- 17 mei 2010
Abbas spokesman: Negotiations likely to fail
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Indirect negotiations are not likely to create significant changes or advancements in the peace process, Fatah official and presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said on Sunday.
Blaming "Israeli stubbornness and insistence to continue building in settlements," Abu Rudaineh cast a pessimistic shadow over indirect negotiations scheduled to resume on Monday as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell returns to the region.
“No doubt settlement activity is an impediment to both direct and indirect talks and it does not create appropriate atmosphere for successful negotiations,” the official told Ma'an.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership has continued to coordinate with Arab countries over the talks, Abu Rudaineh explained, saying officials hoped to use the four-month window for talks to simultaneously crystallize a united Arab stance on an acceptable final status stance. Regardless of the success or failure of the talks, Abu Rudaineh said, a united Arab front will be sure to back the next Palestinian move.
Talks about the parameters of a united stance started during the Arab League Summit in Libya, Abu Rudaineh said, noting discussion of the issue would continue at the next UN General Assembly, and Arab League committee sessions, which will coincide with the end of the four months for talks. The official said talks would also be held with the US administration in light of the outcome.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=284879 6 jan 2012, 17:18 , Respect -
Maria 18 mei 2010
Report: US envoy arrives for proximity talks
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell began brokering the latest round of indirect talks on Tuesday between Israeli and Palestinian officials, media outlets reported.
Mitchell met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv, Barak's office said, and is expected to head to Ramallah to meet President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. A day later Mitchell is tipped to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reported.
The Obama administration has called on both sides to refrain from undertaking any acts that could undermine indirect talks, which were given a four-month deadline.
Observers suggested that this year's muted Nakba commemorations, marking the 1948 mass expulsion of Palestinians, during which Abbas did not make a public speech, followed US President Barack Obama's demand that Abbas to do all he can to prevent acts of incitement or delegitimization of Israel, the news agency wrote.
Government sources reportedly told Reuters that Netanyahu is favorably examining a proposal to expropriate land from Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to build a road between Ramallah and a new Palestinian town under construction.
The last round of indirect talks were swiftly derailed in March when Israel announced the construction of a 1,600 housing unit in the Israeli-only Ramat Shlomo settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.
On Sunday Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said indirect negotiations were not likely to create significant changes or advancements in the peace process, the Fatah official told Ma'an.
Blaming "Israeli stubbornness and insistence to continue building in settlements," Abu Rudaineh cast a pessimistic shadow over indirect negotiations scheduled to resume on Monday as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell returns to the region.
“No doubt settlement activity is an impediment to both direct and indirect talks and it does not create appropriate atmosphere for successful negotiations,” Abu Rudaineh said.
A number of PLO officials have denounced the Palestinian Authority's decision to re-enter indirect negotiations, citing continued settlement expansion, often breaching Israel's own 10-month moratorium, as the focal obstacle in achieving a comprehensive peace deal with Israel.
The US has urged that indirect talks quickly lead into direct negotiations, which were broken off in December 2008 as Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=285349 6 jan 2012, 17:18 , Respect -
Maria 21 mei 2010
White House: 2nd round of proximity talks 'constructive'
Bethlehem - Ma'an - US Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell concluded his second round of proximity talks and returned to Washington on Thursday, with White House officials calling the talks "constructive."
White House spokesman JP Crowley described the talks, which continued throughout last week, as "constructive and reflected both parties’ commitments to reach an agreement that realizes the goal of two states and a more secure and prosperous future for both peoples."
Amid growing Israeli rhetoric around the Palestinian Authority to endorse a boycott of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements located on West Bank lands, and Palestinian concerns around the ramp-up of settlement construction in East Jerusalem, Crowley said Mitchell "urged the parties to remain committed to promoting a positive atmosphere for the talks."
During a White House news conference, Crowley noted parallel regional initiatives in the Middle East, with US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeff Feltman scheduled to arrive in Jordan following his visit to Iraq on Thursday.
Feltman met with several official in Jordan, including King Abdullah II, chief of the Royal Court Nasser Lozi, and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. Crowley said "Discussions focused on bilateral and regional issues, including the formation of an Iraqi Government and efforts to achieve a two-state solution and comprehensive peace in the Middle East."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=285957 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 24 mei 2010
Netanyahu: Boycott only harming PA
Jerusalem - Ma'an/Agencies - The Palestinians are opposing economic peace with Israel and are "taking steps that in the end hurt themselves," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud party members on Monday.
"Israel is aiming for peace and economic prosperity,"
Netanyahu said, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote.
"The Palestinians must decide if they are aiming for peace or not."
The Israeli premier's comments follow the launch of the Palestinian Authority's House to House anti-settlement goods campaign, aimed at riding Palestinian homes in the West Bank of illegal settlement produce and to get consumers to opt for Palestinian goods.
"We have removed checkpoints, eased the lives of Palestinians and are working all the time to advance the Palestinian economy,"
Netanyahu told Likud members at a party meeting.
Netanyahu further cited Palestinian opposition to Israel's recent entrance to the OECD, for which it provided economic data on illegal settlements as part of its application portfolio.
Israel and the PA ratified the Paris Accords shortly after the Oslo Accords in 1993, which aimed at facilitating Israeli-Palestinian trade. The agreement, however, covers produce made within Israel's internationally recognized boundaries, inside the 1967 green line, which do not constitute the West Bank or East Jerusalem.
President Mahmud Abbas signed the Karama Pledge on Saturday, committing himself to the boycott of all goods made in illegal West Bank settlements, and declaring his home "free" of the offending products.
In a show of support for the campaign, lead by his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Abbas applied a sticker to his door, as a public display of his commitment to the efforts, which have drawn recent ire from Israeli officials. which commits the citizens not to allow settlement goods in their houses and then he put a sticker on the door of his house which indicates that it is empty from settlement goods.
As he applied the Karama Pledge sticker to his door, Abbas told gathered campaign members that Palestinians "should not spend money on goods manufactured on land taken over by settlements," and congratulated all of the young supporters of the movement, who volunteered to carry out a door-to-door campaign handing out lists of goods to avoid for those participating in the boycott.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=286808 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 27 mei 2010
PA: Israel made no official move to revoke revenues
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Minister of Labor under the appointed Ramallah government Ahmad Majdalani told Ma'an radio that the Palestinian Authority had received no official notice that Israel planned to revoke 17% of collected taxes.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters that Israel had announced it would withhold 17% of taxes collected on behalf of the PA, in reprisal for alleged losses from the Palestinian ban on the sale of settlement goods in the West Bank, but Majdalani said no such missive had been conveyed officially.
Majdalani said the PA was, however, prepared to receive the news if it did come, explaining that the matter would be dealt with officially through the Israeli government, and an appeals process if necessary.
Abbas, Fayyad and the entire Palestinian Authority have remained firm that the government-lead boycott of settlement goods is legal and does not violate previous agreements with Israel. Majdalani read the Israeli rumor as the country "trying its utmost to keep settlement economy strong despite of realizing that it against international law and legitimacy."
Despite the threat, the official said, the PA will continue with its implementation of the settlement boycott. "Israel's support to its settlements from its own budget is an internal affair," Magdalani said, calling a move to support the illegal communities with Palestinian cash a "violation to international legitimacy and the decisions of Paris economic conference."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=287634 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 27 mei 2010
Settlers planning ploy to continue construction: Dilani
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Settler groups are currently in discussions with the military and National Emergency Authority over proposals to build "wartime refuges" for Israelis inside the West Bank, Fatah Revolutionary Council Member Dimitri Diliani said.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Dilani called the underway discussions a "ploy" to continue settlement construction even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to go to Washington to continue proximity talks.
"The Israeli Extremist Right wing fanatics who compose the majority of the current Israeli government are known for employing their public's security paranoia to promote their expansionist policies," a statement from Diliani said, and accused the government of using fear to guarantee the construction of reinforced homes for some 500,0000 people.
A halt to settlement construction in the West Bank including East Jerusalem was a central concern of Palestinians heading in to the proximity talks, and only after several guarantees were made and threats by the United States offered, did negotiators agree to sit down with mediators.
Dilani called the news of "wartime refuges" the latest use of "Israelis' unwarranted security obsession" as a "winning card" to ensure the continued occupation of Palestinian areas.
"Settlements are the main obstacle to peace efforts," Dillani's statement said, noting he considered "any attempt to promote colonial settlements" as a " further infringement on the rights of the Palestinian people and defiance to International Law."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=287547
30 mei 2010
Who will blink on Israeli settlements?
A Palestinian throws a stone at Jewish settlers during clashes near the West Bank city of Nablus June 1, 2009. Jewish settlers set fire to Palestinian fields and scuffled with Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank after Israel removed an unauthorised settler outpost
Opinion: Obama and Netanyahu are in a stand-off over the West Bank.
BOSTON — A classic diplomatic standoff in the Middle East is emerging. U.S. President Barack Obama and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu are eyeball to eyeball over Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the world waits to see who will blink first.
The settlements, from a distance, look almost like Crusader castles on rocky, West Bank hill tops. Come closer and they resemble fortified hill towns, which is precisely what they are — armed homes to 300,000 Israelis living among two and half million Palestinians. Even the nomenclature is freighted with political meaning: West Bank for those who would see a Palestinian state, Judea and Samaria if you believe the territory should remain occupied by Israel.
Most of the world considers the settlements illegal. Under international law occupiers are not supposed to change or settle the lands they occupy. For some Israelis, often on the left, settlements are obstacles to peace. For others they are excused as necessary for security. For the politically powerful settler movement on the right, settlements are on land that God promised the Jews. And when religion mixes with extreme nationalism, fanaticism is never far behind.
Obama understands that halting the West Bank settlement expansion is a bedrock necessity if there is going to be a Palestinian state, a concept to which he is committed. For as the settlements grow and expand, they eat up more and more of the land that must be for the Palestinians if there is ever going to be a two-state solution. For Obama this is his chance to bring a lasting peace to the Middle East, and the stakes could not be higher given the rising unrest in the Muslim world in which fanatics use the abuse of the Palestinians as their oldest and truest recruiting tool.
For Netanyahu, a Palestinian state has never been something to be desired. For his right-wing government the settler movement is something best accommodated. Netanyahu comes from the “Revisionist” wing of the Zionist movement, led by Vladimir Jabotinsky. The Revisionists never wanted the territorial compromises that David Ben Gurion accepted when Israel was born. Originally, the Jabotinsky faction wanted all the territory of the British mandate including what is now Jordan.
As for the Palestinians, they too once insisted on everything between the Jordan River and the Sea, but Yasser Arafat made an historic compromise to recognize Israel in its original, pre-1967 borders. His Fatah faction still holds to that. But Hamas, which grows stronger every day, does not. The Palestinian Authority looks at a settlement freeze as a sine qua non for negotiations.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid down the line in the sand for Israel. The President wants to “see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not ‘natural growth’ expectations,” but all settlement expansion. Period.
Netanyahu hoped he might buy off Obama by taking down the little outposts, usually consisting of a trailer and a couple of tents, which even the Israeli government considers illegal, but often winks at. Indeed a few of them were dismantled, but often in the past the settlers move right back when attention turns elsewhere. In the past Israel has reduced pressure to stop settlements by saying no new ones, we will just expand the old ones to accommodate all the children that are being born.
This time Obama is saying no, but Netanyahu is saying yes. Israel will continue with natural growth expansion. His political base demands it.
Any American president has a great deal of leverage over Israel. Obama’s vision is a two-state solution with Arab recognition of Israel, which the Saudi peace plan also envisions, and on which all of the Arab League nations have signed. As Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz has written: If Netanyahu does not play his role (in this vision), "he will find himself at devastating odds with the sole ally on which his country profoundly relies.”
Israeli nationalism may back a confrontation with the United States up to a point. But the electorate will punish any Israeli politician who strays too far from the United States.
On the other hand, Netanyahu has his own allies in the American camp. The American Congress is very wary of confrontations with Israel, and often Israel has found its way around presidents who are prone to say no by appealing to Capitol Hill. The pro-Israel lobby is, perhaps, the most powerful lobby in Washington. And as George H.W. Bush found out, confronting Israel can result in punishment at the polls.
There are newer, more liberal pro-Israel lobbying groups that can give Congressmen a way of supporting Israel without backing the Israeli right. But the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is still king of the hill, and usually backs the political right in Israel, especially when it comes to ceding territory on the West Bank.
All of this is complicated by Iran. Netanyahu says he wants to see Iran de-nuked first before there is any movement on the Palestinians — a position that has considerable support in Israel.
The diplomatic dance that is unfolding is unique because no country has more political leverage in Israel than the United States, and no country can exert more pressure in Washington than Israel.
http://fwd4.me/18NV
Bibi in a corner
Maoz Esther settler Ayelet Sandak stands with her daughter near the ruins of a makeshift cabin after the demolition of the outpost near the Jewish settlement of Kokhav Hashahar, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 21, 2009. Israeli police broke up the unauthorized settler outpost in the occupied West Bank bulldozing makeshift cabins, police said. About 40 members of paramilitary border police evacuated five settler families from a hilltop camp called Maoz Esther where they were living in wooden huts with sheet metal roofs.
Obama presses Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop building in West Bank settlements.
One morning late last week, Israeli Border Police showed up at Maoz Esther, an outpost of Israeli settlers in the West Bank near Ramallah. They waited for a Bible study class to finish, tore down the settlers’ five little shacks and ran the residents off.
A few hours later, the settlers returned, nailing together the battered pieces of drywall shunted aside by the government. Maoz Esther rose again.
This kind of half-hearted approach to clearing out illegal outposts is the way Israel has always handled the settlers. (All settlements are illegal under international law, but these small, new outposts are illegal according to the Israeli government, too). The settlers understand that so long as they make a fuss over a few little shacks, they’ll be allowed to continue building in their existing government-sanctioned settlements. In this case, only 300 yards from Maoz Esther is Kokhav Ha-Shakhar, one of a series of expanding settlements skirting Ramallah whose growth has seen the settler population of the West Bank rise to 282,000 from 111,000 in 1993, when Israel signed the Oslo Peace Accord and promised not to take any more Palestinian land.
The fake evacuations have long worked for everyone — in the Israeli political leadership, at least. Right-wing Israeli governments could feel they were colonizing the West Bank to give Israel a security barrier against attack from the hostile states to the East (a defense that seems outdated now that Iran has missiles that purportedly can hit Sicily). Left-wing governments could buy support from religious parties that want to keep the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, as they call the West Bank. All of them had at least some sense that today’s settlers were only doing what their admired forefathers in the pre-State Zionist movement had done.
But now Barack Obama says the patience of the United States is at an end. During their lengthy meeting at the White House last week, the president told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take decisive action. Evacuate the illegal outposts, as Israel has repeatedly promised to do. Stop building in the older settlements, including so-called “natural growth.” (That’s Israel’s way of covering expansion of their communities by suggesting that all new homes are built to accommodate youngsters raised on the settlements now moving out of their parents homes. Israel conquered the West Bank in the Six-Day War of 1967. Under international law, countries aren’t allowed to resettle their citizens on land conquered in war. Israel maintains that, as the West Bank was previously occupied by Jordan, it’s now “disputed” and therefore not subject to this restriction.)
The official photographs suggest Obama sat with Netanyahu on the couches at the very center of the Oval Office. The reality is that he put the Israeli prime minister in a corner and pledged to keep him there until he lives up to the promises his predecessors failed to keep.
On the subject of predecessors, Israeli commentators responded to the Washington meeting with the acknowledgement that the country had it easy for some years with President George W. Bush. Those days are over and, as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s former bureau chief put it in an editorial, “We’re in trouble.”
Trouble because if Netanyahu does what Obama wants, he’ll lose the support of Jewish Home, a small component of his coalition. But he’ll also go against the views of many within his own Likud Party, including some of his ministers. It might not go down too well with Yisrael Beitenu, the right-wing party that’s the second-largest member of the coalition. Its leader Avigdor Lieberman makes his home in a West Bank settlement not far from Bethlehem.
Trouble, also, because if Netanyahu decides to defy Obama he risks just about the only Israeli diplomatic relationship that isn’t shaky. A Palestinian peace deal is important to Obama to show the Muslim world that he’s sincere about a new direction and reconciliation between the West and Islam. Israeli commentators have noted with trepidation that Obama’s first visit to the region as president will be next month in Cairo, not Jerusalem.
Perhaps the biggest problem for Israel is that everyone — politicians, commentators, people on the street — doubt that Netanyahu has the guts to forge a path in the face of opposition either from the settlers or the United States and don’t trust him not to sell them out, either.
What will Netanyahu do?
Try to continue the existing Israeli modus operandi, as witnessed at Maoz Esther, until Obama calls him on it again. That’s what virtually every Israeli prime minister has done in the past, and Netanyahu will surely test Obama’s resolve.
His second line of defense — if Obama complains about his first strategy — will probably be that the previous Israeli government reached an understanding with President Bush to cherrypick between different kinds of construction on occupied land.
Under those unwritten understandings, according to Israeli officials, Israel was allowed to go ahead with building in East Jerusalem, in the proximity of existing large settlements, and within the boundaries of isolated settlements. Tiny outposts like Maoz Esther would be removed.
Well, Israel hasn’t even fulfilled that much of its promises, but Obama’s response to such a defense will be: Bush never wrote that down, and in any case I’m not Bush.
Netanyahu’s next line of defense will be to deflect American discontent with Israel in the direction of the ruinous Palestinian political scene.
Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the formation of the Palestinian Authority’s thirteenth government in 14 years. Hamas, which technically controls the parliament and rules in Gaza, rejected the new government as illegal. (They already say that Abbas’ term is up and that he’s an illegal president.)
Many leaders of Abbas’s own Fatah faction said they wouldn’t support the new government either, because of a dispute over the failure of the leadership to call a party congress. They want a meeting to reform Fatah’s structure and sweep out some of its tired, corrupt old hacks.
Netanyahu will be hoping that, with the Palestinian chaos shutting the door on real peace talks now, a few gestures like the one at Maoz Esther will illustrate the risks he’s prepared to take to appease Washington. But it’s hard to imagine this will be enough for Obama if his clear directive in Washington was based on real diplomatic intentions, and not rhetoric.
http://fwd4.me/18NX 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 31 mei 2010
World outcry over Israeli flotilla attack
Bethlehem - Ma'an - As several European countries summon their Israeli ambassadors, a chorus of condemnation has been voiced by world leaders and governments over Israel's raid on an aid convoy destined for Gaza, in which at least 10 activists were killed on Monday morning.
A statement issued by the UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Israel to open all crossings for aid to enter Gaza. "I deplore the loss of life during the interception of the Gaza Flotilla. Our Embassy is in urgent contact with the Israeli Government. We are asking for more information and urgent access to any UK nationals involved."
Hague said that while the UK has repeatedly advised against attempting naval access into Gaza "there is a clear need for Israel to act with restraint and in line with international obligations. It will be important to establish the facts about this incident, and especially whether enough was done to prevent deaths and injuries."
The incident, he wrote, underlines the need to lift the restrictions on access to Gaza. "The closure is unacceptable and counter-productive. There can be no better response from the international community to this tragedy than to achieve urgently a durable resolution to the Gaza crisis," noting serious concerns "about the deterioration in the humanitarian and economic situation and about the effect on a generation of young Palestinians."
UN 'shocked' by killings
The UN office for the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process issued a statement saying they were "shocked by reports of killings and injuries of people on board boats carrying supplies for Gaza, apparently in international waters."
The response came following an attack by Israeli military and naval forces on six aid ships bound for Gaza, where sources said 10-16 civilian activists were killed.
"We condemn the violence and call for it to stop," the statement said, noting UN officials were "in contact with the Israeli authorities to express our deep concern and to seek a full explanation.
"We are also urging them in the strongest terms to ensure that no further steps are taken that could endanger civilian lives. We wish to make clear that such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza," the statement concluded.
Turkey warns of 'irreversible consequences'
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was further quick to denounce the Israeli navy's actions on board the Freedom Flotilla, saying "This grave incident which took place in high seas in gross violation of international law might cause irreversible consequences in our relations."
The statement said "Israel has once again clearly demonstrated that it does not value human lives and peaceful initiatives through targeting innocent civilians. We strongly condemn these inhuman acts of Israel," and condemned the use of force on the ship transporting women and children.
Ankara has summoned Israel's Ambassador, demanding an explanation on the raid. "Whatsoever the motives might be, such actions against civilians who are involved only in peaceful activities cannot be accepted. Israel will have to bear the consequences of these actions which constitute a violation of international law."
Erekat condemns 'brutal attacks'
Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat described the raid on the Freedom Flotilla as a war crime and said "What Israel does in Gaza is appalling; no informed and decent human can say otherwise," a statement read.
"The unarmed civilian activists were attacked on foreign vessels while sailing in international waters. This is another incident confirming that Israel acts as a state above the law. The international community must take swift and appropriate action. "
Erekat referred to the current status of Gaza. "The Israeli government has been trying to deny that Gaza is under occupation. But the fact that Israel is preventing humanitarian aid to freely access the besieged strip clearly shows that Gaza is still occupied."
The chief Palestinian negotiator called on the international community to "act immediately to end the illegal Israeli siege and to protect the civilians savagely attacked by Israeli forces."
Fayyad: Crime shows Israeli disrespect for lives of innocent civilians
"The Israeli Army forces have committed a crime against international supporters on board the Freedom Flotilla early this morning, who were seeking peaceful means to deliver humanitarian aid and end the unjust siege imposed by Israel on our people in Gaza," a statement issued by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's office read.
"The Palestinian government strongly condemns this crime, which portrays, once again, Israeli disrespect for the lives of innocent civilians, and its disrespect for international law. It also reveals the dire need to put an end to Israel’s aggressive policy, by an unconditional and unlimited lifting of the siege on our people, mainly in Gaza."
The statement added that the Ramallah-based government urges the international community to condemn the attack, and "implement the repeated international calls for lifting the siege, including the international decision at the Sharm El Sheikh Conference for the Reconstruction of Gaza and the European Union Declaration last December and other international stands," and "practical steps that commit Israel to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and respect the unity of the Palestinian territories."
The Palestinian response, the Palestinian premiere's statement read, was to speed up an end to internal division and "calls on all parties, especially Hamas movement, to positively respond to the efforts to achieve national reconciliation and reunite the homeland and unify the Palestinian efforts against the Israeli occupation policies of siege and settlements, and mobilize the energy of our people towards ending the occupation and building the homeland."
Jordan says Tel Aviv 'fully accountable'
Jordan on Monday firmly condemned Israel's attack on the Freedom Flotilla with Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Nabil Sharif rendering the offensive, spearheaded by Israeli naval forces on the relief convoy, as " a heinous crime," the state-run Jordan News Agency wrote.
"This is rejected, unjustified and unprovoked belligerence and a gross breach of international laws and conventions," he added.
"Jordan follows up the incident with deep concern ... Tel-Aviv is fully held accountable in regard to safety of Jordanian nationals aboard the convoy," he underlined, the news agency reported.
Sharif, who is also the Jordanian government's spokesman, urged the international community to promptly take necessary and unequivocal action to press Israel lift the unfair blockade on the coastal strip, the JNA wrote.
He added the Jordanian embassy in Tel-Aviv conveyed a letter condemning the act and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recalled the Israeli envoy in Jordan.
International outcry
Turkey called in its Israel representative for an official explanation, the EU publicly called for an investigation into the incident, and according to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, an emergency Arab League meeting to be held to address the situation.
Israeli press said officials were doing damage control, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak phoning the Turkish defense minister, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Turkish ambassador to Israel shortly after the attack on the ship.
The European Union called for a comprehensive inquiry into deaths, and urged Israel to allow the free flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
High Representative Catherine Ashton released a statement via her spokesperson expressing deep regret at the news of loss of life.
"On behalf of the European Union she demands a full enquiry about the circumstances in which this happened ... She calls for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of the crossing for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza," the spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the Israeli daily news site Yedioth Ahronoth.
The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, also condemned the Israeli attack. "Despite repeated calls for all involved to act with restraint and responsibility, the interception of the convoy in international waters has resulted in many casualties. This is an unjustified attack, which has claimed at least a dozen lives," he said in a statement, adding: "It is a clear and unacceptable breach of international law, especially the fourth Geneva Convention. We demand that Israel explains its actions immediately, with the utmost transparency, and guarantees full accountability by co-operating with any full inquiry that is to be set up."
In the statement, President Buzek said: "The European Parliament also urges High Representative Ashton to take steps within the Quartet to force Israel to lift the siege on the people of Gaza immediately and unconditionally. We cannot stand by while 80% of the Gazan population is living below the poverty line."
A statement issued by Argentina condemned the attack by Israeli forces and said it "deeply regrets the loss of human lives produced in this episode," calling for a complete investigation into the incident. The government called for the "immediate cessation of acts that worsen the situation in the Middle East" and the lifting of the blockade on Gaza. "Argentina urges the strict observance of the international humanitarian law and the resolutions of the United Nations conducive to the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the region."
Arab League: Deciding our next step
Arab League chief Amr Moussa slammed the deadly raid, issuing a condemnation on the part of the official body.
"We condemn this crime, taken against a humanitarian mission and people. They were trying to help people. They were not on a military mission. Everyone should condemn this," Moussa told the Agence France-Presse. "We are now conducting calls to Arabs to decide on our next step."
Lebanon: Dangerous and insane step
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri criticized Israel's raiding of the aid convoy and said it "represented a dangerous and insane step which will exacerbate regional tensions," a statement read.
"Lebanon strongly denounces the attack and calls on the international community, particularly the larger powers, ... to take measures in a way that would put an end to these continuous violations of human rights and threats toward international peace," the French daily Le Monde reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=288445 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 9 juni 2010
Gaza tops agenda as Abbas arrives in US
Washington – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the United States on Tuesday with two goals, ending the siege on Gaza and moving the peace process forward, PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said.
Abed Rabbo told Palestine TV that the president and his delegation would meet Senator John Kerry and leaders of the American Jewish and pro-Israel lobby in the US in addition to the main meeting with US President Barack Obama.
"This round of negotiations provides an 11th-hour opportunity to achieve a permanent and lasting peace based on the two-state solution," Abbas wrote in an op-ed ahead of his visit to the US.
"Despite the harsh realities imposed upon us, the Palestinian side intends to negotiate in good faith in order to end the state of conflict that has plagued our region," he added. "Achieving peace and coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis has been my lifelong commitment."
Despite that Palestinian Authority leaders rarely criticize Obama in public, officials say behind the scenes that they are disappointed in what they call his "weak" stance toward Israel's rightist government. The US administration is particularly unpopular in Israel, however, for entirely different reasons, namely Obama's purported stance against the settlements that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to keep building.
The official PA news agency WAFA reported that Abbas would meet with Obama at 6pm Jerusalem time. The two will discuss developments in the Middle East and efforts toward a two-state solution to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.
Abbas arrived in Washington on Tuesday and met with liberal Canadian MP Bob Rae, updating him on the latest developments in the region following the Israeli naval raid on the Freedom Flotilla, which left nine passengers dead. Israel says the violence was provoked by activist on board, a charge they deny.
Netanyahu is to meet Obama later this month, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday. Netanyahu abruptly postponed planned White House talks after last week's deadly assault.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=290637 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 21 juni 2010
Ground broken for 600 J'lem settler homes
Jerusalem – Ma'an – Israeli construction vehicles and bulldozers began digging in Jerusalem on Monday morning, in what is believed to be ground work for the building of some 600 new settlement units.
The homes were announced in late February, and are set to be built near the illegal Pisgat Ze'ev settlement and the Palestinian neighborhood of Shu'fat.
The number was reduced from 1,100 to 600, when it was revealed that much of the land was owned privately by Palestinians, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported at the time.
The latest reports suggest the digging is on a hill between the the Palestinian neighborhoods of Beit Hanina and Shu'fat, beside the Pisgat Ze'ev-Newe Ya'akov settlement. Much of the land designated for the build is Palestinian-owned.
Days after the announcement, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said "We've relayed our strong concerns to the government of Israel, that this kind of activity, particularly as we try to relaunch meaningful negotiations is counter-productive and undermines trust between the parties."
The Palestinian Authority maintains that the continued construction of Israeli settlements on lands occupied by Israel since 1967 prevents the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=293414 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 26 juni 2010
Erekat: Israel must choose settlements or peace
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli deputy premier Dan Meridor entered a heated debate on Friday in New York, with the PLO official warning of the need to reach a peace deal by the end of 2010.
"If by the end of this year we do not have a two-state solution, you will sweat, you will sweat," Erekat told Meridor, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported, as the two met at the International Peace Institute.
"Israel has three options," Erekat said, a two-state solution, a single state including Jews and Palestinians, or a continuation of Israel's "racism" and "apartheid system" in the West Bank.
Meridor said Israel seeks a return to direct negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and PLO and indicated that US-mediated indirect talks were making progress.
"I do hope in the coming weeks negotiations will skip over this strange proximity talks into real talks," Agence France-Presse quoted Meridor as saying. "We need to talk to each other and make the tough decisions needed, and if this is done we'll see progress this coming year."
Erekat reiterated the PLO's stance that a halt to settlement construction, in accordance with the 2003 Road Map agreement's requirements, is needed before talks recommence.
"This government of Israel has a choice, settlements or peace," he said. "They can't have both," AFP reported.
The PA, Erekat said, was founded to establish the institutions for a Palestinian state, "not to keep Israel as a source of authority forever." If Israel insists on maintaining control, he said, the Palestinian Authority "cannot stand – it's irrelevant," and he indicated it might be dissolved, according to reports.
Meridor said, however, that if there is no full agreement on the outstanding issues of Jerusalem, refugees, final borders and security "we will not let the negotiation collapse."
"It should not be all or nothing. We all wish for all, but if we can't get it, we should be very cautious not to risk everything on that," he said, AFP wrote.
Refugees
Meridor said the future of Palestinian refugees is the most crucial issue for Israel.
"It's more important than even the exact delineation of the border, which is a problem but we can agree on this: It's more important even than the security arrangements that are very important," he said.
Erekat's statement that refugees will have make the choice to return and receive compensation, and not the PA, raised major problems for Meridor, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Any peace agreement that does not settle the refugee issue would mean "there is no end to the conflict."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=294699 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 27 juni 2010
Israel-US relations rocked by 'tectonic rift'
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren
Relations between Israel and its staunchest ally, the US, have suffered a "tectonic rift", according to Israel's ambassador to Washington.
Michael Oren briefed Israeli diplomats on the sharp deterioration between the countries ahead of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House early next month.
According to those present, Oren said the situation had moved beyond a crisis that eventually passes. "There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs," he told the diplomats in Jerusalem. "Relations are in the state of a tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart."
His analysis will alarm Israel's political establishment, which is feeling isolated internationally and under intense pressure to take concrete steps over the blockade of Gaza and settlement building in the West Bank.
Oren said President Barack Obama made judgments about Israel on the basis of cold calculation in contrast to predecessors George W Bush and Bill Clinton, who were motivated by historical and ideological factors. He suggested that Obama was less likely to be influenced by pro-Israel supporters inside or outside the White House. "This is a one-man show," he was quoted as saying.
Netanyahu and Obama are due to meet in Washington on 6 July after earlier talks were postponed following Israel's lethal assault on the flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza.
Netanyahu is keen for the meeting to be seen as a success after a string of difficult issues have ruptured relations. His last visit to Washington ended with what was widely interpreted as a snub when Obama declined to hold a photocall with the Israeli leader.
The agenda of next week's meeting is unlikely to prove painless for Netanyahu. As well as discussing the flotilla debacle, Obama is expected to press for further action to allow imports, exports and people to move more freely to and from Gaza. In addition, Obama is expected to again raise the vexed issue of settlement construction. The 10-month partial freeze, wrung out of Netanyahu after months of pressure and negotiation, is due to end in late September.
Oren's remarks, reported in the Israeli press and confirmed by officials, go further than comments he made in March after the crisis over an Israeli announcement of a big expansion to a Jerusalem settlement during a visit by US vice-president Joe Biden. Then Oren told colleagues US-Israeli relations were facing their worst crisis for 35 years.
Netanyahu delivered a robust speech to the Israeli parliament last week, warning that the Jewish state's legitimacy was under attack and criticising the UN and other international bodies for condemning Israeli policies and actions. "They want to strip us of the natural right to defend ourselves. When we defend ourselves against rocket attack, we are accused of war crimes. We cannot board sea vessels when our soldiers are being attacked and fired upon, because that is a war crime.
"They are essentially saying that the Jewish nation does not have the right to defend itself against the most brutal attacks and it doesn't have the right to prevent additional weapons from entering territories from which it is attacked," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/27/israel-us-relations-tectonic-rift...Read more 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 30 juni 2010
Fatah warns Israel: No more Jerusalem settlements
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Following an Israeli media report on the immanent construction of a 1,400-unit settlement hotel in East Jerusalem, a Fatah official said patience was running out, and warned the situation was at risk of an "explosion."
The statement followed the airing of a Channel 10 News report on Tuesday, where reporters said the construction of 1,400-unit hotels on disputed lands in Jerusalem were given the go-ahead by Israel's regional planning committee.
Representing Fatah, party member Usama Al-Qawasmi lashed out, saying the self-styled moderate political movement had had "long patience toward these provocative procedures."
According to the report, two hotel buildings will be constructed on what was no-mans land until 1967, and is now located between the West Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpyot and the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Al-Mukaber. Palestinian families say they hold deeds to at least some of the lands.
The report was released one week ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned visit to the United States, representatives of which have repeatedly called for a halt to settlement construction in the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
Channel 10 quoted one Israeli official as saying “this approval is no more problematic than building works in the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo north east of Jerusalem."
Al-Qawasmi did not share the same sentiment, saying the timing of the revelation just ahead of a US visit, where the White House hopes to "push the political process" could not go well. He called the decision to build "racist," and an "imposition," adding that the planning committee was "abrogating international law and decisions of the United Nations and the international community."
The official warned that Fatah would not "stand helpless, it will defend its lands and peoples from Israeli provocations and threats."
According to Channel 10, Netanyahu was not likely aware of the issue, as Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai would have made the decisions independently.
The station did not accord a great deal of weight to the timing of the decision to build, saying that the project was lost in bureaucracy and regional committees since 2003 when the Israeli Society for Protecting the Environment filed a series of objections on environmental aspects in the planned construction.
Last week, the report noted, a joint session was held for the pioneers of the project and environment society, where concerns were addressed and the plans given the go-ahead.
According to this news report, tenders will be submitted to sell the land beginning to build the two hotels.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=295901 6 jan 2012, 17:19 , Respect -
Maria 1 juli 2010
Mitchell in Ramallah for talks with Abbas
Ramallah – Ma’an – US peace envoy George Mitchell arrived Thursday in the West Bank city of Ramallah for ongoing talks on borders and security in a bid to convince President Mahmoud Abbas to return to direct negotiations with Israel.
But chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said there would be no move toward real negotiations until "progress is achieved on the issue of the 1967 borders, the two-state solution, and an end to Israel's arbitrary procedures, arrests, settlements, and closures."
"Peace can't be achieved and moving toward direct talks" will not be possible without a change in Israeli behavior, Erekat was quoted as saying by the official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.
"We hope our message to the international community and US administration is clear," Erekat said. "We hope to make every possible effort, before the specified time has ended, on the issues of borders and security in preparation for a final-status agreement."
Abbas pressed Mitchell on the issues of home demolitions in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, the expulsion of four lawmakers representing Jerusalem, and continued settlement building in the Palestinian territories, namely the Shepherd Hotel project, Erekat said.
Mitchell will return soon, the PLO official added, as Palestinian and American representatives continue discussions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=296275 6 jan 2012, 17:20 , Respect -
Maria 3 juli 2010
Erekat denies Abbas put forward final status deal to Israel
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat denied reports on Saturday that President Mahmoud Abbas conveyed a list of proposals to Israel through US Middle East envoy George Mitchell on final status agreements.
Erekat's comments follow a report in the London-based Arabic language daily Al-Hayat that Abbas handed Mitchell an agreement that would including handing over Israeli control to the Jewish Quarter in East Jerusalem's Old City, as well as the West Wall by the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Speaking to Radio Israel, Erekat said the current US-brokered indirect talks were secret and would not be released to the public.
According to Al-Hayat, the proposal reportedly included a land-swap deal that would place illegal settlements in East Jerusalem under Israeli control in exchange for a Gaza-West Bank passageway and land bordering the southern West Bank.
Indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials began in May and were given a four-month deadline. The Obama administration called for the current round of negotiations to lead into direct talks, which were broken off in December 2008 as Israel launched its devastating Operation Cast Lead on Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=296593 6 jan 2012, 17:20 , Respect -
Maria 4 juli 2010
Ministers reject MKs' veto on settlement freeze
Settlers rebuilding the Migron outpost in the West Bank after it was demolished by the IDF
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday scrambled for support ahead of the vote, telephoning cabinet ministers from his Likud party in the hope of persuading them to oppose the transfer of authority.
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday voted down a proposal that would have given the Knesset the power to veto an extension of a government-imposed freeze on the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday scrambled for support ahead of the vote, telephoning cabinet ministers from his Likud party in the hope of persuading them to oppose the transfer of authority.
If passed, the legislation would have severely limited Netanyahu's power to extend current building restrictions in the West Bank, due to expire in September.
Netanyahu flies to Washington on Monday, where he is expected to come under heavy pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama to keep settlement construction in check well beyond the September deadline.
Revoking the ban could also cause the prime minister problems at home: Leaders of the Labor party, the third largest partner in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, have hinted they may pull out of the government if the building ban is revoked.
Knesset sources on Sunday expressed doubt over the Netanyahu's ability to obstruct the legislation, saying that at least two Likud Ministers, Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edlestein, were expected to back the law.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has also reportedly ordered lawmakers from his Yisrael Beiteinu party, the second largest in the coalition, to vote for the law. Last week, Lieberman and Netanyahu were involved in a high-profile spat when it emerged the prime minister had authorized a secret government meeting with Turkey, without informing the foreign ministry.
As political maneuvering continued, settlers vowed to restart building in September, whatever the outcome of Sunday's vote.
Early in the morning the Yesha Council, which represents West Bank settlers, sent Likud ministers telephone voice messages that included extracts from speeches by the party's leading ideologue Benny Begin MK, as well as by the prime minister himself, insisting construction would not be halted.
Israel approved a settlement freeze in Novemebr 2009 in response to heavy diplomatic pressure. But restrictions do not apply to East Jerusalem, where continued building has led to friction with the Obama administration and frustrated U.S.-mediated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/ministers-reject-mks-veto-on-settlement-freeze-1.299996