16 mai 2009
DM Barak: Regional deal possible in 3 years
"A regional peace accord with our neighbors can be reached within three years," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday in an interview with Channel 2, ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's trip to Washington this week. Barak said that such a treaty, once reached, "may take another five years to implement." "We need to convince the Americans that we are serious in our intent to reach a regional deal," he added. "I believe that Netanyahu can tell Obama that we are prepared to enter a diplomatic process at the end of which both peoples will reside side by side." Asked about the Iranian nuclear threat, Barak repeated his standard statement that Israel was "not taking any option off the table, and we suggest everyone else do the same." With the rising threat of a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic, and repeated statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel and Zionism must be eradicated or "wiped off the map," Israeli and Jewish leaders have increasingly compared between Iran and Nazi Germany as well as Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler, and some have likened the current situation to pre-holocaust times. But Barak disagreed. "I'm not very happy with comparisons. We are not the Jews of Europe. The state of Israel is the strong one here," he said. "I don't see anyone annihilating it." (21,54)
PM Netanyahu to seek establishment of joint US-Israel committee that would advance new peace initiatives
The Netanyahu government is not committed to a shelf agreement in line with the two-state solution and will seek to advance new initiatives, Minister Yisrael Katz told Ynet Saturday, hours before the PM's departure to Washington. "The current Israeli government is in no way obligated to a shelf agreement based on the two states for two peoples formula," Katz, who is a close associate of Netanyahu, said. The transportation minister, who spoke to Netanyahu in recent days ahead of the PM's meeting with Obama, says that the prime minister will seek to establish a joint American-Israel committee that would advance an alternative Mideastern policy, "which will replace previous initiatives such as the Arab initiative and the diplomatic dialogue conducted by the previous government." Meanwhile, Katz estimated that following Netanyahu's meeting with Obama at the White House, "the effort to resolve the problem of unauthorized outposts will be accelerated." Dialogue with settler leaders should continue, and the issue can and should be resolved, the minister said. Yet despite the moderate position on the issue, Katz presented views that may outrage the Obama administration in respect to settlement construction, particularly in the Jerusalem area. "The greater Jerusalem should continue to be built, and based on all the understandings – including the ones reached with the Americans - it should be built and reinforced. This includes, in my personal view, the construction in the E1 area, which is part of Maaleh Adumim, and will maintain the contiguity with Jerusalem. "All Zionist parties in Israel believe that the settlement blocs must be boosted and built up, in line with the issue of natural growth," Katz said. "At the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu's position is that just like he did not build new settlements in his previous term as PM, he does not intend to do so now." Addressing the possibility of a clash with the Obama administration, Minister Katz said there would be no dispute. "Understandings will be reached with the president and new administration," he said. "It would be possible to reach early agreements with the American president, among other things via the new Israeli-American committee that needs to be formed…later it would be possible to bring in moderate Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan, and with American encouragement even states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others." (21,53)
El Baradei: Strike on Iran would be insane
A strike on Iran would be 'insane,' Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a magazine interview released on Saturday. Tehran should engage with the United States and negotiate over its nuclear program, he said. "It would be completely insane to attack Iran," ElBaradei said. "That would turn the region into one big fireball, and the Iranians would immediately start building the bomb - and they could count on the support of the entire Islamic world." US President Barack Obama is actively seeking to engage Iran on a series of issues, from its nuclear program to Afghanistan. "I advise my Iranian negotiating partners: grasp the hand that Obama is extending to you," ElBaradei told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. Asked what he meant exactly, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog added: "I think Freeze for Freeze is the next realistic step. The Iranians would install no more centrifuges, the West would forego further sanction measures. During this time, there would be intensive negotiations." The United Nations Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt enrichment. Obama's administration has made clear that any overtures to Iran will be accompanied by ramped up sanctions if there is no cooperation. (21,51)
Assad - Gul
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Friday he could not set a date for resuming indirect peace talks with Israel because there was no one on the other side with whom to negotiate. "We cannot talk about a date [for resuming the talks] because we don't have a partner," Assad said during a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Assad added that "Syria is keen about peace as much as it is keen about the return of its occupied territories." Assad was referring to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War. In a press conference follwoing the meetings, President Bashar al-Assad described the Turkish President's visit to Syria as forming an important juncture in timing and content, providing the opportunity for discussing bilateral, regional and international issues, Sana reported. President Assad added that Syrian-Turkish cooperation in major and important files has begun in January in 2003 when President Gul visited Syria for the first time and was then a Prime Minister and the visits and cooperation have continued, pointing out that this visit came in the same natural frame of the Syrian-Turkish cooperation. President Gul said the Free Trade Zone Agreement has begun to bear fruit and that Turkey has businessmen that wish to make important investments in Syria, noting that relations and trade exchange are constantly improving. President Gul said, "We agree with Syria on the necessity of protecting Iraq territorial integrity and easing the suffering of the Iraqi people." He added that finding a strong stance in order to achieve peace in the region is a wanted issue. The Turkish President underlined the importance of establishing a Palestinian independent state that lives in peace. Gul added "Regarding peace between Syria and Israel, we still believe in the land-for-peace principle and in achieving it to reach peace between the two countries. I thank Syria for the trust it showed to Turkey in general in that regard and everyone will see that policies will change and that peace can be achieved. There is faith in that, and the voices in the United States today which are calling for peace affirm this. Finding a strong position for achieving peace is required, and we in Turkey are ready to provide all that is necessary in that regard. About cooperation and consultation among Damascus, Ankara and Tehran, President Gul stressed that Iran is a neighboring country, and that care is always given to the relations with it, saying "There is a problem regarding Iran with the international community, and we are exerting efforts to resolve this problem diplomatically, which is what we hope. The good relations between Syria and Iran make us happy, as they are independent countries that can establish relations and take them to the levels they want." (12,29)
Al-Quds Al-Arabi: Egypt finds huge Sinai munitions cache
Egyptian security forces uncovered an immense munitions cache near the Israeli border, the London published newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Friday. An Egyptian official assessed that the 266 rockets, 51 mortar shells, 21 grenades and 43 mines uncovered in northern Sinai were meant to be smuggled to Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. Last Monday, Egypt discovered a large quantity of ammunition intended for Hamas use near Ismaeliya, Sinai. Egypt has recently intensified its security presence in the border town of Rafah, setting up checkpoints and dirt roadblocks to reign in smuggling into Gaza, the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported at the beginning of the month. About 500 policemen, including plainclothes officers, have been deployed in the city and on dirt tracks and side roads leading to the border, it said. The increased security has led to heightened tension between smugglers and security officials, and in several incidents the former fired in the air when stopped by police. Egypt is also doing its utmost to maintain stability between Israel and factions in the Gaza Strip in the wake of renewed attacks into Israel, an Egyptian official told the Post.(06.34)
15 mai 2009
U.S. Senator Kerry: Chances for two-state solution dwindling
Senator John Kerry told an economic forum on Friday he believed the window of opportunity for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was closing. "It's closing for a number of reasons - crushed aspirations, demographics, realities on the ground," the Massachusetts Democrat, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan. Kerry's comments came amid mounting international pressure on Israel to accept the two-state solution, a step Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been reluctant to take. Earlier Friday, Jordan's King Abdullah II used his speech at the forum to push the idea of expanding an Arab initiative for peace with Israel to include the entire Muslim world. "The Arab peace initiative has offered Israel a place in the neighborhood and more - acceptance by 57 nations, the one-third of the UN members that do not recognize Israel," King Abdullah told a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan. "This is true security - security that barriers and armed forces cannot bring," he said. The king spoke a day after he pressed Netanyahu to immediately commit to the establishment of a Palestinian state. U.S. President Barack Obama is due to address the region in a speech in Cairo next month and foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference are due to meet in Syria on May 23. An Arab peace initiative, backed by leading U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, offers Israel normal relations with the 22 countries of the Arab League in return for returning lands to Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinians. Israel has reacted coldly to the plan, citing concerns over the return of Palestinian refugees. Among Arab states, only Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania have diplomatic relations with Israel. Most Muslim countries avoid political, economic ties and even diplomatic ties. The Jordanian monarch, who met Obama in Washington last month, said Obama was committed to seeing a Palestinian state. "I was encouraged by the president's commitment to the two-state solution," he said. "I was encouraged that in all my conversations in Washington, it was clear that people know - inaction is not an option." Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat later said he hopes Netanyahu will heed calls to endorse a two-state solution. "I hope the king's words will not fall on deaf ears," Erekat said. (21,43)
Pope: Jews were 'brutally exterminated' in Holocaust
Pope Benedict XVI voiced sorrow at the 'extermination' of Jews in the Holocaust during a farewell ceremony Friday at Ben Gurion Airport marking the end of five-day visit to Israel. The pope spoke of a visit years ago to a Nazi death camp, "where so many Jews - mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends - were brutally exterminated under a godless regime that propagated an ideology of anti-Semitism and hatred." Benedict also referred to the subject during an address at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. In the speech, he eloquently spoke of the suffering of Holocaust victims but did not express remorse for the church's historic persecution of Jews, nor for what some believe to have been the church's passivity during the genocide or his own time as a member of the Hitler Youth. He later drew fire over the perceived omissions, which led officials at the Yad Vashem memorial to take the exceptional step of openly criticizing the speech. At the airport on Friday, the pope added: "That appalling chapter of history must never be forgotten or denied, those dark memories should strengthen our determination to draw closer to one another as branches of the same olive tree, nourished from the same roots and united in brotherly love." President Shimon Peres was at the site to see Benedict off. He thanked the pope for his visit to the Holy Land, and applauded his remarks at Yad Vashem, which he said represented a welcome attack on Holocaust denial around the world. On the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the pope said that during his visit to the holy land he had "witnessed the great efforts that both governments are making to securing their people's well being." In the ceremony, also attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the pope reiterated his support for the Palestinian cause, saying that the "Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign state." The pontiff expressed hopes that "the two-state solution will become a reality not a dream," and called for the end of the regional conflict. "No more bloodshed, no more fighting, no more terrorism, no more war," he emotionally cried just before boarding the Rome-bound plane. Earlier Friday, Pope Benedict XVI capped his Middle East visit by making a pilgrimage to a church revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and assuring his followers in the Holy Land that peace was still possible. A traditional escort of men in black robes and red fezzes accompanied the pontiff as he solemnly walked into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, rhythmically banging staffs on the ground to announce his approach. Benedict knelt down and kissed the rectangular stone on which Jesus' body is believed to have been placed after the crucifixion. Then he entered the structure inside the church marking the site of Jesus' tomb and knelt inside alone for several minutes, hands clasped, as priests chanted nearby. In a speech afterward, he told those gathered in the church not to lose hope - a central theme during a visit in which he addressed the Holocaust, Israeli-Palestinian politics and the shrinking number of Christians in the region. "The Gospel reassures us that God can make all things new, that history need not be repeated, that memories can be healed, that the bitter fruits of recrimination and hostility can be overcome, and that a future of justice, peace, prosperity and cooperation can arise for every man and woman, for the whole human family, and in a special way for the people who dwell in this land so dear to the heart of the Savior," he said. "With those words of encouragement," he said, "I conclude my pilgrimage to the holy places of our redemption and rebirth in Christ." Thousands of soldiers and policemen were deployed Friday around Jerusalem's Old City for the pope's visit to the ancient church, which tradition holds marks the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection. "On the last day of his visit the pope is coming to the most important place for us," said Father Bernt, a Catholic priest at the church. "This is the center of Christianity, so it's very special." The pope is leaving the Holy Land having fulfilled his mission of reaching out to Jews and Muslims, but some are giving his five-day trip only mixed reviews. During his visit, he led 50,000 worshippers in a jubilant Mass outside of Nazareth, in an effort to rally his dwindling flock. He removed his shoes to enter Islam's third-holiest shrine, and he followed Jewish custom by placing a note bearing a prayer for peace in the cracks of the Western Wall. (16,00)
IAF practicing MIG-29/F-16 dogfights
Israel Air Force test pilots are flying MIG 29 jets and conducting dogfights against the IAF's F-16 fighters, Channel 2 revealed Wednesday evening. The MIG 29, developed by the soviets in the 1970s, is one of the best fighter jets used by eastern and Arab countries, as well as by Syria and Iran. It was developed to counter American-made jets such the F-16 or F/A-18. The jets were loaned to Israel by an unnamed foreign country. The experiment is meant to prepare IAF pilots for missions where they might have to fight a foreign air-force. "We tested them - we trained the IAF pilots against them," an unnamed IAF official said. The IAF employs ten test pilots. The training of each costs about a million dollars, but the experience gleaned from the test pilots, the unnamed official said, "is priceless." "You fly in places and in certain conditions in a way never attempted before," an unidentified test pilot said. "Once, a piece of the jet's body broke during an experiment but the crew managed to land it safely." A test jet is just like a regular one, except for special sensors which cover literally every aspect of its mechanical and electronic systems and can be monitored from the ground for assessment. An additional experiment conducted recently by the air force involved loading an F-16 with weapons to its utmost capacity, or "flight in a heavy formation," as the test pilot labeled it. The experiment was meant to measure the pilot's safety and the fighter's capability when it was carrying the maximum amount of armaments. A jet so armed might be used in a long-distance sortie. The pilots interviewed would not name which foreign countries might be the targets of such sorties, but it was clear the main target of such an ambitious mission would be Iran's nuclear installations. (13,17)
Israel vows not to surprise U.S. with strike on Iran
Israel has acceded to American demands by pledging to coordinate its moves on Iran with Washington and not surprise the United States with military action. During a trip to Jerusalem earlier this week, CIA chief Leon Panetta informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that U.S. President Barack Obama demanded that Israel not launch a surprise attack on Iran. The message expressed concern that Israel would cause an escalation in the region and undermine Obama's efforts to improve relations with Tehran. However, the content was nothing new: The Bush administration also sent tough messages to Jerusalem a year ago, including a demand that it not strike Iran. Israeli officials believe that U.S. foreign policy professionals are vehemently opposed to an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, so this position was transmitted from the previous administration to the present one. The U.S. expects Israel to coordinate its military actions with Washington, a condition to which Jerusalem has agreed due to its dependence on U.S. aid. Senior officials in the Bush administration testified to Congress that Israel had consulted them before deciding on its 2007 air strike on an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor. They said Israel had explained that it considered the Syrian project an existential threat and therefore had to act. In his first trip to Israel as CIA chief, about three weeks ago, Panetta met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Panetta was White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton in 1994-97. In this capacity, he and his president weathered a stormy phase of the peace process, the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres' brief term of office and the advent of the first Netanyahu government. During those years, Clinton visited Israel three times, so Panetta got to know the Israeli leadership. (06,30)
14 mai 2009
Netanyahu urges pope to reject Iran's anti-Israel rhetoric
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday appealed to Pope Benedict XVI "to make his voice heard" and use his moral authority to condemn the harsh anti-Israel rhetoric voiced by Iran's hard-line president. The two men met privately for about 15 minutes, sharing their views about the Middle East. "I think we found in him an attentive ear," Netanyahu said. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the talks "centered on how the peace process can be advanced." Speaking to Israel media afterward, Netanyahu made no mention of the Palestinians, saying he had appealed to the pontiff to speak out against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction and questioned whether the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, took place. "I asked him, as a moral figure, to make his voice heard loud and continuously against the declarations coming from Iran of their intention to destroy Israel. I told him it cannot be that at the beginning of the 21st century there is a state which says it is going to destroy the Jewish state, there is no aggressive voice being heard condemning this," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu said he was pleased with the pope's response. "He said that he condemns all instances of anti-Semitism and hate against the state of Israel - against humanity as a whole - but in this case against Israel." The meeting came a day after the pope made an emotional appeal in the West Bank for the establishment of an independent Palestinian homeland - a concept Netanyahu has not yet publicly endorsed, preferring instead to tout his idea of strengthening the Palestinian economy first. The men appeared to exchange pleasantries before reporters were ushered out of the room to allow them to speak privately. Before the meeting, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the meeting would be key because "personal contact is always very important." Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the pope was "very happy" with the outcome of the trip, which began Monday, and that "all the important meetings were very positive." He said the main goal was "peace, peace, peace," adding that he felt the pope had listened to all sides, acting like a "bridge" between the various positions. (20,21)