CAIRO: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday again urged Hamas movement to sign an Egyptian-drafted reconciliation document to pave the way for a transitional government. Abbas stressed “the importance of Hamas signing the Egyptian reconciliation document,” in remarks carried by a local news agency, after talks with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. “After that we can discuss all the demands of Hamas and other parties during the implementation of the document,” Abbas said. “If the paper is signed, we do not mind forming a transitional government or a government of technocrats or independents to oversee several issues, most notably receiving reconstruction funds,” he said, referring to the billions of dollars pledged to rebuild Gaza following the December 2008-January 2009 war. Abbas said last week that he would send a delegation to the Gaza Strip to seek reconciliation with Hamas, following a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Hamas has said it will only sign the document with certain amendments, while Egypt and Fatah have refused to reopen the negotiations. Abbas described as a “massacre” the May 31 Israeli raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza that left nine Turkish activists dead and called for more aid convoys to pressure the Jewish state into scrapping its blockade. Israel has sealed Gaza off from all but limited humanitarian aid since the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas and other militants in June 2006 and tightened the restrictions after the Hamas takeover a year later. In the wake of the flotilla raid, Egypt which had also cut off the territory indefinitely opened its Rafah border post, the only gateway to Gaza that bypasses Israel. But it still aims to complete an underground barrier on its border with the Gaza Strip “by the end of the summer,” in a bid to stop the smuggling of goods and weapons into Gaza via a network of underground tunnels.
GENEVA: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday Israel’’s blockade of the Gaza Strip violates the Geneva Conventions and called for its lifting. The neutral humanitarian agency also urged Hamas holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured nearly four years ago in a cross-border raid, to allow his family to have regular contact with him, in line with international law. Israel’’s raid on a Gaza aid flotilla two weeks ago, in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed, highlighted acute hardships faced by 1.5 million Gazans due to the closure since 2007, it said. They endure unemployment, poverty and warfare, and health care whose quality is at an “all time low”. “The whole of Gaza’’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’’s obligations under international humanitarian law,” the ICRC said in a five-page statement. It was the first time the ICRC has said explicitly that Israel’’s blockade constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law embodied in the Geneva Conventions, an ICRC spokeswoman said. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, ratified by Israel, bans collective punishment of a civilian population. Israel is entitled to impose restrictions on military material for legitimate security reasons, but the scope of the closure is disproportionate, covering items of basic necessity, according to the ICRC. “We are urging Israel to put an end to this closure and call upon all those who have an influence on the situation, including Hamas, to do their utmost to help Gaza’’s civilian population,” said Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, head of ICRC operations for the Middle East. The ICRC said Hamas had continually rebuffed its requests to allow its officials to visit Shalit in detention. “In violation of international humanitarian law, it has also refused to allow him to get in touch with his family,” it said. Under customary international humanitarian law, captors holding detainees must allow them family contacts, while the Geneva Conventions require that they be treated humanely. BASIC NEEDS Arab League chief Amr Moussa visited the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the highest Arab official to do so since its seizure by Hamas in 2007, and called for an end to Israel’’s blockade of the Palestinian territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks on Friday with Middle East envoy Tony Blair on the blockade. Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would continue discussions with the international community to prevent weapons and military equipment from reaching Gaza and to allow in humanitarian aid, an apparent signal it was open to revising blockade procedures. “Under international humanitarian law, Israel must ensure that the basic needs of Gazans, including adequate health care, are met,” the ICRC said. The blockade, about to enter its fourth year, was “choking off any real possibility of economic development”, it said. States are obliged to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of all relief supplies, equipment and personnel, according to ICRC which deploys 100 staff in Gaza. “The Palestinian authorities … must do everything within their power to provide proper health care, supply electricity and maintain infrastructure for Gaza’’s people,” it added. Fuel reserves in Gaza, vital for keeping hospital generators running during daily power cuts, keep drying up, it said. Stocks of essential medical supplies were at an all-time low because of a halt in cooperation between authorities in Ramallah, the Fatah-ruled West Bank, and Gaza, the agency said. “The state of the health care system in Gaza has never been worse,” said ICRC health coordinator Eileen Daly. “Health is being politicised: that is the main reason the system is failing.” Only 60 percent of Gazan residents are connected to a sewage collection system, according to the ICRC which voiced concern that drinking water in most of Gaza is unfit for consumption.
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JERUSALEM: Israel said Sunday “an independent public commission,” including two foreign observers, would investigate its naval raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine Turkish activists were killed. Israel, which had rejected calls for an international probe into the May 31 incident, said retired Israeli supreme court judge Yaakov Tirkel would chair the commission. In an apparent bid to boost the credibility of the probe, Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble and Ken Watkin, a former judge advocate general of the Canadian armed forces, were named as observers. “In light of the exceptional circumstances of the incident, it was decided to appoint two foreign experts who will serve as observers,” said a late-night statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Trimble and Watkin “will not have the right to vote in relation to the proceedings and conclusions of the commission,” the statement added. And the two could also be denied access to documents or information if it was “almost certain to cause substantial harm to national security or to the state’’s foreign relations.” Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu told senior members of his right-wing Likud party that the composition and mandate of the commission was being coordinated with the United States. Government ministers at the Likud meeting said the Israeli leader had spoken by telephone with US President Barack Obama late Saturday and updated him on the commission. The US welcomed the announcement as “an important step forward,” but said it expected the investigation to be carried out promptly. “While Israel should be afforded the time to complete its process, we expect Israel’’s commission and military investigation will be carried out promptly,” said a statement by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. “We also expect that, upon completion, its findings will be presented publicly and will be presented to the international community.” The UN Security Council had called for an “impartial” investigation into the incident, stopping short of calls by Turkey and other countries for an independent, international investigation. Turkey’’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had said that Israel should accept an international inquiry if it wanted to restore Israeli-Turkish ties. The announcement came as Israel faced mounting pressure to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip in the wake of the botched commando raid on the aid flotilla. Earlier Sunday Netanyahu said he had been looking at how to meet Gaza’’s humanitarian needs while keeping weapons out of the Hamas-run coastal strip before the latest crisis. “Before the flotilla set sail for Gaza, we discussed, in various forums, the continuation of our policy toward the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu told reporters at the weekly cabinet meeting. Netanyahu said he had held talks on the issue with Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair, who represents the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia. In a statement Sunday, Blair welcomed Netanyahu’’s latest comments, saying they made a clear distinction between Israel’’s security concerns and the need to let Gazans live a normal life. Local media have said that Israel, in consultation with Washington, is weighing the possibility of allowing maritime shipments of supplies to Gaza: a third party would inspect vessels at sea to ensure they were not carrying arms or other contraband. Israel and Egypt cut off most access to the Gaza Strip when Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas and other militants during a cross-border raid in June 2006. The closure was tightened further the following year when the Islamist group, which has fired thousands of rockets and mortar rounds into Israel, seized power in Gaza. The Israeli statement said the commission would examine Israel’’s naval blockade of Gaza and its legality under international law and the “actions taken by Israel to enforce the naval blockade in the incident of 31 May 2010 with the rules of international law”. It would also examine “the actions taken by the organizers of the flotilla and its participants, as well as their identity.” Netanyahu planned to seek the approval of his Cabinet on Monday for the proposed commission. Israeli army chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi meanwhile defended the actions of the soldiers who boarded the flotilla. “We are in the middle of the process of investigating and learning lessons from the flotilla incident, but I can already say without a doubt and without reservations that the soldiers acted properly given the dangers they faced,” he said.
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WASHINGTON: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned that lack of progress toward Middle East peace was eroding faith that a two-state solution could end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A day after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, Abbas said the stagnation of the peace process had left some Palestinians unconvinced that a separate Palestinian state alongside Israel was even possible. “I would like to express concern that the situation is very difficult,” he said in remarks at a Washington think-tank. “The hope for a two-state solution. I fear, is beginning to erode and the world is starting not to believe, to distrust, that we are able to reach this situation.” Abbas is in Washington hoping to advance fragile indirect peace talks that the United States spent months arranging but which have been imperiled by a deadly May 31 Israeli raid against an aid flotilla seeking to break the blockade on Gaza.
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JERUSALEM: Some 78 percent of Jewish Israelis now view Turkey, once Israel’’s only Muslim ally in the Middle East, as an enemy nation, according to a poll published on Thursday. The sharp switch in public attitude towards Turkey comes in the wake of a May 31 raid by Israeli commandos on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, which left nine Turkish activists dead. The poll, published in the pro-government daily, asked participants: “Do you believe that in light of recent events Turkey has become an enemy state?” It said 78 percent of those surveyed answered yes, while 22 percent said no. In the 1990s, the two nations developed close military and economic links and have held frequent joint military drills and signed a free trade agreement. Turkey had also become a favourite holiday destination for Israelis. But the ties have declined rapidly amid vehement Turkish criticism of the devastating offensive which Israel launched against the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and Ankara’’s improving ties with Tehran.
LONDON: Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease its Gaza blockade in return for the international community agreeing a limited probe into a deadly flotilla raid, it was reported Wednesday. The British daily reported that Britain last week circulated a document outlining proposals to ease the blockade. It quoted an unnamed Western source close to the talks with Israel saying: “A quid pro quo deal is in the offing”. Israel has outlined plans to hold probes into the legality of its naval blockade of Gaza and the raid last week on an aid flotilla which was bidding to break it which killed nine people. It is reportedly considering setting up an investigative team made up of Israeli jurists and former diplomats as well as two foreign observers. On the blockade, the newspaper said Israel has been asked to ease access into Gaza at crossings and allow the UN to convey material needed to rebuild 60,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the 2008-09 Gaza war. “Israel could be flexible about items reaching the civilian population,” said an unnamed Israeli official quoted by the paper. Officials deny there is a link between their willingness to cooperate and matters related to the inquiry, the paper said.
LONDON: Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease its Gaza blockade in return for the international community agreeing a limited probe into a deadly flotilla raid, it was reported Wednesday. The Daily Telegraph reported that Britain last week circulated a document outlining proposals to ease the blockade. It quoted an unnamed Western source close to the talks with Israel saying: “A quid pro quo deal is in the offing”. Israel has outlined plans to hold probes into the legality of its naval blockade of Gaza and the raid last week on an aid flotilla, which was bidding to break it, which killed nine people. It is reportedly considering setting up an investigative team made up of Israeli jurists and former diplomats as well as two foreign observers. This would fall short of the independent, international investigation several world leaders have called for. On the blockade, the Daily Telegraph said Israel has been asked to ease access into Gaza at crossings and allow the UN to convey material needed to rebuild 60,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the 2008-09 Gaza war. “Israel could be flexible about items reaching the civilian population,” said an unnamed Israeli official quoted by the paper. Officials deny there is a link between their willingness to cooperate and matters related to the inquiry, the paper said. The United States said Tuesday it backed international participation in a probe into the highly controversial flotilla raid, echoing similar remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Meanwhile, 21 Asian and Middle Eastern states expressed “grave concern and condemnation” over the raid at a security summit in Istanbul. Turkey, whose citizens died on the flotilla, has said normalisation of ties with Israel would be “out of the question” if it failed to agree to an international probe.
Written on June 9, 2010 | Posted in
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JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday outlined plans to hold its own limited probes into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, as the United States backed calls for an international inquiry into the operation. The probes will look exclusively into the legality of Israel’’s naval blockade of Gaza and the May 31 raid on an aid flotilla that sought to break it, minister without portfolio Benny Begin told public radio on Tuesday. But the United States, Israel’’s closed ally, on Tuesday said it backed an international probe into the widely condemned raid, echoing similar remarks by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. “We understand that the international participation in investigating these matters will be important to the credibility everybody wants to see,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. “We recognize that international participation… would be an essential element to putting this tragedy behind us and then hopefully creating some additional trust.” “We”re in conversation with (the) Israelis and others about how to best accomplish this,” Crowley added. Ban’’s spokesman Farhan Haq said earlier that the UN chief’’s view is that “credible international involvement is crucial to a prompt, credible, impartial and transparent investigation.” Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would raise at the United Nations the question of who should investigate the Israeli raid, which he denounced as “a crude violation” of international law.
The freedom flotilla incident was an inside job. Here’s a conspiracy theory that might prove true. This convoy of ships was sent on purpose to create a media spectacle. It is claimed that this convoy of boats was carrying aid for Gaza due to the blockade. Now, if this was primarily to send Aid then why
JERUSALEM: Israel’’s army announced late Monday the creation of a team of high-ranking officials charged with examining and learning from the deadly May 31 operation against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The team — to be headed by a general in the reserves, Giora Eiland — would “examine the unfolding of the operation and to draw lessons from it,” an army statement said. “It must submit its conclusions between now and July 4,” it added. Besides Eiland, the panel includes two other generals in the reserves, a colonel in the marine reserves and a high official in the defence ministry, it said. Israeli Special Forces stormed a flotilla of six ships carrying aid for blockaded Gaza, killing nine Turks on board one of the vessels and sparking international outrage. Israel has defended itself saying it must stop vessels from travelling to Gaza since they could be carrying weapons for Hamas, an Islamist movement committed to the destruction of Israel which controls that Palestinian territory. It also says the aid the activists wanted to deliver is not needed. Israel has resisted calls for an international enquiry, but the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans for an internal examination of the events and whether the blockade and its implementation were in keeping with international law. Media reports said the panel could include international figures chosen by Israel.
