IAF hits 3 Gaza Strip targets in response to mortars - Jerusalem Post

The Israeli Air Force early Thursday morning struck three terror sites in the Gaza Strip, responding to a barrage of mortar shells fired Wednesday night in which one Israeli man was wounded.

The IDF spokesperson said that the air strikes targeted a weapons facility in central Gaza and two centers of terrorist activity in the northern Strip.

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Four to five mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip into the Eshkol regional council Wednesday night, hitting an area resident. He suffered light wounds to his upper body.

The wounded man was airlifted by the IDF to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba while fully conscious. The attack followed another mortar attack in Sha'ar Hanegev. There were no injuries in the earlier attack.

Earlier on Wednesday, Southern regional councils situated near the border with the Gaza Strip released a joint statement following yet more mortar and rocket attacks on the area from Gaza.

"Escalation is only a matter of time. The threat in the area is constant and growing," the statement said. "We hope that the government will know how to relate to this reality, before formulating policy for the southern line of conflict for 2011. The government must realize that this will be an active line of conflict for the foreseeable future."

The statement came after a home in a kibbutz located in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council was damaged by a Palestinian mortar shell fired from Gaza on Wednesday.

"This is only the latest in a series of security incidents," the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council said. "In recent weeks these incidents have risen greatly, and we are now being shelled on a near-daily basis."

Also on Wednesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi warned that the security situation at the Gaza Strip border is very fragile and may deteriorate rapidly, Army Radio reported.

"The IDF must be ready to operate in a broader manner that what it has in the past," Ashkenazi said at a Hanukka candle lighting ceremony with IDF troops from the 202nd Paratroop Battalion near the Strip.

"Recently, there have been a lot of incidents near the border fence and the combat in the area will continue," he added.

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US, Israel, PA fail to reach agreement on settlement freeze - Jerusalem Post

 
Photo by: Associated Press By HERB KEINON 
12/07/2010 23:29 Talkbacks (2) The US-lead diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is going back to the drawing board, with a senior US official announcing Tuesday night that following consultation with the sides it was determined a further settlement moratorium would not provide the basis for a framework agreement.

The official, in a telephone briefing with reporters in Jerusalem, said that "in the days and weeks ahead" the US would engage with the sides, as well as with other countries in the region, about the "core substantive issues."

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The official said that Israeli and Palestinian officials would visit Washington in the coming days for discussions.  He would not say whether or not these would be direct talks. He was careful in not placing responsibility for the current stalemate on any one party

Israel is expected to be represented at the talks by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho.

The surprise announcement came nearly a month after Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed in principle on 90-day settlement moratorium extension in exchange for a package of incentives from Washington.

Since that time the US has held intensive talks with both Israel and the PA about the precise details of the incentives and what would happen during the three months of negotiations during the freeze.  What emerged, according to diplomatic officials, was a gap between what Israel thought could be achieved during this time, and Palestinian expectations.

The Palestinians, according to Israeli sources, wanted the talks to focus on border issues, in the expectation that this issue would be solved within three months.

Israel, however, refused to commit to this timetable, arguing that it would not talk about borders without talking about security agreements, and that it would not agree to ceding land without knowing in advance what security arrangements would be put in place when it withdrew. Among security arrangements Israel is demanding are an Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state, and that the future state be demilitarized. 

According to Israeli sources, the US – after hearing the position of both sides -- came to the conclusion that even if there was a moratorium for the next 90 days, it would not ensure success of the process, and that the entire process could actually explode on the 91st day if an agreement on borders was not reached.

Interested in forestalling that scenario, the US has – according to Israeli sources -- decided to rethink the entire process, look at the process with "fresh eyes," and perhaps come up with a new path forward.

One Israeli official said that construction in the settlements,  re-started after the initial 10-month moratorium expired on September 26, will continue as it has since then. The official said the US position on a settlement moratorium is the same.

 The US has made clear that it would have liked to see a continuation of the settlement freeze that began in November 2009.

The Israeli official said that the breakdown of the talks over the moratorium would not impact on efforts to get the US to supply Israel with a second squadron of 20 F35 fighters.  Under the package of incentives that were reportedly being discussed with the US, Israel was to receive the planes in exchange for an additional settlement freeze.

An Israeli official said, however, that the second squadron was requested independent of the settlement moratorium as a vehicle by which Israel could retain its "qualitative military edge" following a massive $60 billion US arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The US official said in the phone briefing Tuesday night that the US remained firmly committed to Israel's security and to its retention of a qualitative military edge.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a private meeting Tuesday that the US has a "central role in navigating the diplomatic process as a party accepted by both Israel and the Arabs." Barak said that in the coming days the discussion will continue between Israeli officials and Clinton "with the aim of leading to progress in talks with the Palestinians."function initServerVars() {_headup.clientHost = 'http://newstopics.jpost.com';_headup.termsFromServer = 'Ehud Barak$$Jerusalem';_headup.annotatedTerms = ['City/name/Jerusalem/displaytype/City/dbpediaSubject/Jerusalem/$$1', 'Person/name/Ehud Barak/displaytype/Prime Minister/dbpediaSubject/Ehud_Barak/$$1']_headup.widgetMode = 'snippet';_headup.snippetButtonStyle = 'banner';_headup.blackListedUrl = false;}  Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive news updates directly to your email         Author:   LBCountry:   Canada12/07/2010   23:39
Highly surprising. LOL. Was there ever any doubt?

1. Incentives or disincentives..Author:   jim lCountry:   USA12/07/2010   23:33
nothing can diminish the land value to Israelis. Their economy requires it. Their security requires it. Even if every Israeli got a windfall in cash from this deal and, the Arabs normalized relations with them, their growth and assets would necessitate expansion. The Arabs have no such situation. Their policies and behavior should raise red flags in every direction.

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Police: Usfiya boy, 14, admits to starting Carmel fire - Jerusalem Post

A 14-year-old resident of Usfiya was arrested on Monday on suspicion of hurling a charcoal from a water-pipe into a forest clearing near Usfiya on Thursday morning, witnessing the ignition of a large fire, and fleeing the scene. Police suspect the boy's actions directly led to the Carmel forest inferno.

The youth confessed to the suspicions against him and reenacted his alleged actions on Monday, police added.

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After witnessing the flames grow out of control, the youth became panicked, "ran back to his school [in Usfiya], and did not report the fire to anyone," police said.

The youth will appear before the Haifa Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning for a remand hearing.

Hof police spokesman Mor Inbar told The Jerusalem Post that four additional Usfiya youths were questioned in recent days in connection with the water-pipe incident.

They included two brothers aged 16 and 14 who were arrested on Sunday, and who were released by the Haifa District Court on Monday after Judge Avraham Elikim accepted an appeal by attorneys representing the brothers against a decision by the Haifa Magistrate's Court to keep them in custody until Wednesday.

Judge Elikim noted that police suspect the minors of causing death through criminal negligence, but added that the suspects' young age represented an alleviating factor in the suspicions against them. "There is no disputing the trauma caused by the fires to many people, but we should not place a national disaster on the shoulders of two minors," Judge Elikim said during his decision on Monday.

Two additional minors were detained for questioning - though not arrested - by officers from the Hof police sub-district's central unit on Monday and released, before the 14-year-old suspect was arrested.
Meanwhile, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a total of four suspects around the country have been arrested in recent days on suspicion of deliberately setting off smaller fires. Two suspects were arrested in the Jerusalem area and two more were arrested in Acre on suspicion of arson attacks.

Rosenfeld said "over 20 smaller fires around the country" that broke out since Thursday were suspected acts of arson. All of the smaller fires were put out by firefighters and did not cause injury.
A day after the last of the dead from the Prisons Service members who were burned to death in their bus near Kibbutz Bet Oren were buried, police said a full examination was underway to determine what could be learned from the tragedy. However, a police source added that no decision had yet been made about an investigations committee.

According to police, the bus, driven by 48-year-old David Navon - who was posthumously recruited into the Prison Service on Monday - attempted to turn around on the narrow single-lane highway connecting Bet Oren Junction to Atlit, after screeching to a halt in front of a wall of fire.

As the flames engulfed the vehicle from both directions, desperate IPS staff members attempted to flee the bus, and ran straight into the flames. The bus was accompanied by police cars containing Lior Boker, Itzik Melina, and Haifa police chief Ahuva Tomer, all whom died of burns related injuries.

Parents of two victims from the Prison Service - Roee Biton and Hagai Jerno, came forward on Monday to accuse the authorities of failing to prepare staff members with sending them on a mission to evacuate the Damon prison without means to defend themselves against a fire.

The families told Ynet said they did not blame the IPS for the tragedy, but rather "those who were responsible for putting out the fires, evacuating homes, and closing off roads."

A police source added, "Obviously, this tragedy will be examined from all directions, from the intelligence to the operational level. Lessons will be learned. An incident of this scale cannot go by without being examined in detail."

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Netanyahu defiantly answers Obama's warning over construction in East Jerusalem - Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Jakarta, Indonesia, and Washington — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clashed publicly with President Obama on Tuesday over Israeli construction in disputed East Jerusalem, throwing a teetering Mideast peace effort deeper in doubt.

Responding to criticism from Obama, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone in commenting on plans to build 1,300 more Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem, saying his government had never agreed to limit construction in the city.

"Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is the capital of the state of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Israel sees no connection between the diplomatic process and the planning and building policy in Jerusalem."

Netanyahu's statement came hours after Obama warned that the new construction, announced by Israel on Monday, could harm a renewed Mideast peace effort began in early September. Obama made the remarks a few hours after arriving in Indonesia, his boyhood home for four years, where he was set to deliver the second major speech Wednesday in his outreach to the Muslim world.

"This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations, and I'm concerned that we're not seeing each side make that extra effort involved to get a breakthrough," Obama said. "Each of these incremental steps end up breaking trust."

Israel also is moving ahead with 800 units in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, Israeli news reports said Tuesday.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Israel's latest expansions are part of "a premeditated process to kill the possibility of an independent Palestinian state." He said that if the Obama administration is unable to get peace talks back on track in the coming weeks, it should recognize an independent Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem, but the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, which was captured in the 1967 Middle East War, as the capital of their future state. The international community does not recognize Israel's annexation of the city's eastern sector, and a succession of American administrations have urged Israel not to build there.

Netanyahu's pronouncement was consistent with Israeli policy, yet his sharp tone may embarrass Obama at a moment of vulnerability. Obama is visiting the world's largest Muslim country, and the rebuke may again raise questions in the Muslim world about how much influence the American leader really has on a priority issue.

The disagreement also comes a week after Obama suffered a setback in the midterm elections, which gave Republicans, who are likely to be sympathetic to Netanyahu's point of view, majority control of the House of Representatives. Some Israeli officials and U.S. analysts had predicted before the election that Netanyahu might feel emboldened to push back on Obama if the Democrats fared poorly.

Obama launched a new peace effort Sept. 1, but it has been nearly stalled as the Palestinians refuse to negotiate unless Israel halts construction in the disputed areas. Palestinian leaders contend that the Jewish settlers are taking land whose ownership should be decided in negotiations.

Robert Danin, a former U.S. official and specialist on Arab-Israeli issues, said it may have been politically risky for Netanyahu to oppose the new construction project, since Israelis view such building as fully within their rights.

With Netanyahu planning to meet Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington on Thursday, the strong words will not help the U.S. efforts to bring the two sides back to the peace table, said Danin, who is with the Council on Foreign Relations.

"For there to be a deal, the temperature has to come down," he said.

Israel's go-ahead to build 1,300 homes in East Jerusalem met with a storm of disapproval from around the world, including all four members of the diplomatic "quartet" that seeks to promote the Mideast peace talks: the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Russia views the announcement "with most serious concern.… We find it essential that the Israeli party refrain from the declared construction."

Obama's relationship with Netanyahu has gone through alternating periods of warm and cool. Obama was furious with Netanyahu in March, when new construction was announced in East Jerusalem just as Vice President Joe Biden was visiting. In July, Obama warmly welcomed Netanyahu to the White House.

Yet Obama has maintained pressure on the Israeli prime minister like few recent presidents. In September, he called on Netanyahu from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to halt settlement construction in the name of peace, a plea Netanyahu has so far resisted.

cparsons@latimes.com

paul.richter@latimes.com

Parsons reported from Jakarta and Richter from Washington. Times staff writer Edmund Sanders in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Abbas on talks: 'We will continue to search for solutions' - Jerusalem Post

 
Photo by: Ariel Jerozolimski/The Jerusalem Post) By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS 
10/03/2010 19:34 Talkbacks (16) Peace between Israel and the Palestinians within a year is possible, said Tony Blair on Sunday in an interview with Italian network RAI TV.

The Quartet envoy to the Middle East and former British prime minister outlined the reasons for his belief, saying that he felt people want peace and that US President Obama has made the issue an absolute priority.

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Following a meeting Sunday between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah II and US envoy George Mitchell, Abbas told reporters in Amman that despite serious issues blighting the peace talks, he would continue to "search for solutions."

According to news agency reports, he also reiterated that Israel's refusal to extend the settlement construction freeze was holding up negotiations, but that he would not stop discussions with the US as a result.

Of course, we are not going to sever ties with the Americans, and we will continue to have contacts with them to search for solutions, but the settlement building should stop and then we will return to the negotiating table," he said.

Earlier on Sunday during a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, US envoy George Mitchell said that the Palestinians are interested in peace talks with Israel continuing.

"Despite their differences, both the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have asked us to continue these discussions in an effort to establish the conditions under which they can continue direct negotiations," Mitchell told reporters after his meeting with Mubarak.

"They both want to continue these negotiations, they do not want to stop the talks," he added.

Directly after the meeting in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit backed the Palestinians' refusal to negotiate with Israel as long as it continues to build West Bank settlements, even as officials urged continued diplomacy Sunday to salvage the month-old talks.

"We understand the Palestinian position which calls for setting the appropriate environment and circumstances for negotiations to take place and continue," Aboul Gheit said. "The current conditions are not favorable."

Aboul Gheit said the focus now should be on continued US and international efforts to pressure Israel into agreeing to extending the settlement moratorium.

        Author:   RaoulCountry:   USA10/03/2010   23:15
Abbas is nothing more than Arafat in a suit and should be treated the same.

15. settlement actvity obsceneAuthor:   m. d'agostinoCountry:   italy10/03/2010   22:57
the continued settlement activity is obscene, and so is the the thousands of palestinians held in israeli jails. if palestinians and israelis cannot agree a peace deal, then one must be imposed with borders defined once and for all, and jerusalem shared.

Author:   H.AliCountry:   M.E.10/03/2010   22:13
If the world had guts and did not have double standards, it wouldn't have just told Israel to stop settlements but it would have asked it the following question: Who gave you the right to establish a state based on any racial or ethnic basis depriving thousands and millions of non-Jews of their homeland and locking them out of what used to be Palestine? No it isn't a question of settlements , the whole idea needs to be revisited, the whole concept. Lord Balfour or Harry Truman are no reference when it comes to basic human principles!nor is the holocaust a valid excuse!

13. it is entirely israel's fault.Author:   m. d'agostinoCountry:   italy10/03/2010   22:08
mr netanyahu thought it would have been an easy ride. he thought he would have easily got mr abbas inside his sleeve. not so, though. mr abbas is quite right to stand firm in his position, insisting, quite rightly, that if mr netanyahu is as genuine as he has publically claimed to be about a settled solution, he must stand firm against anyone trying to stop him from keeping his face. if mr netanyahu is genuine about a palestinian state, he must also consider on what land this state has to be established, and if he intends to leave any for the palestinians.the settlers are already there to take the lot.

Author:   steveCountry:   Israel10/03/2010   22:08
If the Arab League makes Abbas' decisions, shouldn't Israel be negotiating with it directly?

11. Continue the Search East of Jordan RiverAuthor:   Marc J. RauchCountry:   US10/03/2010   22:07
They could search all they want in Jordan or Syria or the Sinai, where there's plenty of land...muslim land. But there should be no muslims west of the Jordan River. Israel is for Jews.

Author:   SueCountry:   USA10/03/2010   21:34
In "peace" talks, it is not supposed to be that "the world" exert pressure on Israel so that the Palestinians get what they want. That is not peace. That is coersion.

Author:   PaulmaximusCountry:   10/03/2010   21:15
International Law is clear, the Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are illegal. The only issue for the 'peace' talks is to agree to a timetable where the illegal seyttlers leave the occupied territory and return to Israel or the USA according to their desire.

Author:   Mickey ObermanCountry:   Canada10/03/2010   20:52
Once again as Abba Eban once said, "The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Abbas remains steadfast in maintaining a long standing Arab tradition.

7. Abbas on talks: 'We will continue to search for sAuthor:   By JPOST.COM STAFFCountry:   Canada10/03/2010   20:40
If Abbas had not broken the talks with Israel, it would have been as if one is talking to the thief asking him to return the stolen property while the thief is continuing to steal. Such talks do not make sense.

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PA decides to halt talks unless building freeze reinstated - Jerusalem Post

Jerusalem took in stride on Saturday night a Palestinian Authority statement that talks would be halted if Israel didn’t stop settlement construction, saying this was not necessarily the PA’s final word and that discussions with the US were continuing to find a “creative solution” to the stalemate.

Following a meeting of the PA leadership that issued a statement saying there could be no peace talks unless Israel halted settlement construction, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement of his own calling on PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA leadership to continue the talks in order to reach a “historic agreement” within a year.

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“The way to reach a historic peace agreement between our two peoples is to sit around the negotiating table continuously and with seriousness, and not to leave it, because that is the place to solve our differences,” the prime minister said.

“The Palestinians conducted direct talks with Israeli governments for the last 17 years amid building in Judea and Samaria, including during the last year of the preceding government.

I hope that also now they won’t turn their backs on peace, and will continue in the talks to reach a framework agreement within a year,” he said.

On Friday, amid reports that Netanyahu’s proposal for overcoming the current hurdle was to reach an agreement whereby Israel would build 1,200 housing units in Judea and Samaria in the next year, the prime minister said in a private meeting that “everyone knows that “moderate and restrained building” over the next year would not “impact at all on the peace map.”

The 1,200 figure would be in pace with what was being built during the 10-month moratorium, and less than the rate of construction under the Olmert government.

Netanyahu, in this meeting and in an apparent reference to the initial settlement moratorium imposed 10 months ago, said that while Israel had taken steps to enable Abbas to enter the direct talks, the Palestinians have only “hardened their positions.”

The international community needed to call on the PA to remain in the talks. “This is in the Palestinian interest, just as it is in ours,” Netanyahu said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has been intimately involved in trying to broker a compromise solution, also called on the PA on Saturday night not to bolt the talks.

“We all must show good judgment and determination in order to overcome the difficulties and continue the negotiations to achieve results,” he said in a statement.

Barak said he believed that intensive discussions between Israel, the US, the Palestinians and leaders in the Arab world could lead to a formula this week that would ensure a continuation of the direct negotiations.

The PA statement, issued on Saturday by the Palestinian leadership following a meeting to discuss the latest developments surrounding the US-sponsored direct talks, said Israel’s “insistence on combining settlement expansion with the negotiations is a clear indication that it is not serious in dealing with the peace efforts.

“This also shows that Israel is seeking to use the negotiations as a cover for pursuing the same settlement policy and changing the reality on the ground and determining its fate through occupation and aggression.”

The statement said that “in light of this, the Palestinian leadership holds the Israeli government responsible for the suspension of the negotiations and the peace process by foiling the efforts of the US administration and the international community in that regard.”

The statement stressed that the resumption of the talks required tangible steps, first and foremost the “unconditional and unrestricted” cessation of settlement construction.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the PA leadership made it clear that there would be no negotiations with Israel as long as the construction in the settlements continued.

He said that Abbas relayed the Palestinian leadership’s position to US special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who met with Abbas twice over the past few days.

“The Americans asked to continue contacts with the Palestinians and we have no problem with that,” Abu Rudaineh said, referring to the Abbas-Mitchell discussions. “But if Israel is serious it must stop the settlements and take measures to convince the Palestinians and Arabs that it’s serious about a serious and just peace process.”

Abu Rudaineh said that US efforts to resume the direct talks faltered because of Israel’s decision to resume construction in the settlements. Mitchell went on Saturday to Qatar and Egypt, and was scheduled to go to Amman on Sunday.

An Arab League forum is expected to meet in Libya next Friday to discuss whether the PA should continue direct talks even though the moratorium was not extended.

In Damascus on Friday, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said Israel’s insistence on being recognized as a Jewish state was a conspiracy against Palestinian refugees. Mashaal was speaking at a mass wedding organized by Hamas for more than 700 couples. Family is the central element of Palestinian society and the “occupation [Israel] fears the coming generation. They fear our people in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank as well as Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.

“They are preparing their plans after they failed to break these people who do not surrender and who pass on the mantle from one generation to another,” Mashaal said.

The belief in diplomacy as the only way the Palestinians will achieve a state of their own is “one of the biggest mistakes,” he said.

He claimed that the Palestinian leadership was “drowning in politics.”

Politics must be put aside, he said, since “resistance and jihad come from society,” he said.

On Friday, Netanyahu met with both Mitchell and EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton.

Netanyahu is expected to convene his senior ministers, the forum known as the “septet,” on Sunday or Monday to discuss the recent developments, including a draft letter reportedly given by President Barack Obama spelling out US promises if Israel extended the moratorium by two months.

Due to Succot, neither the septet, the 15-member security cabinet, nor the full cabinet of 30 ministers has met in recent days to discuss that letter or the various efforts to overcome the current impasse.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

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