23 mai 2009
Der Spiegel: 'Int'l tribunal has evidence linking Hariri murder to Hizbullah'
A United Nations-backed tribunal has reached a breakthrough in the investigation of the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, according to a report published on the online edition of Der Spiegel on Saturday. According to the report, the special international body put together to investigate murder has found substantial evidence linking the bomb which killed Hariri and 23 others to Hizbullah. Der Spiegel quoted unnamed sources close to the investigation as explaining that the case had been "cracked" using technology which sifted through lists of cell phones used in and around the area of Beirut in which Hariri was killed. Six phone numbers, according to the report, were used leading up to the attack, and fell out of usage directly afterwards. The source said that these phones were used by the Hizbullah cell which carried out the attack. According to Der Spiegel's source, the network was uncovered due to a faux pas on the part of one of the terrorists, who used a "hot" phone to call his girlfriend. The report also stated that investigators believe top Hizbullah operative Haj Salim had masterminded the Hariri murder. Salim allegedly reports directly to the terrorist group's chief, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Links were also said to have been found between Hizbullah and the explosives found at the scene of the attack. The Der Spiegel report noted that there was much speculation surrounding the reasons that the findings had not been made public. Since its formation in March, little has come out of the UN-backed investigation, apart from the release of four Lebanese former security chiefs due to insufficient evidence to press charges against them in connection to Hariri's murder. Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah criticized the tribunal, calling the release "evidence that the international investigation was politicized." (21,39)
Strategic Affairs Minister Ya'alon: 'Israel won't yield to U.S. demands, won't halt settlement construction'
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon spoke to Channel 2 on Saturday about the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, held earlier this week, saying that Israel's government will not allow the U.S. to dictate its policy, and that "settlement construction will not be halted." "Settlements are not the reason that the peace process is failing, they were never an obstacle, not at any stage," Ya'alon told Channel 2 News. "Even when Israel pulled out of [Palestinian] territory, the terror continued. Even when we uprooted [Jewish] communities, we got 'Hamastan.' That is why I propose that we think about it - not in slogans and not with decrees." According to Ayalon, "we will not halt the construction in the settlements within the framework of natural growth. There are people here who are living their lives, raising children. Housing is required ? it wasn't housing that has prevented peace." In reference to the illegal West Bank outposts, which Israel has vowed to evacuate and has begun to do so, Ya'alon stressed that "the government will not permit illegal settlement, as we've proven with our actions this week." (21,37)
President Assad: Israel is the major obstacle to peace
Syrian President Bashar Assad says the collapse of indirect peace negotiations with Israel last year proves that Jerusalem is the greatest obstacle to Mideast peace. The Syrian leader warned that the failure of negotiations would legitimize "resistance to occupation." "The failure of the peace process is a blatant demonstration that Israel is the major obstacle to peace," Assad told a gathering of foreign ministers representing the Organization of the Islamic Conference states in Damascus on Saturday. "We the Arab nations, and especially Syria will not change our view about peace as a strategic goal, including the full return of occupied lands," Assad said. "The failure of political methods to recover their legitimate rights gives them the right of resistance," Assad told the OIC. On Friday, Assad's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, said that resuming peace talks with Israel would be "useless" without a commitment by Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington that he was ready to resume the talks with Syria immediately but indicated that he would not make any commitments on land first. (21,34)
Israeli tourism poster in UK withdrawn
An Israeli tourism poster is being pulled from the London subway after the Syrian Embassy complained that the map on it appeared to show the Golan Heights and Palestinian territories within Israel's boundaries, officials said Friday. Britain's Advertising Standards Authority received more than 300 complaints about the ad, a promotion for the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat, according to the agency's spokesman Matt Wilson. Transport for London confirmed that the posters were being taken down, but referred further questions to CBS Outdoor Ltd., which manages advertisements on the London Underground railway. A message left with CBS Outdoor was not immediately answered. A call placed with the Israeli Embassy in London was not immediately returned. The sensitive politics of Middle Eastern mapmaking have posed problems for UK companies in the past. Last month British airline BMI apologized for excluding Israel from its electronic in-flight map. Israeli media had reported that on BMI's London-Tel Aviv flights, Israel and most of its cities were not marked. Only Haifa was identified - by its Arab name, Khefa. BMI explained that the plane had been acquired from a defunct airline that flew to several Arab countries. (08,41)
Moallem: 'Golan withdrawal conditional for talks'
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem responded to recent calls to renew peace negotiations with Jerusalem by saying that such talks were worthless in the absence of an Israeli promise to return the Golan Heights. Moallem said Friday on Syrian state television that "an Israeli guarantee to withdraw from the Golan Heights is... necessary for peace. "If Israel will not honor these needs, there is no point to conduct baseless peace talks," Moallem insisted. Negotiations will not succeed if Israel does not show a real intention to achieve peace and without American involvement, Moallem said, adding that Damascus would not return to talks that would only "waste time." On Wednesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that he was prepared to immediately renew unconditional peace negotiations with Syria. (08,34)
Nasrallah: Death for alleged Israeli spies
Lebanon must hand down the death penalty on Lebanese suspects convicted of spying for Israel, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday. The Lebanese authorities are holding up to 30 suspects in what security sources say is a widening investigation into espionage for Israel. Three of these suspects, who include women, have been arrested in the past 24 hours. At least 18 suspects have already been charged. Lebanon says at least two spies fled earlier this week to Israel via the border and it demanded that Israel hand them back through UN peacekeepers. Senior Lebanese security officials have said the arrests have dealt a severe blow to Israel's spy networks in Lebanon. They say many of the suspects played key roles in identifying Hezbollah targets that were bombed during a 34-day war between Israel and the Shi'ite group in 2006. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Lebanon. 160 Israelis also died. Others have been charged with monitoring senior Hezbollah officials and at least one is alleged to have played a role in the 2004 assassination of a commander of the group. Israel has not commented on the arrests. "In the name of the families of martyrs, of the wounded and of those who lost their homes... I demand that the death penalty is handed down to the agents who provided information that lead to all these things," Nasrallah, speaking via video-link, told a south Lebanon rally commemorating the ninth anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. Lebanese courts have handed down what was widely seen as light sentences against Lebanese who have worked with the Israeli occupation and its local militias after Israeli forces ended a 22-year occupation of mainly Shi'ite south Lebanon in May 2000. Nasrallah said Hezbollah's security services would step up its cooperation with Lebanese security services to root out the spies. He urged any Lebanese dealing with Israel to surrender to the authorities and seek mercy. (07,46)
22 mai 2009
Asharq al-Awsat: 'Israeli assassination of Nasrallah would set region ablaze'
Israel is planning to assassinate the head of the southern Lebanon-based Shi'ite militia Hezbollah, a development which would "set the region ablaze," one of the group's deputies told an Arab language newspaper on Friday. Nawaf al-Moussawi, who was Hezbollah's top foreign policy official and who is now running in Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary elections, accused Israel of plotting to assassinate the Shi'ite group's leader, Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Al-Moussawi, who is running for a seat representing the south Lebanese town of Tyre, said that Israel's plan was hatched in concert with Arab governments. In an interview with the pan-Arab London-based daily newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, al-Moussawi spoke in detail about the elections. He also told the newspaper that Israel's planned large-scale military drill is really a simulation of the army's plan to liquidate Nasrallah. Al-Moussawi said an Israeli assassination of Nasrallah would "set the region ablaze" and that Hezbollah was preparing for such a scenario. (21,05)
France: Jerusalem should be capital of two states
France accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday of prejudicing the outcome of the Middle East peace process by declaring that Jerusalem would forever be Israel's undivided capital. "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, a city reunified so as never again to be divided," Netanyahu said on Thursday at a ceremony to mark Jerusalem Day in the city's Mercaz Harav yeshiva. " Our people's unparalleled affinity to Jerusalem has spanned thousands of years, and is at the basis of our national renaissance. It has united our people, secular and religious people alike." Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said Friday, "The declaration made by the Israeli prime minister yesterday in Jerusalem prejudices the final status agreement," according to AFP. (21,01)
'1 in 4 Israelis would consider leaving country if Iran gets nukes'
Some 23 percent of Israelis would consider leaving the country if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University, media reported. Some 85 percent of respondents said they feared the Islamic Republic would obtain an atomic bomb, 57 percent believed the new U.S. initiative to engage in dialogue with Tehran would fail and 41 percent believed Israel should strike Iran's nuclear installations without waiting to see whether or how the talks develop. "The findings are worrying because they reflect an exaggerated and unnecessary fear," Prof. David Menashri, the head of the Center, said. "Iran's leadership is religiously extremist but calculated and it understands an unconventional attack on Israel is an act of madness that will destroy Iran. Sadly, the survey shows the Iranian threat works well even without a bomb and thousands of Israelis [already] live in fear and contemplate leaving the country." Women are more fearful than men that Iran will obtain nuclear weapons: 83 percent of female respondents said they fear such a scenario in contrast to 78 percent of men; 39 percent of women said they would consider leaving the country in such an event as opposed to 22 percent of men. Age was also a factor for respondents: 89 percent of those aged 42 and above said they were fearful of a nuclear Iran, in comparison to 61 percent of those aged 18 to 41. Some 80 percent of left-wing voters and 67 percent of right-wing voters expressed deep concern over a nuclear Iran. Respondents describing themselves as centrists were the most fretful, with 88 percent saying they feared Iran would obtain the bomb. (17,01)
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen: Iran with nukes 'calamitous'
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said Thursday that the consequences of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon would be "calamitous" and that major powers must join hands and act to prevent it, Reuters reported. Speaking a day after Iran test-launched a long-range ballistic missile, Mullen told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "I'm one who believes that Iran getting a nuclear weapon is calamitous for the region and for the world." "It then, in my view, generates neighbors who feel exposed, deficient and then develop or buy the capability themselves," he continued. "The downside, potentially, is absolutely disastrous," alluding to the possibility of a nuclear arms-race in the Middle East. "Major leaders, internationally, have got to come together to arrest this growth or the long-term downside for the people in the world is really, really tragic and drastic," Mullen said. (10,05)