Israel in eye of storm over Gaza ship raid

Updated on : Monday, May 31, 2010

ANKARA: Israel's regional allies froze military ties as angry protests erupted over the storming Monday of aid ships bound for Gaza, while Muslim leaders demanded swift UN action to punish the "criminal" assault.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked" by the navy assault on a convoy carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists, lawmakers and journalists through international waters towards besieged Gaza.

Ban called on Israel to "urgently" explain itself over the raid, reported to have killed up to 19 people, many of them Turks, and a UN diplomat said the Security Council had scrambled to convene emergency talks on the crisis.

Israel's closest ally Washington said it "deeply regrets the loss of life" and was "working to understand" what caused the "tragedy."

The Jewish state's chief regional partner Turkey responded with fury, scrapping plans for joint war games with Israel and recalling its ambassador, as it warned the "flagrant breach of international law" would have "irreparable consequences" for bilateral ties.

Tens of thousands of furious Turks poured into the streets with protestors in Istanbul burning Israeli flags, shouting "Damn Israel!" and demanding "A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, revenge, revenge!"

The Vatican voiced "deep sadness and concern" and Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair expressed his "deep regret and shock," as capitals across Europe summoned Israel's ambassadors to explain the assault.

Greece, which had dozens of nationals in the convoy, also pulled out of joint military exercises with Israel as an aid group claimed that commandos in helicopters had fired on a Greek vessel.

Israel said its troops were attacked after they stormed six ships loaded with thousands of tonnes of aid and with hundreds of activists aboard, and that both sides used live fire.

Israel, which has blockaded Gaza since its bitter foe Hamas was elected to power three years ago, had called the expedition illegal and warned it would act to stop it.

Muslim leaders united in condemning what Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called a "massacre" and Arab League chief Amr Mussa said was a "crime."

Hamas, which rules Gaza urged world Muslims to "rise up" in protest, as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the raid as "inhuman Zionist regime action."

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri described the raid as "dangerous and crazy" and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, chaired by Beirut until midnight in New York.

Across the country Palestinian refugees and activists demonstrated to denounce the raid, chanting slogans like "Give us weapons, give us weapons and send us on to Gaza."

The UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, called for a worldwide boycott and sanctions against Israel, saying "those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behaviour" should be held criminally accountable.

Pakistan also "strongly condemned" the attack on a "peaceful flotilla," as politicians, lawmakers and journalists protested in Islamabad against Israel.

Egypt condemned the "acts of killing" by Israel forces while Kuwait's parliament speaker said the storming of the flotilla, which was carrying 16 Kuwaitis including an MP, was a "heinous Israeli crime."

And Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, said "there was no basis" for Israel's assault.

In Europe, condemnation was equally swift, with the European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton demanding Israel mount a "full inquiry."

Spain -- the current European Union president -- France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, Greece and Cyprus summoned Israel's respective ambassadors, with Madrid slamming the operation as "unacceptable".

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Israel of a "disproportionate use of force."

Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "deeply concerned" about the deaths, while Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini "deplored" the loss of civilian life.

Russia also condemned a "crude violation" of international law.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague deplored the loss of life, saying Israel must "act with restraint" -- but also said London had warned of the risks of defying the Gaza blockade.

A Cyprus MEP, Kyriacos Triantafyllides, who was involved with the mission, said activists had "expected a strong reaction from Israel."

"But nobody believed it would come to this point, where they would face something akin to an invading army," he said.

Facts of deadly raid needed, Obama tells Israeli PM

Updated on : Monday, May 31, 2010

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it was important to find out "all the facts" of Monday's deadly flotilla raid as soon as possible, the White House said.

Clinton urges Arab states to do more for Mideast peace

Updated on : Friday, April 30, 2010

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urged Arab states to do more to back Israeli-Palestinian peace moves while warning Syria against arming Lebanon's anti-Israeli Hezbollah.

But Clinton, speaking to a pro-Israel group, said she also expected Israel to halt settlements in occupied land, meet the humanitarian needs of Gazans, and help the Palestinian Authority build institutions needed for statehood.

"We do not expect the Arab states to move forward in a vacuum," the chief US diplomat said in remarks to the American Jewish Committee.

President Barack Obama's administration is trying hard to relaunch indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that were aborted last month when the right-wing Israeli government announced new settlements in east Jerusalem.

Clinton also urged the US-backed Palestinian Authority -- which controls only the West Bank and not the extremist Hamas-run Gaza Strip -- to continue its work to improve security and stop anti-Israeli militancy in the West Bank.

Although she hit familiar themes, Clinton was more explicit than in the past about what steps the Arabs should take for peace after they ignored previous pleas because of what they consider Israel's intransigence.

"They should take specific steps that show Israelis, Palestinians and their own people that peace is possible and that there will be tangible benefits if it is achieved," Clinton said in a speech to a pro-Israel group.

The chief US diplomat urged Arab states to offer more financial support to the Palestinian Authority and its two-year development plan as well as move toward ending Israel's isolation by opening or re-opening trade offices.

"The United States has done our part, becoming the PA's largest bilateral donor, and Europe also has stepped up," she said. "Arab states need to share a greater portion of these responsibilities."

Gulf Arab states like Qatar and Oman closed Israeli trade offices in 2000 when the Oslo the peace process collapsed in violence. Qatar closed the Israeli trade office when Israel launched an offensive in Gaza in December 2008.

Clinton also suggested that Arab states grant Israel the right to fly over their territories as well as allow cultural or educational exchanges between Israelis and Arabs.

The moves involving Israel, the Palestinians and Arab state amounted to a complex choreography.

"As negotiations proceed between the Israelis and Palestinians, and mutual confidence increases, Arab states should reach out to the Israeli public," she said.

They should do so by "demonstrating that Israel's isolation in the region is ending, and all sides should resume multilateral discussions on critical regional issues," she said.

Under the 1993-2000 peace process launched in Oslo, Arab and Israeli delegations had discussed regional issues like sharing water and trade.

She also addressed Israeli allegations that Syria is arming Hezbollah with long-range Scud missiles.

"Transferring weapons to these terrorists -- especially longer-range missiles -- would pose a serious threat to the security of Israel," Clinton said.

"We do not accept such provocative and destabilizing behavior -- and nor should the international community.

"President Assad is making decisions that could mean war or peace for the region. We know he's hearing from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas," the chief US diplomat said.

"It is crucial that he also hear directly from us, so that the potential consequences of his actions are clear."

She also urged states in the region to stop supplying rockets and other weapons to Hamas.

Israel on way to collapse: Iran's Ahmadinejad

Updated on : Sunday, April 18, 2010

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Israel, the "main instigator of conflict" in the Middle East, was on its way to collapse and that regional powers wanted it uprooted.

In a speech marking annual Army Day, the president also reiterated his view that the presence of foreign forces is causing conflict in the region.

"The Zionist regime is on its way to collapse," Ahmadinejad, known for his strong anti-Israel rhetoric, said in an address delivered near the shrine of Imam Khomeini, Iran's revolutionary leader.

"This is the will of the regional nations that after 60 odd years, the root of this corrupt microbe and the main reason for insecurity in the region be pulled out."

Ahmadinejad, who previously has angered Israel and Western countries for asserting that the Holocaust is a "myth", said that the "murderess" Jewish state was behind turmoil in the region.

"This regime is the main instigator of sedition and conflict in the region," the hardliner, flanked by Iran's top military brass, said from the podium.

"I want its supporters and creators to stop backing it and allow the regional nations and the Palestinians to settle things with them," he said without elaborating.

Ahmadinejad also demanded foreign forces quit the region.

"The presence of foreign forces is the cause of conflict in our region. They must leave," he said, adding that Iran's military might was enough of a "deterrent" for any "enemy" of the Islamic republic.

Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have regularly blamed the presence of US forces in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan for instability in the region.

Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa mosque after stone attack

Updated on : Sunday, February 28, 2010

JERUSALEM: Clashes broke out at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday after police entered to arrest Palestinians who had hurled rocks at visitors they believed were Jewish extremists.

At least 13 people were wounded just outside the compound when dozens of Palestinians pelted stones at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, according to a French news agency.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said security forces entered the compound after Muslim worshippers threw rocks at the group of unidentified visitors.

"Around 20 young people are holed up inside the mosque, and as a preventive measure we have decided to limit access to the esplanade to men over the age of 50," as well as women and children, he added.

Dozens of police wearing riot gear were deployed throughout the narrow streets of the Old City as loudspeakers on minarets called on Muslims to "save Jerusalem."

An official from Jerusalem's Islamic Supreme Committee said the Palestinians hurled stones at people they believed to be Jewish extremists intending to pray at the site and upset the delicate status quo.

"They threw rocks because (Israeli) settlers have been surrounding the compound for two or three days and had said they intended to enter on Sunday or Monday to pray at Al-Aqsa," Adnan Husseini said.

Jews, who observe the Purim holiday on Sunday and Monday, are allowed into the compound, but authorities prevent them from praying there.

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam's third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina. Muslims refer to it as the Al-Haram Al-Sharif and believe it to be the place where the Prophet Mohammed made a night journey to heaven on horseback.

It is the holiest site in the world for Jews, who believe it was the location of the Second Temple, torched by the Romans in 70 AD, and refer to it as the Temple Mount.

The site has been bitterly contested for decades, and the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, erupted there in September 2000 after a visit by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become Israeli prime minister.

Violence erupted on several occasions starting last September after Muslim worshippers hurled stones at people they believed to be Jews seeking to pray at the site during major holidays.

Israeli authorities insisted the visitors were French tourists.

The latest disturbances comes after days of clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron over an Israeli plan to renovate the Tomb of the Patriarchs there, another ancient site revered by Jews and Muslims.

Obama's 1st yr marked by diplomacy, but few results

Updated on : Sunday, January 17, 2010

WASHINGTON: A year after coming to office, President Barack Obama has reopened diplomatic lines of communication, but still has little to show for his efforts on the toughest US foreign policy questions.

While former president George W. Bush's foreign policy was driven by the necessities of the "war on terror," Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared the new administration would begin "a new era of engagement."

Whether dealing with the global economic crisis or the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Obama has demonstrated his conviction that the United States cannot solve international problems alone.

He has also worked to repair relations with Russia, engage in "strategic dialogue" with China and pledged the United States will no longer engage in torture and will respect the United Nations.

Obama's personal popularity has bolstered the impact of key international speeches, including his address to the Muslim world delivered in Cairo and his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo.

But the US president has also risked the wrath of critics by extending a hand to US adversaries including Cuba, Venezuela and Iran.

"He has put Washington back in the international negotiating business," wrote Leslie Gelb, the former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in The American Interest magazine.

"Obama has also cleared the international air of a lot of anti-Americanism," he added.

"His words have prepared the ground for the subsequent application of real American power. The problem is that the power shoe still hasn't dropped."

Three foreign policy issues have dominated Obama's agenda: the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Iran's nuclear program and the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The first of the three remains deadlocked as a result of Israeli government intransigence and Palestinian divisions. After a long year of futile efforts, Washington has reportedly offered its own peace plan for consideration.

But it has failed to convince Israel to halt settlement construction, and has seen little progress towards creating a strong or unified Palestinian side able to pursue negotiations.

On the issue of Iran's nuclear program, Obama made good on a promise to pursue dialogue with Tehran, only to see his overture rebuffed.

Iran's intransigence in the face of US engagement has ultimately strengthened international support for new sanctions against Iran, experts said.

Tehran has not only refused to negotiate, but even announced it would build more nuclear sites.

In dealing with the war in Afghanistan, Obama eventually announced he would boost the number of US troops in the country and has also sought to strengthen relations with Pakistan, even as he ordered an increase in the number of US airstrikes against militants in the country.

He faces rising US casualties in the war, and the difficult task of dealing with an Afghan government that came to power after fraud-tainted elections.

On all three policy questions, Obama has weakened the impact of his new approach by maintaining more-or-less similar tactics to his predecessor George W. Bush, said Amjad Atallah, a policy expert at the New America Foundation.

"Even in Afghanistan, where you see the most difference (because) the neo-cons never cared about Afghanistan, the policy is very similar to the Bush administration's strategy for Iraq: surge and withdraw," he said.

Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, former president Jimmy Carter's diplomacy guru Zbigniew Brzezinski praised Obama for having "completely reconceptualized US foreign policy with respect to several centrally important geopolitical issues."

He cited Obama's commitment to nuclear disarmament, his decision to treat China as a "geopolitical partner" and his desire to be a "fair-minded and assertive mediator" in the Middle East peace process.

But he noted that Obama's efforts have so far "generated more expectations than strategic breakthroughs."

Ultimately, he added, "how Obama handles these three urgent and interrelated issues -- the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Iranian dilemma and the Afghan-Pakistani conflict -- will determine the United States' global role for the foreseeable future."

Iran's nuke facilities can be bombed: Petraeus

Updated on : Sunday, January 10, 2010

WASHINGTON: A top US military commander responsible for the Middle East and the Gulf region said the United States has developed contingency plans to deal with Iran's nuclear facilities, insisting that they "can be bombed."

"Well, they certainly can be bombed," General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, told an American television as he commented on suggestions that Iranian nuclear facilities were heavily fortified.

"The level of effect would vary with who it is that carries it out, what ordnance they have, and what capability they can bring to bear," he added.

The network plans to air the interview later Sunday, but has released some excerpts.

Petraeus did not elaborate on the plans, but he said the military has considered the impacts of any action taken there.

"It would be almost literally irresponsible if Centcom were not to have been thinking about the various 'what ifs' and to make plans for a whole variety of different contingencies," Petraeus said.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States and other Western nations fear Tehran wants to acquire nuclear weapons.

Iran threats to target Tel Aviv if Israel attacks

Updated on : Sunday, November 22, 2009

TEHRAN: Representative of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini said that if Iran is attacked then it will target Israeli city Tel Aviv.

Iran is to begin large-scale air defence war games aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from possible attack.

The drill comes as a top clerical official renewed his threat to target "the heart of Tel Aviv" should Israel attack Iran.

The five-day drill will involve Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and the regular army and will cover 230,000 square miles of central, western and southern Iran, said air force General Ahmad Mighani.

As Iran has pressed forward with its nuclear program, Israel has repeatedly threatened military action to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The US has also not ruled out military action should diplomacy fail to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear activities.

The West suspects Iran aims to use a civilian nuclear program as cover to produce weapons, and Iran has effectively rejected a new UN proposal aimed at easing those concerns.

Tehran denies any intention to make nuclear weapons and says it only wants to generate power.

The defence drill will involve an attack by planes representing a hypothetical enemy.

"Reconnaissance enemy planes will violate our air space and try to disrupt electronic and radar systems, identify sensitive facilities, take photos and ... attack air defense sites," Gen Mighani said. "Our air defence system will confront the intruding planes."

A planned key component of Iran's air defences, an anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, has yet to be delivered.

Gen Mighani criticised Russia, saying the months-long delay in the S-300 missiles was apparently the result of Israeli pressure, not technical issues, as Moscow claims.

US against more Jewish settlements in Palestinian

Updated on : Tuesday, November 10, 2009

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday repeated its call on Israel to put an end to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

"The policy of the United States government for many decades has been: no more settlements, that's not something that is new with this administration," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

Gibbs made the remarks hours before US President Barack Obama meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

The US-Israeli summit meeting comes as the Obama administration is pressing the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to re-launch their long-stalled peace talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to step down because of the Netanyahu-led government's refusal to fully freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Some 450,000 Israelis live in more than 100 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. 　

Israel claims seizing ship carrying Hezbollah arms

Updated on : Thursday, November 05, 2009

JERUSALEM: The Israeli navy said Wednesday that commandos had seized a container ship carrying a huge cache of weapons that originated in Iran and was ultimately destined for the militia of the Islamist Hezbollah movement.

As part of its routine inspection of ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Israeli navy intercepted the vessel Tuesday night near Cyprus, roughly 100 miles off the Israeli coast.

There was no resistance from the ship's crew, and once Israeli special forces boarded, they found an estimated 600 tons of rockets, guns and other munitions, said Rear Adm. Rani Ben-Yehuda, deputy head of the Israeli navy.

Flying under an Antiguan flag, the ship, called the Francop, was carrying cargo loaded in Damietta, Egypt, and bound for Latakia in Syria, Israeli defense officials said.

Some of the ship's 500 containers were stamped with the insignia of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and 36 of them were found to contain arms. Other documents found on board identified the cargo as originating in Iran, Ben-Yehuda said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, speaking from Tehran, denied that Iranian arms were bound for Syria and said "pirates" had disrupted legitimate trade between Syria and Iran, news services reported.

The incident comes as Israeli political officials defend their country in the U.N. General Assembly against allegations that Israeli forces committed war crimes during last winter's three-week war with the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.

Israel contends that it took military action only after years in which the Iranian-backed group fired rockets at civilian targets in Israel.

The country regards Hamas and Hezbollah as imminent threats -- a point highlighted when Israeli intelligence officials told the country's parliament this week that Hamas had recently test-fired an Iranian-supplied rocket able to reach Tel Aviv. Hamas denied the allegation.

"This is the state of Israel's answer to all those who call on Israel to examine itself, about how it defended its citizens," former defense minister Shaul Mofaz said on Israel Radio after the seizure of the ship was announced. "We have to act constantly, daily, to defend our citizens. This is further and emphatic proof that attempts by the other side do not stop."

Israeli officials offered no direct evidence that the supplies were bound for Hezbollah. They noted, however, that Iran is forbidden under a U.N. embargo to export arms. Iran is widely considered a major weapons supplier for Hezbollah and Hamas.

Iran's Speaker warns US over Israel remarks.

Updated on : Tuesday, July 07, 2009

TEHRAN: Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani issued a warning against the United States after Vice President Joe Biden said Washington would not dictate the way Israel deals with Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"We will consider the Americans responsible in any adventure launched by the Zionist entity," Larijani told reporters during an official visit in Doha, referring to Israel.

"No politician or person in the world can imagine that the Zionist entity can lead an operation without getting the green light from the United States," said Larijani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator. He warned that Iran's response to an attack would be "decisive and painful".

Half of Israelis back immediate strike on Iran

Special Article Updated : Monday May 25 , 2009

HELD AL-QUDS: Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.

Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.

But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama's efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.

Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."

Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.

Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Iran's nuclear sites, with 63 percent of those leaning to the right favouring a strike, compared with 38 percent of those leaning to the left, the poll said.

It was carried out by Tel Aviv University's Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-percent margin of error.