JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi King Abdullah and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday agreed that the Arab League should oversee truce talks between Fatah and Hamas, a Palestinian diplomat said.
"The two sides agreed that all inter-Palestinian dialogue should take place under the supervision of the Arab League," Palestinian representative to Riyadh Jamal Shobaki told AFP.
King Abdullah and Fatah leader Abbas also discussed the status of US-backed peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians during Sunday's meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Shobaki added.
Abbas last week called for dialogue with Hamas, which ousted his loyalists from Gaza in June last year, breaking with his previous policy of rejecting any opening until the Islamists cede control of the territory.
Hamas responded favourably to Abbas's overture, raising hopes of reconciliation between the two sides although prospects of a peace deal with Israel before the end of the year look increasingly unlikely.
Saudi Arabia brokered an agreement between Fatah and Hamas in early 2007 that led to the formation of a Palestinian unity government but unbridled tensions between the two sides led to fierce fighting which resulted in the Gaza takeover only months later.
Abbas was late Sunday to travel to Cairo for talks on Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Shobaki said.
Arab leage role in Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks
Fatah, Hamas: Senegal reconciliation talks reignite 'mutual respect'
By Reuters
Talks between Fatah and Hamas in the Senegalese capital Dakar this weekend had restored "an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect" between the Palestinian factions, a statement signed by both sides said on Sunday.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, offered his services in March as a mediator between the two parties, which clashed a year ago when Islamist Hamas militants ousted power from Fatah in the Gaza Strip in bloody coup.
A statement following the talks, which began on Friday, said Senegal would resume contact with both sides to organise future meetings with the aim of "reconciling the Palestinian family".
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"The Palestinian representatives ... thank the mediator for managing to restore an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, which allowed them to discuss the fundamental interests of the Palestinian people," said the communique signed by Hikmat Zeid for Fatah, Emad Khalid Alamy for Hamas and Senegal's Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio.
Senegal's state news agency APS reported on Saturday that Wade had met individually with the Palestinian delegations. "The mediation would take place in seven stages," a presidential spokesman said.
Hamas ended more than 40 years of the more secular Fatah's ascendancy with a victory in parliamentary elections in 2006. Hamas fighters went on to rout Fatah forces and take over the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman based in the Gaza Strip, said the daily arrest and torture of its members in the West Bank by security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah "did not prepare the atmosphere for dialogue."
"Hamas has taken steps (towards dialogue) and the president of the authority and Fatah movement in the West Bank are demanded to take similar steps to prove seriousness and concern and good intentions," he told Reuters.
Full article at: Hamas - Fatah talks restore trust and respect
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Showing posts with label mideast peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mideast peace. Show all posts
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Monday, December 03, 2007
New US report on Iran may allow world to Give Peace A Chance
US: Iran still able to develop nukes
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
December 3, 2007
from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_go_ot/iran_nuclear
Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium, which means it may still be able to develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, senior intelligence officials said Monday.
That finding, in a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, is a change from two years ago, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear capability and was continuing its weapons development program. It suggests that Iran is susceptible to diplomatic pressure, the officials said.
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," states the unclassified summary of the secret report, released Monday.
Officials said the new findings suggest that diplomacy has been effective in containing Iran's nuclear ambitions, although President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains " a serious problem."
Thre estimate suggests that Bush "has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests, while ensuring that the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran," Hadley said.
The finding comes at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which Bush has labeled part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
The halt to active weapons development is one of the key judgments of the latest NIE on Iran's nuclear program. National Intelligence Estimates represent the most authoritative written judgments of all 16 U.S. spy agencies.
Despite the suspension of its weapons program, Tehran may ultimately be difficult to dissuade from developing a nuclear bomb because Iran believes such a weapon would give it leverage to achieve its national security and foreign policy goals, the assessment concluded.
"The bottom line is this: for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions, and with other financial pressure and Iran has to decide it wants to negotiate a solution," Hadley said.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell decided last month that the key judgments of NIEs should as a rule not be declassified and released. The intelligence officials said an exception was made in this case because the last assessment of Iran's nuclear program in 2005 has been influential in public debate about U.S. policy toward Iran, and needed to be updated to reflect the latest findings.
To develop a nuclear weapon, Iran needs a warhead design, a certain amount of fissile material, and a delivery vehicle such as a missile. The intelligence agencies now believe Iran halted design work four years ago and as of mid-2007 had not restarted it.
But Iran is continuing to enrich uranium for its civilian nuclear reactors. That leaves open the possibility the fissile material could be diverted to covert nuclear sites to make enough highly enriched uranium to make a bomb.
The amount of fissile material Iran has is closely linked to when it can produce a weapon. Even if the country went all out with present enrichment capability, it is unlikely to have enough until 2010 at the earliest, the officials said. The State Department's Intelligence and Research office believes the earliest likely time it would have enough highly enriched uranium would be 2013. But all agencies concede Iran may not have sufficient enriched uranium until after 2015.
Iran would not be capable of technically producing and reprocessing enough plutonium for a weapon before about 2015, the report states. But ultimately it has the technical and industrial capacity to build a bomb, "if it decides to do so," the intelligence agencies found.
This national intelligence estimate was originally due in the spring of 2007 but was delayed because the agencies wanted more confidence their findings were accurate, given the problems with a 2002 intelligence estimate of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. They also got a late influx of new data that caused changes in their findings.
"There was a very rigorous scrub using all the tradecraft available, using the lessons of 2002," said a senior intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
December 3, 2007
from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_go_ot/iran_nuclear
Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium, which means it may still be able to develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, senior intelligence officials said Monday.
That finding, in a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, is a change from two years ago, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear capability and was continuing its weapons development program. It suggests that Iran is susceptible to diplomatic pressure, the officials said.
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," states the unclassified summary of the secret report, released Monday.
Officials said the new findings suggest that diplomacy has been effective in containing Iran's nuclear ambitions, although President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains " a serious problem."
Thre estimate suggests that Bush "has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests, while ensuring that the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran," Hadley said.
The finding comes at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which Bush has labeled part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
The halt to active weapons development is one of the key judgments of the latest NIE on Iran's nuclear program. National Intelligence Estimates represent the most authoritative written judgments of all 16 U.S. spy agencies.
Despite the suspension of its weapons program, Tehran may ultimately be difficult to dissuade from developing a nuclear bomb because Iran believes such a weapon would give it leverage to achieve its national security and foreign policy goals, the assessment concluded.
"The bottom line is this: for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions, and with other financial pressure and Iran has to decide it wants to negotiate a solution," Hadley said.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell decided last month that the key judgments of NIEs should as a rule not be declassified and released. The intelligence officials said an exception was made in this case because the last assessment of Iran's nuclear program in 2005 has been influential in public debate about U.S. policy toward Iran, and needed to be updated to reflect the latest findings.
To develop a nuclear weapon, Iran needs a warhead design, a certain amount of fissile material, and a delivery vehicle such as a missile. The intelligence agencies now believe Iran halted design work four years ago and as of mid-2007 had not restarted it.
But Iran is continuing to enrich uranium for its civilian nuclear reactors. That leaves open the possibility the fissile material could be diverted to covert nuclear sites to make enough highly enriched uranium to make a bomb.
The amount of fissile material Iran has is closely linked to when it can produce a weapon. Even if the country went all out with present enrichment capability, it is unlikely to have enough until 2010 at the earliest, the officials said. The State Department's Intelligence and Research office believes the earliest likely time it would have enough highly enriched uranium would be 2013. But all agencies concede Iran may not have sufficient enriched uranium until after 2015.
Iran would not be capable of technically producing and reprocessing enough plutonium for a weapon before about 2015, the report states. But ultimately it has the technical and industrial capacity to build a bomb, "if it decides to do so," the intelligence agencies found.
This national intelligence estimate was originally due in the spring of 2007 but was delayed because the agencies wanted more confidence their findings were accurate, given the problems with a 2002 intelligence estimate of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. They also got a late influx of new data that caused changes in their findings.
"There was a very rigorous scrub using all the tradecraft available, using the lessons of 2002," said a senior intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Bush and Rice at odds over UN involvement in Israeli-Palestinian peace process
The Hammer and Tongs behind the Hugs of Annapolis
DEBKAfile Special Report, from Debka.org
December 1, 2007
No one at UN headquarters in New York remembers a case of a draft resolution being abruptly withdrawn hours before a UN Security Council session was scheduled to approve it. This is what happened to a US draft that would have endorsed President Bush’s announcement three days earlier at the Annapolis Middle East conference of Israeli and Palestinian consent to work toward a settlement of their conflict before the end of 2008.
The Council had been called into closed session Thursday night, Nov. 30 to endorse the Annapolis declaration. The text was buried hastily in an undignified scramble by the Bush administration after two days of sharp words between the White House and prime minister Ehud Olmert and his threat not to turn up for talks with the Palestinians.
This incident led also to the first real falling-out between President George W. Bush and his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. He blamed her for seeking to bolster the Annapolis declaration by Security Council endorsement, thereby exposing the hyped-up event to the world as a charade and his own declaration as too flimsy to stand up.
The head of the Israeli mission, Danny Gillerman, denied being fully briefed on the American text - a diplomatic figure of speech which applies equally to the situation of the Israeli delegation at the Middle East conference in Annapolis and since. But as soon as the Israeli ambassador heard that Khalilzad had obtained the consent of the five permanent members of the Security Council to a closed session for approving the US draft, he urgently alerted Olmert and Livni in Jerusalem.
Gillerman warned them that a closed session means that neither Israel nor the Palestinians would be present or given a hearing. And that was not the only undesirable aspect:
1. The Arab side, which is represented by Qatar, would use the opportunity to augment the Annapolis declaration with additional clauses detrimental to Israel, and possibly win US assent.
2. Security Council endorsement would obligate Israel and the Palestinians to bring negotiations to a conclusion by the end of 2008, less than a year hence, as demanded by Saudi Arabia. Either side could face being found in violation of a UN resolution.
3. The Security Council would become the overseer of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with authority to reconvene and weigh up progress. In other words, the bilateral Israel-Palestinian conflict would be relegated to international authority. Israel has always resisted this since the odds in the world body are traditionally weighted against the Jewish state.
Ambassador Gillerman alerted the Israeli prime minister and foreign minister to the short distance from UN sponsorship of the process to the dispatch of international troops to the region as a buffer between Israel’s counter-terror forces and the Palestinian terrorists ruling the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
In the Israeli ambassador’s opinion, the US initiative to bring the world body in as a party to the Annapolis declaration originated with Secretary Rice. She sought to punish Israel for not following her lead at the conference. He pointed out that the application to the UN directly contravened Rice’s own accords with the Israeli foreign minister.
Gillerman’s heads-up to Jerusalem sparked an urgent series of phone calls between the prime minister’s office and the White House. Olmert made no bones about threatening to pull out of the entire diplomatic track charted at Annapolis if the Security Council were to be brought in over its head.
After 36 hours of hammer and tongs, US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, was instructed to call off the Council session and withdraw the text.
full article continues at:
http://www.debka.org/article.php?aid=1319
DEBKAfile Special Report, from Debka.org
December 1, 2007
No one at UN headquarters in New York remembers a case of a draft resolution being abruptly withdrawn hours before a UN Security Council session was scheduled to approve it. This is what happened to a US draft that would have endorsed President Bush’s announcement three days earlier at the Annapolis Middle East conference of Israeli and Palestinian consent to work toward a settlement of their conflict before the end of 2008.
The Council had been called into closed session Thursday night, Nov. 30 to endorse the Annapolis declaration. The text was buried hastily in an undignified scramble by the Bush administration after two days of sharp words between the White House and prime minister Ehud Olmert and his threat not to turn up for talks with the Palestinians.
This incident led also to the first real falling-out between President George W. Bush and his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. He blamed her for seeking to bolster the Annapolis declaration by Security Council endorsement, thereby exposing the hyped-up event to the world as a charade and his own declaration as too flimsy to stand up.
The head of the Israeli mission, Danny Gillerman, denied being fully briefed on the American text - a diplomatic figure of speech which applies equally to the situation of the Israeli delegation at the Middle East conference in Annapolis and since. But as soon as the Israeli ambassador heard that Khalilzad had obtained the consent of the five permanent members of the Security Council to a closed session for approving the US draft, he urgently alerted Olmert and Livni in Jerusalem.
Gillerman warned them that a closed session means that neither Israel nor the Palestinians would be present or given a hearing. And that was not the only undesirable aspect:
1. The Arab side, which is represented by Qatar, would use the opportunity to augment the Annapolis declaration with additional clauses detrimental to Israel, and possibly win US assent.
2. Security Council endorsement would obligate Israel and the Palestinians to bring negotiations to a conclusion by the end of 2008, less than a year hence, as demanded by Saudi Arabia. Either side could face being found in violation of a UN resolution.
3. The Security Council would become the overseer of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with authority to reconvene and weigh up progress. In other words, the bilateral Israel-Palestinian conflict would be relegated to international authority. Israel has always resisted this since the odds in the world body are traditionally weighted against the Jewish state.
Ambassador Gillerman alerted the Israeli prime minister and foreign minister to the short distance from UN sponsorship of the process to the dispatch of international troops to the region as a buffer between Israel’s counter-terror forces and the Palestinian terrorists ruling the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
In the Israeli ambassador’s opinion, the US initiative to bring the world body in as a party to the Annapolis declaration originated with Secretary Rice. She sought to punish Israel for not following her lead at the conference. He pointed out that the application to the UN directly contravened Rice’s own accords with the Israeli foreign minister.
Gillerman’s heads-up to Jerusalem sparked an urgent series of phone calls between the prime minister’s office and the White House. Olmert made no bones about threatening to pull out of the entire diplomatic track charted at Annapolis if the Security Council were to be brought in over its head.
After 36 hours of hammer and tongs, US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, was instructed to call off the Council session and withdraw the text.
full article continues at:
http://www.debka.org/article.php?aid=1319
Friday, November 30, 2007
China and Russia both say Iran situation can be resolved peacefully
articles from:
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/
Iran News
Putin underlines political solution of Iran nuclear issue
Russia's President Vladimir Putin underlined political solution of Iran's nuclear issue. According to Russia's Presidential Office report on Wednesday, President Putin in a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Moscow said, "I believe regional conflicts, including Iran's nuclear program and Kosovo issue cannot be solved through force." Putin underlined the necessity of using non-military and peaceful means in carrying out international missions. He added, "Russia will never deviate from democratic route and will observe human rights and other freedoms."
Nov 29, 2007, 14:20
Iran News
Chinese official: Iran's nuclear dossier should be solved through talks
Visiting China's Communication Minister and a member of Chinese Communist Party Li-Hoon Tai Haven in a meeting with Secretary General of Islamic Coalition Party Mohammad Nabi Habibi underlined that Iran's nuclear dossier should be solved through talks. In the meeting, the Chinese minister said, "Exchanging views between Chinese Communist Party and Iranian political parties, especially Islamic Coalition Party, is so important." Habibi, for his part, by referring to the history of ties between the two parties said, "In the Asian Parties Meeting, we should work together and push the meeting towards establishment of Asian Parties Union."
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/
Iran News
Putin underlines political solution of Iran nuclear issue
Russia's President Vladimir Putin underlined political solution of Iran's nuclear issue. According to Russia's Presidential Office report on Wednesday, President Putin in a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Moscow said, "I believe regional conflicts, including Iran's nuclear program and Kosovo issue cannot be solved through force." Putin underlined the necessity of using non-military and peaceful means in carrying out international missions. He added, "Russia will never deviate from democratic route and will observe human rights and other freedoms."
Nov 29, 2007, 14:20
Iran News
Chinese official: Iran's nuclear dossier should be solved through talks
Visiting China's Communication Minister and a member of Chinese Communist Party Li-Hoon Tai Haven in a meeting with Secretary General of Islamic Coalition Party Mohammad Nabi Habibi underlined that Iran's nuclear dossier should be solved through talks. In the meeting, the Chinese minister said, "Exchanging views between Chinese Communist Party and Iranian political parties, especially Islamic Coalition Party, is so important." Habibi, for his part, by referring to the history of ties between the two parties said, "In the Asian Parties Meeting, we should work together and push the meeting towards establishment of Asian Parties Union."
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Israel and Palestine agree to talk peace, create Palestinian State
Israel and Palestinians okay peace and statehood negotiating plan
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Opening a high-stakes Mideast peace conference, President Bush announced a joint agreement among Israeli and Palestinian leaders Tuesday to reach a peace pact by the end of 2008. Negotiations would begin within weeks to establish "a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security," he said.
The agreement was reached after weeks of intense negotiations and it was not clear until Bush stepped to the podium in the majestic Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis that the two sides would come together on how to move forward on the path toward peace.
"Today, Palestinians and Israelis each understand that helping the other to realize their aspirations is the key to realizing their own, and both require an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state," Bush said.
"Such a state will provide Palestinians with the chance to lead lives of freedom, purpose and dignity. And such a state will help provide Israelis with something they have been seeking for generations: to live in peace with their neighbors."
The first peace talks are to be held Dec. 12, Bush said, and are to continue biweekly after that.
Bush was followed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who said in prepared remarks that any Mideast peace deal should ensure that Palestinians have East Jerusalem as their capital, and he also calls for a halt to Jewish settlements in disputed lands.
Bush spoke before representatives of more than 50 nations and organizations that he had summoned to Annapolis for a daylong conference aimed at restarting the stalled peace process.
"The task begun here in Annapolis will be difficult," Bush acknowledged. "This is the beginning of the process, not the end of it."
"The time is right, the cause is just, and with hard effort, I know they can succeed," he said.
Said Abbas: "Let us make peace of the brave, and protect it for the sake of our children and your children."
At the same time, the Palestinian leader gave no indication that his side was willing to concede on any of the flashpoint issues that have derailed previous peace efforts: the status of disputed Jerusalem, refugees, the borders of an independent Palestine and Israeli settlements.
"I have the right here to defend openly and with no hesitation the right of my people to see a new dawn, with no occupation, no settlement, no separation wall, no prisons with thousands of prisoners, no assassinations, no siege, and no roadblocks around villages and cities," Abbas said.
He called for a peace that "includes a halt to all settlement activities including natural growth, reopening the closed Jerusalem institutions, removing settlement outposts, roadblocks, and releasing prisoners, and facilitating our authority's tasks of imposing order and sovereignty of law."
And Abbas also said that it was his "duty" to say that the fate of Jerusalem, which both sides want to claim as their capital, must be central to any deal. "We want East Jerusalem to be our capital, and to have open relations with West Jerusalem, and to allow all believers from all faiths to practice their rituals and to reach sacred places without unfairness and on the basis of what is guaranteed by international and human laws," he said.
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Opening a high-stakes Mideast peace conference, President Bush announced a joint agreement among Israeli and Palestinian leaders Tuesday to reach a peace pact by the end of 2008. Negotiations would begin within weeks to establish "a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security," he said.
The agreement was reached after weeks of intense negotiations and it was not clear until Bush stepped to the podium in the majestic Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis that the two sides would come together on how to move forward on the path toward peace.
"Today, Palestinians and Israelis each understand that helping the other to realize their aspirations is the key to realizing their own, and both require an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state," Bush said.
"Such a state will provide Palestinians with the chance to lead lives of freedom, purpose and dignity. And such a state will help provide Israelis with something they have been seeking for generations: to live in peace with their neighbors."
The first peace talks are to be held Dec. 12, Bush said, and are to continue biweekly after that.
Bush was followed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who said in prepared remarks that any Mideast peace deal should ensure that Palestinians have East Jerusalem as their capital, and he also calls for a halt to Jewish settlements in disputed lands.
Bush spoke before representatives of more than 50 nations and organizations that he had summoned to Annapolis for a daylong conference aimed at restarting the stalled peace process.
"The task begun here in Annapolis will be difficult," Bush acknowledged. "This is the beginning of the process, not the end of it."
"The time is right, the cause is just, and with hard effort, I know they can succeed," he said.
Said Abbas: "Let us make peace of the brave, and protect it for the sake of our children and your children."
At the same time, the Palestinian leader gave no indication that his side was willing to concede on any of the flashpoint issues that have derailed previous peace efforts: the status of disputed Jerusalem, refugees, the borders of an independent Palestine and Israeli settlements.
"I have the right here to defend openly and with no hesitation the right of my people to see a new dawn, with no occupation, no settlement, no separation wall, no prisons with thousands of prisoners, no assassinations, no siege, and no roadblocks around villages and cities," Abbas said.
He called for a peace that "includes a halt to all settlement activities including natural growth, reopening the closed Jerusalem institutions, removing settlement outposts, roadblocks, and releasing prisoners, and facilitating our authority's tasks of imposing order and sovereignty of law."
And Abbas also said that it was his "duty" to say that the fate of Jerusalem, which both sides want to claim as their capital, must be central to any deal. "We want East Jerusalem to be our capital, and to have open relations with West Jerusalem, and to allow all believers from all faiths to practice their rituals and to reach sacred places without unfairness and on the basis of what is guaranteed by international and human laws," he said.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak enthused by Syrian attendance at Peace Summit
artisle from JPost.com
Barak: 'High chance' summit will succeed
yaakov katz and gil hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 23, 2007
Syrian participation at the Annapolis peace summit next week would be a positive step that could "open the door" for full-fledged peace negotiations between Syria and Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
"I hope that Syria and Saudi Arabia come to the summit," Barak said in an interview with the Post ahead of his trip to the US Saturday night to attend next week's Middle East summit at the Annapolis Naval Academy.
While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the "key issue" on the summit's agenda, Barak said "it will be good for Israel" if Syria participates.
Barak is scheduled to meet with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday to discuss regional security issues. Barak was in Washington in October for talks with Gates and US defense chiefs.
"In principle it is important to keep the door open for the Syrians so that when the time comes we will be able to negotiate with them," he said.
Barak said he planned to do everything in his power to ensure that the summit would be successful. He has met in recent months several times with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad and was a proponent of the decision to allow 500 armed Palestinian policemen to deploy in Nablus.
While Barak said there was a "high chance" that the summit would be successful, defense officials have warned that it is possible Palestinian terror groups will escalate their terror activity before, during and after the summit.
"There is a high chance that it [the summit] will succeed," he said. "It will begin the process. The real test will be when we discuss the core issues when the talks begin after the summit."
Barak said he did not believe a "wave of terror" would erupt in Israel if the summit failed. But he warned "inaction" could prove more dangerous than action. "All dialogue is important and we have a moral responsibility - from a security and diplomatic point of view - to find a peaceful way," he said.
Barak added that Israel did not plan on skipping over the first stage of the US-backed road map peace plan, which calls on the Palestinians to dismantle terror infrastructure in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"We are keeping for ourselves the right to operate and to fight terror," he said in reference to the Gaza Strip. "The first stage of the road map needs to be implemented. This is what is holding Gaza back."
Meanwhile Thursday, a group of hundreds of Jewish university students began what they billed as a "three-day march" around and through Jerusalem to encourage Olmert to make an agreement to divide the city in Annapolis.
They marched Thursday to the Western Wall and they will hold a rally in front of the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday night. The students said they would continue marching despite the rain and even if it would snow.
"If the summit addresses the need for compromises in Jerusalem, we will have succeeded, but if it ends in mere slogans, then we have failed and the extremists will only become stronger," said Nir Yanovsky, one of the leaders of the march.
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Barak: 'High chance' summit will succeed
yaakov katz and gil hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 23, 2007
Syrian participation at the Annapolis peace summit next week would be a positive step that could "open the door" for full-fledged peace negotiations between Syria and Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
"I hope that Syria and Saudi Arabia come to the summit," Barak said in an interview with the Post ahead of his trip to the US Saturday night to attend next week's Middle East summit at the Annapolis Naval Academy.
While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the "key issue" on the summit's agenda, Barak said "it will be good for Israel" if Syria participates.
Barak is scheduled to meet with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday to discuss regional security issues. Barak was in Washington in October for talks with Gates and US defense chiefs.
"In principle it is important to keep the door open for the Syrians so that when the time comes we will be able to negotiate with them," he said.
Barak said he planned to do everything in his power to ensure that the summit would be successful. He has met in recent months several times with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad and was a proponent of the decision to allow 500 armed Palestinian policemen to deploy in Nablus.
While Barak said there was a "high chance" that the summit would be successful, defense officials have warned that it is possible Palestinian terror groups will escalate their terror activity before, during and after the summit.
"There is a high chance that it [the summit] will succeed," he said. "It will begin the process. The real test will be when we discuss the core issues when the talks begin after the summit."
Barak said he did not believe a "wave of terror" would erupt in Israel if the summit failed. But he warned "inaction" could prove more dangerous than action. "All dialogue is important and we have a moral responsibility - from a security and diplomatic point of view - to find a peaceful way," he said.
Barak added that Israel did not plan on skipping over the first stage of the US-backed road map peace plan, which calls on the Palestinians to dismantle terror infrastructure in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"We are keeping for ourselves the right to operate and to fight terror," he said in reference to the Gaza Strip. "The first stage of the road map needs to be implemented. This is what is holding Gaza back."
Meanwhile Thursday, a group of hundreds of Jewish university students began what they billed as a "three-day march" around and through Jerusalem to encourage Olmert to make an agreement to divide the city in Annapolis.
They marched Thursday to the Western Wall and they will hold a rally in front of the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday night. The students said they would continue marching despite the rain and even if it would snow.
"If the summit addresses the need for compromises in Jerusalem, we will have succeeded, but if it ends in mere slogans, then we have failed and the extremists will only become stronger," said Nir Yanovsky, one of the leaders of the march.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
USA hosting November 27 conference on Palestinian statehood in Annapolis, Maryland
US confirms Middle East peace conference on Israel and Palestine
Egypt, Turkey coming to Mideast Peace Conference in US
Iran and Syria veto candidates for Lebanese President, endangering Washington’s Middle East conference
Tony Blair in talks with Saudi Arabian King regarding USA Israel-Palestine conference
Mideast Peace Plan including Asia West Parliament proposed for Syria
Arab League meeting Cairo to plan Israeli – Palestinian conference
Sweden invited to USA-hosted Middle East Peace gathering
Alternative Energy Investing Info
Egypt, Turkey coming to Mideast Peace Conference in US
Iran and Syria veto candidates for Lebanese President, endangering Washington’s Middle East conference
Tony Blair in talks with Saudi Arabian King regarding USA Israel-Palestine conference
Mideast Peace Plan including Asia West Parliament proposed for Syria
Arab League meeting Cairo to plan Israeli – Palestinian conference
Sweden invited to USA-hosted Middle East Peace gathering
Alternative Energy Investing Info
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana says Mideast peace possible by end of 2008
article from www.Haaretz.com
Solana: Israeli-Palestinian peace deal possible by the end of 2008
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
An Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement could be in place by the end
of next year, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem.
"My impression is that the whole process is doable, it can be done. Everyone has to work so the process ends up well," he said.
Earler, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said he told Solana that "the foundation for the post-Annapolis negotiations with the Palestinians be recognition of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people".
Differences over the issue emerged this week when Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Palestinians would not accept Israel as a "Jewish state," a definition that could enable Olmert to argue against the right of return for refugees in a final deal.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad echoed Erekat's statement on Wednesday. "We do not accept conditions of this type, not at all," he said on Al Arabiya television. However, Olmert told Solana that the matter was non-negotiable.
Livni, for her part, agreed with Solana that the upcoming international Annapolis peace summit was an opportunity for the peace process to move forward.
She said, however, that what was important about the meeting was "the day after."
The success of the parley, she went on, lay in the fact that it could re-launch an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which has been dormant for the past seven years, since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
Livni also stressed that the Palestinians needed the support of Arab countries, who are expected to be present at Annapolis, "for the sake of the peace process."
"These countries must not dictate terms, or place obstacles in the way of
negotiations, but instead support bilateral Israeli- Palestinian talks," she said.
Arab countries were not present at the last serious attempt to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at Camp David in the summer of 2000.
That summit fell apart as the sides were unable to agree on how to resolve core issues, and the Palestinian uprising broke out a few months later.
Solana met earlier with Olmert, who briefed him on preparations for the Annapolis meeting.
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Solana: Israeli-Palestinian peace deal possible by the end of 2008
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
An Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement could be in place by the end
of next year, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem.
"My impression is that the whole process is doable, it can be done. Everyone has to work so the process ends up well," he said.
Earler, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said he told Solana that "the foundation for the post-Annapolis negotiations with the Palestinians be recognition of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people".
Differences over the issue emerged this week when Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Palestinians would not accept Israel as a "Jewish state," a definition that could enable Olmert to argue against the right of return for refugees in a final deal.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad echoed Erekat's statement on Wednesday. "We do not accept conditions of this type, not at all," he said on Al Arabiya television. However, Olmert told Solana that the matter was non-negotiable.
Livni, for her part, agreed with Solana that the upcoming international Annapolis peace summit was an opportunity for the peace process to move forward.
She said, however, that what was important about the meeting was "the day after."
The success of the parley, she went on, lay in the fact that it could re-launch an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which has been dormant for the past seven years, since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
Livni also stressed that the Palestinians needed the support of Arab countries, who are expected to be present at Annapolis, "for the sake of the peace process."
"These countries must not dictate terms, or place obstacles in the way of
negotiations, but instead support bilateral Israeli- Palestinian talks," she said.
Arab countries were not present at the last serious attempt to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at Camp David in the summer of 2000.
That summit fell apart as the sides were unable to agree on how to resolve core issues, and the Palestinian uprising broke out a few months later.
Solana met earlier with Olmert, who briefed him on preparations for the Annapolis meeting.
see my new site also:
Alternative Energy Investing
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