalty to the Kremlin, held talks with Abbas during the haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.Chechnya, on Russia's southern border, is now relatively peaceful after two wars fought by separatist rebels and Islamist militants against Moscow's rule starting in 1994.Some analysts say that, in return for quelling rebel attacks, the Kremlin has let Kadyrov enforce some Islamic rules, such as requiring women working in government offices to wear headscarves and long skirts, and imposing periodic alcohol bans.A Kremlin spokesman in Moscow said Abbas would stay in Russia until December 22, when he was due to hold talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Egypt truck explodes in Gaza smuggling bid Sat Dec 20, 10:38 am ET
EL-ARISH (AFP) – A fuel tanker truck exploded in an Egyptian border town where it was unloading its 50,000 litre cargo for smuggling into the Gaza Strip, destroying four homes, a security official said.The fuel was being unloaded near a house to be smuggled into Gaza, the official said.Firefighters have been called in from the neighbouring cities to control the blaze, which is widespread, he said, adding that there were no casualties.Last month, Egyptian police said they seized a truck loaded with 170,000 litres (about 40,000 gallons) of fuel in El-Arish which traffickers had planned to smuggle into Gaza.Gaza is an impoverished coastal strip which has been under an Israeli blockade since the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group seized power there last year. It depends on whatever foreign aid is allowed in by Israel and by goods smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.Egyptians in Sinai have demonstrated against fuel shortages in the region, which they blame on the smuggling.Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza is the only passage into the territory not controlled by Israel. Egypt has refused to permanently open the border.The blockade of the territory has led to severe fuel shortages, power cuts and an ever worsening humanitarian situation.
International web services improve after cable cut Sat Dec 20, 10:19 am ET
PARIS (AFP) – A French ship on Saturday took experts to repair broken undersea Mediterranean cables that caused severe disruption to telephone and Internet services across the Middle East and Asia, France Telecom said.But many operators said communications services had improved as alternative routes had been used to carry calls and Internet information.The France Telecom cable ship Raymond Croze left Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, on Friday night and was expected to be on the scene of the damage, between Sicily and Tunisia, on Monday, a spokesman said.Egypt was one of countries worst affected by Friday's incident, but state news agency MENA reported that Internet communications there would be restored to more than half of normal capacity on Saturday.Egypt announced on Friday that it was re-routing Internet services to back-up cables and satellite.The disruption also affected countries as far away as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, but most reported services returning to normal on Saturday.
The cables are jointly owned by several dozen different countries. One cable is 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) long and links 33 different countries while a second is 20,000 kilometres long and serves 14 states.An official of Mumbai-based Reliance Communications blamed a ship's anchor dragging off the Egyptian port of Alexandria. France Telecom also said this was a probable cause of the disruption.
One cable appeared to be fully severed, while the other two seemed to be only partially cut, he added.France Telecom said that temporary re-routing of communications had reduced the disruption for clients, especially as traffic was lower at the weekend. Business communication links between Europe and India had been diverted via the United States.
Pilgrims bring Christmas joy to Bethlehem by Catherine Dupeyron Catherine Dupeyron – Fri Dec 19, 11:03 pm
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – Pilgrims are bringing Christmas joy to Bethlehem, flocking in large numbers to the traditional birthplace of Jesus where tourism had collapsed during the years of the Palestinian uprising.This year is the best since 2000, says Samir Hazbun, who heads the local chamber of commerce, pointing out that the West Bank city welcomed more than one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007.And Christmas will bring even more cheer, he said. All hotels in every category are full.That represents as many as 3,000 rooms and a sharp contrast to the violent days of the uprising that started in 2000.The city of 185,000 has put on its Christmas best to welcome the pilgrims.Garlands of flickering lights, synthetic pine trees, fake snow and other Christmas favourites give a festive, if somewhat commercial, feel to the city.Souvenir sellers, who expect to do a booming business in icons, carved Nativity scenes, crosses, rosaries and other religious items, set up inflatable Santas and blow-up snowmen outside their stores in a city that about 20,000 Christians call home.The atmosphere is good; the tourists have returned massively" said George Babul, sitting outside his Bethlehem Star Store. As church bells rang out, he briefly bowed his head and made the sign of the cross.A tour guide, giving only his first name, Mohammed, said being a guide has become a good job again. This year, I have worked almost every day.
Crowds of pilgrims thronged the Church of Nativity, built on the site where Jesus is said to have been born in a stable because there was no room at the inn.The boom is having a major impact on the city's tourism-driven economy and has brought unemployment down to 23 percent this year from 45 percent in 2002-2003.Last year was the first since 2000 that saw a significant influx of tourism, and the city shows signs of optimism about the future.The number of restaurants more than doubled in the course of this year -- jumping from 20 to 50 -- and three new hotels are under construction.Israeli authorities say they are going all out to ease obstacles to the flow of visitors to Bethlehem during the festive season.We believe, when it comes to tourism, there are no borders, says Deputy Director General Raphael Ben-Hur.But an eight-metre (25 foot) high concrete wall separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem, just five kilometres (three miles) to the north.The wall, which runs for several hundred meters (yards) along the edge of the city, is part of Israel's controversial barrier erected in the West Bank after the Palestinian uprising.
Bush says peace talks have yielded progress By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer –Fri Dec 19, 5:46 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush, poised to finish his presidency without the Mideast peace deal he once said was in reach, declared Friday that Israelis and Palestinians have still made great strides toward settling decades of conflict.No question, this is a hard challenge, Bush said in the Oval Office alongside the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. But nevertheless, people must recognize that we have made a good deal of progress.Abbas concurred: Some might say that all these efforts perhaps went in vain. I happen to disagree.In what was likely their last face-to-face meeting before Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, the two men sought to praise each other and emphasize what's been gained, not the opportunity lost. Their meeting came just days after the U.N. Security Council endorsed as irreversible the administration's peace process. It was launched by Bush last year in Annapolis, Md., and championed by Abbas and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.The president seized on the U.N. move as confirming a path to a Palestinian state, and a path to peace in the Middle East.Bush had confidently said a peace deal — built around the outlines of a first-ever Palestinian state living in peace with Israel — was doable by year's end.But ongoing violence, the situation in Gaza, which is controlled by the militant Hamas group, and internal political developments in Israel have made the deadline unreachable. So instead, the Bush administration has tried to lock in the Annapolis process by enshrining it in the international system.
For his part, Abbas was effusive about Bush's efforts. He said the U.S. president was fair and firm in pushing both sides to meet their obligations.There is no doubt that we will always remember the efforts that you have undertook to promote the peace process, Abbas said.He also reaffirmed the Palestinian commitment to the peace talks, and not as a slogan or a rhetorical commitment. We are practically committed to the peace process. And we are confident all these efforts will be transferred to the new administration.He was referring to Democrat Barack Obama, who succeeds Bush on Jan. 20.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who participated in the Bush-Abbas meeting, said afterward that Abbas asked Bush to help ensure that the peace process is not overturned in the future. We don't want anybody to take us back to the point of zero, and thus any party that wants to take us back to the point of zero should not be a partner, Erekat quoted Abbas as saying.In the Middle East, meanwhile, there were more reminders of the fragile peace. Hamas on Friday formally announced the end of its unwritten, often-breached truce with Israel as Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four rockets into southern Israel.The Israeli military said two rockets were fired Friday morning and two more after sunset. It said troops guarding Israeli farmers in fields adjoining Gaza also came under sniper fire from across the border. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.In a statement posted on its Web site, Hamas said Israel had breached agreements by imposing a painful economic blockade on Gaza, staging military strikes into the densely populated coastal strip and continuing to hunt down Hamas operatives in the West Bank.Hamas, which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and much of the international community and Israel does not officially have direct contacts with it.In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was critical of Hamas' move.I sincerely hope that there will not be a resumption of the violence because that is not going to help the people of Gaza, it is not going to help the Palestinians, it is not going to help the Palestinian cause, she said. Associated Press writers Ben Feller in Washington and Steve Weizman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Thousands join Hezbollah rally in Beirut against Gaza siege by Rita Daou Rita Daou – Fri Dec 19, 11:50 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut on Friday for a mass protest organised by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement against Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.Streets in the southern suburbs were cordoned off as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and yellow Hezbollah flags poured into the Hezbollah stronghold as loudspeakers blasted out a speech by its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.We are are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea, Hezbollah's deputy head Naim Kassem told the crowd.The Palestinian cause is a just cause, he said from a platform on a main road in the area.Hezbollah boy scouts and women in black chadors carried two huge Palestinian flags while Hezbollah security personnel marched carrying photographs of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic republic.Some protesters chanted Death to Israel! Death to America! as others carried placards reading No peace if it leads to humanitarian catastrophe and May God protect our leader Nasrallah.Demonstrations aren't enough. Military action is required to eliminate Israel, said Mosbah Karout, 42, in Beirut from south Lebanon for the event.Similar smaller demonstrations wereheld in cities in the south, north and in the Bekaa Valley, east of the capital.
Hundreds protested in the centre of the southern port city of Sidon, where a dummy of US President George W. Bush with a shoe tied round his neck was paraded after this week's incident in Baghdad when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him.No thanks Mr. Bush. We don't want your democracy and We want justice read signs carried by the demonstrators, who also burned American and Israeli flags.In Bahrain, between 3,000 and 5,000 people demonstrated in Manama on Friday in response to an opposition call to show support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and demand the lifting of Israel's blockade on the enclave.The protesters -- 5,000 according to the organisers but 3,000 according to police -- marched along a main road in the west of the capital shouting Death to Israel,Death to America and From Gaza to Bahrain, one people.The organisers called in a statement for Arab governmennts to break the Gaza blockade and announced the sending of a ship to the territory loaded with aid for Palestinians.Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement ousted forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007, was tightened even further last month because of an upsurge in violence.Tensions remained high in and around Gaza on Friday as Hamas declared an end to a troubled six-month truce with Israel and warned they would respond to any attack.The truce had been uneasy ever since it went into effect on June 19, and violence has increased since early November, with 18 Palestinians killed and Israel reporting more than 250 rocket and mortar fire attacks.Hamas and Hezbollah, considered terrorist organisations by the United States, both advocate resistance to Israel.
Palestinian offers shoe-throwing reporter a bride Fri Dec 19, 6:48 am ET
NABLUS, West Bank – The head of a large West Bank family wants to reward the Iraqi journalist who lobbed his shoes at President George W. Bush by sending him a bride.
Ahmad Salim Judeh says if journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi is interested the family is willing to send one of their daughters to Iraq along with her dowry.The 75-year-old Judeh says doing so would be our honor. He also said Friday that the 500-member clan had raised $30,000 for al-Zeidi's legal defense.Al-Zeidi has become something of a folk hero in the Middle East since throwing his shoes at Bush at a Baghdad press conference Sunday. News stations across the Arab world have repeatedly shown footage of the incident.Al-Zeidi is unmarried.
HEBRON, West Bank – Israel's swift eviction of Jewish zealots from one of the most volatile West Bank flashpoints offers encouragement to people both inside and outside Israel who hope it is still possible to uproot settlers to make room for a Palestinian state.Israeli police and soldiers encountered little resistance this month when they expelled some 200 extremists from a contested house in Hebron, near the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of Muslims and Jews.But the shooting and arson attacks by settlers on Palestinians following the eviction were a reminder of how quickly the West Bank could plunge into violence, taking down any hopes of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.Removing tens of thousands of Jews from the West Bank as part of a peace accord is becoming an increasingly difficult proposition as radicals resort to violence to keep land they believe God promised them.An increasingly alienated minority of the 280,000 Jews who have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured it from Jordan in 1967 is taking matters into its own hands. They attack Palestinian civilians and Israeli troops every time the government acts against them, calling the operation price tag — meaning the toll they would exact in resisting evacuation.Some settlers worry that the extreme violence — including hurling rocks and bleach and firing weapons — could backfire, making it easier for Israelis to see them as the enemy and stomach using force against them.I believe that if Israel hates us, then they'll give up Judea and Samaria, settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.Still, settlers have been pushed back before, most notably when Israel evicted 8,500 from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Ephraim Sneh, former top military administrator of the West Bank, said settlers have used the threat of violence to compensate for weakened political influence.I believe that most Israelis understand that more than 90 percent of the West Bank should be evacuated. So in this sense, the political influence of the settlers is diminished, Sneh said.On the other hand, a very small but militant and fanatic group of settlers is trying to create a balance of horror vis-a-vis the government, he said.Many Israelis see a pullout of these settlers as their only escape from a demographic race they are bound to lose to the faster-growing Arab population.The fact that outposts haven't been evacuated in any serious way is a clear sign that the government is really afraid of the violent confrontations that would be involved, said Gershom Gorenberg, who has written extensively about the Jewish extremists who settle in West Bank territories.In March 2007, settlers moved into a house in the middle of a heavily populated Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron and defied government eviction orders for over a year.The only way security forces could remove them was to operate by stealth and strike when they thought they were on the verge of an agreement with the government, settler leader David Wilder said.Next time authorities might not find it so easy, he said.Rocket attacks on Israeli towns from Gaza, and Hamas' takeover of the territory following Israel's withdrawal, have emboldened those opposing further concessions.Also, Israel's removal of the settlers in West Bank territories might become harder if the nationalist Likud Party is returned to power in elections Feb. 10. Several of its candidates for parliament are ardent supporters of the settlers. Israeli governments are always reluctant to use guns or clubs on settlers, seeking instead to overwhelm the settlers in numbers. Three years ago, it took thousands of soldiers and police to knock down nine houses in the unauthorized outpost of Amona. More than 200 people were wounded, most of them soldiers and police. To empty the house in Hebron, hundreds of border police were mobilized. If it takes 2,000 cops to demolish nine houses in Amona, a huge contingent to evacuate a house in Hebron, how are you going to evacuate Ofra or Beit-El? Gorenberg asked, referring to older settlements with populations of 3,000 and more than 5,000 respectively. The settlers are trying strategic deterrence, he said, and he believes it's working. Would settlers who use weapons against Palestinians do so against their own army? No one can be sure, but Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's internal security service, has warned of a very high willingness among this public to use violence — not just stones, but live weapons — in order to prevent or halt a peace process.
Kuwait's Global says creditor response very good By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer – Sun Dec 21, 10:08 am ET
CAIRO, Egypt – The managing director of Global Investment House, Kuwait's largest investment bank, said Sunday its lenders were responding positively to debt restructuring efforts begun after two international agencies downgraded its credit rating on default worries.Samir El Alaily, Global's vice chairman, said the investment firm was meeting with about 20 banks in an effort to restructure short-term loans into medium-term positions that would enable us to weather the storm.The overall debt level in question was about 800 million Kuwaiti dinars ($2.86 billion) —far more than the single maturing loan of $200 million that resulted in the downgrades last week by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's.Global's downgrades were but one of several such moves in the oil-rich Gulf Arab nations as concerns mounted that the region's companies were overextended after years of spending and development fueled by hefty oil revenues in the region.Fitch had downgraded Global's long-term rating from BBB to C, and its individual rating from C to E after the firm missed the Dec. 15 repayment of the loan. S&P quickly followed suit, lowering the company's rating to SD/SD from BBB-A 3. The downgrade to selective default meant that some payments may not be made on some financial obligations, the rating agency said.Global scrambled to cover its position, appointing the Commercial Bank of Kuwait as an adviser while the Central Bank of Kuwait was working to secure a $1 billion loan for the investment bank, which manages assets totaling $10 billion.
We are sitting with the banks today, El Alaily told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an investment conference in Egypt. We think we will reach the settlement agreement with the banks very soon.It was a very good response, he said. Most of the banks have come, and most of them are willing to speak to us.El Alaily said the debt issue emerged from the bank being very active in treasury.About 60 percent of our profits are coming from proprietary investments, he said. Those investments are either trading on the secondary markets with shares, or we are leveraging ourselves when we invest in companies.With the sharp downturn in Kuwait's stock exchange, as well as other bourses regionally — a decline fueled by the global economic crisis — El Alaily said Global did not want to sell now fearing a big loss on our balance sheet.We want better paying terms, and we want to show a profit on our balance sheet, he said.Global is not alone in facing difficulties. Kuwait's Central Bank last month helped engineer a bailout of Gulf Bank — the country's second largest lender by assets — after it sustained over $1 billion in losses stemming from derivatives trading.Moody's Investors Service, in a report on the country's banking sector last week, warned of potential challenges stemming from the deteriorating global economic condition and the banks' exposure to the real estate sector.
Moody's said that exposure could weigh on (Kuwaiti banks') performance in the event that the observed slowdown continues and leads to rising loan delinquencies.The Gulf Arab region, including Kuwait, have seen a sharp uptick in property development recently, with a landscape that just decades ago was little more than desert quickly transforming into skylines that promise to house some of the world's tallest buildings.S&P last week said its revised its outlook on six of companies with ties to the Dubai government, DIFC Investments LLC, DP World Ltd, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group LLC, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, Jebel Ali Free Zone and JAFC Sukuk Ltd. Ratings for all six were lowered from stable to negative.S&P analyst Farouk Soussa said the medium-term risks to Dubai's economy have, in our view, increased as demand in the all-important real estate sector shows clear signs of abating, raising the possibility of a sharp correction in the real estate market, and an associated contraction in development and construction.
Palestinian leader Abbas visits Russia's Chechnya Sat Dec 20, 7:05 pm ET
GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived on Sunday in Grozny, capital of Russia's troubled region of Chechnya.Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed Abbas at the airport to take him to his residence along a road decorated with photos of their previous meetings.Kadyrov is seen by Chechens as dedicated to the revival of the Muslim religion and has met several influential Muslim leaders from Arab states.We feel at home here. We thank the Almighty that we came to the Chechen Republic, Abbas told journalists through an interpreter.Kadyrov, a former rebel who now declares loyalty to the Kremlin, held talks with Abbas during the haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.Chechnya, on Russia's southern border, is now relatively peaceful after two wars fought by separatist rebels and Islamist militants against Moscow's rule starting in 1994.Some analysts say that, in return for quelling rebel attacks, the Kremlin has let Kadyrov enforce some Islamic rules, such as requiring women working in government offices to wear headscarves and long skirts, and imposing periodic alcohol bans.A Kremlin spokesman in Moscow said Abbas would stay in Russia until December 22, when he was due to hold talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Egypt truck explodes in Gaza smuggling bid Sat Dec 20, 10:38 am ET
EL-ARISH (AFP) – A fuel tanker truck exploded in an Egyptian border town where it was unloading its 50,000 litre cargo for smuggling into the Gaza Strip, destroying four homes, a security official said.The fuel was being unloaded near a house to be smuggled into Gaza, the official said.Firefighters have been called in from the neighbouring cities to control the blaze, which is widespread, he said, adding that there were no casualties.Last month, Egyptian police said they seized a truck loaded with 170,000 litres (about 40,000 gallons) of fuel in El-Arish which traffickers had planned to smuggle into Gaza.Gaza is an impoverished coastal strip which has been under an Israeli blockade since the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group seized power there last year. It depends on whatever foreign aid is allowed in by Israel and by goods smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.Egyptians in Sinai have demonstrated against fuel shortages in the region, which they blame on the smuggling.Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza is the only passage into the territory not controlled by Israel. Egypt has refused to permanently open the border.The blockade of the territory has led to severe fuel shortages, power cuts and an ever worsening humanitarian situation.
International web services improve after cable cut Sat Dec 20, 10:19 am ET
PARIS (AFP) – A French ship on Saturday took experts to repair broken undersea Mediterranean cables that caused severe disruption to telephone and Internet services across the Middle East and Asia, France Telecom said.But many operators said communications services had improved as alternative routes had been used to carry calls and Internet information.The France Telecom cable ship Raymond Croze left Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, on Friday night and was expected to be on the scene of the damage, between Sicily and Tunisia, on Monday, a spokesman said.Egypt was one of countries worst affected by Friday's incident, but state news agency MENA reported that Internet communications there would be restored to more than half of normal capacity on Saturday.Egypt announced on Friday that it was re-routing Internet services to back-up cables and satellite.The disruption also affected countries as far away as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, but most reported services returning to normal on Saturday.
The cables are jointly owned by several dozen different countries. One cable is 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) long and links 33 different countries while a second is 20,000 kilometres long and serves 14 states.An official of Mumbai-based Reliance Communications blamed a ship's anchor dragging off the Egyptian port of Alexandria. France Telecom also said this was a probable cause of the disruption.
One cable appeared to be fully severed, while the other two seemed to be only partially cut, he added.France Telecom said that temporary re-routing of communications had reduced the disruption for clients, especially as traffic was lower at the weekend. Business communication links between Europe and India had been diverted via the United States.
Pilgrims bring Christmas joy to Bethlehem by Catherine Dupeyron Catherine Dupeyron – Fri Dec 19, 11:03 pm
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – Pilgrims are bringing Christmas joy to Bethlehem, flocking in large numbers to the traditional birthplace of Jesus where tourism had collapsed during the years of the Palestinian uprising.This year is the best since 2000, says Samir Hazbun, who heads the local chamber of commerce, pointing out that the West Bank city welcomed more than one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007.And Christmas will bring even more cheer, he said. All hotels in every category are full.That represents as many as 3,000 rooms and a sharp contrast to the violent days of the uprising that started in 2000.The city of 185,000 has put on its Christmas best to welcome the pilgrims.Garlands of flickering lights, synthetic pine trees, fake snow and other Christmas favourites give a festive, if somewhat commercial, feel to the city.Souvenir sellers, who expect to do a booming business in icons, carved Nativity scenes, crosses, rosaries and other religious items, set up inflatable Santas and blow-up snowmen outside their stores in a city that about 20,000 Christians call home.The atmosphere is good; the tourists have returned massively" said George Babul, sitting outside his Bethlehem Star Store. As church bells rang out, he briefly bowed his head and made the sign of the cross.A tour guide, giving only his first name, Mohammed, said being a guide has become a good job again. This year, I have worked almost every day.
Crowds of pilgrims thronged the Church of Nativity, built on the site where Jesus is said to have been born in a stable because there was no room at the inn.The boom is having a major impact on the city's tourism-driven economy and has brought unemployment down to 23 percent this year from 45 percent in 2002-2003.Last year was the first since 2000 that saw a significant influx of tourism, and the city shows signs of optimism about the future.The number of restaurants more than doubled in the course of this year -- jumping from 20 to 50 -- and three new hotels are under construction.Israeli authorities say they are going all out to ease obstacles to the flow of visitors to Bethlehem during the festive season.We believe, when it comes to tourism, there are no borders, says Deputy Director General Raphael Ben-Hur.But an eight-metre (25 foot) high concrete wall separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem, just five kilometres (three miles) to the north.The wall, which runs for several hundred meters (yards) along the edge of the city, is part of Israel's controversial barrier erected in the West Bank after the Palestinian uprising.
Bush says peace talks have yielded progress By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer –Fri Dec 19, 5:46 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush, poised to finish his presidency without the Mideast peace deal he once said was in reach, declared Friday that Israelis and Palestinians have still made great strides toward settling decades of conflict.No question, this is a hard challenge, Bush said in the Oval Office alongside the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. But nevertheless, people must recognize that we have made a good deal of progress.Abbas concurred: Some might say that all these efforts perhaps went in vain. I happen to disagree.In what was likely their last face-to-face meeting before Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, the two men sought to praise each other and emphasize what's been gained, not the opportunity lost. Their meeting came just days after the U.N. Security Council endorsed as irreversible the administration's peace process. It was launched by Bush last year in Annapolis, Md., and championed by Abbas and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.The president seized on the U.N. move as confirming a path to a Palestinian state, and a path to peace in the Middle East.Bush had confidently said a peace deal — built around the outlines of a first-ever Palestinian state living in peace with Israel — was doable by year's end.But ongoing violence, the situation in Gaza, which is controlled by the militant Hamas group, and internal political developments in Israel have made the deadline unreachable. So instead, the Bush administration has tried to lock in the Annapolis process by enshrining it in the international system.
For his part, Abbas was effusive about Bush's efforts. He said the U.S. president was fair and firm in pushing both sides to meet their obligations.There is no doubt that we will always remember the efforts that you have undertook to promote the peace process, Abbas said.He also reaffirmed the Palestinian commitment to the peace talks, and not as a slogan or a rhetorical commitment. We are practically committed to the peace process. And we are confident all these efforts will be transferred to the new administration.He was referring to Democrat Barack Obama, who succeeds Bush on Jan. 20.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who participated in the Bush-Abbas meeting, said afterward that Abbas asked Bush to help ensure that the peace process is not overturned in the future. We don't want anybody to take us back to the point of zero, and thus any party that wants to take us back to the point of zero should not be a partner, Erekat quoted Abbas as saying.In the Middle East, meanwhile, there were more reminders of the fragile peace. Hamas on Friday formally announced the end of its unwritten, often-breached truce with Israel as Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four rockets into southern Israel.The Israeli military said two rockets were fired Friday morning and two more after sunset. It said troops guarding Israeli farmers in fields adjoining Gaza also came under sniper fire from across the border. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.In a statement posted on its Web site, Hamas said Israel had breached agreements by imposing a painful economic blockade on Gaza, staging military strikes into the densely populated coastal strip and continuing to hunt down Hamas operatives in the West Bank.Hamas, which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and much of the international community and Israel does not officially have direct contacts with it.In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was critical of Hamas' move.I sincerely hope that there will not be a resumption of the violence because that is not going to help the people of Gaza, it is not going to help the Palestinians, it is not going to help the Palestinian cause, she said. Associated Press writers Ben Feller in Washington and Steve Weizman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Thousands join Hezbollah rally in Beirut against Gaza siege by Rita Daou Rita Daou – Fri Dec 19, 11:50 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut on Friday for a mass protest organised by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement against Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.Streets in the southern suburbs were cordoned off as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and yellow Hezbollah flags poured into the Hezbollah stronghold as loudspeakers blasted out a speech by its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.We are are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea, Hezbollah's deputy head Naim Kassem told the crowd.The Palestinian cause is a just cause, he said from a platform on a main road in the area.Hezbollah boy scouts and women in black chadors carried two huge Palestinian flags while Hezbollah security personnel marched carrying photographs of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic republic.Some protesters chanted Death to Israel! Death to America! as others carried placards reading No peace if it leads to humanitarian catastrophe and May God protect our leader Nasrallah.Demonstrations aren't enough. Military action is required to eliminate Israel, said Mosbah Karout, 42, in Beirut from south Lebanon for the event.Similar smaller demonstrations wereheld in cities in the south, north and in the Bekaa Valley, east of the capital.
Hundreds protested in the centre of the southern port city of Sidon, where a dummy of US President George W. Bush with a shoe tied round his neck was paraded after this week's incident in Baghdad when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him.No thanks Mr. Bush. We don't want your democracy and We want justice read signs carried by the demonstrators, who also burned American and Israeli flags.In Bahrain, between 3,000 and 5,000 people demonstrated in Manama on Friday in response to an opposition call to show support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and demand the lifting of Israel's blockade on the enclave.The protesters -- 5,000 according to the organisers but 3,000 according to police -- marched along a main road in the west of the capital shouting Death to Israel,Death to America and From Gaza to Bahrain, one people.The organisers called in a statement for Arab governmennts to break the Gaza blockade and announced the sending of a ship to the territory loaded with aid for Palestinians.Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement ousted forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007, was tightened even further last month because of an upsurge in violence.Tensions remained high in and around Gaza on Friday as Hamas declared an end to a troubled six-month truce with Israel and warned they would respond to any attack.The truce had been uneasy ever since it went into effect on June 19, and violence has increased since early November, with 18 Palestinians killed and Israel reporting more than 250 rocket and mortar fire attacks.Hamas and Hezbollah, considered terrorist organisations by the United States, both advocate resistance to Israel.
Palestinian offers shoe-throwing reporter a bride Fri Dec 19, 6:48 am ET
NABLUS, West Bank – The head of a large West Bank family wants to reward the Iraqi journalist who lobbed his shoes at President George W. Bush by sending him a bride.
Ahmad Salim Judeh says if journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi is interested the family is willing to send one of their daughters to Iraq along with her dowry.The 75-year-old Judeh says doing so would be our honor. He also said Friday that the 500-member clan had raised $30,000 for al-Zeidi's legal defense.Al-Zeidi has become something of a folk hero in the Middle East since throwing his shoes at Bush at a Baghdad press conference Sunday. News stations across the Arab world have repeatedly shown footage of the incident.Al-Zeidi is unmarried.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
KADIMA PARTY VOTES
RICE TEXT VIDEO AT UN
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113242.htm
RICE QUARTET REMARKS
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113219.htm
RICE INTERVIEW DEC 9,08
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113016.htm
QUARTET PRESS STATEMENT
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/dec/113216.htm
BUSH TEXT AT ARAB EMERITES
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080113-1.html
BUSH ON MIDEAST
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/mideast/
UN council endorses US-led Middle East peace talks
Tue 16 Dec 2008, 17:58 GMT
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday declared that U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are irreversible and urged both sides to redouble efforts to secure peace.The declaration was at the heart of a resolution drafted by the United States and Russia. The resolution, which passed 14-0 with Israel's enemy Libya abstaining, was the first adopted on the Middle East crisis in nearly five years.The U.S. and other delegations had hoped for a unanimous vote in favor of the two-page text.Libyan U.N. Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi criticized the text for not condemning Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, which he described as basically a crime against humanity.Disregarding such practices is an invitation to continue such behavior, he told the council.
Ettalhi had wanted the resolution to mention several Palestinian complaints, including the blockade of the Gaza Strip and Israeli settlement in Palestinian areas.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed the resolution, but added that he hoped it will not be added to the archives of other resolutions that have not been implemented so far.U.S. officials said the point of the resolution was to endorse the goals of talks on Palestinian statehood launched in November 2007 by the administration of President George W. Bush in Annapolis, Maryland, while avoiding specific disagreements.The adopted resolution only indirectly addresses the complaints of the Palestinians and Israelis by urging them to refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of the negotiations.It recognizes progress made in the talks and calls for an intensification of diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
BUSH LEGACY
The Republican administration had wanted a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of this year but all sides now say that will not happen. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, when Democrat Barack Obama will become U.S. president.U.N. diplomats have said the Bush administration, highly unpopular in the Arab world, hopes this resolution will help secure it a positive legacy for its Middle East policies and counter criticism it has faced for its 2003 invasion of Iraq.U.S. Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice described the situation in the Middle East as catastrophic when Bush took over from his predecessor Bill Clinton in 2001.British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the lack of a peace deal so far did not mean the Annapolis talks failed.The Annapolis process has not delivered a Palestinian state but the absence of an Annapolis process would have left us much worse off, he said. (Additional reporting by Jerusalem bureau; Editing by Howard Goller)
New resolution on Mideast peace passes at UN,With Bush set to leave, the administration tries to nudge forward the process it started in 2007.By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the December 17, 2008 edition
United Nations, N.Y. - The Bush administration, looking to shore up its foreign-policy legacy, and the international community, hoping to influence the future Obama White House, are teaming up to press the Middle East peace process forward. It's an against-the-odds attempt. But the first United Nations Security Council resolution on the peace process in five years – since the diplomacy-stalling Iraq war in 2003 – was approved Tuesday. The vote was 14 to 0, with Libya abstaining. The idea is to show broad support for keeping the peace process that was started by President Bush a year ago on its rails into the next US presidency. The resolution, sponsored by the US and Russia, has little binding impact but sends a number of signals. First, it indicates, especially to the Israelis and Palestinians, that even though the so-called Annapolis process did not result in a peace agreement by the end of Mr. Bush's term, progress has been made and should be built upon. And second, a signal goes out to President-elect Obama that the peace process should not start over from Square 1 when he takes office. The irony of this second point is that it is promoted in particular by the Bush administration, which wanted nothing to do with the negotiation structure left behind by the Clinton White House.
The peace process is confronting a period of transition on more fronts than one, as Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, noted repeatedly before the vote. We believe that the effort has to be pinned down, and it has to continue without a pause, which may be there because of some political circumstances – change of administration in the United States, elections in Israel, possible elections in the Palestinian autonomy, he said. But the political context is just one reason that some see the resolution having little practical impact. Arab officials who attended a Monday meeting of the Quartet of powers shepherding the peace process – the US, Russia, the UN, and the European Union – expressed frustration over the lack of major progress toward a settlement and a Palestinian state. The resolution could even set back progress if it had the effect of enshrining an unsuccessful approach to peace, some analysts say. A Security Council resolution that provides explicit support for the two-state solution is a good thing. But if it locks in a format or negotiating approach, in particular one that after a year has provided ample proof of not working, then it is a bad thing, says Philip Wilcox, a former US diplomat who is now president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace in Washington. Condoleezza Rice, who was in New York Monday and Tuesday for what could be her last appearance at the UN as secretary of State, defines the Annapolis process as both bottom-up and top-down – meaning it is not simply the US and other powers knocking the parties' heads and telling them what they have to do. Indeed, Secretary Rice has been criticized for leaving the two sides on their own in negotiations and not playing the traditional American go-between. But, she insists, considerable progress [has been made] on the core issues.
The two sides have made some progress on incremental issues, Mr. Wilcox says, but none on the core issues – such as borders, status of Jerusalem, and Israeli settlements. Israel is supportive of the resolution, said Gabriela Shalev, Israel's ambassador to the UN, speaking to reporters Tuesday in New York. One reason for Israel's stance, she says, is that the resolution gives support to the Annapolis process and its emphasis on bilateral (instead of multilateral) negotiations. We are committed to the peace process, but the peace process is something that has to go on between the parties themselves, Ambassador Shalev says. There can be some kind of pushing from the outside, but in the end, it must be the two parties that reach an accord. Even some officials who believe considerable progress has been made over the past year – for example, in creating viable Palestinian security forces in the West Bank – say the resolution reflects the wishes of its sponsors and in particular the personal drive of Rice. This has become something of a personal thing for her, said a senior European official, who wished not to be named because the diplomatic discussions over the resolution were ongoing. You have to give [Rice] credit: She has managed to push the parties further down the road.
HERBERT GRUBEL ON THE AMERO - VIDEO
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2008/12/father-of-amero-herbert-grubel-speaks.html#links
WHEN MESSIAH COMES - AUDIO
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-messiah-comes.html#links
Palestinian killed after rocket fire raises concern over Gaza truce by Sakher Abu El Oun DEC 18,08
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli warplanes conducted two nighttime air strikes against the Gaza Strip following rocket fire against Israel, witnesses said Thursday.The raids, which targeted metal workshops in the towns of Jabaliya and Khan Yunis in the north and south caused extensive material damage but no injuries, witnesses and medical sources said.The Israeli military confirmed the air strikes and said the workshops were used to manufacture rockets.News of the bombing raids comes after a Palestinian man was killed during an earlier Israeli air bombardment on Gaza Wednesday evening.
Falak Okel, 47, died and his son and daughter were injured, when a rocket struck their house in Beit Lahya in the north of the Gaza Strip, the same source said.
Witnesses said Okel did not belong to any armed group.Gaza militants had fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, one of which blew up near a supermarket lightly wounding two people and fuelling concern that violence could flare up as a six-month truce ends this week.Two people suffered shrapnel wounds and three cars were damaged as one of 19 rockets fired at southern Israel struck outside a supermarket in the often targeted city of Sderot, the army said.Israeli forces immediately launched an air strike in northern Gaza, hitting a rocket launcher that was about to fire, a military spokeswoman said.This requires a reaction, and it will come, warned Israel's interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The escalation makes us even more convinced there can be no formal truce if it not observed on the ground.Islamic Jihad said its armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, fired rockets in retaliation for Monday's killing by Israeli forces of one of its members in the occupied West Bank.
The radical movement had claimed similar attacks on Monday, which prompted two Israeli air strikes in Gaza.The attacks came just ahead of the conclusion of the six-month ceasefire that went into effect on June 19.Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza, has spoken out against extending the Egyptian-mediated truce, but it indicated it has yet to take a final decision.Friday, December 19 is the last day of the calm, said Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, adding that the Islamist movement will respond to any aggression by the occupying forces against our people.
Israeli officials have said they want to continue the truce but warned that they would not hesitate to use military force should Gaza militants fail to halt rocket and mortar attacks.Several ministers though have called for a tougher line against Gaza militants, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who hopes to become premier after February 10 elections, has said Israel cannot allow Gaza to remain in the hands of Hamas.Since the truce went into effect, Palestinian militants have fired more than 320 mortar rounds and rockets at southern Israel, according to the military. Following a November 4 surge in violence, Israel has completely sealed off Gaza almost every time rockets or mortar rounds were fired. The closures prevent the delivery of humanitarian and other supplies which aid agencies say are desperately needed in the impoverished, overcrowded sliver of land crippled by a blockade Israel imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007. Humanitarian agencies and human rights groups have urged Israel to lift the blockade, saying the 1.5 million population of Gaza should not be punished for the actions of armed militants. In an opinion sent to attorney general Menahem Mazuz, Israel's legal watchdog group Gisha warned that the restrictions on the passage of people and goods amounted to a closure imposed for the illegal purpose of collective punishment against innocent civilians.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who headed to Washington on Wednesday, plans to discuss the situation in Gaza during his talks on Friday with US President George W. Bush. Abbas will warn against an Israeli offensive in Gaza and will call for the lifting of the Israeli blockade, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat. The president also called for a continuation of the Gaza truce, although he has had no influence in the territory since his forces were driven out when Hamas seized power.
The situation in Gaza, and the divisions between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party have further complicated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that have produced no tangible results since they were revived under US auspices in November 2007. Abbas hopes to rally support for efforts to shield the peace process from a government change in Israel, where right-wing former premier Benjamin Netanyahu leads opinion polls ahead of the February elections. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution stating its commitment to the irreversibility of the bilateral negotiations.
Top US Mideast diplomat quits By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 17, 6:25 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East will step down from his post and move to the private sector at the end of the week, as President-elect Barack Obama's transition team weighs possible successors, State Department officials said Wednesday.David Welch, a career diplomat and assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, has told his staff his last day on the job will be Friday, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity before a formal announcement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, expected Thursday.Welch is the first of the department's assistant secretaries to leave since Obama's election last month.Assistant secretaries of state, like ambassadors, are political appointees and are required to submit resignation letters before a change in the administration. Some, however, are asked to stay on by the incoming administration.A former ambassador to Egypt who also served in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Pakistan, Welch took the top Mideast spot in March 2005 and became the lead U.S. liaison to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that began at a peace conference last November in Annapolis, Md. Earlier this year, Welch also negotiated a comprehensive settlement deal with Libya to compensate the victims of 1980s Libyan-linked terrorism and U.S. retaliatory attacks.
Israel's Kadima party votes Wed Dec 17, 5:27 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Members of Israel's ruling Kadima party on Wednesday elected 22 candidates for the February 10 early legislative elections.About 80,000 party members were eligible to cast their ballots and 45 percent of them turned out at 95 polling stations, the party said.Results were expected to be published early Thursday.The vote was the second held by the centrist party. In September, the party picked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as its new leader to replace scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Livni hopes to take over from Olmert following the February election but faces tough competition from former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing Likud party dominates in opinion polls.In recent weeks, Livni has been perceived as courting right-wing voters in a bid to gain ground against her rival.She has lashed out at Defence Minister and Labour party chief Ehud Barak claiming he was not tough enough in his response to rocket fire by militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.She has also distanced herself from statements by Olmert who said Israel needed to make territorial concessions to the Palestinians in order to achieve peace.
Gaza militants ready for end of truce with Israel By DIAA HADID and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Masked Palestinian gunmen practice capturing Israeli soldiers, training videos show how to make grenades and rocket squads fire daily at Israeli border towns.It looks like a warmup for battle.Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers say a six-month cease-fire with Israel formally ends Friday, and Hamas and smaller armed groups won't say clearly whether they will extend it. The vagueness, and rocket fire, could be signs of a new round of fighting, or merely a negotiating tactic to pressure Israel.Under the truce, Gaza militants were to halt rocket fire on Israeli border communities. Israel was to end raids on Gaza and allow more goods and people through its border crossings, sealed after Hamas overran the territory in June 2007.While the Egyptian-brokered truce has brought a drop in violence, neither side is entirely happy. Israel notes the rocket fire hasn't ended, while Palestinians complain the truce didn't benefit Gaza, mainly because the crossings haven't been opened, leading to widespread shortages of basic goods.We aren't encouraged, said Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader.Hamas says the deal expires Friday, but Israel says the unwritten agreement had no expiration date.The truce has increasingly unraveled since early November, when Israeli forces entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel that could have been used in a cross-border raid. In response, Palestinian militants resumed firing rockets at Israel.At least 20 rockets were fired at Israel on Wednesday, the military said. One exploded in the border town of Sderot, wounding two people and damaging a restaurant, police said.There can't be a situation where there is a truce, but the situation on the ground is very different, said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. This demands that we address it, he added, stopping short of pledging retaliation.Israel has renewed airstrikes against rocket squads, aiming at launchers in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the military said. Palestinian hospital officials said a 47-year-old man was killed when a missile hit his house and a balcony collapsed on him.
In the end, the test is the calm and the benefit the residents have had for long months, even though it is relative calm, said Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official who helped negotiate the truce.Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said this week the deal would not be extended, while Gaza's Hamas bosses insist no decision on an extension has been made.Both sides are jockeying for better terms.
Israel wants to be able to enter Gaza to prevent attacks. Hamas wants Israel to open the border crossings.Even before the truce began fraying, Israel did not allow free transfer of goods in and out of Gaza. Since the rocket fire resumed in November, Israel has kept the borders virtually sealed, allowing in only minimal humanitarian aid.Still, the lull has been a relief for people on both sides of the border. A poll Tuesday indicated that 74 percent of Palestinians and 51 percent of Israelis want to extend the cease-fire.The number of casualties and rocket attacks dropped sharply after the truce took hold. From January to June, 338 Palestinians and 16 Israelis were killed in cross-border violence, according to Associated Press figures. Since the truce took effect, 21 Palestinians, most of them militants, were killed by Israeli fire. No Israelis were killed. Israel's military says 1,786 rockets were fired in the first half of 2008, compared to around 199 in the second. During the truce, Hamas has been smuggling weapons through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas militants are also believed to be burrowing tunnels into Israel to carry out attacks. Through the summer, Hamas ran military-style camps for youngsters, and the smaller Islamic Jihad has been practicing tracking down Israel soldiers. In Islamic Jihad training videos obtained by the AP, gunmen captured mock Israeli soldiers hiding in a burned out building and demonstrated how to make grenades and rockets.
Israel has the region's most powerful army and would likely be able to retake Gaza quickly. However, Israeli leaders are hesitant to order a major ground offensive, because they fear high casualties on both sides.
Israel issues new warning on Iranian nuclear arms Wed Dec 17, 2:26 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is warning that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, it could try to attack the United States.Barak said the world should press Iran to stop it from building nuclear weapons.He spoke at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. He said, If it built even a primitive nuclear weapon like the type that destroyed Hiroshima, Iran would not hesitate to load it on a ship, arm it with a detonator operated by GPS and sail it into a vital port on the east coast of North America.Indicating the possibility of a military strike, Barak said, We recommend to the world not to take any option off the table, and we mean what we say.
Palestinians got $1.7bln in aid last year: France Wed Dec 17, 11:11 am ET
PARIS (AFP) – The international community has given 1.7 billion dollars (1.18 billion euros) in aid to the Palestinian Authority over the last year, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday.That was 0.6 billion dollars more than was promised at a major donor conference held last December in Paris, spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said.At that conference, donors promised to provide 7.4 billion dollars over three years, which was considerably more than the 5.6 billion dollars the Palestinians had requested.The donors agreed to allocate 1.1 billion dollars in the first year.Such payments above the promises made are the concrete sign of the exceptional engagement of the international community, Desagneaux said.The conference agreed a package of aid to stabilise the Palestinian economy and try to shore up the faltering peace process with Israel.Palestinian leaders said the money was needed for direct support to the budget to help develop a viable economy and institutions for a future Palestinian state.
Ottawa welcomes UN council's Mideast resolution Tue Dec 16, 11:08 pm ET
OTTAWA, (AFP) – Canada Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council's first resolution in five years on the Middle East, calling it a positive step toward a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.We fully endorse the irreversibility of the process launched at Annapolis (in the United States) last year and we offer our complete support to the parties in reaching their goal of a comprehensive two-state solution, said Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon.Canada commends Council members for their steadfastness in adopting this resolution, he said, stressing that it reflects the international community's commitment to do all that is necessary for peace in the Middle East.Canada supports all efforts, including the Arab Peace Initiative, to enhance peace in the region and sees this resolution as a positive step toward that goal, Cannon said.Tuesday's resolution 1850 endorses principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts at a time of transition with the arrival of a new US administration and early elections scheduled in both Israel and among the Palestinians next year.It calls on both parties to fulfill their obligations ... and refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations.The text urges stepped-up diplomatic efforts to foster in parallel with progress in the bilateral process mutual recognition and peaceful coexistence between all states in the region in the context of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.And it welcomed consideration by the quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- of an international meeting in Moscow next year.
Israeli-Palestinian peace process is irreversible Tue Dec 16, 6:52 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday stressing that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process initiated by the United States last year is irreversible and urging intensified efforts to achieve peace throughout the Middle East.The vote was 14-0, with Libya abstaining.The resolution — co-sponsored by the United States and Russia — backs the determined efforts by Israel and the Palestinians to conclude a peace treaty and fulfill the vision that they can live peacefully side by side as independent democratic states.The negotiating process launched by President George W. Bush at Annapolis, Md., in November 2007 called for the Israelis and Palestinians to try to reach a final peace deal by the end of 2008.
That goal would have given Bush a diplomatic victory just before leaving office — but it was not to be, despite months of intense negotiations.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said all council members regret an agreement won't be reached this year, but said a serious process is under way and the international community must ensure the talks achieve results.Both Israel and the Palestinians welcomed the resolution.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, expressed hope that the sides will remove all obstacles and reach a peace treaty in 2009. He said the Palestinians are happy that the Security Council — which has not adopted a comprehensive resolution on the Mideast since November 2003 — is actively engaged.In Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who has been Israel's chief peace negotiator since Annapolis, said the resolution gave an important international endorsement for the peace efforts.The Security Council's clear support is a vote of confidence in the process Israel is advancing with the legitimate Palestinian leadership, she said.Livni said negotiations would continue, though talks must be accompanied by the Palestinian government's efforts to crack down on militants and end the Hamas militant group's control of the Gaza Strip.In probably her last U.N. appearance, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the negotiations born at Annapolis give me confidence that the goal of independent Israeli and Palestinian states living in peace and security is not just a vision, but it is a commitment of the parties and of the international community.There can be no turning back the clock, she told the council. We have to continue on the chosen path.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that the issues at the heart of the conflict are complex and will require political will and also courage to resolve.
The resolution declared the council's support for the negotiations initiated at Annapolis, saying it backs Israelis and Palestinians in the determined efforts to reach their goal of concluding a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception.The sides have failed to bridge disagreements over the so-called core issues, including their final borders and the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.Political uncertainty on both sides has also clouded the picture. Israel is headed toward elections in February, and the front-runner, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been cool to the Annapolis process.The Palestinians, meanwhile, disagree over when the term of Israel's negotiating partner, President Mahmoud Abbas, is to end. Hamas says he must step down in January, though he has vowed to stay in office. In Geneva, meanwhile, the U.N. human rights chief criticized Israel for detaining and expelling a U.N. envoy investigating the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Israel says it stopped Richard Falk, the U.N. Human Rights Council monitor for the Palestinian territories, at the airport Sunday because it perceives him to be severely biased. U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay says Israel's treatment of Falk was unprecedented and deeply regrettable.
Syria's Assad seeks Israeli stance on Golan: sources By Khaled Yacoub Oweis –Tue Dec 16, 12:02 pm ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria has drafted a document defining the boundaries of the occupied Golan Heights and was waiting for an Israeli reply through Turkish mediators, sources familiar with the talks said this week.President Bashar al-Assad recently told Western officials that Damascus wants Israel to take a clear position on the territorial problem between the two countries before agreeing to push stalled peace talks forward.The Syrian document sets the boundaries with reference to six geographical points, the sources told Reuters.The president was clear that Syria wants to know the Israeli view about what constitutes occupied Syrian territory before progress could be made, one of the sources said.According to Syrian thinking, Israeli agreement on the six (geographical) points could help seal a peace deal next year. But Israel may not be able to provide a response any time soon, when it is in such political turmoil, a second source said.Indirect talks between Syria and Israel, which were suspended about three months ago after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to resign over a corruption scandal, center on the fate of the Golan Heights.Israel captured the plateau in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it more than a decade later -- a move unanimously rejected by the United Nations Security Council.The two countries held almost 10 years of direct talks under U.S. supervision that collapsed in 2000 over the scope of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.Bashar's late father, President Hafez al-Assad, refused to sign a deal that did not include the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, a main water reservoir.The late Assad regarded the northeastern shore as an integral part of the Golan and said that Syria was in control of it before the war broke out on June 4, 1967.Israel captured the whole eastern shore along with the surrounding plateau in the war. The shoreline has been receding for decades. Under the Israeli proposal, Syria would have been only meters short of the northeastern shore.
FATHER'S LEGACY
Bashar has stuck to his father's line on the Golan.A Syrian official said that the paper sent to Turkey includes reference to geographical points on the present northeastern shore of the lake. The document puts us on the water, the official said.
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Shara said last month that the Syrian definition of the June 4 line means the restoration of the northeastern shore of the lake to Syria and described Israeli arguments about the shoreline receding as invalid.Diplomats in the Syrian capital said that even if the two sides make progress on the territorial question a deal might not follow easily because Israel now wants Syria to reduce its alliance with Iran and cut support for the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist groups.The situation is more complicated than in 2000 with Syria's external ties coming into play. Syria also wants agreement on the six points without direct negotiations, which might be difficult, one of the diplomats said.
Syrian officials have said Israel has no right to set conditions regarding its foreign policy but acknowledged that the political map of the region would change if Damascus and Israel sign a deal. Assad told his visitors that Syria had received a document from Israel through Turkey with queries about Syrian relations with neighboring states after a possible peace, according to the sources. The president said Syria has responded, but he did not say how, one said. Olmert, who is still caretaker prime minister, has said he wants to renew the talks. Turkey also wants the talks to move to a direct mode from the four indirect rounds that have been held since April, the diplomats said. A foreign official who has met Assad said the Syrian leader was not enthusiastic about holding a fifth round before the Israeli parliamentary elections in February, although European leaders have urged him to agree to one before then. (Editing by Nadim Ladki and Samia Nakhoul)
Quartet says U.S.-led Mideast talks irreversible By Louis Charbonneau Louis Charbonneau – Mon Dec 15, 8:21 pm
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators said on Monday there was no turning back from U.S.-led talks between the Israelis and Palestinians even though they have failed so far to produce a peace agreement.In a statement issued after a meeting of Quartet members -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- the group said the negotiations launched last November in Annapolis, Maryland should be accelerated.The bilateral negotiations process launched at Annapolis is irreversible and ... these negotiations should be intensified in order to put an end to the conflict and to establish as soon as possible the state of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with Israel, it said.The statement criticized both Israel and the Palestinians and urged both sides to do more for the talks.The group condemned indiscriminate attacks on Israel and urged Palestinians to continue work on reforming their security services and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.
It also urged Israel to freeze all settlement activities, which have a negative impact on the negotiating environment and on Palestinian economic recovery, and to address the growing threat of settler extremism.The Quartet also expressed concern about the Israeli blockade of Gaza, saying the provision of humanitarian supplies to Gaza must be assured continuously.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke about a U.S.-drafted resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on Tuesday.
PROGRESS
Rice said that resolution would put the international community on record in believing in the irreversibility of the Annapolis process -- a process she has been overseeing.Rice also dismissed suggestions that the failure to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, as the administration of President George W. Bush had aimed for, meant the process had been a failure.They have achieved a good deal of progress in their negotiations, Rice told reporters after the Quartet meeting. If that process takes a little bit longer, so be it.Libya, the only Arab member of the U.N. Security Council, criticized the U.S. draft resolution for avoiding any mention of specific complaints the Palestinians have raised.
Ignoring completely what Israel is doing there I think will not help ... support for this draft resolution, Libya's U.N. Ambassador Giadallah Ettalhi told reporters.
Asked if he planned to vote against the text, Ettalhi said he was still awaiting instructions from Tripoli.Among the issues he said he would like to see included in the resolution are the blockade of Gaza and settlements.With most members of 15-nation council backing the text, it will most likely pass even if the Libyans vote against it. But diplomats said they would prefer to have Arab backing and a unanimous vote in favor.If approved, it will be the Security Council's first resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since November 2003, when it endorsed the Middle East road map peace plan for eventual Palestinian statehood. Rice, her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband are among those expected to attend the council debate on the U.S. draft resolution.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington; editing by Todd Eastham)
Bethlehem gears up for a busy Christmas Mon Dec 15, 4:43 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The traditional birthplace of Jesus is preparing to welcome a record number of tourists in its first year of relative calm in the West Bank since 2000, Bethlehem's mayor said on Monday.Victor Batarseh said at his annual news conference ahead of Christmas and the New Year celebration that there has been a clear improvement in the situation of tourism since the beginning of the year.He said the West Bank town where Christians believe Jesus was born was expecting to host more than a million tourists and pilgrims "from now until the end of the year.
Some 5,000 hotel rooms in the town on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem are fully booked for Christmas week, Batarseh said.Bethlehem was hard hit following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000 and the building of the Jewish state's controversial West Bank barrier that encircles much of Bethlehem.The revival of the local tourism industry has also led to a sharp drop in unemployment from 50 percent in 2005 to 22 percent in 2008, Batarseh said.The Palestinian mayor nevertheless decried the Israeli military presence and roadblocks around the town.
As mayor, it is my duty to turn your attention to the suffering endured by the residents of this town and the humiliation and injustice that the (Israeli) occupation puts them through, he said.The relative improvement of the occupied West Bank's economy was one of the few visible achievements of the US-backed Middle East peace talks which were launched in November 2007 but have failed so far to yield a peace treaty.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113242.htm
RICE QUARTET REMARKS
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113219.htm
RICE INTERVIEW DEC 9,08
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/12/113016.htm
QUARTET PRESS STATEMENT
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/dec/113216.htm
BUSH TEXT AT ARAB EMERITES
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080113-1.html
BUSH ON MIDEAST
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/mideast/
UN council endorses US-led Middle East peace talks
Tue 16 Dec 2008, 17:58 GMT
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday declared that U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are irreversible and urged both sides to redouble efforts to secure peace.The declaration was at the heart of a resolution drafted by the United States and Russia. The resolution, which passed 14-0 with Israel's enemy Libya abstaining, was the first adopted on the Middle East crisis in nearly five years.The U.S. and other delegations had hoped for a unanimous vote in favor of the two-page text.Libyan U.N. Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi criticized the text for not condemning Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, which he described as basically a crime against humanity.Disregarding such practices is an invitation to continue such behavior, he told the council.
Ettalhi had wanted the resolution to mention several Palestinian complaints, including the blockade of the Gaza Strip and Israeli settlement in Palestinian areas.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed the resolution, but added that he hoped it will not be added to the archives of other resolutions that have not been implemented so far.U.S. officials said the point of the resolution was to endorse the goals of talks on Palestinian statehood launched in November 2007 by the administration of President George W. Bush in Annapolis, Maryland, while avoiding specific disagreements.The adopted resolution only indirectly addresses the complaints of the Palestinians and Israelis by urging them to refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of the negotiations.It recognizes progress made in the talks and calls for an intensification of diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
BUSH LEGACY
The Republican administration had wanted a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of this year but all sides now say that will not happen. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, when Democrat Barack Obama will become U.S. president.U.N. diplomats have said the Bush administration, highly unpopular in the Arab world, hopes this resolution will help secure it a positive legacy for its Middle East policies and counter criticism it has faced for its 2003 invasion of Iraq.U.S. Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice described the situation in the Middle East as catastrophic when Bush took over from his predecessor Bill Clinton in 2001.British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the lack of a peace deal so far did not mean the Annapolis talks failed.The Annapolis process has not delivered a Palestinian state but the absence of an Annapolis process would have left us much worse off, he said. (Additional reporting by Jerusalem bureau; Editing by Howard Goller)
New resolution on Mideast peace passes at UN,With Bush set to leave, the administration tries to nudge forward the process it started in 2007.By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the December 17, 2008 edition
United Nations, N.Y. - The Bush administration, looking to shore up its foreign-policy legacy, and the international community, hoping to influence the future Obama White House, are teaming up to press the Middle East peace process forward. It's an against-the-odds attempt. But the first United Nations Security Council resolution on the peace process in five years – since the diplomacy-stalling Iraq war in 2003 – was approved Tuesday. The vote was 14 to 0, with Libya abstaining. The idea is to show broad support for keeping the peace process that was started by President Bush a year ago on its rails into the next US presidency. The resolution, sponsored by the US and Russia, has little binding impact but sends a number of signals. First, it indicates, especially to the Israelis and Palestinians, that even though the so-called Annapolis process did not result in a peace agreement by the end of Mr. Bush's term, progress has been made and should be built upon. And second, a signal goes out to President-elect Obama that the peace process should not start over from Square 1 when he takes office. The irony of this second point is that it is promoted in particular by the Bush administration, which wanted nothing to do with the negotiation structure left behind by the Clinton White House.
The peace process is confronting a period of transition on more fronts than one, as Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, noted repeatedly before the vote. We believe that the effort has to be pinned down, and it has to continue without a pause, which may be there because of some political circumstances – change of administration in the United States, elections in Israel, possible elections in the Palestinian autonomy, he said. But the political context is just one reason that some see the resolution having little practical impact. Arab officials who attended a Monday meeting of the Quartet of powers shepherding the peace process – the US, Russia, the UN, and the European Union – expressed frustration over the lack of major progress toward a settlement and a Palestinian state. The resolution could even set back progress if it had the effect of enshrining an unsuccessful approach to peace, some analysts say. A Security Council resolution that provides explicit support for the two-state solution is a good thing. But if it locks in a format or negotiating approach, in particular one that after a year has provided ample proof of not working, then it is a bad thing, says Philip Wilcox, a former US diplomat who is now president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace in Washington. Condoleezza Rice, who was in New York Monday and Tuesday for what could be her last appearance at the UN as secretary of State, defines the Annapolis process as both bottom-up and top-down – meaning it is not simply the US and other powers knocking the parties' heads and telling them what they have to do. Indeed, Secretary Rice has been criticized for leaving the two sides on their own in negotiations and not playing the traditional American go-between. But, she insists, considerable progress [has been made] on the core issues.
The two sides have made some progress on incremental issues, Mr. Wilcox says, but none on the core issues – such as borders, status of Jerusalem, and Israeli settlements. Israel is supportive of the resolution, said Gabriela Shalev, Israel's ambassador to the UN, speaking to reporters Tuesday in New York. One reason for Israel's stance, she says, is that the resolution gives support to the Annapolis process and its emphasis on bilateral (instead of multilateral) negotiations. We are committed to the peace process, but the peace process is something that has to go on between the parties themselves, Ambassador Shalev says. There can be some kind of pushing from the outside, but in the end, it must be the two parties that reach an accord. Even some officials who believe considerable progress has been made over the past year – for example, in creating viable Palestinian security forces in the West Bank – say the resolution reflects the wishes of its sponsors and in particular the personal drive of Rice. This has become something of a personal thing for her, said a senior European official, who wished not to be named because the diplomatic discussions over the resolution were ongoing. You have to give [Rice] credit: She has managed to push the parties further down the road.
HERBERT GRUBEL ON THE AMERO - VIDEO
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2008/12/father-of-amero-herbert-grubel-speaks.html#links
WHEN MESSIAH COMES - AUDIO
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-messiah-comes.html#links
Palestinian killed after rocket fire raises concern over Gaza truce by Sakher Abu El Oun DEC 18,08
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli warplanes conducted two nighttime air strikes against the Gaza Strip following rocket fire against Israel, witnesses said Thursday.The raids, which targeted metal workshops in the towns of Jabaliya and Khan Yunis in the north and south caused extensive material damage but no injuries, witnesses and medical sources said.The Israeli military confirmed the air strikes and said the workshops were used to manufacture rockets.News of the bombing raids comes after a Palestinian man was killed during an earlier Israeli air bombardment on Gaza Wednesday evening.
Falak Okel, 47, died and his son and daughter were injured, when a rocket struck their house in Beit Lahya in the north of the Gaza Strip, the same source said.
Witnesses said Okel did not belong to any armed group.Gaza militants had fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, one of which blew up near a supermarket lightly wounding two people and fuelling concern that violence could flare up as a six-month truce ends this week.Two people suffered shrapnel wounds and three cars were damaged as one of 19 rockets fired at southern Israel struck outside a supermarket in the often targeted city of Sderot, the army said.Israeli forces immediately launched an air strike in northern Gaza, hitting a rocket launcher that was about to fire, a military spokeswoman said.This requires a reaction, and it will come, warned Israel's interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The escalation makes us even more convinced there can be no formal truce if it not observed on the ground.Islamic Jihad said its armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, fired rockets in retaliation for Monday's killing by Israeli forces of one of its members in the occupied West Bank.
The radical movement had claimed similar attacks on Monday, which prompted two Israeli air strikes in Gaza.The attacks came just ahead of the conclusion of the six-month ceasefire that went into effect on June 19.Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza, has spoken out against extending the Egyptian-mediated truce, but it indicated it has yet to take a final decision.Friday, December 19 is the last day of the calm, said Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, adding that the Islamist movement will respond to any aggression by the occupying forces against our people.
Israeli officials have said they want to continue the truce but warned that they would not hesitate to use military force should Gaza militants fail to halt rocket and mortar attacks.Several ministers though have called for a tougher line against Gaza militants, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who hopes to become premier after February 10 elections, has said Israel cannot allow Gaza to remain in the hands of Hamas.Since the truce went into effect, Palestinian militants have fired more than 320 mortar rounds and rockets at southern Israel, according to the military. Following a November 4 surge in violence, Israel has completely sealed off Gaza almost every time rockets or mortar rounds were fired. The closures prevent the delivery of humanitarian and other supplies which aid agencies say are desperately needed in the impoverished, overcrowded sliver of land crippled by a blockade Israel imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007. Humanitarian agencies and human rights groups have urged Israel to lift the blockade, saying the 1.5 million population of Gaza should not be punished for the actions of armed militants. In an opinion sent to attorney general Menahem Mazuz, Israel's legal watchdog group Gisha warned that the restrictions on the passage of people and goods amounted to a closure imposed for the illegal purpose of collective punishment against innocent civilians.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who headed to Washington on Wednesday, plans to discuss the situation in Gaza during his talks on Friday with US President George W. Bush. Abbas will warn against an Israeli offensive in Gaza and will call for the lifting of the Israeli blockade, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat. The president also called for a continuation of the Gaza truce, although he has had no influence in the territory since his forces were driven out when Hamas seized power.
The situation in Gaza, and the divisions between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party have further complicated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that have produced no tangible results since they were revived under US auspices in November 2007. Abbas hopes to rally support for efforts to shield the peace process from a government change in Israel, where right-wing former premier Benjamin Netanyahu leads opinion polls ahead of the February elections. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution stating its commitment to the irreversibility of the bilateral negotiations.
Top US Mideast diplomat quits By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 17, 6:25 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East will step down from his post and move to the private sector at the end of the week, as President-elect Barack Obama's transition team weighs possible successors, State Department officials said Wednesday.David Welch, a career diplomat and assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, has told his staff his last day on the job will be Friday, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity before a formal announcement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, expected Thursday.Welch is the first of the department's assistant secretaries to leave since Obama's election last month.Assistant secretaries of state, like ambassadors, are political appointees and are required to submit resignation letters before a change in the administration. Some, however, are asked to stay on by the incoming administration.A former ambassador to Egypt who also served in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Pakistan, Welch took the top Mideast spot in March 2005 and became the lead U.S. liaison to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that began at a peace conference last November in Annapolis, Md. Earlier this year, Welch also negotiated a comprehensive settlement deal with Libya to compensate the victims of 1980s Libyan-linked terrorism and U.S. retaliatory attacks.
Israel's Kadima party votes Wed Dec 17, 5:27 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Members of Israel's ruling Kadima party on Wednesday elected 22 candidates for the February 10 early legislative elections.About 80,000 party members were eligible to cast their ballots and 45 percent of them turned out at 95 polling stations, the party said.Results were expected to be published early Thursday.The vote was the second held by the centrist party. In September, the party picked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as its new leader to replace scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Livni hopes to take over from Olmert following the February election but faces tough competition from former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing Likud party dominates in opinion polls.In recent weeks, Livni has been perceived as courting right-wing voters in a bid to gain ground against her rival.She has lashed out at Defence Minister and Labour party chief Ehud Barak claiming he was not tough enough in his response to rocket fire by militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.She has also distanced herself from statements by Olmert who said Israel needed to make territorial concessions to the Palestinians in order to achieve peace.
Gaza militants ready for end of truce with Israel By DIAA HADID and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Masked Palestinian gunmen practice capturing Israeli soldiers, training videos show how to make grenades and rocket squads fire daily at Israeli border towns.It looks like a warmup for battle.Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers say a six-month cease-fire with Israel formally ends Friday, and Hamas and smaller armed groups won't say clearly whether they will extend it. The vagueness, and rocket fire, could be signs of a new round of fighting, or merely a negotiating tactic to pressure Israel.Under the truce, Gaza militants were to halt rocket fire on Israeli border communities. Israel was to end raids on Gaza and allow more goods and people through its border crossings, sealed after Hamas overran the territory in June 2007.While the Egyptian-brokered truce has brought a drop in violence, neither side is entirely happy. Israel notes the rocket fire hasn't ended, while Palestinians complain the truce didn't benefit Gaza, mainly because the crossings haven't been opened, leading to widespread shortages of basic goods.We aren't encouraged, said Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader.Hamas says the deal expires Friday, but Israel says the unwritten agreement had no expiration date.The truce has increasingly unraveled since early November, when Israeli forces entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel that could have been used in a cross-border raid. In response, Palestinian militants resumed firing rockets at Israel.At least 20 rockets were fired at Israel on Wednesday, the military said. One exploded in the border town of Sderot, wounding two people and damaging a restaurant, police said.There can't be a situation where there is a truce, but the situation on the ground is very different, said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. This demands that we address it, he added, stopping short of pledging retaliation.Israel has renewed airstrikes against rocket squads, aiming at launchers in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the military said. Palestinian hospital officials said a 47-year-old man was killed when a missile hit his house and a balcony collapsed on him.
In the end, the test is the calm and the benefit the residents have had for long months, even though it is relative calm, said Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official who helped negotiate the truce.Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said this week the deal would not be extended, while Gaza's Hamas bosses insist no decision on an extension has been made.Both sides are jockeying for better terms.
Israel wants to be able to enter Gaza to prevent attacks. Hamas wants Israel to open the border crossings.Even before the truce began fraying, Israel did not allow free transfer of goods in and out of Gaza. Since the rocket fire resumed in November, Israel has kept the borders virtually sealed, allowing in only minimal humanitarian aid.Still, the lull has been a relief for people on both sides of the border. A poll Tuesday indicated that 74 percent of Palestinians and 51 percent of Israelis want to extend the cease-fire.The number of casualties and rocket attacks dropped sharply after the truce took hold. From January to June, 338 Palestinians and 16 Israelis were killed in cross-border violence, according to Associated Press figures. Since the truce took effect, 21 Palestinians, most of them militants, were killed by Israeli fire. No Israelis were killed. Israel's military says 1,786 rockets were fired in the first half of 2008, compared to around 199 in the second. During the truce, Hamas has been smuggling weapons through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas militants are also believed to be burrowing tunnels into Israel to carry out attacks. Through the summer, Hamas ran military-style camps for youngsters, and the smaller Islamic Jihad has been practicing tracking down Israel soldiers. In Islamic Jihad training videos obtained by the AP, gunmen captured mock Israeli soldiers hiding in a burned out building and demonstrated how to make grenades and rockets.
Israel has the region's most powerful army and would likely be able to retake Gaza quickly. However, Israeli leaders are hesitant to order a major ground offensive, because they fear high casualties on both sides.
Israel issues new warning on Iranian nuclear arms Wed Dec 17, 2:26 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is warning that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, it could try to attack the United States.Barak said the world should press Iran to stop it from building nuclear weapons.He spoke at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. He said, If it built even a primitive nuclear weapon like the type that destroyed Hiroshima, Iran would not hesitate to load it on a ship, arm it with a detonator operated by GPS and sail it into a vital port on the east coast of North America.Indicating the possibility of a military strike, Barak said, We recommend to the world not to take any option off the table, and we mean what we say.
Palestinians got $1.7bln in aid last year: France Wed Dec 17, 11:11 am ET
PARIS (AFP) – The international community has given 1.7 billion dollars (1.18 billion euros) in aid to the Palestinian Authority over the last year, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday.That was 0.6 billion dollars more than was promised at a major donor conference held last December in Paris, spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said.At that conference, donors promised to provide 7.4 billion dollars over three years, which was considerably more than the 5.6 billion dollars the Palestinians had requested.The donors agreed to allocate 1.1 billion dollars in the first year.Such payments above the promises made are the concrete sign of the exceptional engagement of the international community, Desagneaux said.The conference agreed a package of aid to stabilise the Palestinian economy and try to shore up the faltering peace process with Israel.Palestinian leaders said the money was needed for direct support to the budget to help develop a viable economy and institutions for a future Palestinian state.
Ottawa welcomes UN council's Mideast resolution Tue Dec 16, 11:08 pm ET
OTTAWA, (AFP) – Canada Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council's first resolution in five years on the Middle East, calling it a positive step toward a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.We fully endorse the irreversibility of the process launched at Annapolis (in the United States) last year and we offer our complete support to the parties in reaching their goal of a comprehensive two-state solution, said Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon.Canada commends Council members for their steadfastness in adopting this resolution, he said, stressing that it reflects the international community's commitment to do all that is necessary for peace in the Middle East.Canada supports all efforts, including the Arab Peace Initiative, to enhance peace in the region and sees this resolution as a positive step toward that goal, Cannon said.Tuesday's resolution 1850 endorses principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts at a time of transition with the arrival of a new US administration and early elections scheduled in both Israel and among the Palestinians next year.It calls on both parties to fulfill their obligations ... and refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations.The text urges stepped-up diplomatic efforts to foster in parallel with progress in the bilateral process mutual recognition and peaceful coexistence between all states in the region in the context of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.And it welcomed consideration by the quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- of an international meeting in Moscow next year.
Israeli-Palestinian peace process is irreversible Tue Dec 16, 6:52 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday stressing that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process initiated by the United States last year is irreversible and urging intensified efforts to achieve peace throughout the Middle East.The vote was 14-0, with Libya abstaining.The resolution — co-sponsored by the United States and Russia — backs the determined efforts by Israel and the Palestinians to conclude a peace treaty and fulfill the vision that they can live peacefully side by side as independent democratic states.The negotiating process launched by President George W. Bush at Annapolis, Md., in November 2007 called for the Israelis and Palestinians to try to reach a final peace deal by the end of 2008.
That goal would have given Bush a diplomatic victory just before leaving office — but it was not to be, despite months of intense negotiations.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said all council members regret an agreement won't be reached this year, but said a serious process is under way and the international community must ensure the talks achieve results.Both Israel and the Palestinians welcomed the resolution.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, expressed hope that the sides will remove all obstacles and reach a peace treaty in 2009. He said the Palestinians are happy that the Security Council — which has not adopted a comprehensive resolution on the Mideast since November 2003 — is actively engaged.In Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who has been Israel's chief peace negotiator since Annapolis, said the resolution gave an important international endorsement for the peace efforts.The Security Council's clear support is a vote of confidence in the process Israel is advancing with the legitimate Palestinian leadership, she said.Livni said negotiations would continue, though talks must be accompanied by the Palestinian government's efforts to crack down on militants and end the Hamas militant group's control of the Gaza Strip.In probably her last U.N. appearance, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the negotiations born at Annapolis give me confidence that the goal of independent Israeli and Palestinian states living in peace and security is not just a vision, but it is a commitment of the parties and of the international community.There can be no turning back the clock, she told the council. We have to continue on the chosen path.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that the issues at the heart of the conflict are complex and will require political will and also courage to resolve.
The resolution declared the council's support for the negotiations initiated at Annapolis, saying it backs Israelis and Palestinians in the determined efforts to reach their goal of concluding a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception.The sides have failed to bridge disagreements over the so-called core issues, including their final borders and the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.Political uncertainty on both sides has also clouded the picture. Israel is headed toward elections in February, and the front-runner, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been cool to the Annapolis process.The Palestinians, meanwhile, disagree over when the term of Israel's negotiating partner, President Mahmoud Abbas, is to end. Hamas says he must step down in January, though he has vowed to stay in office. In Geneva, meanwhile, the U.N. human rights chief criticized Israel for detaining and expelling a U.N. envoy investigating the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Israel says it stopped Richard Falk, the U.N. Human Rights Council monitor for the Palestinian territories, at the airport Sunday because it perceives him to be severely biased. U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay says Israel's treatment of Falk was unprecedented and deeply regrettable.
Syria's Assad seeks Israeli stance on Golan: sources By Khaled Yacoub Oweis –Tue Dec 16, 12:02 pm ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria has drafted a document defining the boundaries of the occupied Golan Heights and was waiting for an Israeli reply through Turkish mediators, sources familiar with the talks said this week.President Bashar al-Assad recently told Western officials that Damascus wants Israel to take a clear position on the territorial problem between the two countries before agreeing to push stalled peace talks forward.The Syrian document sets the boundaries with reference to six geographical points, the sources told Reuters.The president was clear that Syria wants to know the Israeli view about what constitutes occupied Syrian territory before progress could be made, one of the sources said.According to Syrian thinking, Israeli agreement on the six (geographical) points could help seal a peace deal next year. But Israel may not be able to provide a response any time soon, when it is in such political turmoil, a second source said.Indirect talks between Syria and Israel, which were suspended about three months ago after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to resign over a corruption scandal, center on the fate of the Golan Heights.Israel captured the plateau in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it more than a decade later -- a move unanimously rejected by the United Nations Security Council.The two countries held almost 10 years of direct talks under U.S. supervision that collapsed in 2000 over the scope of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.Bashar's late father, President Hafez al-Assad, refused to sign a deal that did not include the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, a main water reservoir.The late Assad regarded the northeastern shore as an integral part of the Golan and said that Syria was in control of it before the war broke out on June 4, 1967.Israel captured the whole eastern shore along with the surrounding plateau in the war. The shoreline has been receding for decades. Under the Israeli proposal, Syria would have been only meters short of the northeastern shore.
FATHER'S LEGACY
Bashar has stuck to his father's line on the Golan.A Syrian official said that the paper sent to Turkey includes reference to geographical points on the present northeastern shore of the lake. The document puts us on the water, the official said.
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Shara said last month that the Syrian definition of the June 4 line means the restoration of the northeastern shore of the lake to Syria and described Israeli arguments about the shoreline receding as invalid.Diplomats in the Syrian capital said that even if the two sides make progress on the territorial question a deal might not follow easily because Israel now wants Syria to reduce its alliance with Iran and cut support for the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist groups.The situation is more complicated than in 2000 with Syria's external ties coming into play. Syria also wants agreement on the six points without direct negotiations, which might be difficult, one of the diplomats said.
Syrian officials have said Israel has no right to set conditions regarding its foreign policy but acknowledged that the political map of the region would change if Damascus and Israel sign a deal. Assad told his visitors that Syria had received a document from Israel through Turkey with queries about Syrian relations with neighboring states after a possible peace, according to the sources. The president said Syria has responded, but he did not say how, one said. Olmert, who is still caretaker prime minister, has said he wants to renew the talks. Turkey also wants the talks to move to a direct mode from the four indirect rounds that have been held since April, the diplomats said. A foreign official who has met Assad said the Syrian leader was not enthusiastic about holding a fifth round before the Israeli parliamentary elections in February, although European leaders have urged him to agree to one before then. (Editing by Nadim Ladki and Samia Nakhoul)
Quartet says U.S.-led Mideast talks irreversible By Louis Charbonneau Louis Charbonneau – Mon Dec 15, 8:21 pm
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators said on Monday there was no turning back from U.S.-led talks between the Israelis and Palestinians even though they have failed so far to produce a peace agreement.In a statement issued after a meeting of Quartet members -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- the group said the negotiations launched last November in Annapolis, Maryland should be accelerated.The bilateral negotiations process launched at Annapolis is irreversible and ... these negotiations should be intensified in order to put an end to the conflict and to establish as soon as possible the state of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with Israel, it said.The statement criticized both Israel and the Palestinians and urged both sides to do more for the talks.The group condemned indiscriminate attacks on Israel and urged Palestinians to continue work on reforming their security services and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.
It also urged Israel to freeze all settlement activities, which have a negative impact on the negotiating environment and on Palestinian economic recovery, and to address the growing threat of settler extremism.The Quartet also expressed concern about the Israeli blockade of Gaza, saying the provision of humanitarian supplies to Gaza must be assured continuously.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke about a U.S.-drafted resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on Tuesday.
PROGRESS
Rice said that resolution would put the international community on record in believing in the irreversibility of the Annapolis process -- a process she has been overseeing.Rice also dismissed suggestions that the failure to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, as the administration of President George W. Bush had aimed for, meant the process had been a failure.They have achieved a good deal of progress in their negotiations, Rice told reporters after the Quartet meeting. If that process takes a little bit longer, so be it.Libya, the only Arab member of the U.N. Security Council, criticized the U.S. draft resolution for avoiding any mention of specific complaints the Palestinians have raised.
Ignoring completely what Israel is doing there I think will not help ... support for this draft resolution, Libya's U.N. Ambassador Giadallah Ettalhi told reporters.
Asked if he planned to vote against the text, Ettalhi said he was still awaiting instructions from Tripoli.Among the issues he said he would like to see included in the resolution are the blockade of Gaza and settlements.With most members of 15-nation council backing the text, it will most likely pass even if the Libyans vote against it. But diplomats said they would prefer to have Arab backing and a unanimous vote in favor.If approved, it will be the Security Council's first resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since November 2003, when it endorsed the Middle East road map peace plan for eventual Palestinian statehood. Rice, her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband are among those expected to attend the council debate on the U.S. draft resolution.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington; editing by Todd Eastham)
Bethlehem gears up for a busy Christmas Mon Dec 15, 4:43 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The traditional birthplace of Jesus is preparing to welcome a record number of tourists in its first year of relative calm in the West Bank since 2000, Bethlehem's mayor said on Monday.Victor Batarseh said at his annual news conference ahead of Christmas and the New Year celebration that there has been a clear improvement in the situation of tourism since the beginning of the year.He said the West Bank town where Christians believe Jesus was born was expecting to host more than a million tourists and pilgrims "from now until the end of the year.
Some 5,000 hotel rooms in the town on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem are fully booked for Christmas week, Batarseh said.Bethlehem was hard hit following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000 and the building of the Jewish state's controversial West Bank barrier that encircles much of Bethlehem.The revival of the local tourism industry has also led to a sharp drop in unemployment from 50 percent in 2005 to 22 percent in 2008, Batarseh said.The Palestinian mayor nevertheless decried the Israeli military presence and roadblocks around the town.
As mayor, it is my duty to turn your attention to the suffering endured by the residents of this town and the humiliation and injustice that the (Israeli) occupation puts them through, he said.The relative improvement of the occupied West Bank's economy was one of the few visible achievements of the US-backed Middle East peace talks which were launched in November 2007 but have failed so far to yield a peace treaty.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
QUARTET KICKS OFF MIDEAST MEET
Mideast Quartet kicks off UN meet Mon Dec 15, 4:08 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The diplomatic Middle East Quartet kicked off talks here Monday on the eve of a Security Council ministerial session as part of renewed efforts to give fresh impetus to the peace process.UN chief Ban Ki-moon huddled in his office with his Quartet partners -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner -- beginning at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has served for 15 months as Middle East envoy for the Quartet, took part in the meeting by video link from Jerusalem.A press conference was due later in the day before talks with an Arab League contact group.The group comprises Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen plus Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.The Quartet's meeting comes as Security Council ambassadors resumed discussions on a US draft resolution endorsing principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Relatives cheer freed Palestinian prisoners by Hossam Ezzedine – Mon Dec 15, 10:52 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Hundreds of people gave a heroes' welcome on Monday to more than 200 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel as a goodwill gesture towards Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Sporting traditional black and white chequered scarfs and caps stamped with the Palestinian flag, the released inmates got off five buses in the centre of the West Bank town of Ramallah to cheers from the crowd.
Abbas, who led the welcoming ceremony, kissed and hugged the prisoners, most of whom are members of his secular Fatah movement. Israel released 210 prisoners from the occupied West Bank as well as 17 Gazans.Our joy will not be complete until all 11,000prisoners are freed, Abbas said in reference to the Palestinians still held in Israel.I promise you that there will be other groups like the one today until there is an end to the suffering of all our detainees, Abbas told the crowd in the courtyard of his headquarters.The release came just hours after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected attempts by two organisations to block the move by arguing that the freed prisoners would resume their terrorist activities.Israel's cabinet last month approved the release as a gesture to Abbas, whose West Bank-based administration is leading the peace talks with the Jewish state. None of those freed are accused of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.Olmert told Abbas at their last meeting in November of his plan to release 250 prisoners, but a government committee approved only 230 names.The committee ruled out freeing prisoners who belong to radical groups such as the Islamist Hamas movement or those implicated in deadly attacks.
The decision to free the Palestinians was widely seen as an attempt to strengthen moderate Palestinians against Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas.Since the Islamists ousted his forces from the impoverished coastal territory after days of ferocious clashes, Abbas has held sway only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.In a statement issued in Gaza, Hamas welcomed the release of the prisoners, while urging Abbas's Palestinian Authories not to boost its security cooperation with the Zionist occupation.Several Israeli officials have criticised the release, including Trade and and Industry Minister Eli Yishai from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who called the gesture dangerous, strange and dubious.In August, Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners but more than 11,000 Palestinians are still held in its jails. Since Abbas took office in 2005, Israel has released a total of 2,100 Palestinian prisoners.Ironically, as the prisoners were set free, former Palestinian minister and Hamas member Omar Abdelrazzek was being taken to the Ofer prison.Released in August after serving 26 years behind bars, Abdelrazzek is to spend another five months in prison after a military court ruled in favour of an appeal by the military prosecutor's office which objected to his release.What a coincidence to see those young people leave prison as I enter it, he told AFP.
Former US President Carter meets Hamas leader Sun Dec 14, 2:48 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with the exiled leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for the second time this year.Sunday's meeting in Damascus is part of Carter's regional discussions on Middle East conflicts.Hamas officials kept reporters away from the venue and no news conference was scheduled. Hamas issued a statement but provided no details about what they talked about.Carter first met with the head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, in April. That meeting drew sharp criticism from the Bush administration, which labels Hamas a terrorist group and contends such meetings give credibility to militants.Carter said Saturday that he intends to continue meeting with Hamas because peace requires dialogue.
In Jesus' town, Christmas looking cheerful again By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 14, 2:22 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – After eight bleak years, Jesus' birthplace finally has a Christmas season to cheer about.Hotels are booked solid through January, Manger Square is bustling with tourists, and Israeli and Palestinian forces are working to make things go smoothly.Elias Al-Araj's 200-room hotel is fully booked for the season, and he plans to open a 100-room annex. He says he already has bookings through July.This year, business was great, he said.Bethlehem's economic fortunes are closely tied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tourism blossomed in the 1990s, when peace hopes were alive, but was crushed by the outbreak of fighting in 2000. Christmas after Christmas, tourists were scared off by Palestinian violence and Israeli travel restrictions.With calm gradually returning to the West Bank, Bethlehem has again become a magnet for Christmas pilgrims.It's a difference between heaven and earth, said entrepreneur Mike Kanawati, who is so optimistic he's opening a new restaurant near the Church of the Nativity.Palestinian officials say 1.3 million tourists have visited the West Bank this year, nearly double last year's level. The total for 2008 could rise to 1.6 million. The tourism boom has created 12,000 new jobs, said Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki.Bethlehem's 19 hotels are fully booked through January, said Mayor Victor Batarseh. He said he expects 30,000 visitors on Christmas Eve alone, compared with 22,000 last year, with about 5,000 more expected during Orthodox rites in January.Batarseh said he hopes the signs of recovery will persuade more Bethlehemites to stay in their town. In recent years, growing numbers, particularly Christians, have emigrated.
Calm and an increase in tourism will create more job opportunities and encourage families to stay in the city, said Batarseh, who is Christian. Officials say 40 percent of the town's 32,000 residents are Christian, down from 90 percent in the 1950s. The rest are Muslim.Christmas decorations should be up by Monday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will light the Christmas tree, a large cypress, in Manger Square. Bands of yellow lights are already strung across the main road at the entrance to Bethlehem.Bethlehem is a typical West Bank town, with congested streets and noisy markets, very different from the biblical idyll visitors might imagine.
It's fascinating to see the place I heard about all my life, said Michael Creasy, 30, a software engineer from San Francisco, after emerging from the Church of the Nativity that stands over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. He said he'd love to stay for Christmas, but has to get back to work.The upbeat mood contrasts sharply with the dismal Muslim holiday season in the Gaza Strip. Because of an Israeli economic blockade imposed in response to repeated rocket attacks, the coastal strip is acutely short of sheep and cattle needed for the Muslim feast of the sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Bethlehem is being turned into a showcase for Palestinian security forces, who have been gradually expanding areas under their control in the once unruly West Bank.Some 1,500 Palestinian police officers will be deployed in Bethlehem during the holiday.They are trying to look reassuring, though the dozens of armed officers who recently stomped in unison across Manger Square might have scared some tourists. Suleiman Emran, a security official, said officers are to greet the visitors with roses, candy and holiday greeting cards that include emergency phone numbers in case of trouble. Israeli security officials say they are working with their Palestinian counterparts to ensure easy access to Bethlehem.
Bethlehem is ringed on three sides by a barrier which Israel says is meant to keep out Palestinian militants. A large gray wall separates the city from nearby Jerusalem, and tourists entering Bethlehem must pass through a military checkpoint with barbed wire and watchtowers. Late last month, at a meeting of Palestinian military chiefs to discuss Christmas preparations, the Palestinians asked Israel to speed tourists through its army checkpoints and not carry out arrest raids in Bethlehem during the holidays, Emran said. We are afraid it would terrify the visitors, he said.
Israel ready to renew Gaza truce with Hamas: official Sat Dec 13, 3:24 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is willing to renew a six-months old ceasefire deal with Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip if militants halt all attacks against the Jewish state, a senior defence official said.Top defence ministry official Amos Gilad will head to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and senior officials to discuss the renewal of the Egyptian-brokered deal which is set to expire on December 19, the official told AFP.If Hamas is ready to maintain the calm and return to the situation as it was a few weeks ago Israel will be willing to continue the truce, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The olive branch comes six days after interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had told security chiefs to make plans for military action against militant groups in Gaza and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the government should respond militarily, economically and politically.The ceasefire agreement has been rattled since November 4 by a string of tit-for-tat attacks between the Israeli army and militants, who fired dozens of rockets against southern Israel.In response, Israel regularly sealed off all its crossings into Gaza, raising international fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory, where 1.5 million people live and which has been controlled by Hamas since the Islamist group seized power in June 2007.Olmert said last Sunday the government would announce its proposed action against Gaza within the next week.
Livni, who will lead the ruling Kadima party's campaign in next February's general election, said: The truce has not been respected by the other side. They are firing on our citizens. That is enough.Recent days have seen a return to relative calm and the reopening of the crossings.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP last week: Discussions have taken place recently with the various parties about the truce but it seems difficult to agree an extension and Hamas is ready for all eventualities.
Security Council mulls joint US-Russian initiative in support of Mideast peace by Gerard Aziakou Gerard Aziakou – Sat Dec 13, 2:00 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN Security Council envoys on Saturday weighed a US draft resolution endorsing principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace which their ministers hope to adopt here next week.US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad circulated the draft to his colleagues during closed-door consultations in what was presented as a joint US-Russian initiative to fully involve the Security Council at a crucial moment of transition in Middle East peacemaking.We think this is an important for the council to express itself" on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, he told reporters after the meeting, referring to upcoming Israeli elections, the arrival of a new US administration and possible Palestinian polls.Khalilzad said discussions on the text would continue Monday ahead of a vote by ministers expected Tuesday.The US text, which received strong backing from Russia, France and Britain, endorses principles agreed by Israelis and Palestinians for the bilateral negotiating process and their determined efforts to reach their goal of concluding a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception.It calls on both parties to fulfill their obligations ... and refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations.
It also urged stepped-up diplomatic efforts to foster in parallel with progress in the bilateral process mutual recognition and peaceful coexistence between all states in the region in the context of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.And it welcomed the diplomatic quartet's consideration, in consultation with the parties of an international meeting on the Middle East in Moscow next year.The Middle East diplomatic quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations -- has put forward a roadmap for the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.Monday, a quartet meeting here will bring together US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.The quartet is also to confer with an Arab League contact group comprising Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen plus Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, diplomats said.Rice is to be in New York Monday and Tuesday for UN talks that will also focus on Zimbabwe's crisis and piracy off the Somali coast.
This draft is providing good ground to solidify the efforts of the past few months, said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, referring to the US-sponsored negotiations launched in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 after a seven-year hiatus.We believe it is very important to continue the momentum, he said.But no visible progress has been made on ending the core issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and security between the Palestinians and Israelis since the Annapolis process was launched.France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose country currently holds the European presidency, also hailed the US draft and the Security Council's involvement.The text is a very good basis to get a consensus on principles" for a lasting Middle East solution, he said. I am optimistic that it will be adopted by consensus on Tuesday.His Libyan counterpart, the lone Arab member of the council, however told reporters that he would relay the draft to his capital for instructions and said he wanted a paragraph inserted demanding an end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is set to travel to Washington on December 19 for Middle East peace talks with US President George W. Bush, and fly to Moscow three days later to confer with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Gates warns enemies not to test Obama Sat Dec 13, 2:59 am ET
MANAMA (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned the United States' enemies on Saturday against trying to take advantage of the early months of the new Washington administration to test U.S. resolve.Gates also said the United States would stay deeply involved in the Middle East and the Gulf under Barack Obama's administration.I can assure you that a change in administration does not alter our fundamental interests, especially in the Middle East, he told a regional security conference in Bahrain.Asked about Iran, he said the United States was not seeking to oust the country's leaders but did want to see a change in Iranian policies.Nobody is after a regime change in Iran. What we're after is a change in policies and a change in behavior, Gates said.The president-elect and his team are under no illusions about Iran's behavior and what Iran has been doing in the region and is doing in terms of its own weapons programs.Many foreign policy experts, including vice-president elect Sen. Joe Biden, have suggested enemies of the United States will try to provoke a crisis early in Obama's term while the new administration is still finding its feet.Gates, who will stay on under Obama, said extensive planning has gone into preparing for the transition.Anyone who thought that the upcoming months might present opportunities to test the new administration would be sorely mistaken, he told the Manama Dialogue conference, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.President Obama and his national security team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the United States and our friends and allies from the moment he takes office on January 20th.
Gates, a former CIA director, said the security of the Gulf had long been a central concern for Washington and he brought a message of continuity and commitment from Obama to U.S. allies in the region.He repeated longstanding appeals for Sunni Arab states to support Iraq's U.S.-backed government with full diplomatic relations and forgiveness of Saddam Hussein-era debts.Sunni Arab powers have harbored deep reservations about the Baghdad government, believing it to be sectarian and too close politically to Shi'ite-dominated Iran.Gates said Sunni states should welcome a chance to forge close relations with Iraq, partly to prevent Iran from doing so.
There is no doubt that Iran has been heavily engaged in trying to influence the development and direction of the Iraqi government -- and has not been a good neighbor, he said.Iraq wants to be your partner, he told his audience. And, given the challenges in the Gulf, and the reality of Iran, you should wish to be theirs.
Gates restated U.S. complaints that Iran supports groups such as Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon and said its nuclear program was almost assuredly meant to lead to atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran disputes.(Editing by Matthew Jones)
Rice to tackle Mideast peace, Zimbabwe, Somalia Fri Dec 12, 4:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to New York next week for UN talks on Palestinian-Israeli peace, Zimbabwe's crisis and Somali pirates, her spokesman said Friday.Rice will visit New York on Monday and Tuesday for a lot of activities over at the UN. Topics to be discussed: Middle East, Zimbabwe, Somalia and pirates, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.He gave no further details.UN chief Ban Ki-moon will huddle on Monday with Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss the Middle East peace process, officials of the international body announced earlier.The United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union make up the Middle East quartet, which has endorsed a roadmap for a Palestinian state to coexist peacefully alongside a secure Israel.But no visible progress has been made on ending the core issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and security between the Palestinians and Israelis since Rice and President George W. Bush relaunched the negotiations in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 after a seven-year hiatus.McCormack said Rice hopes that the UN Security Council will work more forcefully to end the multiple crises in Zimbabwe.Rice wants President Robert Mugabe to step down from power, a move backed by Bush and other world leaders. The US blames Mugabe for Zimbabwe's political deadlock, economic meltdown and humanitarian crisis, including a cholera outbreak.
We're in discussions with members of the Security Council as to what the Security Council as a body might do, McCormack said. And what we want to do is to start a process that will bring an end to the tragedy that is unfolding in Zimbabwe.The United States is talking to South Africa, seen as having the most influence with Mugabe, as well as other countries about finding a solution, McCormack indicated.A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, proposed Thursday that Zimbabwe's neighbors, particularly South Africa, close their borders with the country so that it yields to international demands.Rice and her counterparts might also vote on a UN Security Council resolution aimed at curbing a surge in piracy off the Somali coast.The United States has circulated a draft resolution allowing to chase offenders even on Somali soil, diplomats said.At least 17 ships are currently held by Somali pirates, including an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo vessel and a Saudi supertanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The diplomatic Middle East Quartet kicked off talks here Monday on the eve of a Security Council ministerial session as part of renewed efforts to give fresh impetus to the peace process.UN chief Ban Ki-moon huddled in his office with his Quartet partners -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner -- beginning at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has served for 15 months as Middle East envoy for the Quartet, took part in the meeting by video link from Jerusalem.A press conference was due later in the day before talks with an Arab League contact group.The group comprises Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen plus Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.The Quartet's meeting comes as Security Council ambassadors resumed discussions on a US draft resolution endorsing principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Relatives cheer freed Palestinian prisoners by Hossam Ezzedine – Mon Dec 15, 10:52 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Hundreds of people gave a heroes' welcome on Monday to more than 200 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel as a goodwill gesture towards Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Sporting traditional black and white chequered scarfs and caps stamped with the Palestinian flag, the released inmates got off five buses in the centre of the West Bank town of Ramallah to cheers from the crowd.
Abbas, who led the welcoming ceremony, kissed and hugged the prisoners, most of whom are members of his secular Fatah movement. Israel released 210 prisoners from the occupied West Bank as well as 17 Gazans.Our joy will not be complete until all 11,000prisoners are freed, Abbas said in reference to the Palestinians still held in Israel.I promise you that there will be other groups like the one today until there is an end to the suffering of all our detainees, Abbas told the crowd in the courtyard of his headquarters.The release came just hours after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected attempts by two organisations to block the move by arguing that the freed prisoners would resume their terrorist activities.Israel's cabinet last month approved the release as a gesture to Abbas, whose West Bank-based administration is leading the peace talks with the Jewish state. None of those freed are accused of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.Olmert told Abbas at their last meeting in November of his plan to release 250 prisoners, but a government committee approved only 230 names.The committee ruled out freeing prisoners who belong to radical groups such as the Islamist Hamas movement or those implicated in deadly attacks.
The decision to free the Palestinians was widely seen as an attempt to strengthen moderate Palestinians against Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas.Since the Islamists ousted his forces from the impoverished coastal territory after days of ferocious clashes, Abbas has held sway only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.In a statement issued in Gaza, Hamas welcomed the release of the prisoners, while urging Abbas's Palestinian Authories not to boost its security cooperation with the Zionist occupation.Several Israeli officials have criticised the release, including Trade and and Industry Minister Eli Yishai from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who called the gesture dangerous, strange and dubious.In August, Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners but more than 11,000 Palestinians are still held in its jails. Since Abbas took office in 2005, Israel has released a total of 2,100 Palestinian prisoners.Ironically, as the prisoners were set free, former Palestinian minister and Hamas member Omar Abdelrazzek was being taken to the Ofer prison.Released in August after serving 26 years behind bars, Abdelrazzek is to spend another five months in prison after a military court ruled in favour of an appeal by the military prosecutor's office which objected to his release.What a coincidence to see those young people leave prison as I enter it, he told AFP.
Former US President Carter meets Hamas leader Sun Dec 14, 2:48 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with the exiled leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for the second time this year.Sunday's meeting in Damascus is part of Carter's regional discussions on Middle East conflicts.Hamas officials kept reporters away from the venue and no news conference was scheduled. Hamas issued a statement but provided no details about what they talked about.Carter first met with the head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, in April. That meeting drew sharp criticism from the Bush administration, which labels Hamas a terrorist group and contends such meetings give credibility to militants.Carter said Saturday that he intends to continue meeting with Hamas because peace requires dialogue.
In Jesus' town, Christmas looking cheerful again By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 14, 2:22 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – After eight bleak years, Jesus' birthplace finally has a Christmas season to cheer about.Hotels are booked solid through January, Manger Square is bustling with tourists, and Israeli and Palestinian forces are working to make things go smoothly.Elias Al-Araj's 200-room hotel is fully booked for the season, and he plans to open a 100-room annex. He says he already has bookings through July.This year, business was great, he said.Bethlehem's economic fortunes are closely tied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tourism blossomed in the 1990s, when peace hopes were alive, but was crushed by the outbreak of fighting in 2000. Christmas after Christmas, tourists were scared off by Palestinian violence and Israeli travel restrictions.With calm gradually returning to the West Bank, Bethlehem has again become a magnet for Christmas pilgrims.It's a difference between heaven and earth, said entrepreneur Mike Kanawati, who is so optimistic he's opening a new restaurant near the Church of the Nativity.Palestinian officials say 1.3 million tourists have visited the West Bank this year, nearly double last year's level. The total for 2008 could rise to 1.6 million. The tourism boom has created 12,000 new jobs, said Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki.Bethlehem's 19 hotels are fully booked through January, said Mayor Victor Batarseh. He said he expects 30,000 visitors on Christmas Eve alone, compared with 22,000 last year, with about 5,000 more expected during Orthodox rites in January.Batarseh said he hopes the signs of recovery will persuade more Bethlehemites to stay in their town. In recent years, growing numbers, particularly Christians, have emigrated.
Calm and an increase in tourism will create more job opportunities and encourage families to stay in the city, said Batarseh, who is Christian. Officials say 40 percent of the town's 32,000 residents are Christian, down from 90 percent in the 1950s. The rest are Muslim.Christmas decorations should be up by Monday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will light the Christmas tree, a large cypress, in Manger Square. Bands of yellow lights are already strung across the main road at the entrance to Bethlehem.Bethlehem is a typical West Bank town, with congested streets and noisy markets, very different from the biblical idyll visitors might imagine.
It's fascinating to see the place I heard about all my life, said Michael Creasy, 30, a software engineer from San Francisco, after emerging from the Church of the Nativity that stands over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. He said he'd love to stay for Christmas, but has to get back to work.The upbeat mood contrasts sharply with the dismal Muslim holiday season in the Gaza Strip. Because of an Israeli economic blockade imposed in response to repeated rocket attacks, the coastal strip is acutely short of sheep and cattle needed for the Muslim feast of the sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Bethlehem is being turned into a showcase for Palestinian security forces, who have been gradually expanding areas under their control in the once unruly West Bank.Some 1,500 Palestinian police officers will be deployed in Bethlehem during the holiday.They are trying to look reassuring, though the dozens of armed officers who recently stomped in unison across Manger Square might have scared some tourists. Suleiman Emran, a security official, said officers are to greet the visitors with roses, candy and holiday greeting cards that include emergency phone numbers in case of trouble. Israeli security officials say they are working with their Palestinian counterparts to ensure easy access to Bethlehem.
Bethlehem is ringed on three sides by a barrier which Israel says is meant to keep out Palestinian militants. A large gray wall separates the city from nearby Jerusalem, and tourists entering Bethlehem must pass through a military checkpoint with barbed wire and watchtowers. Late last month, at a meeting of Palestinian military chiefs to discuss Christmas preparations, the Palestinians asked Israel to speed tourists through its army checkpoints and not carry out arrest raids in Bethlehem during the holidays, Emran said. We are afraid it would terrify the visitors, he said.
Israel ready to renew Gaza truce with Hamas: official Sat Dec 13, 3:24 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is willing to renew a six-months old ceasefire deal with Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip if militants halt all attacks against the Jewish state, a senior defence official said.Top defence ministry official Amos Gilad will head to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and senior officials to discuss the renewal of the Egyptian-brokered deal which is set to expire on December 19, the official told AFP.If Hamas is ready to maintain the calm and return to the situation as it was a few weeks ago Israel will be willing to continue the truce, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The olive branch comes six days after interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had told security chiefs to make plans for military action against militant groups in Gaza and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the government should respond militarily, economically and politically.The ceasefire agreement has been rattled since November 4 by a string of tit-for-tat attacks between the Israeli army and militants, who fired dozens of rockets against southern Israel.In response, Israel regularly sealed off all its crossings into Gaza, raising international fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory, where 1.5 million people live and which has been controlled by Hamas since the Islamist group seized power in June 2007.Olmert said last Sunday the government would announce its proposed action against Gaza within the next week.
Livni, who will lead the ruling Kadima party's campaign in next February's general election, said: The truce has not been respected by the other side. They are firing on our citizens. That is enough.Recent days have seen a return to relative calm and the reopening of the crossings.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP last week: Discussions have taken place recently with the various parties about the truce but it seems difficult to agree an extension and Hamas is ready for all eventualities.
Security Council mulls joint US-Russian initiative in support of Mideast peace by Gerard Aziakou Gerard Aziakou – Sat Dec 13, 2:00 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN Security Council envoys on Saturday weighed a US draft resolution endorsing principles underpinning Israeli-Palestinian peace which their ministers hope to adopt here next week.US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad circulated the draft to his colleagues during closed-door consultations in what was presented as a joint US-Russian initiative to fully involve the Security Council at a crucial moment of transition in Middle East peacemaking.We think this is an important for the council to express itself" on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, he told reporters after the meeting, referring to upcoming Israeli elections, the arrival of a new US administration and possible Palestinian polls.Khalilzad said discussions on the text would continue Monday ahead of a vote by ministers expected Tuesday.The US text, which received strong backing from Russia, France and Britain, endorses principles agreed by Israelis and Palestinians for the bilateral negotiating process and their determined efforts to reach their goal of concluding a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception.It calls on both parties to fulfill their obligations ... and refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations.
It also urged stepped-up diplomatic efforts to foster in parallel with progress in the bilateral process mutual recognition and peaceful coexistence between all states in the region in the context of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.And it welcomed the diplomatic quartet's consideration, in consultation with the parties of an international meeting on the Middle East in Moscow next year.The Middle East diplomatic quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations -- has put forward a roadmap for the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.Monday, a quartet meeting here will bring together US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.The quartet is also to confer with an Arab League contact group comprising Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen plus Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, diplomats said.Rice is to be in New York Monday and Tuesday for UN talks that will also focus on Zimbabwe's crisis and piracy off the Somali coast.
This draft is providing good ground to solidify the efforts of the past few months, said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, referring to the US-sponsored negotiations launched in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 after a seven-year hiatus.We believe it is very important to continue the momentum, he said.But no visible progress has been made on ending the core issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and security between the Palestinians and Israelis since the Annapolis process was launched.France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose country currently holds the European presidency, also hailed the US draft and the Security Council's involvement.The text is a very good basis to get a consensus on principles" for a lasting Middle East solution, he said. I am optimistic that it will be adopted by consensus on Tuesday.His Libyan counterpart, the lone Arab member of the council, however told reporters that he would relay the draft to his capital for instructions and said he wanted a paragraph inserted demanding an end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is set to travel to Washington on December 19 for Middle East peace talks with US President George W. Bush, and fly to Moscow three days later to confer with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Gates warns enemies not to test Obama Sat Dec 13, 2:59 am ET
MANAMA (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned the United States' enemies on Saturday against trying to take advantage of the early months of the new Washington administration to test U.S. resolve.Gates also said the United States would stay deeply involved in the Middle East and the Gulf under Barack Obama's administration.I can assure you that a change in administration does not alter our fundamental interests, especially in the Middle East, he told a regional security conference in Bahrain.Asked about Iran, he said the United States was not seeking to oust the country's leaders but did want to see a change in Iranian policies.Nobody is after a regime change in Iran. What we're after is a change in policies and a change in behavior, Gates said.The president-elect and his team are under no illusions about Iran's behavior and what Iran has been doing in the region and is doing in terms of its own weapons programs.Many foreign policy experts, including vice-president elect Sen. Joe Biden, have suggested enemies of the United States will try to provoke a crisis early in Obama's term while the new administration is still finding its feet.Gates, who will stay on under Obama, said extensive planning has gone into preparing for the transition.Anyone who thought that the upcoming months might present opportunities to test the new administration would be sorely mistaken, he told the Manama Dialogue conference, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.President Obama and his national security team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the United States and our friends and allies from the moment he takes office on January 20th.
Gates, a former CIA director, said the security of the Gulf had long been a central concern for Washington and he brought a message of continuity and commitment from Obama to U.S. allies in the region.He repeated longstanding appeals for Sunni Arab states to support Iraq's U.S.-backed government with full diplomatic relations and forgiveness of Saddam Hussein-era debts.Sunni Arab powers have harbored deep reservations about the Baghdad government, believing it to be sectarian and too close politically to Shi'ite-dominated Iran.Gates said Sunni states should welcome a chance to forge close relations with Iraq, partly to prevent Iran from doing so.
There is no doubt that Iran has been heavily engaged in trying to influence the development and direction of the Iraqi government -- and has not been a good neighbor, he said.Iraq wants to be your partner, he told his audience. And, given the challenges in the Gulf, and the reality of Iran, you should wish to be theirs.
Gates restated U.S. complaints that Iran supports groups such as Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon and said its nuclear program was almost assuredly meant to lead to atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran disputes.(Editing by Matthew Jones)
Rice to tackle Mideast peace, Zimbabwe, Somalia Fri Dec 12, 4:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to New York next week for UN talks on Palestinian-Israeli peace, Zimbabwe's crisis and Somali pirates, her spokesman said Friday.Rice will visit New York on Monday and Tuesday for a lot of activities over at the UN. Topics to be discussed: Middle East, Zimbabwe, Somalia and pirates, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.He gave no further details.UN chief Ban Ki-moon will huddle on Monday with Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss the Middle East peace process, officials of the international body announced earlier.The United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union make up the Middle East quartet, which has endorsed a roadmap for a Palestinian state to coexist peacefully alongside a secure Israel.But no visible progress has been made on ending the core issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees and security between the Palestinians and Israelis since Rice and President George W. Bush relaunched the negotiations in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 after a seven-year hiatus.McCormack said Rice hopes that the UN Security Council will work more forcefully to end the multiple crises in Zimbabwe.Rice wants President Robert Mugabe to step down from power, a move backed by Bush and other world leaders. The US blames Mugabe for Zimbabwe's political deadlock, economic meltdown and humanitarian crisis, including a cholera outbreak.
We're in discussions with members of the Security Council as to what the Security Council as a body might do, McCormack said. And what we want to do is to start a process that will bring an end to the tragedy that is unfolding in Zimbabwe.The United States is talking to South Africa, seen as having the most influence with Mugabe, as well as other countries about finding a solution, McCormack indicated.A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, proposed Thursday that Zimbabwe's neighbors, particularly South Africa, close their borders with the country so that it yields to international demands.Rice and her counterparts might also vote on a UN Security Council resolution aimed at curbing a surge in piracy off the Somali coast.The United States has circulated a draft resolution allowing to chase offenders even on Somali soil, diplomats said.At least 17 ships are currently held by Somali pirates, including an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo vessel and a Saudi supertanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
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