CHILL FALLS ON ISRAEL-RUSSIA RELATIONS

WEB BOT AN INTERNET PREDICTION SITE SAYS A LIMITED NUCLEAR WEAPONS WAR WILL BREAK OUT BY THE END OF 2008 OR EARLY 2009. WEB BOT HAS BEEN ACCURATE ON EVERY OTHER PREDICTION. AND WITH RUSSIA ACTING UP I KNOW IT WILL BE RUSSIA NUKING FORMER SATELLITES TO TRY TO NUKE THEM INTO SUBMISSION INTO THE SOVIET FOLD AGAIN OVIOUSLY.

HOLD ON FOLKS ITS GONNA GET HAIR RAISING IF WEB BOTS PREDICTION IS CORRECT. THE RUSSIAN BEAR HAS HIS CLAWS OPEN FOR BLOOD AND FORMER SOVIET SKIN.

WND Oh, my Gog August 22, 2008 1:00 am Eastern

More than 2,500 years ago, a captive of the Babylonian Empire named Ezekiel penned a prophecy, dated for some future era called the latter days, saying an alliance will arise, which Ezekiel calls collectively, Gog, the land of Magog, the ruler of Rosh, Meschech and Tubal. It, together with an alliance led by Persia, including Turkey, makes up much of the Baltic region and the Mediterranean Middle East.Without taking up too much time, Gog refers to modern Russia, from Moscow (Meshech) to Siberia. (Tubal). Magog refers to the states along the Black Sea, and in particular, the Republic of Georgia.I outlined Ezekiel's prophecy in 1969 in my book The Late, Great, Planet Earth at a time most of this territory was a well-entrenched part of the Soviet Union.After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. (Ezekiel 38:8)According to the prophet Ezekiel, this Russian-led alliance of nations would sweep suddenly down upon Israel in a surprise invasion that evokes only a weak diplomatic response from the West.

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say to you, Are you come to take a spoil? have you gathered your company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (Ezekiel 38:13)When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, most of these republics broke with Russia to form new alliances with NATO and the West – an event for which I was widely ridiculed at the time.How could most of Magog, like Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey, all firmly allied with the West, also be part of Russia's Gog alliance? I didn't know. But I didn't pen Ezekiel's prophecy. I only reported it.

Now, Gog has evidently decided to reclaim its former Soviet empire, starting with Magog. Despite weeks of promising to withdraw almost any minute, the Russian military continues to dig in and consolidate its forces in and near the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea.The Russians introduced tight restrictions of movement on Georgian citizens, refusing to accept anything except Russian documents. Despite agreements to the contrary, the Kremlin now says that Russian forces will leave in their own time.When Poland was contemplating an agreement that would allow the U.S. to deploy missile interceptor batteries in its territory, Russia warned them that by entering the treaty agreement they ran the risk of a Russian nuclear attack. When the Poles signed the treaty in defiance of the Kremlin, Russia promised its response would rise above the level of diplomacy, a reference to the principle that war is the result of failed diplomacy.The Russian invasion and apparent occupation of Georgia is feared by many analysts, particularly those from former Soviet republics, that Vladimir Putin plans to re-conquer and restore the former empire.Russia has broken off all ties with NATO, and the NATO alliance is beginning to show signs of strain as analysts warn of a new Cold War – or worse.Then, as now, the proxy battleground for the Cold War between East and West is in the Middle. So it was no surprise to read that Russia has targeted Israel for retaliation after Israel refused to honor a military embargo against Georgia.

According to a report in the World Tribune, We asked Israel not to sell offensive weapons to a hostile neighboring state, but they said they're a sovereign state, a diplomatic source said. Well, Israel shouldn't be surprised if we sell offensive weapons to Israel's neighbors.In December 2007, Israel agreed not to sign new contracts for offensive weapons to Georgia. But the Israeli Defense Ministry, supported by the United States, maintained it would honor existing arms deals with Tbilisi.We told the Israelis that this was a very unwise move and that Russians were being killed because of Georgia's policy, the Russian source said. They didn't take us seriously, probably because they were encouraged by the United States.I don't want anyone to miss the point here. The point isn't that the Gog Magog War has begun. I don't know if it has. I can't say for sure that this is even it.The point is this. Two thousand, five hundred years ago, a Hebrew captive living in Babylon outlined in detail the scenario that has continued to unfold and take shape in precise detail for most of the past generation.Even when short-term political changes seemed to indicate otherwise, the scenario eventually resumes its original course, as if following a pre-determined script.Ezekiel predicted this alignment of nations could only take place after Israel was restored to its place among the nations of the world. And so it unfolds. So, if that isn't the point, what is? It's simple. Who told Ezekiel? Because the same One that told Ezekiel the future also extends you an offer of pardon, if you are ready to believe that He is and allow Him into your heart as your Lord and Savior.I pray that you decide well. Time is not on your side.

Russia aims to keep control of Georgian port city By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer AUG 23,08

GORI, Georgia - A top Russian general on Saturday said his country's forces will keep patrolling the key Georgian Black Sea port of Poti even though it lies outside the areas where Russia claims it has the right to station soldiers in Georgia. The statement by deputy head of the general staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, reported by Russian news agencies, came a day after Russia said it had pulled back forces from Georgia in accordance with a EU-brokered cease-fire agreement.Russia interprets the accord as allowing it to keep a substantial military presence in Georgia — a point hotly disputed by the United States, France and Britain.The Russian troop pullback allowed residents of the strategic central city of Gori to begin returning two weeks after they fled Russian air attacks and advancing troops. Chaotic crowds of people and cars were jammed outside the city Saturday as Georgian police tried to control the mass return by setting up makeshift checkpoints.Those who were let through came back to find a city battered by bombs, suffering from food shortages and gripped by anguish.Surman Kekashvili, 37, stayed in Gori, taking shelter in a basement after his apartment was destroyed by a Russian bomb. Several days ago, he tried to bury three relatives killed by the bomb, placing what body parts he could find in a shallow grave covered by a burnt log, a rock and a piece of scrap metal.

I took only a foot and some of a torso. I could not get the other bodies out, he said.His next-door neighbor, Frosia Dzadiashvili, found most of her apartment destroyed, leaving only a room the size of a broom closet to stay in.I have nothing. My neighbors feed me if they have food to share, the 70-year-old woman said.The Russian tanks and troops are now gone from Gori — but some troops are just up the road at a new checkpoint on the edge of the Russian-proclaimed security zone around the border of South Ossetia. Another zone is near Abkhazia, another separatist region backed by Russia.On Saturday afternoon, several thousand protesters waving Georgian flags approached the Russian position on the outskirts of Gori. Some soldiers came out of their trenches, but there was no immediate sign of unrest.The United States, France and Britain protested that Russia has no claim to the alleged security zones under the cease-fire accord.The Russians have without a doubt failed to live up to their obligations, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington. Establishing checkpoints, buffer zones, are definitely not part of the agreement.Georgia's state minister on reintegration, Temur Yakobashvili, told the AP that formation of a buffer zone on Georgian territory outside South Ossetia is absolutely illegal.Russia claims it is allowed to be in these zones under peacekeeping agreements that ended fighting in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the 1990s.

But although Poti, the Black Sea port, is outside the buffer zone for the Abkhazia conflict, Nogovitsyn said Russian troops who have set up positions on the city's outskirts won't leave and will patrol the city.Poti is not in the security zone. But that doesn't mean that we will sit behind the fence watch as they drive around in Hummers, Nogovitsyn said, making reference to four U.S. Humvees the Russians seized in Poti this week.The vehicles were used in joint U.S.-Georgian military exercises as U.S. trainers prepared Georgians for deployment to Iraq. Russian forces also set up a checkpoint near Senaki, the home of a major military base in western Georgia. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Russian soldiers had severely looted the base, taking away military equipment, televisions and even air conditioners. Russia's pullback on Friday came two weeks to the day after thousands of Russian soldiers roared into the former Soviet republic following an assault by Georgian forces on separatist South Ossetia. The fighting left hundreds dead and nearly 160,000 people homeless. It also has deeply strained relations between Moscow and the West. Russia has frozen its military cooperation with NATO, Moscow's Cold War foe, underscoring a growing division in Europe. President Bush, vacationing at his ranch in Texas, conferred with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the two agreed that Russia is not in compliance and that Russia needs to come into compliance now, said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe on Friday. They have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory, and they need to do that, Johndroe said. The diplomatic struggle is certain to continue. The Russian parliament was expected to discuss recognizing the independence of the separatist regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Monday. In an interview with the AP, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity indicated that ethnic Georgians will not be allowed to return to their homes in South Ossetia. There is nothing left anymore for them to come back to, he said. There has been extensive looting and burning of Georgian homes in South Ossetia. In the village of Achabeti, an AP reporter saw Ossetians remove chairs, window frames and whatever else they could carry from abandoned Georgian houses. Associated Press writers Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Tbilisi, Georgia; Yuras Karmanau in Tskhinvali, Georgia; Bela Szandelszky in Poti, Georgia, and Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.

Georgian forces back in control of strategic road By Margarita Antidze
Sat Aug 23, 5:17 AM ET

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian troops were back in control of the country's main East-West highway on Saturday after Russian forces pulled back, but Washington condemned the Kremlin for keeping a force in Georgia's heartland. Russia says it will permanently station what it calls peacekeeping troops deep inside Georgia -- a step it says is to prevent new bloodshed and which the United States has branded a violation of a ceasefire deal.Russian forces would continue to patrol the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, a senior defense official said, potentially giving Moscow a stranglehold over trade.The conflict between Russia and pro-Western Georgia has left the United States, NATO and European Union groping for a response. Beyond freezing NATO's contacts with Russia, the West looks to have little influence over energy powerhouse Russia.Hundreds were killed and tens of thousands displaced in the fighting that erupted on August 7-8.Russia's military reiterated on Saturday that all its activities in Georgia were in line with the French-brokered ceasefire that ended the fighting.We follow the statements made by political leaders (in the West)... and are obliged to once again underline the Russian position: all the actions of Russian peacekeepers are in line with the six principles signed by the presidents of Russia and France, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, told a news conference in Moscow.On Saturday, a Reuters reporter saw Russian soldiers manning a checkpoint in the village of Karaleti, six km (four miles) north of the Georgian town of Gori and in territory where Tbilisi says Moscow has no right to station troops.Georgia's interior ministry said that about 300 km (miles) to the West, Russian forces were still dug in around Poti. The port also lies outside the buffer zone where Moscow says its peacekeepers will operate.

MIXED PICTURE

But elsewhere there was a mixed picture of the extent of Russia's military presence.

There was no sign of the checkpoint Russia's military said it had set up in the settlement of Shavshebi near Gori -- a strategic location because it lies on the main highway linking the Georgian capital to the Black Sea coast.And in Western Georgia, a Reuters cameraman saw a convoy of at least 150 Russian tanks, armored vehicles and trucks leaving the military garrison town of Senaki, where Moscow had said it would keep a presence as part of its security zone.Moscow sent in troops this month after Georgia tried to retake its separatist South Ossetia region.Russia crushed Georgian forces and pushed on further, crossing the main highway and moving close to a Western-backed oil pipeline. They also moved into Western Georgia from Abkhazia, a second breakaway region on the Black Sea.Convoys of Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and soldiers left their positions on Friday and headed back into rebel-held territory.Washington said the pullback was not sufficient.

They have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory and they need to do that, a White House spokesman said. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was deeply concerned that Russian forces had not withdrawn to their positions before the outbreak of hostilities, as agreed. Russian soldiers pulled out of Gori on Friday. Early on Saturday, Georgian police were patrolling the streets and the grocery market had re-opened for the first time since the Russians took the town. It's my first day at the market, said 79-year-old blackberry seller Zaira. I was so scared because bombs were falling on our homes. But now it seems people will start returning and everything will be alright, she said.

CHALLENGE

The Russian military presence is a challenge to the growing U.S. influence in the region -- a major overland trade route between Europe and Asia and a transit corridor for oil and gas exports from the Caspian Sea that is favored by the West because it bypasses Russia. NATO has frozen contacts with Russia in a show of support for Georgia, an aspiring member of the military alliance. But despite angry rhetoric, Western states have avoided talk of specific sanctions against Moscow.

Russia has denied any plans to annex Georgian territory, saying it only wants to protect South Ossetia and Abkhazia from a pro-Western Georgian leadership it accuses of dangerous aggression. Most people in the two rebel regions hold Russian passports and do not want to be part of Georgia.

EU neighbours seek help in post-Georgia climate
PHILIPPA RUNNER 21.08.2008 @ 09:29 CET

The presidents of Romania and Moldova on Wednesday (20 August) urged greater EU involvement in resolving Moldova's frozen conflict, as Russia's attack on Georgia continues to send ripples of anxiety through other post-communist states. As regards Transniestria, we reached the conclusion that the involvement of the European Union is fundamental and essential in finding a solution, Romania's Traian Basescu said after meeting Moldova's Vladimir Voronin in Chisinau, newswires report.The conflict in South Ossetia occurred because of the neglect of settlement of problems of this kind, Mr Voronin said, adding he will ask for more EU help on peacemaking efforts in his own separatist conundrum.The steel and vodka-producing region of Transniestria broke away from Moldova in the 1990s, with its Russian-backed rebels calling for independence and protected by 1,300 Russian peacekeeping troops in a 16-year long ceasefire.The conflict has no ethnic dimension as in Georgia, but also threatens instability on Europe's fringe. It would be very easy for Russia to organise a provocation and then the Russian might stands ready to react, a senior European diplomat said.The EU runs a customs mission on the Transniestria-Ukraine border, gives financial aid to Moldova and is an observer in the so-called 5+2 conflict resolution group, which met in April for the first time after a two-year long break.

But the EU has in the past been divided on sending peacekeepers and prospects for the 5+2 group look bleak, after Transniestria on 12 August refused to meet with Moldova until president Voronin denounces Georgia's aggression against separatists in its South Ossetia region last week.

Ukrainian fears

Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko at a meeting in Kiev with two visiting US senators also called for security guarantees, amid worries that Moscow is orchestrating secessionist movements among ethnic Russians in Crimea, which houses Russia's Black Sea fleet. I am certain that such a [South Ossetia-type] scenario is not possible, Ukraine security chief, Valentin Nalivaichenko, told the Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper this week, with Crimea separatism a taboo subject for Ukraine politicians who fear stoking tensions via public remarks.Our aim is to receive international guarantees of Ukraine's territorial integrity, which is only possible in the framework of collective security," Mr Yushchenko said on Wednesday, referring to Ukraine's bid to get a NATO membership action plan at the alliance's next summit in December.The EU and Ukraine are currently negotiating the wording of the political chapter of a new bilateral treaty, to be signed at a summit in France on 9 September. But most EU states are reluctant for the text to mention any EU accession perspective, or to give a security pledge.We have to do everything to prevent a domino effect. If Russia destabilises Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan [also home to Russian-backed rebels] will be next, German conservative MEP Elmar Brok said at a European Parliament meeting on Wednesday. I don't know what Russia's strategy is toward Ukraine. But we must get ready.

Georgia plea

The extraordinary session of the parliament's foreign affairs committee also saw Georgian foreign minister Eka Tkeshelashvili urge the EU to send a large ceasefire monitoring squad and to consider diplomatic sanctions against Russia.Moscow has promised to pull troops from Georgia by Friday, but on Thursday soldiers still roamed deep inside Georgian territory, with commanders saying they will stay indefinitely in a buffer zone around South Ossetia.The head of Russia's upper house on Wednesday declared the senate would be happy to recognise South Ossetia and another rebel-held territory - Abkhazia - as independent states. Russian general Anatoly Nogovitsin also vowed to destroy Georgian military assets before withdrawing his troops.We won't leave them a single rifle or bullet, so that they can't start any more wars, he told Interfax.The European Commission estimates the conflict has caused 124,000 refugees. Georgia says 215 Georgians were killed and Russia is saying 133 people died in South Ossetia, amid concern for lack of access for aid workers to the Russian-controlled region. Georgian houses are being burned and ethnic-Georgians are being either killed or expelled. Ossetian separatists are coming out and clearly stating that refugees will never be allowed back, Ms Tkeshelashvili told MEPs.

Russia-NATO relations in tatters
HONOR MAHONY 20.08.2008 @ 09:25 CET

Moscow's relations with NATO were left in tatters on Tuesday (19 August) after the Kremlin dismissed the results of an emergency meeting of the military alliance on Russia's actions in Georgia as empty words.NATO foreign ministers gathered in the Brussels headquarters yesterday to discuss what actions it could take following the five-day war between Russia and its small Caucasian neighbour, Georgia, amid a hesitant withdrawal of Russian troops.But NATO itself is internally divided on how to approach energy-rich Russia. The EU relies on it for around a quarter of its energy needs, a factor said to influence the more cautious approach of Germany, France and Italy towards condemning Moscow, meaning the alliance cobbled together a political statement but little more.It said it would freeze regular contacts with Russia and said there would be "no business as usual under present circumstances while urging Moscow to "take immediate action to withdraw its troops from the area.

There were no promises of troops in Georgia to give weight to the statement, however. Instead, the alliance said it would help with certain non-military support measures.NATO plans to send a team of 15 civil emergency planning experts to help Georgia assess damage to its civil infrastructure and support the re-establishment of the air traffic system and assist the Georgian government in understanding the nature of cyber attacks.There was no real push for giving Georgia and Ukraine NATO membership. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner also said the EU would not rethink its support for Russia's attempt to join the World Trade Organisation.The lack of substance was immediately picked up on by Russia.

Empty words

On the whole, all of these threats that have been raining down on Russia turned out to be empty words, said Dimitri Rogozin, the Russian ambassador to NATO.Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, described the statement as unobjective and biased.

Russia continues to only pull back its troops slowly from Georgia even though it agreed to a France-brokered ceasefire over the weekend and announced the withdrawal on Monday.The most recent pledge by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, is that all bar 500 Russia troops would be pulled out of Georgia by Thursday and Friday.But the promise was condemned by British foreign minister, David Miliband, who noted that it was already the third commitment on the withdrawal made by Russia.I think we should still engage with the Russians but in a hard-headed way, and we mustn't allow the Russians to feel they are the victims of this affair when they are the transgressors, he said in a statement in UK daily The Times.The newspaper notes that a British diplomat had been stopped at a Russian checkpoint in Georgia and was told that he could not proceed without a Russian visa. According to Georgian officials, Russian troops remain in charge of about a third of Georgia, including Poti, the Black Sea port, and Gori, a key city near the South Ossetia border, the breakaway region at the heart of the conflict.Bloomberg news agency reports that Russia on Tuesday set out fresh conditions for its withdrawal.

Fresh conditions

For the withdrawal of Russian troops to happen, two things are necessary: the pullback of Georgian forces to their barracks and, secondly, we need to be assured that our peacekeepers are not going to be attacked again, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said.The conflict also dominated a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, where veto-holding Russia on Tuesday refused to support a draft resolution calling for immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia.The political bartering comes just 10 days after the war started. On 7 August, Georgia attempted to retake South Ossetia, prompting a massive retaliation from Russia. The UN estimates the fighting has created 150,000 new refugees.

Activists accuse Israel of sabotaging boat mission By MOSHE EDRI, Associated Press Writer AUG 23,08

OFF THE GAZA COAST - A group of pro-Palestinian activists ran into trouble Saturday as they tried to sail through Israel's blockade of Gaza, saying their boats' electronic communication systems were jammed and the vessels were struggling in rough Mediterranean waters. The Free Gaza activist group accused Israel of sabotaging the mission.I can't think of any other reason or any other party with an interest," said Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, a spokeswoman in Israel.A total of 46 members of the U.S.-based group were on the boats, hoping to reach the shores of Gaza on Saturday with a delivery of humanitarian goods for Palestinians. Despite the setback, Godfrey-Goldstein said the activists were intent on reaching Gaza. She said she was in touch with an activist on board by mobile phone.Israel had warned the group against carrying out the mission, calling it an unacceptable provocation.We are following the development and if they are looking for a provocation, we will know how to avoid it, said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel.Another spokesman for the ministry, Aviv Shiron, said Friday that all options are being considered" when asked whether Israel intended to use force to turn the boats away.

Israel's military declined comment.

In their statement, the activists said their communications systems had been jammed and scrambled and said they were victims of electronic piracy.We are not experienced sailors. As a results, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board, the statement said.The boats, which were still in international waters, were carrying Greek flags, and the statement urged the Greek government to intervene. The Greek Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of the latest developments and had no immediate reaction.The activists were able to communication through satellite telephones and e-mail that did not depend on the ship's communications system, Godfrey-Goldstein said.Mekel said he did not know of any Israel attempt to jam the boats' communications.In Gaza City's small fishing port, activists, reporters and a musical band from a local scout group loaded onto a dozen small boats heading off to greet the vessels. Some onlookers waved banners and Palestinian flags.Around 30 Gaza residents who had loaded into boats later returned to shore, complaining of sea sickness. By midafternoon, just one boat remained in the water.Hamas policemen controlled traffic in and out of the port. Youths leaped off high rocks into deep water nearby. Two large tents were set up for people to watch the scene.I brought the kids so if they (the activists) arrive, I can tell them welcome — and thank you for not forgetting us, said Jamila Hassan, a 42-year-old Gaza resident who brought along her 14-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter to the port.The 70-foot Free Gaza and 60-foot Liberty left Cyprus early Friday for the estimated 30-hour trip in a bid to break Israel's 14-month Gaza blockade. The 46 activists from 14 countries include an 81-year-old Catholic nun and the sister-in-law of Mideast envoy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.Israel has led an international boycott of Gaza since the militant Muslim group Hamas seized power of the territory in June 2007. The Jewish state closed its trade crossings with the territory, while neighboring Egypt sealed its passenger crossing, confining Gaza's 1.4 million residents.

Israel has allowed little more than basic humanitarian supplies into Gaza, causing widespread shortages of fuel, electricity and basic goods. Only a trickle of people are allowed to leave Gaza for medical care, jobs abroad and the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Under a June truce deal that halted a deadly cycle of bruising Palestinian rocket attacks and deadly Israel airstrikes, Israel has pledged to ease the blockade, but Palestinians say the flow of goods into Gaza remains insufficient and there has been little improvement in the quality of life. Israel has periodically closed the cargo crossings in response to sporadic Palestinian rocket fire that violated the truce. Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.

Israeli police quiz PM again in bribery case By Joseph Nasr
Fri Aug 22, 1:36 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for a sixth time on Friday over fraud and bribery allegations that have shaken Israel's political system and jeopardized peace talks with the Palestinians. Detectives questioned Olmert at his official residence in what has become a familiar Friday morning pattern since the scandal broke in May. It led last month to Olmert announcing he would resign once a successor is chosen.Police will return to question the premier next Friday, Israeli media later reported.Olmert will meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem early next week as she and President George W. Bush struggle to reach some form of accord to create a Palestinian state before Bush leaves the White House in January.Olmert's resignation as prime minister, which could take effect as early as mid-September but could also be delayed by further weeks and months, has been a blow to the halting, nine-month-old U.S.-sponsored peace process.The prime minister, suspected of taking bribes from an American businessman and of making false travel expense claims, could step aside immediately after his centrist Kadima party votes in a leadership election on September 17.A second round of voting may be required a week later if neither of the frontrunners, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, secures 40 percent.

But Olmert could remain prime minister while his successor as party leader works to secure a new parliamentary mandate for what will inevitably be a fractious coalition.

Olmert has vowed to pursue talks with the Palestinians and Turkish-mediated negotiations with Syria until his last day in office. But rival politicians have said he lacks the mandate to commit Israel to any deals.Opinion polls show Livni, who has a clear edge in the Kadima party race to replace Olmert, running almost neck-and-neck with rightist Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, should snap parliamentary elections be called.On the Palestinian side, President Mahmoud Abbas also faces doubt over his mandate, with the Gaza Strip controlled by his Hamas Islamist enemies for the past year.Few analysts believe Rice can secure a major breakthrough that would set Palestinians on a fast track to statehood. But many are reluctant to rule out that the two sides will, for a variety of personal and domestic political reasons, comply with Bush's exhortations and agree to some formal, limited accord.

Livni said on Thursday that external pressure to paper over differences to reach an accord could be dangerous, however, by creating tensions that could lead to more violence.A spokesman for Rice said Washington would not push the two sides into a deal they did not want but said U.S. officials still believed some form of deal was possible this year.(Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Andrew Roche)

Chill falls on Israeli-Russian relations by Marius Schattner
Fri Aug 22, 1:17 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - A chill has descended on relations between Israel and Russia after Moscow reached out to the Jewish state's arch-foe Damascus against the backdrop of the Georgia conflict. Israel, which maintains friendly ties with Georgia and has sold weapons to the Eurasian country -- as have several Western nations -- fears Moscow will exact a price for this support by boosting its ties with Syria.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won promises of fresh arms sales during a visit to Russia this week. He said Moscow could again become a bulwark against the West and help resist Israeli influence in the Middle East.Israel is particularly concerned Russia could deliver anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Syria that could end up in the hands of Lebanon's Syrian-backed Hezbollah militia whose political rhetoric centres on the destruction of the Jewish state.A reinforcement of links between Damascus and Moscow amounts to a very negative development, said Tazhi Hanegvi, who heads the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee.It would push Syria to adopt an irresponsible and adventurist policy, he added.The United States, Israel's main ally, also expressed concern over the prospect of a Russian weapon sale to Syria.We are obviously very concerned about reports that Russia may be providing weapons, weapons systems to Syria, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.We have always said to the Russians that these sales should not go forward, they don't contribute to regional stability, he told reporters.On Thursday, Israeli President Shimon Peres warned that sending new weapons to Syria would endanger peace in the world, not only in the Middle East.A senior foreign ministry official, for his part, said Russia's forceful return on the international stage doesn't guarantee in any way it will have a constructive role in the future of the Middle East.It is difficult to believe in the good faith of Moscow when it emerges, despite all of Moscow's denials, that Russian weapons sold to Syria have reached Hezbollah, he told AFP under condition of anonymity.

Russian anti-tank missiles inflicted major losses to Israeli forces battling the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon in a summer 2006 conflict.But officials and analysts believe it is unlikely the current diplomatic malaise between Israel and Russia would deteriorate into a full-blown crisis.The only new element is that the (Israeli) military aid given to Georgia has given Russia an argument to sell weapons to Syria, said Amnon Sela, a political analyst at the Interdisciplinary Centre think-tank.An Israeli daily said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert planned to travel to Moscow within two weeks, hoping to convince President Dmitry Medvedev not to sell weapons to Syria, though officials did not confirm the report.A foreign ministry official stressed Israel has taken into account Russian demands that it limit its military aid to Georgia, and a Russian envoy in Tel Aviv welcomed what he said was the suspension of Israeli arms sales to Tbilisi.Russian Charge d'Affaires Anatoli Yurkov pointed out Israel's support to Georgia is less important than that of the United States or France.He also insisted that Russia will not deliver to Syria any weapons that could alter the strategic balance in the region.

Rice to make new Israel-Palestinian peace bid next week Fri Aug 22, 1:14 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend for talks on the peace process with senior officials, the State Department said Friday. Rice will travel to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on August 24, said spokesman Sean McCormack.McCormack said Rice's talks would include senior Israeli and Palestinian officials and would cover ongoing efforts to create positive and lasting peace in the region and progress towards the shared goal of a peace agreement in 2008.Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP on August 17 that Rice will meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, then hold three-way talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian diplomat Ahmed Qorei.The two sides formally relaunched the peace process after a seven-year hiatus at a US conference in November, with the goal of signing a full peace deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.The talks have made little visible progress since then, with both sides remaining deeply divided on core issues like the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees, and final borders.Rice was last in Israel in mid-June, when she strongly criticized the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying they undermined the peace process.She has already visited the region 17 times in the past two years.Prior to announcement of Rice's latest mission, Livni played down the likelihood of meeting the stated US goal of getting a peace deal this year and warned that rushing negotiations could backfire.There is some kind of expectation of doing something before the end of the year, Livni said at a news conference with foreign journalists.I believe that the timeline is important, but what is more important is the content and the nature of the understanding that we can reach with the Palestinians, she said.

Livni went on to warn that premature efforts to bridge gaps between the two sides could lead to clashes.This can lead to misunderstandings, this can lead to violence, she said.Until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed, she said.

Cash crisis hits Lebanon cluster bomb clearance Fri Aug 22, 8:26 AM ET

TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Many of the 44 teams clearing cluster munitions scattered by Israel in south Lebanon during its 2006 war with Hezbollah will have to stop work this month for lack of funds, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday. Donors have failed to come up with a promised $4.7 million needed to fund the program in 2008, according to Dalya Farran of the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC).A very large number of the clearance teams will be stopping by the end of this month if we don't get funds before that, she said, adding that some donor countries had not kept their promises and others had lost interest two years after the war.UNMACC has led efforts to clear thousands of unexploded cluster bomblets left over after Israel's war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Israel fired or dropped most of the munitions in the last 72 hours before an August 14 ceasefire.Since then 27 civilians have been killed and 234 wounded by unexploded ordnance, mostly cluster munitions, while 13 bomb disposal experts have been killed and 39 wounded, Farran said.Any reduction in clearance work would lead to a higher accident rate because past experience shows that villagers will attempt to deal with the bomblets themselves if they believe that no disposal teams will do the job, Farran said.UNMACC has identified 1,058 cluster strike locations across the south. The United Nations says Israel has not responded to repeated requests for detailed data on the strikes.

Farran said 43 percent of the estimated 43 million square meters (51 million square yards) of Lebanese land contaminated by cluster munitions had been fully cleared and another 49 percent had been surface-cleared, removing the immediate threat.(Editing by Mariam Karouny)

Arab-Israeli accused of seeking to create Qaeda cell Fri Aug 22, 7:45 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Arab-Israeli was charged on Friday with trying to contact Al-Qaeda in a bid to set up a local cell of the global extremist network, police said.
The indictment alleges that Khaled Abu Raqiq, 24, a Bedouin from the southern town of Tel Sheva, used the Internet to contact a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip linked to Al-Qaeda with the aim of perpetrating attacks in Israel.A former student at a technological college, Raqiq allegedly downloaded to his computer instructions on how to make a bomb.He is also accused of having suggested a suicide attack to one of college friends, who rejected the proposal.Raqiq was arrested on July 29 by police and agents from the Shin Beth domestic intelligence service.Also in July, Shin Beth announced the arrest of two Arab-Israelis and four Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem for allegedly seeking to create an Al-Qaeda cell.A lawyer for one of the six claimed that his client and the others did not carry out any attack and were entrapped by Israeli agents after trying to contact Al-Qaeda via the Internet.

Jordan protests against Israel's Jerusalem dig plans Thu Aug 21, 2:17 PM ET

AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan said on Thursday it summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest against plans for excavation and construction work near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem's most volatile holy site. Foreign Minister Salah Bashir summoned the Israeli ambassador this week to officially inform him that Jordan rejects such illegal measures, said MP Mohammed Abu Hdeib, head of the lower house of parliament's committee on international affairs, after meeting Bashir on Thursday.

Israel plans excavations near Al-Mughrabi Gate (of the mosque) and wants to build a bridge there, violating the 1994 peace treaty with Jordan and international treaties, he said.Abu Hdeib told AFP that the planned work threatens the foundations of Al-Aqsa, and warned: This would also lead to a new violent conflict in the Middle East because Jerusalem is a red line for Muslims and Arabs.The Al-Aqsa site is also revered by Jews as the location of their ancient temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.In February last year, Israel began excavation work on a pathway leading from the Western Wall to the compound, Islam's third holiest site, sparking Muslim outrage and prompting UNESCO to call for an immediate halt to the work.The Jerusalem mayor's office suspended work the same month, but failed to appease the Muslim authorities which asserted that the dig, while not under Al-Aqsa mosque itself, could harm its foundations.The foreign minister demanded that Israel halt any unilateral actions that might affect the status of Jerusalem, especially the issue of Al-Mughrabi Gate, foreign ministry spokesman Nassar Habasheneh told AFP.Jordan is traditionally considered the guardian of Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which it manages in coordination with the Palestinian authorities.We have information that Jerusalem municipality will take a decision soon to resume work there, Habasheneh said.Bashir later held talks on the issue with ambassadors of the European Union and the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.The minister demanded that these countries use their relations with Israel to stop it from making unilateral moves in Jerusalem that would change the legal status of the holy city, including construction work on Al-Mughrabi Gate, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

US man arrested in connection to alleged Hamas fundraising Thu Aug 21, 1:55 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The US Department of Justice announced Thursday they arrested a man over his alleged fundraising for a foundation authorities say backs Hamas, the Palestinian organization Washington has designated a terrorist group. Akram Musa Abdallah, also called Abu Saiaf, 54, of Mesa, Arizona, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of lying to authorities over his involvement in fund-raising for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which US officials say funnels money to Hamas.According to the indictment, Abdallah was involved in fund-raising activities for the Holy Land Foundation in the Phoenix, Arizona area between 1994 and 1997.

Abdallah knowingly and willfully made a false material statement when he represented to FBI agents that he was not involved in fund raising activities for the Holy Land Foundation, the US attorney for the Arizona district said in a statement.The Holy Land Foundation is an organization alleged to have provided financial support for Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.If convicted of lying in the case, Abdallah faces up to eight years in prison, a fine of 250,000 dollars, or both.

Lebanon dismisses Israeli warnings over Hezbollah Thu Aug 21, 1:03 PM ET

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salukh dismissed as ravings on Thursday Israeli threats to target the country's civilian infrastructure if the government gives greater legitimacy to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Who says the government is giving legitimacy to Hezbollah? ... These are just ravings conjured up by the Israelis to tarnish Lebanon's image, Salukh told AFP.It's based on exaggerations by Mossad and the Israeli intelligence services.A number of Israeli leaders have issued warnings to Lebanon in recent days after the formation of a national unity government in which the Hezbollah-led opposition has 11 ministries and the power of veto over cabinet decisions.The moment the Lebanese government confers legitimacy on Hezbollah, it must understand that the entire Lebanese state will be a target in the same way that all of Israel is a target for Hezbollah, Environment Minister Gideon Ezra said on Wednesday.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made similar remarks the previous day, warning that Israel would fight a far more devastating campaign than in the 2006 war if Hezbollah led the government.During the war in Lebanon we had a massive capacity that we refrained from using because we were fighting a terrorist organisation and not a state, but if Lebanon becomes a Hezbollah state we will not be so restrained, he said.

Israel to change route of West Bank barrier Thu Aug 21, 12:01 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel has agreed to alter the planned route of its separation barrier outside a major West Bank Jewish settlement to allow Palestinians more access to their land, the justice ministry said on Thursday. The state prosecutor's office told the High Court that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak have decided to significantly alter the course of the security fence near Maale Adumim, a statement said.The controversial barrier would be moved 400 hectares (around 1,000 acres) closer to Maale Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories.The decision came in response to complaints filed to Israel's High Court by Palestinian villagers.Israel says the barrier is needed to stop potential attackers from infiltrating Israel and West Bank settlements, but the Palestinians say it is a land grab aimed at undermining the viability of their future state.The Israeli B'Tselem human rights group says that the Israeli authorities have yet to comply with three of five alterations to the barrier's route, which were ordered by the High Court in recent years.Palestinians have filed several complaints before the High Court against the barrier, which consists of more than 300 kilometres (185 miles) of walls, fences and barbed wire, with about 400 kilometres (250 miles) more being built or planned.UN figures show that once completed, 87 percent of the barrier will be built on West Bank territory which Israel occupied in 1967.Together with Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the barrier is one of the major hurdles in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Israel FM plays down chances of peace deal this year by Patrick Moser
Thu Aug 21, 10:30 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday played down US-backed hopes of a peace deal with the Palestinians this year, saying that a premature agreement could trigger new violence. There is some kind of expectation of doing something before the end of the year, she said in reference to statements made by all sides at a US-sponsored conference that revived the long-dormant peace process last November.I believe that the timeline is important but what is more important is the content and the nature of the understanding that we can reach with the Palestinians, Livni said at a news conference with foreign journalists.I think any attempt to bridge gaps which might be premature to bridge or any attempt to reach something which is not the comprehensive agreement we want to reach can lead... to clashes, this can lead to misunderstandings, this can lead to violence, she said.Until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed, said Livni, who heads the Israeli negotiating team in the peace talks and hopes to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he steps down after elections for the leadership of their centrist Kadima party in mid-September.She also acknowledged that even if an agreement is reached, it might not be implemented as long as Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist movement seized control from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007.The question of how long it should be on the shelf depends not on our willingness but on the situation on the ground, said Livni.

She insisted that Hamas, blacklisted by the European Union and the United States as a terrorist organisation, cannot be included in negotiations.This is the reason we negotiate with pragmatic leaders even though they don't control anything in Gaza Strip, which is being controlled completely by Hamas. Even in the West Bank they are not strong enough, Livni said.But she stressed that negotiations with pragmatic leaders were not enough in themselves. We have to delegitimise Hamas.Nobody in the region can afford a terror state, a failed state, she said.She insisted that any peace deal would not include the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

The United Nations says there are now 4.6 million registered refugees, including both those who fled or were forced out of Israel at its creation in 1948 and their descendants.When we are talking two states for two people, the idea is Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people and the Palestinian state is the homeland for the Palestinians, Livni said.Without this concept, there is no agreement, she said, adding: This is one of the two basic pillars... the other of course is Israel's security.What the Palestians call the right to return is not an option, she said.

In response Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina claimed Livni's warning about any premature agreement amounted to an Israeli attempt to avoid reaching an accord.He also criticised her position on Palestinian refugees, and urged Israel to adopt a responsible position and not to waste time.Livni declined to give details of the negotiations with the Palestinians, which have shown little tangible progress since their relaunch at Annapolis in Maryland last November.

Top Israeli candidate wants unity government By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 21, 7:09 AM ET

JERUSALEM - The politician with perhaps the best chance to replace Israel's embattled prime minister on Thursday called for a unity government to pursue the creation of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel. Deputy Premier Tzipi Livni, who also serves as Israel's foreign minister, said she will try to form such a government if she wins next month's primary election of the ruling Kadima Party, as polls indicate she is likely to do.I believe that what we called in the past left and right is something that belongs to the past, she told foreign reporters. Now most Israelis understand that having two states in the lands comprising historic Palestine is an Israeli interest.Livni pointed to opinion polls that show her party winning a general election if she becomes Kadima head. However, she said she would prefer to keep the existing coalition, and even bring in new partners to strengthen it, rather than go to new elections.It's not my choice. It's theirs, she said of parliament members who will have to decide whether to join up with her if she becomes head of Kadima.The party's current head, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has promised to step down after next month's primary. He is the target of a series of highly damaging corruption probes that have made his continued stay in office untenable.The 50-year-old Livni spent much of her career as a member of the hawkish Likud Party, and she is the daughter of a famous fighter of the early militant Zionist group Irgun.However, she has carved a niche for herself as a leading moderate since leaving Likud and joining the government of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who formed Kadima in 2005 as a way of pushing through his plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.In the coming months, Livni will face stiff political competition both inside and outside her party, especially from hardliners such as former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Success, however, would make her Israel's first female prime minister since Golda Meir.

Livni is currently Israel's lead negotiator in peace talks with the Palestinians. On Thursday she sent mixed signals on whether it will be possible anytime soon to sign and implement a peace accord that would presumably enable Israel to remain both Jewish and democratic by allowing it to shed responsibility for millions of Palestinians.We decided that time is against us, that time is against the moderates and that stagnation is not an option for the Israeli government, she said in explaining the government's decision to hold peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank.At the same time, however, she implied that no agreement could actually be implemented until moderate Palestinians established full control of their own territory and regained control of the Gaza Strip, which the militant Hamas group violently took over last year.Nobody, nobody can afford in the region a terror state, a failed state or an extreme Islamic state between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea, she said.Israeli and Palestinian leaders vowed at a U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference last November that they would strive to have an agreement signed by the end of this year. Officials have been backing away from that timetable in recent weeks.And on Thursday Livni said it is dangerous to rush into an agreement without hashing out key details.This can lead to clashes. This can lead to misunderstandings. This can lead to violence, she said.

On other issues, Livni expressed concern about a visit to Russia this week by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is reportedly seeking to purchase long-range anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.It is of mutual interest of Israel of Russia, of the pragmatic leaders in the region, not to send these kinds of long range missiles to Syria, which she said was working to destabilize Lebanon, strengthen ties with Iran and prop up extremist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Livni also called for tougher sanctions against Iran, which she said is moving rapidly to enrich enough uranium to build an atomic weapon.

Egypt finds explosives cache near Gaza border Thu Aug 21, 6:18 AM ET

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Egyptian police have found a large cache of explosives close to the Gaza border which they believe Palestinian militants intended to smuggle into the territory, a security official said on Thursday. The discovery was made on Wednesday evening near the divided border town of Rafah following a tip-off from residents, the official said.The 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) of TNT was found in plastic bags and was probably intended to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip, he said.

Israel and the United States have accused Egypt of not doing enough to stem arms smuggling into Gaza, particularly since its seizure by the Islamist Hamas movement in June last year, a charge Egypt strongly denies.

Jordan frees killers of Israeli soldiers Wed Aug 20, 5:11 AM ET

AMMAN (AFP) - Four Jordanian prisoners handed over by Israel last year to complete their life sentences in the kingdom were released from a jail north of the capital Amman on Wednesday. The four, who were convicted of killing two Israeli soldiers in November 1990 four years before Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, received a hero's welcome from relatives as they walked out of Qafqafa prison carrying Jordanian flags.Jordan's Islamist-dominated trade unions said they were planning a festival later on Wednesday to celebrate the release of the prisoners, who were transferred by Israel in July 2007 in a goodwill gesture to King Abdullah II.Under Jordanian law, a life sentence is equivalent to 25 years in prison and a year of jail in the kingdom comprises just nine months.According to police, the four men were freed after serving three-quarters of their sentences because they had exhibited good conduct.The trade unions had joined with members of parliament and journalists in campaigning for the men's release after Israel freed all its Lebanese prisoners in an exchange with the Shiite militant group Hezbollah last month.

Israel shuts Gaza crossings after rocket attack Wed Aug 20, 3:40 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel has closed its cargo crossings with the Gaza Strip following a Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel that violated a truce. The rocket exploded in open field late Tuesday and caused no injuries or damage. No group claimed responsibility.Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers have been observing a truce since June. But Gaza militants have sporadically violated the deal by firing rockets and mortars into Israel.Prior to the agreement, militants shelled southern Israel almost daily.Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized control of the territory last year. Under the truce, Israel has gradually reopened the borders. Gaza residents heavily depend on the crossings for basic goods.Israel's defense ministry says the crossings will stay closed for at least 24 hours.

Abbas holds talks with Saudi king Tue Aug 19, 2:26 PM ET

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met Saudi King Abdullah on Tuesday during a brief visit to Saudi Arabia, the official SPA news agency reported. It gave few details of their talks in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, saying only that they focused on latest developments pertaining to the Palestinian issue and cooperation between the Saudi and Palestinian sides.Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, earlier told AFP in the West Bank town of Ramallah that the discussions with King Abdullah would cover "the situation in the region and Saudi Arabia's political and financial support for the Palestinian Authority.Saudi Arabia brokered an agreement between Abbas's secular Fatah party and the Islamist movement Hamas in February 2007 which led to the formation of a short-lived unity government.

Tensions between the two sides led to fierce fighting which resulted in Hamas taking over the Gaza Strip in June last year, the dismissal of the Hamas-led unity government and the formation of a Western-backed cabinet in the West Bank.State-owned Egyptian media said on Tuesday that Egypt will begin a series of talks with the rival Palestinian factions next week with the aim of eventually hosting an intra-Palestinian meeting.

MORE FREED PRISONERS.......BOOOOOO

WELL RUSSIA SURE BROKE THAT EU CEASE-FIRE, WE WILL SEE WHAT THE DICTATOSHIP DOES TO GEORGIA FROM HERE ON IN. GET READY FOLKS THE BEARS CLAWS ARE OUT FOR WESTERN BLOOD.

Small Russian convoy leaves key Georgian city AUG 19,08

RUISI, Georgia - A small column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles has left the strategically key Georgian city of Gori and an officer says they are headed back to Russia. The column, which also included what appeared to be a mobile rocket-launcher, passed the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia on Tuesday afternoon.Col. Igor Konoshenkov, a Russian military officer on the scene, told The Associated Press that the unit was headed for South Ossetia and ultimately back to Russia.Konoshenkov said the movement was part of the Russian pullback mandated by the cease-fire.It requires both sides to return troops to the positions they held before the Aug. 7 outbreak of heavy fighting in South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist region of Georgia.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

IGOETI, Georgia (AP) — Russia and Georgia on Tuesday exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war, a move that may reduce tensions and, Georgia hopes, hasten the promised withdrawal of Russian troops.Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia said the swap removes any pretext for Russians to hold positions in Igoeti. The village is the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, about 30 miles away.Yet as NATO foreign ministers prepared to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels over a unified response to Russia's invasion of its tiny neighbor, there still was no sign of the Russian troop pullout from Georgia that was supposed to have begun Monday.A Russian defense official indicated Tuesday that a complete withdrawal from Georgia proper was not imminent.Rear units, as well as second- and third-echelon units are being pulled back first. The vanguard units will be pulled back at the final stage, Col. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia's land forces, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.Tuesday's prisoner exchange, witnessed by Lomaia and Russian Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov, included 15 Georgians and five Russians, Lomaia said.It went smoothly, he said.

The swap began when two Russian military helicopters landed in Igoeti. Two people in stretchers were unloaded and handed over to Georgian officials.Georgian ambulances later brought two people to the scene and took them to the Russian helicopters. One was on a gurney.Russian troops last week drove Georgian forces out of the Russian-backed separatist region of South Ossetia, where Georgia on Aug. 7 launched a heavy artillery barrage.At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed NATO allies to step up political and military ties with Georgia and to consider scaling back high-level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if its military does not abandon positions across Georgia.Rice said the U.S. supports a permanent NATO-Georgia Commission that would solidify ties between the western alliance and the Black Sea nation, and supports increasing training for the Georgian military. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on arrival that the allies must ensure Russia does not learn the wrong lessons from the events of the last two weeks. Force cannot be the basis for the demarcation of new lines around Russia.NATO was also expected to discuss support to efforts to send in an international monitoring mission being set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a security grouping that includes Russia, Georgia and western nations. Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, whose country holds the OSCE presidency, said Russia had agreed on a plan that would send 20 unarmed military observers there, besides nine already in place. The total could later go up to 100, the OSCE says. The United Nations has estimated the fighting displaced more than 158,000 people. U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Tbilisi on Tuesday to meet with government representatives to discuss the plight of tens of thousands of South Ossetians uprooted by Georgia's conflict with Russia. Guterres will then travel to Moscow to meet with Russian officials, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Andrej Mahecic said. Mahecic told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR, like other aid agencies, has not been able to reach the civilian population in much of South Ossetia because of security issues there. The area is now controlled by Russia.

We have seen media reports indicating that people are being shot at while trying to leave the area, he said. With Western leaders anxiously watching for a withdrawal and puzzling over how to punish Moscow for what they called a disproportionate reaction to the Georgian offensive, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev defended Russia's actions and warned against any aggression. Anyone who tries anything like that will face a crushing response, he said Monday. On the ground, the lack of troop movement raised questions about whether Russia was fulfilling its part of the cease-fire meant to end the short but intense war that has stoked tension between a resurgent Russia and the West. Russian troops restricted access to Gori, where most shops were shut and people milled around on the central square with its statue of the Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin. The city is a cold place now. People are fearful, said Nona Khizanishvili, 44, who fled Gori a week ago for an outlying village and returned Monday, trying to reach her son in Tbilisi. Four Russian armored personnel carriers, each carrying about 15 men, rolled Monday afternoon from Gori to Igoeti, a crossroads town even closer to Tbilisi. Georgia's Rustavi-2 television showed footage of a Russian armored vehicle smashing through a group of Georgian police cars barricading the road to Gori on Monday. One of the cars was dragged along the street by the Russian armor. Georgian police stood by without raising their guns. Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Russian forces had blown up the runway at a base in the western city of Senaki on Monday. There was no confirmation from Russian military officials. Russian troops and tanks have controlled a wide swath of Georgia for days, including the country's main east-west highway where Gori sits. The Russian presence essentially cuts the small Caucasus Mountains nation in half. It also threatens pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili's efforts to keep his country from falling apart after the war bolstered the chances of South Ossetia and another Russian-backed separatist region, Abkhazia, of remaining free of Georgian rule. According to the European Union-brokered peace plan signed by both Medvedev and Saakashvili, both sides are to pull forces back to the positions they held before the fighting broke out. But the deputy chief of the Russian general staff, Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said the Russian troops were pulling back to South Ossetia and a security zone defined by a 1999 agreement of the joint control commission. The commission had been nominally in charge of South Ossetia's status since it split from Georgia in the early 1990s.

Georgian and Russian officials could not immediately clarify the dimensions of the security zone, but Georgian government documents suggest it extends more than four miles into Georgia beyond the administrative border of South Ossetia. French President Nicolas Sarkozy — who brokered the cease-fire deal — has said the operations it permits by Russian peacekeepers until an international mechanism is in place cannot be conducted beyond the immediate proximity of South Ossetia.Associated Press writers David Nowak, Jim Heintz and Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Bela Szandelszky in Senaki, Georgia, contributed to this report.

EU-Russia business as usual impossible, Lithuania says.The TV tower memorial in Vilnius where Soviet forces killed 13 civilians in a 1991 uprising - Lithuanian memories are raw (Photo: wikipedia)ANDREW RETTMAN AUG 19,08 Today @ 12:50 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU should consider diplomatic sanctions against Russia and speed up Georgia and Ukraine's EU and NATO integration to show Moscow that muscle-flexing does not work, Lithuanian foreign minister Petras Vaitiekunas, said in an interview with EUobserver.We cannot and will not pretend that the EU will continue doing business as usual with Moscow. This aggression has damaged the EU-Russian partnership, the minister said on Tuesday (19 August), as Russian tanks remained parked 45 kilometres from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, despite a Franco-Russian agreement for troops to pull out.The Russian army entered Georgia on 7 August after Georgia fought back against Russian-backed rebels in its breakaway South Ossetia region. Germany and France have refused to strongly condemn Russian actions so far, but former communist EU states such as Lithuania have lined up on Georgia's side.Mr Vaitiekunas said there will be a substantial discussion of potential EU sanctions at an EU foreign ministers meeting on 5 September and predicted the EU will find common ground despite its internal east-west divide.The EU should evaluate whether it is possible to continue in an unaltered way the post-PCA talks [negotiations on a new EU-Russia treaty], visa dialogue or other cooperation activities, he explained. We have seen some disagreements between EU member states on many occasions, including the Georgia issue. Still, it does not create a deep rift.

In the short-term, he urged the EU to take part in an international mission to monitor the ceasefire agreement, and to push for the return of refugees and displaced populations, alongside humanitarian action.The UN estimates the conflict has created 150,000 refugees, amid reports that South Ossetian paramilitaries have burned ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia to stop Georgian people from coming back. A previous war in the 1990s saw over 200,000 ethnic Georgians flee from another Russian-backed separatist province, Abkhazia, with Russia last week indicating it will help keep Georgians out of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for good.

Frozen conflicts

In the longer-term, the Lithuanian foreign minister - who was in Tbilisi during the duration of the recent five-day war - said the EU must speed-up Georgia's integration with the EU and NATO to show Russia it cannot sabotage pro-western governments in its near-abroad by military force. He also urged the EU to pull Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan closer, to reduce the risk of South Ossetia-type scenarios in other disputed regions: Russian-backed separatist movements also exist in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, Moldova's Transdniestria province and Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh republic.NATO refusing to grant a MAP [Membership Action Plan] for Georgia and Ukraine at the Bucharest summit made a principle mistake. We can say that it partly led to the situation that we have in Georgia today, Mr Vaitiekunas said, after France and Germany blocked the MAP move at a NATO meeting in Romania in April.By giving a MAP to Georgia and to Ukraine we [would] clearly show to Russia how unhelpful it is to even try flexing its muscles, he added. The [EU] visa facilitation issue for Georgia will have to be raised further, as well as a preparation of a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.The EU and NATO should be much more involved in the resolution of frozen conflicts, especially in Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniestria, in order to reach peaceful solutions.

Germany calls for EU neighbours meeting on Georgia
HONOR MAHONY AUG 19,08 Today @ 09:25 CET

Germany is calling for an EU neighbours meeting on Georgia to try and bring stability to the volatile region, amid conflicting claims from Moscow about whether it had promised to pullback or withdraw its troops from the small South Caucasus country.The conference - tentatively named reconstruction and stability in Georgia and the region - would include many of the countries already involved in the EU's neighbourhood policy, a mechanism aimed at binding countries to the bloc through trade and economic ties.German chancellor, Angela Merkel, mentioned deepening the EU's contacts with these neighbouring countries following a meeting with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday (17 August).She particularly mentioned countries which haven't been directly included in the [EU] neighbourhood policy so far, German government spokesman, Thomas Steg, said, according to Reuters. Berlin's aim is to extend the neighbourhood policy's coverage. At the moment, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are involved in Brussels' neighbourhood policy, but gas-rich Turkmenistan - mentioned specifically by Ms Merkel on Sunday - is not.We will suggest that the EU presidency arranges for a conference of the EU and, within the framework of the neighbourhood policy, the neighbouring states in the south Caucasus and the region, the spokesman said, referring to the current French EU presidency.

Germany's proposal comes as the European Union attempts to work out as a whole what its response to the Georgia-Russia war should be.On Monday, French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said that EU governments were not ready to issue an ultimatum to Moscow, with national capitals remaining divided about how strongly to chastise Russia and how to apportion blame.

No ultimatums, yet

We don't want to threaten, Mr Kouchner said at a news conference, reports AFP. We are serious. There is a red line. The red line is the withdrawal of the troops. They must withdraw the troops.At a given moment, we will be faced with ultimatums, said Mr Kouchner, but noted We are not there at all.Paris is deliberating whether to call a meeting of EU leaders, something that is set to depend on the way and the speed with which Russia removes its troops from Georgia.But Moscow is already sending a muddy message on what it is doing with its military.On Monday, it said it had begun to withdraw troops. Today, in line with the plan, the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers has begun, said the deputy head of Russia's general staff, general Anatoly Nogovitsyn. But he added that there had been a misunderstanding about Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's promise to pull forces out of Georgia.There is a distinction between the understandings of a pullback and a withdrawal... In the conversation with French president Sarkozy, the discussion was about a pullback of forces, not a withdrawal, he said, reports Sky News.According to general Nogovitsyn, the troops would pull back to the borders of South Ossetia, the breakaway region that sparked off the conflict on 7 August. But he did not say how many troops would remain in Georgia.

NATO debate

The EU's difficulty in finding a united line on Russia is likely to be echoed in NATO on Tuesday with foreign ministers from the organisation gathering in the Brussels headquarters to discuss the crisis.While eastern European states, the US and the UK are expected to push a tougher line on Russia, western European countries such as Germany and France are expected to be reluctant to be too openly hard on Moscow.

Lisbon treaty would have helped in Georgia crisis, says France
HONOR MAHONY 18.08.2008 @ 09:19 CET

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has used the ongoing crisis between Russia and Georgia to put the case for the EU's new treaty, currently facing ratification difficulties. In an opinion piece in Monday's edition of French daily Le Figaro, Mr Sarkozy, who currently holds the EU's six month presidency, wrote that the Lisbon Treaty would have given the bloc the tools it needed to handle the Moscow-Tbilisi war.It is notable that had the Lisbon Treaty, which is in the process of being ratified, already been in force, the European Union would have had the institutions it needs to cope with international crises.He named the most important innovations as being the stable European Council President - instead of the current half-yearly system - a High Representative endowed with a real European diplomatic service and considerable financial means in order to put decisions into force in coordination with member states.The short pitch for the Lisbon Treaty also revealed a little how the French president views the role of the EU's first longterm president of the EU - a post that can be held for up to five years.The treaty itself is ambiguous about the president's exact role with the potential for conflict rife with member states and EU officials divided about whether the position should be ceremonial or have real teeth.Entwined in this question is how much the president should represent the EU in external policy, a policy area that is foreseen for the EU's foreign policy chief.In the Figaro article, Mr Sarkory suggests that the president's position in such crises as the Russia-Georgia one would be one of acting in close consultation with the heads of state and government most affected.This would very much put the President in the foreign policy field. It would also foresee a formal hierarchy among member states as it would give priority to those considered most affected.

This kind of scenario has been predicted by some smaller member states who fear that the president would have an all-powerful role, reducing the say of certain governments, although the working principle of the bloc is that member states are equal.But Mr Sarkozy's words of support for the Lisbon Treaty come amid doubt that it will ever come into force. Although ratified by the vast majority of national parliaments, it was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum in June.All member states need to ratify the document for it to go into place. At the moment, Dublin is considering its options. It could either put the treaty to another referendum or try and figure out a legal contortion allowing it to use parliamentary ratification only. But the January 2009 deadline by which governments had hoped to have the treaty in place is certain to be missed.

Israel warns activists against breaking Gaza blockade AUG 19,08

ATHENS (AFP) - Israel has warned a group of pro-Palestinian activists sailing for the Gaza Strip to break a year-long blockade to steer clear of the territory, the Israeli embassy in Athens said on Tuesday. The area to which you are planning to sail is the subject of an (Israeli Navy) advisory notice which warns all foreign vessels to remain clear of the designated maritime zone, the Israeli foreign ministry said in an open letter to the participants of the Free Gaza Boat Expedition.

We assume that your intentions are good but, in fact, the result of your action is that you are supporting the regime of a terrorist organisation in Gaza, the ministry said.Ruled since June 2007 by Hamas, an Islamist movement that is considered a terrorist organisation by the West, the Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for the past year except for humanitarian aid.But the California-based Free Gaza Movement says Israel's aid supply record is deplorable.Israel's deplorable track record of delivering supplies is, in fact, the very reason for our mission, the group said in a letter to the ministry.The group plans to sail two Greek caiques, or fishing boats, into Gaza carrying 40 human rights workers from 16 different nations.

The mission includes an 81-year-old Catholic nun, an 84-year-old Nazi concentration camp survivor, Palestinians from Gaza and Israeli citizens, organisers said.They will also deliver hearing aids for children who have lost some or all of their hearing from Israeli sound bombs and sonic booms.The caiques on August 13 sailed from the Greek island of Crete for Cyprus, their last port of call before reaching Gaza.Formed two years ago, the Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org) is composed of human rights activists, aid workers and journalists.

Israel to free long-serving Palestinian prisoners By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 11:44 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel said Monday it will free two of its most prominent Palestinian prisoners — a militant mastermind from the 1970s and a gunman elected to parliament while behind bars — among 199 inmates to be released as a goodwill gesture to embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. While the move will give an important boost to the moderate Abbas, it drew fierce criticism from some Israeli politicians, who said it could undermine attempts to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.Israel's prisons service said the upcoming release would include Said al-Atba, who has served 32 years of a life sentence for planting a bomb, illegal military training and belonging to a banned group. Al-Atba, 57, is the longest serving prisoner held by Israel and he is widely seen by the Palestinian public as a symbol for the prisoners.The fate of the roughly 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails is highly emotional, as many Palestinians either know someone in prison or have served time themselves. Abbas, who is struggling to show his people the fruits of drawn-out peace negotiations with Israel, has repeatedly urged Israel to carry out a large-scale release.Solving the prisoner problem paves the road to solving other issues in (peace) negotiations, said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a spokesman for Abbas. He said the inclusion of long-serving prisoners would bolster the president's credibility with the public, which has grown skeptical over the slow pace of peace talks.Israel has released prisoners to Abbas in the past, most recently last December. But it has balked at releasing Palestinians serving time for deadly attacks. It appears to be easing its criteria following last month's prisoner swap with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.

Under that deal, Israel exchanged a Lebanese man convicted in a notorious triple murder for the remains of two Israeli soldiers. Eager to bolster Abbas in his rivalry with Hamas, Israel says the latest release is meant to show the Palestinians that dialogue, not violence, is the best way to win concessions.Also on the list Israel released Monday of the 199 prisoners set to be freed was Mohammed Abu Ali, jailed in 1980 for killing an Israeli settler in the West Bank and later convicted of killing a Palestinian in jail he accused of collaborating with Israel. Abu Ali also serves as a lawmaker from Abbas' Fatah party.The list also included at least a dozen people serving time for violent crimes like shootings, planting explosives and attempted murder, as well as a former Fatah lawmaker accused of accepting funds from Hezbollah.At Al-Atba's home in the West Bank city of Nablus, his 75-year-old mother, Widad, said neighbors were already coming over to congratulate her on her son's impending release.I'm afraid to close my eyes. I haven't slept, waiting for him to come through the door. I can't wait to hold him, she said.Israel's Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of the prisoners. A smaller ministerial committee on Monday followed up by choosing the names of those to be freed. Al-Atba and Abu Ali were included after security officials concluded they are unlikely to return to violence.

However, two senior officials, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, voted against the measure.They said the release would undermine negotiations over the return of an Israeli soldier held captive in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Negotiations have stalled because of Hamas demands to release convicted murderers.When Israel releases prisoners, it is not seen as a concession, but as a weakness, Mofaz said. This is a decision that broadcasts weakness and complacence with the current situation.Dichter is a former director of the Shin Bet internal security service, and Mofaz is a former military chief. Both men hope to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has said he will step down to battle corruption allegations.Sahar Francis, a prominent lawyer for Palestinian prisoners, said the planned release of Al-Atba has given hope to 300 other long-serving prisoners with similar sentences that they too might be freed in the future.Prisoners are happy for everybody who is released, especially if they conducted attacks inside Israel and killed people, she said. Although Hamas welcomed the prisoner release, it is unlikely the group will ease its demands. The government will make every possible effort for the release (of prisoners) from Israeli jails, said Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman. Hamas may well now feel pressured to harden its position to show weary Gaza residents that it can still obtain more from Israel through kidnapping its soldiers, rather than peaceful negotiations.

Associated Press correspondents Ali Daraghmeh in Nablus, West Bank, and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

Israel approves release of 200 Palestinians by Charly Wegman
Mon Aug 18, 11:44 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli ministerial commission on Monday approved the release next week of about 200 Palestinian prisoners, including at least two implicated in deadly attacks in Israel three decades ago. Government spokesman Mark Regev said the prisoners were to be released as a goodwill gesture toward (Palestinian) president Mahmud Abbas.Prison authorities later the same day published a list of the 199 Palestinians, many of whom are serving long sentences for armed attacks against Israel.Virtually all of them belong to groups linked to Fatah, the secular movement led by Abbas. The list does not include members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, both of which Israel brands as terrorist organisations.The full Israeli cabinet had voted on Sunday to free the prisoners in a move aimed at bolstering the slow-moving US-backed peace negotiations with the Palestinians.The list includes two veteran prisoners implicated in deadly attacks on Israelis in the 1970s, a rare exception to Israel's general policy of not freeing those with blood on their hands.Israelis can appeal against the freeing of individual prisoners before the actual release takes place on August 25 and at least two members of the powerful security cabinet voiced their concern over some names on the list.Among those to be released is Said al-Attaba, 56, who has been serving a life sentence since 1977 for the death of an Israeli woman in an attack.Also on the list is Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Ali, known as Abu Ali Yatta, who has been behind bars since 1979 for killing an Israeli student.While serving a life sentence, Abu Ali Yatta of Fatah was elected to the Palestinian parliament in January 2006.Interior Security Minister Avi Dichter made it clear he opposed the release of prisoners involved in deadly attacks, telling public radio: Israel has crossed a red line by deciding to release the perpetrators of murders against Israelis.

Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz voiced similar objections.

Both ministers are candidates in the September Kadima party election to choose a successor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who announced he would step down after the vote amid mounting pressure over allegations of graft against him.But Housing Minister Zeev Boim insisted it was crucial to make a gesture to Abbas rather than be intransigent, which would strengthen Palestinian extremists.Israel first announced the decision to release the prisoners on August 6 following a face-to-face meeting between Olmert and Abbas, the latest in a series of discussions since they relaunched peace talks at a US-hosted conference in November.A spokesman for Abbas on Sunday called the planned prisoner release a step in the right direction, but said the Palestinians had hoped to see more freed.The release next Monday could coincide with a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced by the Palestinians, although there has not yet been any confirmation of the trip from Washington.More than 11,000 Palestinians are currently behind bars in Israel, including 11 seriously ill people, according to the Palestinian Authority. A number of them have been held without charge or trial under what Israel calls administrative detention.Defence for Children International said on Monday that 691 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, including 13 who are under 18 years of age. It also said that at any given point during 2007, between 310 and 416 Palestinian minors were being held in Israeli prisons and detention centres.

Rice set for another Mideast visit Mon Aug 18, 4:32 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week in another attempt to achieve progress towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, officials said on Monday. The United States has said it hopes to conclude a framework peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. But the talks have stumbled over disputes over Israeli settlement building and the future of Jerusalem.She is coming on the 25th and 26th of August for a series of trilateral and bilateral meetings, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.An Israeli Foreign Ministry official confirmed the dates for the talks in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.In a declared bid to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an Israeli cabinet committee approved on Monday a list of 200 Palestinian prisoners to be released on August 25.The committee said two of the longest-serving prisoners, Said al-Atabeh and Mohammad Abu Ali, would be among those freed.Atabeh, 57, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), was arrested in 1977, accused of organising attacks on Israeli troops.Abu Ali, 52, was jailed in 1980 for killing a leader of Jewish settlers near Hebron, in the West Bank. Though in prison, he was elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006.Erekat said Rice had originally planned to visit the region on August 20. She is also expected to go to Brussels next week to meet NATO foreign ministers and European Union officials on the Georgia crisis.Rice last held meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington on July 30, the same day Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, hit by a corruption scandal, said he would step down after his party chooses a new leader in September.(Reporting by Mohammed Assadi, Ori Lewis and Adam Entous, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Giles Elgood)

Big stink as Israel unleashes skunk on protestors by Joseph Krauss
Mon Aug 18, 3:03 AM ET

BILIN, West Bank (AFP) - The Palestinian protestors massed at the fence expected tear gas and rubber bullets; what they got instead was a putrid yellow wind, Israel's newest weapon against West Bank demonstrators. The noxious mist, which Israeli police refer to as skunk, was used for the first time earlier this month, when a truck-mounted cannon sprayed it over the heads of protestors, sending them racing down the hillside, retching and tearing off their shirts to try to escape the stench.Dozens of Palestinians from the village of Bilin, along with international and Israeli activists, had marched to a nearby segment of Israel's controversial separation barrier to demand its removal, just as they have done every Friday for the last three and a half years.No, no to settlements; no, no to the wall! they shouted, as they waved Palestinian flags and posters of Yusef Amira, a 16-year-old shot dead by Israeli police at a protest in a neighbouring village last month.

The Israeli border police called on them to disperse through loudspeakers, warning them they were near a closed military zone.Then the skunk truck arrived, spraying a cloud of yellow mist and filling the air with the suffocating stench of faeces and urine.More than one demonstrator said he preferred the tear gas Israeli troops usually use for crowd control, which sears the skin, nose, throat and eyes.Israeli police say skunk is more effective at dispersing crowds than tear gas or the more lethal rubber-coated bullets, which killed Amira.It's the start of a change in tactics in dealing with crowd control and dispersing violent demonstrations and violent instances, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.It protects the protestors because it doesn't require us to use tear gas and rubber bullets.It was inevitable, perhaps, that Israel would unveil the skunk in Bilin. The small West Bank village has recently spawned a growing protest movement pitting local farmers and international activists against Israeli police on a weekly basis.border They use all kinds of violence against us but we have to get our land back. We are willing to sacrifice ourselves, says Ahmed Abu Rahma, a Bilin resident who has marched in the protests since they began more than three years ago.The farmers have been galvanised by Israel's controversial separation barrier, a projected 723 kilometre (454 mile) stretch of concrete walls, barbed wire fence, and closed military roads that snakes across the West Bank.Israel says the barrier is necessary to prevent attacks on its cities and Jewish settlements while Palestinians say the fence, most of which is built on occupied territory, undermines the viability of their future state.

The protest organisers say their aims are purely local. They ban the carrying of the flags of any Palestinian faction and have steered clear of the increasingly toxic internal politics in the occupied territories.Anyone who wants to can live in this country. The problem for us is that they took our land, Abu Rahma says, adding that his family has lost some 400 hectares (988 acres) of olive orchards to the barrier.

In September 2007 Israel's high court ruled in favour of village residents and ordered the barrier to be re-routed, but the military has yet to act, and the protests have since spread to neighbouring villages.In the nearby village of Nilin, demonstrators clash with Israeli troops weekly, with local youths bounding through the terraced orchards near the fence construction site, hurling rocks and scattering before tear gas grenades. But in late July the violence spiked, with Israeli troops shooting dead a 12-year-old boy, Hamad Musa, and 16-year-old Amira within a few days. In Bilin demonstrators handed out posters with the picture of Amira, who was shot twice in the head by rubber-coated bullets when clashes erupted at the funeral for Musa, which was attended by thousands of people. Israel is investigating both incidents, and the deaths appear to have pushed the security forces to look into less-violent means of dispersing the protests. Rosenfeld would not say what exactly goes into the pungent mixture used last Friday but insisted it is not dangerous. It's not a chemical, it is a smelling liquid. It doesn't cause any harm or any physical damage whatsoever, even if it gets in people's eyes.

The protestors were not so sure -- many suspected it was toilet water.

This is the first time they use this water. It is going to make everyone sick, Abu Rahma said. I saw one boy who couldn't breathe, and a lot of other people were throwing up.The new dispersal methods, no matter how unpleasant, do not appear to deter the protestors. One of those marching on a recent Friday was Ashraf Abu Rahma who was shot in the foot with a rubber bullet in July by Israeli soldiers who had detained him. He was bound and blindfolded at the time. The incident, captured on video by a fellow protestor, was widely condemned in Israel and seen as a further embarrassment for its security forces. Abu Rahma, a relative of protestor Ahmed, said he had been hospitalised after taking three rubber-coated bullets to the same leg during a previous protest. On Friday he limped up the hill, carrying a Palestinian flag into battle yet again. I am not afraid of anything, he says with a smile. Not even death.

Rocket fired from Gaza: Israeli police Sun Aug 17, 10:23 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Palestinian militants launched a makeshift rocket from the Gaza Strip at Israel in violation of a near two-month-old truce, without wounding anyone, Israeli police said Sunday. At least 43 rockets and mortar rounds have been launched from Gaza since an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and several Palestinian armed groups came into force June 19, according to the Israeli army.The overall level of violence in and around the impoverished territory has sharply declined, however, and the Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled Gaza since June 2007 says it is doing everything possible to halt the rocket fire.Both sides have accused the other of violating the truce, with Hamas demanding Israel lift its embargo of Gaza and Israel accusing Hamas of using the calm to rearm with weapons smuggled under the Egypt-Gaza border.

Israel's Barak meets with Palestinian prime minister Sat Aug 16, 4:32 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak held talks Saturday evening on security and political matters, officials from both sides said. The two men meet at Barak's residence in Tel Aviv for discussions on security and political questions according to a defence ministry statement.The talks touched on the expected release of more than 150 Palestinian prisoners Sunday, along with the deployment of new Palestinian police forces in the West Bank, military radio reported.Barak and Fayyad met in Jerusalem in June with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Iran training Iraqi hit squads: US military by Jim Mannion
Fri Aug 15, 12:05 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah for attacks in Iraq, a US military official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Shiite special groups were being trained in Qom, Tehran, Mashad and Ahvaz in assassination and bombing techniques to target specific Iraqis as well as US troops and Iraqi security forces.We have intelligence reports confirming Iranian-sponsored groups are planning to return back to Iraq and are targeting specific coalition forces, ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) and Iraqi citizens, the official said.The intelligence, if it proves out, raises the prospect of a deadly new security challenge at a time when the US military is hoping to make further cuts in its forces.The official, who spoke from Iraq, said the information has been turned over to the Iraqi government and they are taking the lead in handling the situation.The groups were being trained in reconnaissance, small arms, small unit tactics, cellular operations, EFPs and other IEDs, RPGs and assassination techniques, the official said.EFPs, which stands for explosively formed projectiles, are armor-piercing bombs that have proven highly effective against US armored vehicles. The US military charges that components for the bombs are made in Iran.

The official said the special groups were being deployed to carry out terrorist acts against specific individuals as well as US and Iraqi forces.The special groups have been associated in the past with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, but the official would not link those being trained to Sadr.Among the Iraqi groups identified as involved in the training were Kitaib Hezbollah, which he described as a criminal group supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that has claimed a number of sophisticated attacks since 2005.The official identified a second Iraqi group as As Said Al-Haq.They are being trained by Quds Force under the leadership of Qassim Suleimani and Lebanese Hezbollah, the official said.The US military many times in the past have accused Iran of fomenting violence in neighboring Iraq, supplying Shiite groups with arms and training for attacks on US forces.But the violence has fallen off sharply in the wake of a US surge strategy that helped turn Sunni tribes against Al-Qaeda and Iraq's Shiite led government against Shiite militias and the so-called special groups.US military officials have said many special group leaders fled to Iran, but were believed to be biding their time for a return.Also contributing to the drop in violence has been a unilateral cease-fire declared a year ago by al-Sadr, who the US military believes is in Iran.Sadr announced in June that he would replace the 60,000-strong Mahdi Army with a smaller fighting force to target the US-led occupation.

Israel puts off evacuating illegal wildcat settlement by Marius Schattner
Fri Aug 15, 5:15 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli government has decided to put off for the time being its promised evacuation of the largest Jewish wildcat settlement in the occupied West Bank, the defence ministry said on Friday. The ministry told the Israeli High Court the Migron settlers -- about 200 people living on private Palestinian land -- can remain until new homes are built for them on public land.We have told the court we will announce within 45 days the new location of Migron, a ministry spokeswoman said. The ministry did not say when the settlers would be moved.In January the government told the court it would evacuate Migron by August.The government's new plan to move the settlers later has the backing of the main West Bank settlers' organisation, but the Migron residents, some right-wingers and anti-settler activists reject it.The government caved in to settlers who threatened to use violence if they are evacuated while they illegally occupy private Palestinian land, said Yariv Oppenheimer of the Peace Now group, which had filed a petition before the High Court seeking the evacuation.The Yediot Aharonot daily quoted the Committee of Settler Rabbis as saying: The thought of evacuating Migron is against the Torah and basic human morals.Some ultra-orthodox Jews believe they have a divine mission to settle the whole of the Biblical land of Israel, including the Palestinian territories.But other right-wingers believe that the Migron settlers would benefit from the legal recognition they would get by moving.Migron is the largest of some 100wildcat settlement outposts dotted around the West Bank that were erected without Israeli government authorisation.Most consist of just a few trailers but Migron has several houses, dozens of mobile homes, a synagogue, a ritual bath, a kindergarten and greenhouses.The international community regards all West Bank settlements as illegal, regardless of whether they were built with Israeli authorisation.

Washington has exerted particular pressure on Israel to dismantle the wildcat outposts.A lawyer who in 2004 assessed the legal situation of the settlements on behalf of the government called the Migron decision strange, to say the least.Migron was erected in a fraudulent manner on private land taken from Palestinians. The same settlers who violated the law are now seeing their actions sanctioned by the law, Talia Sasson told Israeli public radio.In another development, an internal police report cited by Haaretz says the number of settler attacks against Palestinians and clashes with police have increased significantly.The daily cites the report as saying there were 429 such incidents in the first six months of the year, compared with 551 in all of 2007.More than 260,000 Israelis are estimated to live in government-authorised settlements across the West Bank, with another 200,000 in settlements in annexed east Jerusalem.

Is freedom near for captive Israeli soldier? By Rafael D. Frankel
Fri Aug 15, 4:00 AM ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza - More than two years after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid, he is being used more than ever as a pawn in the battle between Israel, Hamas, and Fatah over the future of the impoverished coastal strip. On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the recent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that calmed fighting along Gaza's border should be used to push for Mr. Shalit's return. And the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said a prisoner swap in exchange for Shalit, believed to be alive and held inside Gaza, could conclude within a week.But the reality remains complex and ever-changing. Hamas vacillates between suspending and reopening Egyptian-led negotiations over the fate of the soldier, and talks are now caught up in the terms of the Israel-Hamas truce and stymied by the internal Palestinian power struggle between rivals Hamas and Fatah.As part of the cease-fire deal, Israel was to gradually open Gaza's borders in return for progress on the repatriation of Shalit. But, until Shalit is released, there won't be anything even close to normality with Gaza's [border] crossings, says Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.That creates problems for Hamas, which is trying both to improve conditions for Gazans while maintaining its hard line against Israel. Hamas is demanding the release of some 450 Palestinian fighters – many serving time on murder charges – in return for Shalit. And in a July 28 interview with the Monitor, Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar says Hamas would have no problem closing the file on Shalit permanently if Israel did not improve its offer.After making progress, negotiations hit a snag following the July 16 Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap in which Israel turned over the remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters plus five Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. Since then, speculation rose that either Israel lowered the price it would pay to retrieve Shalit because it did not want to be seen losing in both deals, or Hamas increased its demands after Israel released the terrorist Samir Kuntar as part of the Lebanon trade.An agreement was further complicated when Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas threatened to dissolve the PA if Israel released jailed Hamas ministers in an agreement over Shalit.

Mr. Abbas is concerned that a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas would aid the Islamist group in consolidating its hold over Gaza, as well as making inroads toward controlling the West Bank. Dissolving the PA, and returning to Israel total responsibility for the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, is perhaps the one trump card Abbas can still play in his negotiations with Israel as he is increasingly viewed by Palestinians as ineffectual.But Abbas's poor standing has not translated into Hamas popularity gains in Gaza. Nearly two months after the cease-fire with Israel, little has improved in the lives of Gazans.As part of the June 19 cease-fire agreement, Israel was to gradually ease its blockade of Gaza. But since then, the quantity of fuel, cement, food, and other raw materials has seen only a marginal increase, says Phillippe Lazzarini, the head of office for the United Nations agency that coordinates humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza.

There is a growing frustration among the population because they cannot feel the dividend of the truce on their daily life, Mr. Lazzarini says. The one significant improvement, he added, was the security situation, as both sides were holding their fire for the most part.Though fuel imports have increased, the amount of gasoline flowing into Gaza is only 18 percent the estimated need, according to the UN. The amount of diesel fuel available is 55 percent of the estimated need.The fuel and material shortages in Gaza, along with the lack of access to the outside world, have contributed to the 45 percent unemployment rate reported by the UN for July – the highest in the world.Nothing has changed, says Eyad Jamal Roopa, who previously imported perfumes from Lebanon but is now unemployed. Mr. Roopa spends his days sitting with two friends in front of his closed shop in the al-Shati Refugee Camp on the northern Gaza coast. We expected the crossings would be open, the siege would be lifted, and we would have a life. And none of that happened.Israeli authorities say they were slow in ramping up deliveries of goods because rockets were still being fired from Gaza in the early days of the truce. We chose closings as a nonviolent response to the violations of the quiet, says Mr. Regev. The agreement reached with Hamas via Egypt outlined steps that Hamas continues to violate by smuggling qualitative military materials into Gaza from Egypt, he says.Though primarily blaming Israel and the United States for the worst living conditions anyone can remember, Gazans unaffiliated with Hamas charge that the Islamist group has failed to deliver an improvement in their lives.There is no freedom to talk or to work because of the Hamas security forces, says Zuhir al-Najjar, a documentary filmmaker from Rafah. If I say something [Hamas] doesn't like, it's a big problem for me.… Every day, every moment, Hamas gets stronger.

Lawyers to US witness against Olmert: Stay home By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 14, 5:16 PM ET

JERUSALEM - Lawyers for an American businessman have recommended he refuse to testify again before an Israeli court in a corruption case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to a letter released Thursday. Morris Talansky already gave direct testimony and was questioned at length by Olmert's attorneys. Talansky told the court he gave Olmert envelopes stuffed with tens of thousands of dollars before he became prime minister.Olmert has not been charged but has announced he will resign because of several corruption investigations.The letter from Talansky's American lawyers, Bradley Simon and Neal Sher, noted the Israeli investigation mirrors a probe in the United States, and by testifying further, Talansky could incriminate himself.We have advised him not to appear for further examination in Israel until ... the U.S. grand jury matter is resolved, read the letter, supplied to The Associated Press by Simon's office. Talansky's response was not immediately available.Legal experts told Israeli media that all of the businessman's testimony so far remains admissible, even if Olmert's lawyers are unable to complete their questioning, set for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.Olmert is facing several corruption cases, none of them covering his time as prime minister. He has not been indicted and has denied all wrongdoing. Even so, Olmert announced on July 30 that he will turn in his resignation after his party, Kadima, chooses a new leader in primary elections next month.Because of Israel's complex electoral system, Olmert could still remain in office until next spring.

Syria, Lebanon to work towards drawing border By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Thu Aug 14, 7:39 AM ET

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to resume work towards formally demarcating their borders but Damascus said the boundaries of the disputed Shebaa Farms would not be drawn until Israel withdrew from them. Demarcation of the borders between Syria and Lebanon would be a major step towards meeting international demands on Damascus to formalize ties with its smaller neighbor.

President Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad also agreed at a two-day summit to establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level, a move that underlined thawing of ties between the two neighbors.Opening diplomatic ties was another step which countries including France and the United States had demanded of Syria, which dominated its neighbor until 2005 when the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri forced it to withdraw troops from Lebanon.The two presidents agreed on ... the resumption of the work of the joint committee to define and draw the Syrian-Lebanese borders, said a joint statement read at the end of the summit.Asked whether that would include the Shebaa Farms, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said: The definition of the Shebaa Farms cannot happen under occupation.Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, cites the occupation of the Shebaa Farms as one reason for keeping its arsenal.Israel considers Shebaa Farms part of the Golan Heights, which it occupied in 1967. Syria and Lebanon say the land is part of south Lebanon, from which Israel withdrew in 2000.The United Nations declared Israel's withdrawal complete. A 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution urged Syria to demarcate borders, especially in areas where the boundaries are uncertain.Officials did not say how long the process would take. Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, speaking alongside Moualem, pointed out that the border committee had been established in the 1940s.Demarcating borders has also been a demand of Lebanese leaders who have sought to curb Syrian influence in the country since the Hariri killing -- which they blame on Damascus. Syria has denied involvement.Saad al-Hariri, Rafik al-Hariri's son and political heir, welcomed the establishment of diplomatic ties, describing it as an accomplishment for the Lebanese people.The presidents also pledged to step up the efforts of a Lebanese-Syrian committee tasked with determining the fate of Lebanese who went missing in the 1975-90 civil war and whose relatives say were taken to Syria.Suleiman's election was sealed as part of a Qatari-mediated deal that ended 18 months of bitter political conflict between Hariri and his allies and an alliance led by Hezbollah.Suleiman, who was army chief before his election, has good ties to Damascus.(With additional reporting by Beirut bureau; Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Sami Aboudi)