:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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Abbas says Israel's preconditions for peace talks with Palestinians should not be discussed as it has never complied with its obligations in the previous agreements.

Palestinian Acting Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Cairo on Friday on a two-day visit for talks with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, the official MENA news agency reported.

"Abbas is scheduled to brief Mubarak on the outcome of his Thursday talks with US President Barack Obama and the proposals for activating the roadmap to peace in the Middle East," MENA said.

In an interview with al-Arabia TV, Abbas said that the Israeli regime talks of preconditions including recognizing Israel, while it has not complied with its obligations under previous agreements. He added that everyone knows that complying with the previous commitments is a key necessity for going to the next step.

"We are fully committed to all of our obligations, but Israel never complies with its commitments,” he said.

He reiterated that creating an independent Palestinian state and halting all settlement construction and expansion on the Palestinian lands are our key preconditions for peace talks with Israel.

Abbas also was interviewed the day before his Thursday meeting at the White House with US President Barack Obama by the Washington Post and said that he would not help the new US Middle East Envoy in encouraging the Arab states to normalize ties with Israel.

"We cannot talk about normalization while Israel still rejects a two-state solution, and is ongoing with its settlement activities in the occupied territories,…(U)ntil Israel stops these activities, and until it accepts a two-state solutions, we will not hold talks with anybody.”

Abbas added that he would not accept to make concessions such as recognizing Israel as a “Jewish State”, especially since such recognition means giving up the right of return of Palestinian refugees, who were forced out of their homes by Zionists.

Abbas told his interviewers, "The Americans are the leaders of the world… They can use their weight with anyone around the world. Two years ago they used their weight on us. Now they should tell the Israelis, 'You have to comply with the conditions.'"


Abbas' meeting with Obama came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed international calls for a full settlement freeze and said he would not accept limits on the Jewish construction.

In recent months Israel has announced the construction of hundreds of new Jewish settlers' homes in occupied territories - a move in breach of the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The democratically-elected Palestinian Hamas government that runs Gaza Strip has been excluded from the Washington and Cairo meetings. In compliance with Israeli wishes, the USA and Egypt have boycotted Hamas and instead choose to negotiate with the Palestinian Acting Authority Chief whose term expired last January, and who, without a mandate, has little leverage in negotiations.

MSH/ZAP/DT

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As Israel prepares to launch a large-scale military drill, Lebanon's Hezbollah in cooperation with Lebanese Army forces is on high alert along the border.

Unnamed army sources said Saturday that the Lebanese Army has heightened its security measures along the southern border with Israel to repel possible threats during Israel's 'Turning Point 3' military exercise which will last for five days, Al Manar reported Saturday.

In addition to the military patrols, Hezbollah forces will be on full alert "to respond to any possible aggression", according to the report.

The daily quoted the sources as saying that the security measures are taken despite UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon) assurances that the drill would be "defensive in nature".

The exercise will include the Israeli army, Home Front Command, Emergency Economy, Israeli Police, government ministries and local authorities.

Israel's National Emergency Authority Chief, Brig. Gen. (res.) Ze'ev Zuk-Rom, said formerly that the drill is to be held based on the lessons Israel learnt during its war against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.

Israel which launched the 33-day war to destroy Hezbollah's military power was forced to eventually leave southern Lebanon without achieving any of its objectives.
Source: Press TV

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Israel takes a clear and decisive step against the world displaying its rogue nature in latest shake up over the illegal settlement development.

On Sunday, Israel's Transport Minister Yisrael Katz vehemently declared that Israel will not bow to US demands to halt its settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

"I want to say in a crystal clear manner that the current Israeli government will not accept in any fashion that legal settlement activity in Judea and Samaria be frozen," said Katz who is a close aide to hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The government will defend the vital interests of the state of Israel," he told army radio.

The rebuttal is considered the first high-level reaction to Washington's demands for Israeli settlement expansion to be halted.

The international community considers all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal for they are in violation of three United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

The Israeli government, however, has refused at every turn to take action toward ceasing or even slowing down its illegal development of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tel Aviv has also made clear its utter distaste for a two-state solution - another defiance of Washington's guidelines for the Middle East peace process.

As a result Portugal's foreign minister called on the European Union to join force with the US against Israel in pressuring Tel Aviv into accepting the creation of a Palestinian state.

Obama's unequivocal stance on Israel's inhumane and unrelenting siege of the Gaza Strip, and it's settlement construction activity is a slap in the face of the former Bush administration's cart blanche approval for Israel to act in complete disregard of international convention.

The Israeli government, in response to US and world pressure has begun large scale military defense exercises near the border of Lebanon.

The maneuvers, said to address Israel's tactical weaknesses demonstrated from its 2006 defeat when it attacked Lebanon in an unprovoked display of aggression, are making surrounding Muslim countries nervous.

MGH/SC/MMN

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n a move to set the stage for another offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel has warned that the current ceasefire between Tel Aviv and Hamas could be easily broken.

"The ceasefire is not complete and is very fragile," a senior official quoted Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as telling a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The premier also ruled out the possibility of lifting the crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, saying there are other issues that should be dealt with in the costal sliver.

"We are being asked to ease the living conditions of the population and allow goods and equipment in, but we have other priorities in the Gaza Strip," he added.

"We do not want to strengthen Hamas, not by allowing them to rebuild their defenses," Netanyahu said.

He made the remarks on the same day that the Israeli military launched a large-scale maneuver which hints that another war in the region is imminent.

The Israeli premier added that "we need to find a balance between easing the conditions of the (Gaza) population and easing on Hamas' ability to acquire more weapons."

Israel has long been accusing Hamas -- the democratically-elected ruler of the Gaza Strip -- of arms smuggling, but Hamas repeatedly rejected the allegations and said it would continue to arm its fighters as it is the movements "legitimate right".

Tel Aviv unleashed its three-week-long offensive in the territory in December to stop the movement from fighting its occupation. The all-out war claimed over 1,350 Palestinian lives including women and children but failed to achieve its objectives.

Tel Aviv eventually announced a unilateral ceasefire in January 18, but declined to lift the two-year-old blockade, which was kept even during the war on the coastal region.

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srael has been forced into changing the wording of a controversial bill banning the commemoration of 'Nekba' or Catastrophe Day by Palestinians.

The Israeli cabinet on Sunday amended the bill to only prohibit the use of government funds to mark the day, AFP reported.

Every year, Palestinians held ceremonies on Nekba Day which marks the 1948 creation of the Israeli regime which they believe was the beginning of their plight.

Based on the original bill, which was deemed to be against the freedom of speech, commemorating the day could lead to up to three years in prison and other penalties.

The controversial bill was submitted by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party which is known for its "extremist" and "racist" stances. The party had earlier suggested that any Arab who was not "loyal to the regime" should be stripped from "Israeli citizenship."

However, another bill which would require "Israelis to take oath of loyalty" was rejected by the cabinet on Sunday.

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An Israeli minister has described US President Barack Obama as a 'Pharaoh' amid the signs of a deepening rift between the two allies.

The remarks by Israeli Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz were made after Obama called for an unconditional freeze in settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

"The demand to prevent natural growth in settlements is unreasonable and is akin to Pharaoh's demand that all firstborn sons be thrown into the Nile River," Hershkowitz was quoted by Ynet as saying on Sunday.

Washington has earlier demanded that any halt in the settlement work include what Israel calls "natural growth."

"What will we say to a family living with one child, which now has four or five children? That the children will move to Petah Tikva? The Americans must understand that this is an unreasonable demand, and we must confront them firmly," he added.

Meanwhile Interior Minister Eli Yishai also slammed Obama for the demand.

"The demand to freeze the construction in settlements is a decree the government and public cannot endure, particularly in terms of the natural growth in the settlements."

However, Israeli ministers were at odds over the handling of the issue with left wing cabinet members urging their fellow ministers to avoid a dispute with the US administration.

"We must understand that the rules of the game have changed," Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog said. "The current American government views the situation differently than the two presidents who preceded Obama."

He added "if you'll want the full glass, you'll end up with one that is half empty. If you do not create a diplomatic horizon, you will lose the Americans' support."

Based on the US-backed Roadmap peace plan Israel must end settlement constructions in the lands occupied during the 1967 war.

The new Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted that it would not remain committed to the promises made by previous governments regarding the peace process.

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'Peace Now' a watchdog group, says nearly half of the land where zealous settlers have put up settlements is usurped private Palestinian property.

At least 44 percent of the land in the West Bank where the wildcat settlements are built belong to private Palestinian owners, Peace Now said on Sunday.

Although the international community considers all Israeli settlements illegal, Israel makes a distinction between those authorized by the government and the so-called wildcat outposts, set up by zealous settlers without state approval.

Almost 80 of the more than 100 outposts in the territory are either partially or wholly built on private Palestinian land without any sort of agreement with the owners, Peace Now said. It added that the inhabitants of the outposts tend to be the most radical settlers, establishing their homes on any land they see fit.

More than 280,000 such people have settled in the West Bank. Many of them have settled for economic reasons, but an extremely vocal and often violent majority thinks the Jewish people have a God-given, biblical-era right to the land.

FTP/SME/HAR

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A new study has revealed that France is turning a blind eye to the European Union regulations by exporting arms to Israel.

The EU arms exports regulations obliges all its member states to avoid arms sales that could violate the human rights or exacerbate regional tensions.

Patrice Bouveret from the French Centre for Research on Peace and Conflicts in Lyon who has conducted the study says France is ignoring the EU code of conduct on weapons exports.

The study shows that France has turned into the largest European arms exporter to Israel.

Between 2003 and 2007, France issued licenses worth 623 million dollars (446 million euros) for arms exports to Israel, Inter Press Service (IPS) reported.

According to an investigation conducted by Amnesty International in February, electrical components with "Made in France" written on them were found in the wreckage of buildings destroyed by the Israeli army during the offensive it launched on Gaza late last year.

Bouveret also noted that Israel is trying to boost its military ties with Europe in a move to reduce its traditional reliance on the US.

MGH/DT

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Three more people are diagnosed with H1N1 flu in Israel, brining the number of Israelis suffering from the flu to 22, Israeli sources say.

On Sunday, two women aged 22 and 30 were hospitalized in Netanya and a 25-year-old man who refused to go to hospital was ordered to stay indoors, Ynetnews reported.

The report has not declared how the three have caught the flu.

Swine flu virus has infected at least 15,510 people in some 53 countries in different parts of the world.

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Israeli government's move to ignore the international outcry to stop Israeli settlements' expansion is backed by many hardline settlers.

Rabbi Yaakov Savir says the international demand for Israeli settlement expansion to be halted in the West Bank is absurd since God has given this land to the Jews.

The Israeli rabbi says Arabs should find another place to build their homes.

"This territory is Jewish territory," AFP quoted Savir as saying, making a sweeping gesture towards the nearby hilltops to show that he means the entire West Bank which Israel occupied in 1967.

He stressed that Israel's right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not even consider bulldozing Jewish settlements in the occupied lands under international pressure.

"Jewish people live here by Biblical right," the Israeli rabbi said.

"Arabs," he adds "should find another place to live."

Some 280,000 Jews live in 120 West Bank settlements which Israel considers legal and also wildcat outposts, which unlike full-scale settlements, are not authorized by the Israeli government.

In 2003, Israel agreed to freeze all settlement activity and to raze wildcat outposts but has not taken any concrete action to fulfill its vows.

Many of the 100 or so outposts were built on West Bank hills by militant teenagers, known as "hilltop youths," with the aim of planting the seeds of new full-fledged settlements.

The US President Barack Obama in a meeting with Netanyahu in Washington on May 18 urged a complete freeze of Israel's settlement activity.

"We must settle here, God has ordered us to live on this land," says Daniel Landesberg, 20, as he and a group of teenagers spread out cement being poured out of a large concrete mixer truck to form the base of a new house.

Landesberg is a firm believer in the "doubling" tactic adopted by hardline settlers.

"They tore down seven homes, we will build 14," he says, smiling.

MGH/DT