Please open your eyes and look at the picture above. Jews do not belong to one race but many. 80%+ of world Jewry today is made up of the second category, i.e. of European Ashkenazi Jewry. But almost 99.99999999999% of European Jewry deny having any lineage to Europe. It is like a Nigerian denying any lineage to Africa. They are a European people who stampeded to Palestine because the time was right! They wanted a state of their own, to do what they please. Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary:

[In Australia or Germany, I constantly have to fear that someone will shout "Hep, Hep" at my heals. But here (Paris) I pass unrecognized."

...

"During the two thousand years of dispersion, we have been without united political leadership'.

But the problem is that European Ashkenazi Jewry is European. They do look in the mirror and the person staring back at them (like the picture in the middle) is European. But for some odd reason, European Jewry believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites.

Last update - 21:56 21/02/2009
Arab states to probe Gaza war crimes allegations

By The Associated Press

An Arab League official said Saturday that a league mission was heading to Gaza to investigate allegations that Israel committed war crimes during its recent offensive against Hamas.

League spokesman Hisham Youssef said the mission would prepare a detailed report for league head Amr Moussa and take the necessary legal procedures.

Critics have accused Israel of using disproportionate force and failing to protect civilians during its three-week offensive, which ended Jan. 18.

Israel launched the war in an effort to halt rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel.

Youssef said another league mission leaving for Gaza on Saturday would be accompanied by a second committee that would assess the aid needed to rebuild Gaza.

Last week, Col. Liron Liebman, who heads the military prosecution's international law department, said that war crimes charges brought abroad against Israeli soldiers and officers involved in Operation Cast Lead are nothing but "legal terrorism."

There is little chance that war crimes charges abroad will end in conviction, or, for that matter, in acquittal, since procedural issues will end up derailing the allegations before they reach that stage, Liebman told Haaretz. But that doesn't much matter to those bringing the charges, he said.

Last update - 21:48 21/02/2009
Diplomats: U.S. backs Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks

By Reuters

The United States has offered encouragement to Egypt in its efforts to mediate reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah, diplomats have said.

But U.S. President Barack Obama's administration and the European Union, which has also backed the talks, have made clear that Western support was conditional on what, if any, unity agreement emerges from upcoming negotiations in Cairo.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that a new round of negotiations between the groups will take place on Wednesday.

Ending divisions between Islamist Hamas and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah is seen as key to lifting an Israeli-led blockade on Gaza, imposed in response to rocket attacks by militants in the coastal strip.

The report of U.S. support for the talks came after George Mitchell, the Obama administration's special envoy to the region, said Thursday that Washington wished to see the formation of a Hamas-Fatah Palestinian unity government.

He said the efforts to reconcile the factions were important, and labeled the schism as an obstacle to the peace process. Mitchell made the comments at a meeting with the heads of several U.S. Jewish groups.

The reconciliation talks were meant to have begun in Egypt on Sunday, but were postponed last week with Hamas blaming Israel's refusal to agree to a new Gaza truce after its January offensive in the territory to counter cross-border rocket fire.

Hamas drove Fatah out of Gaza in June 2007 after a power struggle that turned violent, leaving Abbas with a truncated mandate in the West Bank.

Fatah has mounted roundups of West Bank Hamas activists. Hamas wants them released as part of the rapprochement efforts.

"In order for the dialogue to succeed, serious work must be exerted to release all political prisoners from the Palestinian Authority jails in the West Bank," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, who also confirmed the Feb. 25 date for the talks.

A Fatah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the group could order an amnesty for some Hamas prisoners.

"Under an understanding with Hamas, there will be releases of many Hamas detainees," the Fatah official told Reuters.

Abbas, which dissolved a government alliance with Hamas after its Gaza takeover, has called for a new union - but on condition the Islamists submit to his authority.

Any unity government including Hamas ministers would have to meet three Western conditions to renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by interim peace accords, U.S. officials said.

A government made up of non-partisan technocrats could have more room to maneuver if it adopted a platform accommodating a two-state solution with Israel, U.S. and EU officials said.

Neither outcome appears to be agreeable to Hamas, whose leaders have said they will not accept a technocratic government, let alone one that embraces the three Western conditions, which they reject.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, discouraged Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

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Last update - 19:28 21/02/2009
Durban II drafts: Israel is racist, occupying state

By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent

Draft resolutions for the United Nations Durban II summit on racism brand Israel as an occupying state that carries out racist policies, Haaretz has learned.

The resolutions appear to confirm concerns that the second World Conference Against Racism will be used by Arab nations and others to criticize Israel. Despite those concerns, the United States said last week it would participate in planning the summit.

United Nations sources relayed on Friday that the resolutions, which will be voted upon at the summit, were formulated at a planning session held by a number of nations in Geneva last week.

They refer to "the plight of Palestinian refugees and other inhabitants of the Arab occupied territories," apparently meaning Israel itself.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that under debate at the session was whether to include a line that the Holocaust "resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people."

Israel and a number of other countries have already decided to boycott the summit, which is set to be held in Geneva, Switzerland in April.

In a statement released last week, the State Department said the U.S. delegation to the planning discussions would review current direction of conference preparations and whether U.S. participation in the conference itself is warranted.

"This will be the first opportunity the [Obama] administration has had to engage in the negotiations for the Durban Review, and - in line with our commitment to diplomacy - the U.S. has decided to send a delegation to engage in the negotiations on the text of the conference document," the department said.

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Last update - 22:47 21/02/2009
Senator Kerry: Syria willing to help achieve Palestinian unity

By Reuters

Syria has indicated it is willing to help achieve a Palestinian unity government that could restart peace talks with Israel, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry said on Saturday.

Syria, which is under U.S. sanctions, hosts the exiled leadership of Hamas and has influence on the Palestinian group.

"Syria could be, in fact, very helpful in helping to bring about a unity government," Senator John Kerry told reporters after meeting President Bashar Assad.

"If you achieve that, then you have made a major step forward not only in dealing with the problems of Gaza but you have made a major step forward in terms of how you reignite discussions for the two-state solution ... I think that Syria indicated to me a willingness to be helpful in that respect."

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is expected to take part in Egyptian-sponsored unity talks between Palestinian groups on Wednesday. Washington supports Cairo's mediation, although it regards Hamas as a terrorist group.

The Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has historically been on poor terms with Damascus.

Abbas broke off peace talks with Israel during its 22-day offensive against Hamas in Gaza but later criticized the Islamist group for what he described as reckless decisions that invited the invasion.

Syria backed Hamas during the conflict, deepening the rift between Damascus and U.S. allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Kerry, one of several Democratic lawmakers to visit Syria since President Barack Obama took office last month, said Syria had an opportunity to take advantage of the new administration in Washington.

"I believe very deeply that this is an important moment of change, a moment of potential transformation, not just in the relationship between the United States and Syria but in the relationship of the region," Kerry said.

Assad had emphasized Syria's desire to have a dialogue with the Obama administration after years of tension with the United States when George W. Bush was in power.

Damascus supports the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Washington has accused Syria of allowing rebels to infiltrate Iraq.

"What I heard is great willingness to share, with respect to Iraq...I heard strong language about the hopes for Lebanon and the possibilities of providing stabilities," said Kerry, who is close to Obama.

"My hope [is that] in the next days things will begin to emerge that can begin to signal that kind of different possibility."

Diplomats in Damascus cautioned that any thaw in relations between Syrian and the United States might not be quick. They said Syria was showing no signs of abandoning support for Hezbollah, or changing its relationship with Iran.

A strengthened alliance between the two countries has irritated Washington although Obama said the United States could open a dialogue with the Islamic Republic.

Washington withdrew its Damascus ambassador after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut.

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Last update - 17:23 21/02/2009
Hamas asks Obama to deal with Palestinians fairly

By The Associated Press

A Hamas official on Saturday disclosed the contents of a letter he wrote to President Obama on behalf of the internationally shunned militant group that rules the Gaza Strip.

Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas government official, said that in the letter, he called on Obama to deal in a fair way with the Palestinian issue. Many Palestinians believe that U.S. foreign policy is biased in Israel's favor.

The letter was given to United Nations officials who passed it to U.S. Sen. John Kerry during a visit to Gaza on Thursday.

Kerry's foray into Gaza marked the highest-level visit by a U.S. politician since Hamas seized power of Gaza in 2007. Kerry did not meet with Hamas officials.

Obama has said he wants to reach out to Muslims everywhere, but it's not clear whether he'll change U.S. policy toward Hamas.

Yousef said that when Hamas learned of Kerry's visit to Gaza, he swiftly penned the letter.

"We tried to seize the opportunity, and that led us to quickly write a letter to President Obama, to be passed to his hands," Yousef told The Associated Press.

He spoke a day after Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denied that Hamas sent the letter. However, Yousef said Saturday that the letter was endorsed by the Hamas government.

Yousef said he also asked Obama to be open toward the militant group, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and most of the international community.

"We also spoke about the need for the U.S. administration to be open with Hamas, which enjoys broad support in the Palestinian street," he said.

The letter summarized the militant group's visions and attitudes, Yousef said, but did not elaborate.

Hamas seeks Israel's eventual destruction, but says it's ready to reach a long-term cease-fire with the Jewish state.

Although some Hamas officials have hinted in the past that they would accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, alongside Israel, it is not the

militant group's formal stance.

Yousef is an adviser to Hamas' Foreign Ministry and is frequently involved in the group's contacts with Western officials.

It was not immediately clear if the letter reached Obama.

Since taking office last month, Obama has said he wants to improve America's ties with the Muslim world. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, is considered close to Obama.

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Last update - 20:15 21/02/2009
Ex-German chancellor tells Iranians 'Holocaust a fact

By Reuters

Visiting former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticized on Saturday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for casting doubt over the Holocaust, saying the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Nazis was a fact.

Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad has provoked international condemnation for saying the Holocaust was a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumor" in the Middle East.

"The Holocaust is a historic fact and there is no sense in denying this unparalleled crime," Schroeder told the Iranian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

"Iran needs to take responsibility and respect international rules, if it wants to be taken seriously as a regional power."

Schroeder, due to meet Ahmadinejad in Tehran later on Saturday, also criticized the hardline leader for his views on Israel which Iran has refused to recognize since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Schroeder arrived in Tehran on Thursday for a four-day unofficial visit.

Ahmadinejad, who often rails against Israel and the West, said in January the subject of the Holocaust had been used to expand the international influence of the United States and Britain after World War Two.

Responding to Schroeder's remarks, the head of Iran's Chamber of Industry and Commerce Mohammad Nahavandian said it would be wrong to "measure the developments in the Middle East with two yardsticks".

"We shouldn't forget the recent massacre of people in the Gaza strip and should internationally condemn Israel for it," Nahavandian said.

He was referring to Israel's recent offensive against Hamas in Gaza, launched to end years of Palestinian rocket attacks. About 1,300 Palestinians were killed during the operation, according to Gaza officials. 13 Israelis were also killed in the hostilities.

Iran has repeatedly condemned the campaign, which Ahmadinejad has described as "genocide".

Israel, the United States and their European allies suspect Iran of trying to use its nuclear program to build an atomic bomb. Tehran insists its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity.

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Last update - 01:02 21/02/2009
Hamas official uses diplomatic channels to send letter to Obama

By Reuters

A Hamas adviser reached out to United States President Barack Obama in a personal letter that was passed from a top United Nations official to a high-ranking U.S. senator during a rare visit to the Gaza Strip, officials said on Friday.

The coastal territory's Hamas rulers disavowed the letter, which the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem will send on to Washington for review.

It was the first known overture of its kind since Obama became president last month, but it is unclear whether it will reach him. A U.S. boycott of Hamas has not changed under the new administration.

Karen AbuZayd, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), gave the letter addressed to Obama, along with other materials, to Sen. John Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during his brief visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Committee spokesman Frederick Jones said Kerry left Gaza and only learned later about the origin of the letter after media reports quoted AbuZayd and other UN officials as saying it had been written by Hamas.

UNRWA said the letter had been left by Hamas at the front of its compound in Gaza City. UNRWA officials had no immediate comment on why Kerry had not been told directly that the letter had been sent by Hamas.

A Palestinian official familiar with the matter said the letter was authored by Ahmed Youssef, a Hamas foreign ministry adviser, and that he acted on his own behalf, rather than as a representative of the Islamist group which rules the Gaza Strip.

Youssef has made appeals to Western leaders in the past to try to soften their opposition to Hamas, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization.

Hamas has long sought to distance itself from Youssef, describing him as a fringe player and academic whose positions are not necessarily in line with the group.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denied that the letter that was given to Kerry had come from the organization or its government in the Gaza Strip.

"At the same time we stress that we are open to hold dialogue with any country and our only enemy is the Zionist occupation," he said.

Kerry handed the unopened letter over to Jacob Walles, the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, on Friday, consulate spokeswoman, Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, said.

"It will be handled through appropriate channels," she said.

Officials declined to disclose the contents of the letter, which will be passed on to Washington.

Kerry, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in 2004, and two U.S. congressmen shunned the Islamists' group during their Gaza visit, which came one month after a 22-day Israeli offensive in which some 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died.

During his visit, Kerry blamed Hamas for provoking Israel's wrath by firing cross-border rockets into the Jewish state.

Hamas won a 2006 Palestinian election and seized control of the Gaza Strip 18 months later after routing forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The United States and the European Union boycott the Islamist group over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals with Israel.

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Last update - 12:11 21/02/2009
U.S. repeats commitment to pursuing two-state solution

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

The United States will continue to press for a two-state solution in Israel's conflict with Palestinians, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Friday, after right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu was asked to form Israel's next government.

"We'll have to see how events unfold in Israel, should Mr. Netanyahu become prime minister, and it will be our point of view that this remains a very important element of our approach and our policy," Rice told National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" program.

Earlier on on Friday State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said "The United States is a longstanding and firm ally of Israel. We will work with the next Israeli government, however it is composed, and we'll move on from there to work on bilateral and regional issues together."

Duguid's comments came a few hours after Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday accepted a mandate to form Israel's next government.

"But as I said, the process is ongoing," the spokesman added. "There is not a government yet. We are still working, you know, with Israel. But I don't have a reaction until we have a government - new government sitting in place."

After last week's inconclusive election, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that U.S. President Barack Obama intends to work toward Middle East peace regardless of who forms the incoming government.

At Friday's briefing, Duguid also noted that the U.S. has been working on the Middle East peace process for a number of years.

"I think this shows determination by the United States to continue to work for a two-state solution in the Middle East and to help bring stability to the region. That is something that we've been committed to for a number of years, and I do not see that changing," he added.

Duguid also said that U.S. policy toward Hamas would not change until the Islamist militant group accepted the existence of Israel, stopped trying to violently overthrow Israel, sought to reengage in the peace process and stopped trying to rearm by smuggling rockets and other arms into Gaza.

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Last update - 20:55 20/02/2009
Hamas: Israel picked 'most dangerous' politician to lead it

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

A Hamas spokesman on Friday said Israel had picked the "most extremist and most dangerous" to lead the country, only hours after Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a mandate to form its next government.

The choice of Netanyahu "does not herald a period or peace or stability in the region," AFP quoted Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum as saying.

Another Hamas official on Friday branded both Netanyahu and his rival, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, as enemies of the Palestinians.

"Hamas doesn't differentiate between Netanyahu and Livni, they are all hostile toward the Palestinian people and they are all terrorists," Hamas official Ismail Radwan told Al-Jazeera. "Tasking Netanyahu with forming the government is a lesson for those who had hoped for peace."

Before last weeks election, Netanyahu pledged to topple Hamas from power in Gaza if elected prime minister.

A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, said on Friday that the PA will not deal with the new Israeli government if it is not committed to peace.

"We will not deal with the Israeli government unless it accepts a two-state solution and accepts to halt settlements and to respect past accords," AFP quoted Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina as saying.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said any future Israeli government that doesn't accept the establishment of a Palestinian state and continues settlement building will not be a partner.

"We will not be in the negotiations for the sake of negotiations," Erekat said.

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Vatican irked by 'blasphemous' Virgin Mary TV spoof in Israel

Last update - 20:58 20/02/2009

By Jack Khoury and The Associated Press

The Vatican said Friday it has formally complained to the Israeli government about an Israeli TV show that ridiculed Jesus and Mary in an offensive act of intolerance.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the segment wouldn't be shown again and that its host, well-known Israeli comedian Lior Shlein, had apologized.

In the program, Shlein sarcastically denied Christian traditions - that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus walked on water - saying he was doing so as a lesson to Christians who deny the Holocaust.

It was a reference to the Vatican's recent lifting of the excommunication of a bishop who denied 6 million Jews were killed during World War II. The rehabilitation sparked outrage among Jews.

A statement from the Vatican press office said its representative in Israel complained to the government about the segment, which was broadcast recently on private Channel 10, one of Israel's three main TV stations, during Shlein's late-night comedy talk show.

In the clip, the Vatican said, Mary and Joseph were ridiculed with blasphemous words and images that amounted to a vulgar and offensive act of intolerance toward the religious sentiments of the believers in Christ.

In the show, Mary is said to have become pregnant at 15, thanks to a schoolmate. It said Jesus could never have walked on water because he was so fat he was ashamed to leave the house, let alone go to the Sea of Galilee with a bathing suit.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the ministry approached Channel 10 based on the papal nuncio's complaints, and was told the segment would not air again. Palmor said the station's legal adviser had also already sent a letter of apology to an attorney who represents a Christian group who had been offended by the segment.

Palmor said Shlein apologized live on Wednesday, and said he didn't mean to offend anyone.

The clip was a sarcastic response to the Vatican's rehabilitation of Bishop Richard Williamson, who said in an interview broadcast on Swedish state TV that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust and that only 200,000 or 300,000 Jews were killed.

he Vatican's rehabilitation of Williamson sparked outrage that only abated after Pope Benedict XVI met with Jewish leaders at the Vatican last week.

During his audience, the German-born pope issued a strong denunciation of anti-Semitism and said it was unacceptable for anyone - particularly a clergyman - to deny or minimize the Holocaust.

The Vatican has demanded that Williamson, a member of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, recant before he can be admitted as a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. On Thursday, the government of Argentina, where Williamson had been living, ordered him expelled within 10 days. It cited an immigration problem but also said his comments about the Holocaust had profoundly insulted Argentina, Jews and all of humanity.

The British-born Williamson had already been removed as director of the society's La Reja seminary. He has apologized for causing distress to the pope but has not recanted. He has said he would only correct himself if he is satisfied after a review of the evidence, but has said that would take time.

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Last update - 01:43 21/02/2009
French FM: No reason to link Shalit deal with Gaza crossings

By Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday that Paris does not agree with Israel's position that a deal must be set for the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit before Gaza Strip border crossings are opened.

Kouchner said that France support an Egyptian proposal for a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and does not believe it necessary to link Shalit with any cease-fire deal. The two issues should be worked out simultaneously, Kouchner said, but the one should not be conditioned on the other.

He also confirmed that France has been indirectly negotiating with Hamas via mediation of Syria, Qatar and Norway.

Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabir al-Thani told French President Nicolas Sarkozy when the two leaders met in Paris two weeks ago that he would engage Hamas intensively to help release Shalit, according to a foreign source.

Israel is still waiting for an answer from Hamas and Egypt on a proposal for marathon talks in Cairo on a new list of Palestinian prisoners to exchange for Shalit.

Sarkozy told al-Thani this was a humanitarian issue and that Shalit was also French citizen. A few months ago Sarkozy gave al-Thani a letter from the Shalit family for Gilad, who gave it to Hamas political-wing head Khaled Meshal.

Meshal, who visits Qatar frequently, is there now as a participant in a conference on assistance to the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's emissary for the Shalit affair, Ofer Dekel, returned yesterday from meetings abroad on Shalit and informed Olmert of the results.

The government source said Hamas and Egypt have "not been enthusiastic" about a meeting in Cairo about the new prisoner list.

The Shalit family and the group rallying for Gilad's release said that if he is not released before Olmert's term ends, Shalit could become "the second Ron Arad," referring to the Israeli airman captured in Lebanon in 1986, whose whereabouts are still officially unknown. Hezi Mashita, an activist for Shalit's release, called yesterday on Olmert not to "miss this last chance for you and for Gilad."

Meanwhile, the stalemate in talks on the Gaza cease-fire has resulted in an increase in rocket fire from the Strip, with 10 mortar shells and a Qassam rocket fired at the western Negev on Friday.

Related articles:

Qatari PM promised Sarkozy to work for Shalit's release

Gaza militants fire 10 mortar shells, Qassam rocket at Negev

Last update - 09:14 20/02/2009
Why Israel's rejection of 'peace' hospital offer angered Turkey

By Akiva Eldar

A Turkish initiative to build an Israeli-Palestinian medical compound on the Israeli side of the Jalameh crossing won the blessing of the Turkish military as well as the support of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The Israeli defense establishment, evidently the final arbiter in such matters, is to blame for the project's premature demise, although final responsibility for the decision lies with the prime minister and defense minister.

The project's impending cancellation has added fuel to the nasty fire that recently erupted between the Jewish state and the important Muslim state, relations which were already screeching to a halt, and it is impeding the prospects for significant positive progress between Israel and the Palestinians. On a more prosaic level, it also blocks an opportunity for a new hospital to be built in Israel, with Turkish funding.

It all began two years ago, during a visit by Olmert to Ankara. His Turkish counterpart, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, asked his guest to meet with his friend, Prof. Ali Dogramaci, rector of Bilkent University in Ankara and a member of one of Turkey's wealthiest and most important families. Dogramaci's father, Prof. Ihsan Dogramaci, 94, twice turned down proffered appointments as president of Turkey.

Ali Dogramaci told Olmert about his plan to build a "Peace Campus" - a medical compound on the Israeli side of the Jalameh crossing, a checkpoint on the Green Line, with an investment of $850 million (approximately NIS 3.5 billion). The plan called for a 200-bed children's hospital, an outpatient clinic staffed by specialists, and a hotel to accommodate the families of Palestinian patients. The patients would be cared for by Israeli, Palestinian and foreign doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff. Employees would live in buildings within the compound, which would also encompass schools, a shopping and entertainment complex and a sports center.

Dogramaci asked Olmert for two things: an allocation of 500 dunams (125 acres) for the project, and creation of a designated gateway to facilitate the quick passage of a small group of staff who would work in the admissions office on the Palestinian side. He agreed that all patients and staff from the Palestinian side would have to obtain entry permits from Israel. He also pledged to finance the compound's operation for 20 years, and to comply with all security-related requests concerning entrance into the compound. Inspections would continue to be carried out at the Jalameh crossing. At the end of this period, Dogramaci promised, he would transfer the compound completely to the State of Israel, which could then do with it as it saw fit. He further pledged that if the project went well, he would build a similar compound on the Palestinian side.

Peres, Barak, Netanyahu

Upon his return to Israel, Olmert entrusted the project to Shimon Peres, then the minister for development of the Negev and the Galilee, who in turn appointed Brig. Gen. (res.) Ilan Paz, former head of the Civil Administration in the West Bank, as Israel's liaison to Dogramaci on the project. Peres continued to take an interest in the project after he became president. He invited Dogramaci to his new office to show his support and also urged Barak to hold a meeting with him.

In February of last year, when Barak visited Ankara, Dogramaci asked his father to invite the Israeli defense minister to a formal dinner at his home, at which Barak was seated next to Turkish President Abdullah Gul. Barak gave the project his blessing and promised that his door would always be open to Dogramaci and his people.

Dogramaci also met with Vice Premier Haim Ramon, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim, Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Eliezer and Jacob Edery, the new minister of development of the Negev and the Galilee, and sources close to the project say he received expressions of approval from all of them. Dogramaci didn't stop there; he also met twice with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. In November 2007, Netanyahu gave him a letter in which he expressed his support in principle for the project. Netanyahu told Haaretz: "I liked the plan because it fit in with my view regarding economic and humanitarian cooperation with the Palestinians." He pledged that if he became prime minister, he would remove any obstacles to the compound's development.

Turkey's ambassador to Israel, Namik Tan, attended all the meetings and relayed the message that the highest echelons of the Turkish government, including Prime Minister Erdogan, stood behind the project and were prepared to take part in its financing and to provide guarantees for its construction.

Danny Atar, chairman of the Gilboa regional council, envisioned the hotels that would be built around the compound and would provide an income to area residents who'd been hit hard by unemployment. He says the project had the potential to employ hundreds. He began speaking with the directors of local hospitals about medical and research cooperation with the future institution.

Atar hosted Dogramaci in his office, and he introduced him to his friend, Jenin governor Kadura Musa. For years, the two of them had been dreaming of this type of joint enterprise. Atar found a 500-dunam parcel of land for the purpose, and Musa, who has transformed Jenin from a city of suicide bombers into a town with hardly any violence, pledged not to let anyone interfere with the special project.

The defense establishment - the Shin Bet, IDF and the NSC - was asked to approve the project, and that's when questions began to arise. People associated with the project say the message from them was: Why should we look for trouble? What will happen if Hamas takes control of the West Bank? And what will we do if a terrorist infiltrates the compound and kidnaps a doctor?

An $850-million peace initiative and gift will go down the drain? That's not our problem, said senior defense officials. If the donor is so concerned about Palestinian children, let him build them a hospital in Jenin. The Turks will be offended? The Foreign Ministry will deal with that. The prime minister and defense minister gave the project their blessing? Tomorrow they'll be out of office and we're the ones who will be left with the headache.

In June 2008, Defense Ministry director general Pinchas Buchris invited Ilan Paz and representatives from the IDF, the Shin Bet security service, the National Security Council and the checkpoint administration to his office to discuss all the aspects of the project. Paz said at the meeting that the developer had pledged to finance all the security expenses, including the cost of crossing-point inspections, under the direction and supervision of Israeli security officials. After listening patiently to the project's opponents, Buchris said he felt that they hadn't taken the trouble to study the plan with enough care. He said he was leaving the decision to Barak, the minister, but asked the various officials to do their homework, meet with Paz again and come back to him with their comments.

Buchris did not respond when contacted by Haaretz. Paz is still waiting for a phone call from the relevant officials. Six months ago, the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee told him it no longer needed his services, and since then he has been serving as Dogramaci's liaison on a volunteer basis, in an attempt to rescue the project and keep it alive.

Make up your minds

In early December, almost two years after the first meeting between Olmert and the developer, Paz sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Bureau with copies to the president and all the ministers who'd heaped their praises on Dogramaci. He asked Olmert to make a government decision with regard to the project. If the government wished to see the medical compound become a reality, it should task the Defense Ministry or the Infrastructure Ministry with advancing the plan. If the government was not interested in the project, he asked for it to so kind as to inform the developer and the Turkish government of Israel's intention to decline the offer.

The answer arrived four weeks later. An aide to the director general of the Prime Minister's Office informed Paz that due to "a lack of security feasibility," the project was not approved. This was at the height of Operation Cast Lead, which sparked a severe crisis in Israel-Turkey relations. Dogramaci continued to believe, however, that the Israeli side would keep its promises.

After repeated requests for comment, Paz offered this reply: "It's too bad that after so many of the country's leaders welcomed the project, they're letting the defense establishment sabotage it. I certainly don't belittle security considerations, but the time has come to stop viewing everything through the hole of the gun-sight and to understand that a political-security reality is not built solely by means of targeted assassinations and checkpoints. Anyone who claims that the compound will constitute a security hazard hasn't bothered to read the plan."

Namik Tan, the Turkish ambassador to Israel, confirmed that all the politicians who met with Dogramaci praised the project, but said that unfortunately, "for practical reasons," it did not take further shape, so that now all he can do is hope that the new government will approve it. He said he also hoped that the political echelon would take advantage of the opportunity to also instruct the security echelon to remove the obstacles standing in the way of plans to build industrial zones in Tarkumiya and Jalama, on Palestinian land.

Tan says that his government invited experts and officials from Israel to Turkey so they could see similar projects built by Dogramaci that have been a great success. "My government, including the most senior echelon, considers the Peace Campus in Gilboa to be a most important project. The entire Turkish establishment wholeheartedly supports it," says the ambassador.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry told Haaretz that the project raises tricky security issues that require thorough examination. The defense minister's office and the Shin Bet declined to provide a response. The IDF Spokesman said that the army supports the construction of the project and assistance to the Palestinians, on condition that it be built in Palestinian territory.

More reliable than Palestinians

The idea of building the project in Palestinian territory was presented to Dogramaci, but he insists that the compound be built on the Israeli side, because he finds Israel more reliable than the Palestinians. He also attributes importance to Israel being able to present the project as a gesture of reconciliation and peace. He is still waiting for an official response from Israel; if it turns down the project, he says he will seek to build it somewhere else.

Danny Atar is from the mainstream of the Labor Party, and was among the first to press the political echelon to build the separation fence. Still, he believes that such barriers alone are not a long-term answer. "For years, every time terror increased, we told the Palestinians that as long as we have no quiet, they would pay the price. Now, in the past year, thanks to a courageous and wise governor, Jenin has become the quietest place in the territories. Governor Kadura Musa's message to his population has been that economic well-being and health services go hand-in-hand with law and order. If we kill the Turkish peace compound, we'll be showing them that he was mistaken."

Atar emphasizes that Dogramaci asked him for nothing at all except for a suitable piece of land near the seam line. As for the security officials' arguments, he says: "As a former military man, I say with full confidence that there is no security problem here. This is just an invented excuse and everyone can see that. It's a policy of fear befitting unenlightened regimes."

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Leading U.S. rabbi welcomed Obama, now stands accused of idolatry

By Anshel Pfeffer

Last update - 15:24 20/02/2009

When I was a child of about six, a black-coated man tried to push me out of the Manchester synagogue where my family had davened for more than three decades, built on land my great-grandfather had purchased. My father rushed to my defense, only to be harangued himself, in angry Yiddish, by my persecutor.

Outside, he tried to explain what had got the gentleman all worked up. I was wearing a T-shirt with a small logo of Alfa-Romeo Motors on it. By now some readers will be nodding their heads, implicitly understanding the root of the trouble. For those still baffled, the Alfa Romeo symbol contains a dragon and a red cross. Still haven't gotten it? Exhibiting a cross, no matter how oblique, in some Orthodox synagogues is like entering a mosque swigging a bottle of Red Label.

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York would never have made the mistake of wearing a cross, certainly not in shul. But he nevertheless is in hot water for a similar "Christian" offense to Orthodox sensibilities: He attended a joint interfaith prayer service commemorating President Barack Obama's inauguration, contravening the rules of the Rabbinical Council of America, of which he is a member. And what's worse, he did it in a church.

It is not yet clear whether the RCA will discipline Lookstein for his actions, but the statement put out by the organization - "Any member of the RCA who attends such a service does so in contravention of this policy and should not be perceived as representing the organization in any capacity" - does seem a bit ominous.

There are two issues at stake here. One is the participation in interfaith services, which most Orthodox rabbis believe is wrong since it could legitimize Christian missionaries' argument that Jews can embrace Jesus. I'll leave that one to the theologians. The other issue is the lingering feeling of suspicion and historical fear that many Jews still feel toward Christian symbols, and the concern that by entering a church and appreciating the architecture, the music and the service, one may be infringing upon the Torah's prohibition of avoda zara (idolatry).

And while nobody says that entering a cathedral and marveling at the nave equals converting to Catholicism, the Talmud has strict instructions on not even enjoying avoda zara.

Murky waters

But here we are in rather murky waters. It is almost impossible to live a normal life in western society without being surrounded constantly by Christian symbols. Even the most ultra-Orthodox rabbi routinely carries crosses and pictures of churches around with him in his wallet, on the coins and banknotes issued by almost every central bank in Europe.

Outside of Israel that doesn't mean anything. But at the age of eight, upon arriving for my first day at an Israeli religious school, I was sternly told by the mathematics teacher that I must not write the full plus sign, but instead should leave off the bottom leg. On keyboards in the computer room, half the offensive signs were scratched off. My protests - that I knew what a cross looks like and a plus sign is not a cross - were to no avail. The Jewish school I attended in Manchester was just as religious, but no one there would have dreamt up an idea as ridiculous as truncating the plus sign.

So when is a cross just a cross, not a crucifix? And when is sitting in church simply fulfilling "a civic duty to honor the new president of the United States," as Rabbi Lookstein said in his defense, not a desecration of one of the Ten Commandments? Indeed, the good rabbi wasn't the only Orthodox Jew in Washington's National Cathedral that morning. Attending the service was also Senator Joe Lieberman and a handful of other frummer machers.

Are Jews allowed to drive Alfa Romeos without breaking the symbol off? Can they listen to Mozart's Requiem so long as they don't understand the Latin? Can much of the renaissance paintings and sculptures be appreciated despite the fact that they were commissioned for cathedrals and monasteries and usually contain Christian themes?

Cultural value

Even within Orthodox circles, the answers to these questions diverge wildly. Some rule unquestionably that this is avoda zara and therefore art galleries and concert halls are off limits, let alone a tour of a historic and architecturally fascinating church. Others laugh at the idea of calling this modern-day idolatry, and look at all these things solely for their cultural value.

There is, of course, a political aspect to all this. The RCA is under fire from the more conservative U.S. ultra-Orthodox elements for being too liberal. That is probably the reason it felt the need to censure Rabbi Lookstein. But I doubt that anyone there really thinks for a moment that he was committing one of the three cardinal sins. One hopes he can at least rely on the support and understanding of the members of his own congregation.

This doesn't mean that the concept of avoda zara is meaningless in the 21st century.

But that's another theological debate for another place. Meanwhile, for those who might be worried at the lack of clear guidelines of how to avoid avoda zara, it would probably be best to adapt the common-sense definition of pornography - "I know it when I see it."

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Jewish leaders hail Argentina decision to expel Holocaust-denying bishop

By Reuters

Last update - 16:06 20/02/2009

World Jewish leaders on Friday praised Argentina's decision to order the expulsion of an ultra-traditionalist Catholic bishop who caused an international furor by denying the full extent of the Holocaust.

One group called on other governments to follow Argentina's lead and crack down on anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in their countries.

Argentina's government announced on Thursday it had ordered Bishop Richard Williamson to leave within 10 days or be expelled from the country where he has lived for years.

"The government of Argentina has advanced the cause of truth and has struck a blow against hate," said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

Williamson, who headed a traditionalist seminary near Buenos Aires until earlier this month, has said there were no gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in Germany's Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million figure that is widely accepted.

"This decision is commendable, even more so because the government of Argentina makes it crystal clear that Holocaust deniers are not welcome in the country," said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC).

Williamson was one of four ultra-traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted by Pope Benedict in January. The pope's decision to open the door for him to eventually be fully readmitted into the Church was met with widespread criticism by Jews and many Catholics.

The WJC's Lauder said he hoped Argentina's move would inspire other countries to take action against those who deny the Holocaust.

"Sadly, other countries and governments are much less inclined to crack down on any attempts to denigrate the victims of the Shoah," Lauder said, using the Hebrew word for Holocaust.

The Vatican said it had no comment on the expulsion order by Argentina, a predominantly Catholic country with one of the oldest Jewish communities outside Israel.

The Vatican ordered Williamson to retract his comments. The British-born bishop responded that he needed more time to review the "evidence".

Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, where Williamson made the remarks last year that were broadcast on Swedish television last month. State prosecutors in the German city of Regensburg are investigating him for incitement.

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Peering into the real meaning of Shahar's Dubai ordeal

By Jerrold Kessel

Last update - 03:19 20/02/2009

To watch or not to watch, was this week's question: All the top women were in action, but wasn't a counter-boycott in order?

Shahar Peer was adamant: Her exclusion from the prestigious Dubai event was unfair, unjust, and deserved sanction of some sort. She's less on the ball in resorting to the hoary old non-truism about sport and politics not mixing. Like all aspects of life, sport can't be simply divorced from politics, not even when we don't like the kind of politics.

Abu Dhabi officials muddied the waters somewhat by insisting that security considerations were what lay behind the refusal to let Shahar play, not blatant discrimination against Israelis. Swedish authorities went down the same road in announcing, when Sweden hosts Israel in the upcoming Davis Cup match, there will be no spectators for "security reasons."

Some instant gratification was to be had from tennis officialdom, fellow competitors, and even sports writers across the political spectrum lining up to vent indignation and distaste at the pusillanimous position of the Gulf state selling itself as the coming powerhouse of world sport.

Dubai's Sports City, a $4 billion venture due for completion next year, will incorporate a global cricket academy, the world hockey academy, the Butch Harmon School of Golf, Manchester United's first purpose-built soccer school, a tennis academy, an Olympic swimming pool, and other world-class arenas. Scouring the Web proved supporters of the decision to keep Shahar out were few and far between.

Mostly, it was the tone of Michelle Kaufman in the Miami Herald: "For all the guts and ferocity they show on the court, the women of professional tennis (and the officials of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour) wimped out by deciding to carry on with the Dubai Tennis Championships... They should have boycotted. That would have sent a real message to the United Arab Emirates. Instead, they are fumbling and bumbling, saying all the right things, insisting they sympathize with Peer, but the words ring hollow."

Or, Richard Williams in the Guardian: "Just imagine... that, by winning the Champions League final in May, Liverpool become Europe's representatives in the Club World Cup, to be held this year for the first time in the United Arab Emirates... Envisage what might happen when visas are requested for the members of Rafael Benitez's squad. Liverpool will be told to leave Yossi Benayoun, their Israeli international midfield player, at home."

The players were united in their criticism, but went ahead and played anyway. The Web site of the intelligent Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli reflected the sentiment well: "We do not prejudice on the basis of religion, nationality, color, gender or sexual orientation. There is only one prejudice to which tennis players and fans subscribe - the virtuous prejudice called ability... We love the sport and glory in the competition and accept, if not always celebrate, every player and every diversity - whether Christian, Atheist, Jew, Moslem, black, white, gay, straight, cheese-and-pickle, whatever."

Hamlet is helpful: "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, and enterprises of great pith and moment with his regard their currents turn awry and lose the name of action."

Even though Israel's doubles specialist Andy Ram was late Thursday granted a visa to play in next week's men's tournament in Dubai, neither the predicament of Israeli sportsfolk, nor the world sportsfolk dilemmas about how to handle mounting questions about Israel's place in the world, are likely suddenly to dissipate in a welter of "love for the game."

What will happen when even friendly countries regard the "regime" in Jerusalem as unsavory? The most emphatic sports boycott helped bring down apartheid in South Africa.

Heed the thinking of another Guardian columnist, Seth Freedman: "The boycott-Israel campaign is gaining traction once more with supporters encouraging everything from Israel's artichokes to its academics to be shunned and turned into symbolic pariah figures as a way of putting pressure on the country's leaders."

And, friendlier voices - Dave Zirin for instance, an important sports blogger and author of "A People's History of Sports in the United States."

"Sport in Israel may represent a sacredly apolitical space, a place to flee the headaches of the real world, but it has been thrust into the heart of a conflict raw with politics. Protests against Israeli actions in Gaza are sure to continue in sporting events outside the U.S. But the ramifications could very easily be felt inside our borders, as political leaders come to the White House and tell the new administration tales of sports fans gone wild."

Another important insight comes from a New Zealand chatroom. Last month in Auckland Shahar had to face down what Hamish McBrearty called "odious attempts" to harass her on court: "The reason the protest was so disgusting was that Peer is just a person going about her normal business.

I can understand people protesting the 1981 Springbok Rugby Tour, as that team represented South Africa, was chosen along racial lines and gave some legitimacy to the regime, but Peer is a professional tennis player representing herself, she just happens to be Israeli."

Unlike individual tennis players, national and club teams competing internationally don't just 'happen to be Israeli.' Sports aren't as central to Israeli life as they were to white racist South Africa. Sadly, though, it could well become the thin edge of a deadly boycott - even if there is no sort of sports apartheid or blatant discrimination of Arab citizens in other fields of life.

But hasn't "no loyalty, no citizenship" become a popular catchphrase? Who will guarantee that Arab players won't one day be obliged to sing the national anthem when selected for the national team? And, what if/when there is a slide into some apartheid practices should we turn back on the two-state principle?

Maybe in the end, as Hamlet has it, we should accept it depends much more on what we do, than on what others do to us: "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?" End them, that is, by doing right by ourselves and so deny others the chance to wrong us.

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Indyk: Netanyahu may seek Syria deal to deflect U.S. pressure

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 23:27 19/02/2009

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said Thursday that he believes that should Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu become Israel's next prime minister, he "will try to deflect American pressure by seeking a deal with Syrians"

Indyk, who was born to a Jewish family in England but grew up primarily in Australia, has made a career of Middle East diplomacy and support for Israel. Among other entries on an impressive resume, he has worked at AIPAC, founded the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and served two stints as U.S. envoy to Israel.

His terms as U.S. ambassador to Israel coincided with Netanyahu's truncated term as prime minister between 1996 and 1999.

According to Indyk, Netanyahu will not seek peace with Syria "because he wants to avoid the concessions in the West Bank, but because there is a strategic rationale in backing a deal with Syria. This deal is an interesting deal ? territories not for peace, but territories for Syrian realignment, leaving the Iranian sphere of influence. Netanyahu believes it will be attractive to the Israeli public and for Obama's administration."

Speaking during a panel on Israel's recent elections at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Indyk said "back in the 90s, we had a fairly intimate, although a bit bumpy relationship," he recalled Netanyahu's administration, using the former prime minister's nickname Bibi. "The consequences of Bibi's approach got him into considerable trouble with [then U.S. President Bill] Clinton and brought tension to U.S.-Israel relations."

"The consequence of Bibi's consent to hand over 13.1 percent of the West Bank to Yasser Arafat ? Bibi's government collapsed soon after. Netanyahu remembers this episode very well. I had a conversation with him four months ago, when he said that Barack Obama will be the next president of the U.S., and he'll be the next prime-minister of Israel and added 'we'll make beautiful music together.'"

"I reminded him of past episodes, and he told me that the mistake was not to form a National Unity government with Shimon Peres when he [Netanyahu] defeated him, and 'this time I'll do it and it will settle all.'"

Indyk said that Netanyahu would probably prefer to form National Unity government with Labor, not Kadima - "He would like to grind up Kadima, so Likud will be stronger," he said.

One of Bill Clinton's biggest mistakes, said Indyk, was to become "too involved" in Israeli politics. "The prolonged involvement of the U.S. in the region shows that we push one door - and the other opens. We should set the course and see what opportunity arises. My sense is that Bibi will go with the Syrians. To try to move Israeli-Palestinian negotiations forward - that must include a real settlement freeze and blocking terror on the Palestinian side, and also holding out an open hand to Iranians, if they want to be a part of this process."

"I think Obama made very clear during the campaign his steadfast commitment to Israel's survival. But he also?said he doesn't have to support the right-wing parties [in Israel], and I suspect the biggest test will come with the question of the settlement freeze, especially with narrow right-wing coalition."

Addressing a possible reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, Indyk said that "America would like to see national unity government with both sides. Do we continue Bush's policy and block such reconciliation? I don't think we should stand in the way of such an effort."

Regarding the approaching elections in Lebanon, Indyk noted that "a coalition that will give Hezbollah control of the government - from the Israeli perspective it's not such a bad thing, because for them it will be easier to deter a government than a terrorist organization. Regarding the peace negotiations ? the issues between Israel and Lebanon are few - Shebaa farms which can easily be resolved, there's no reason for Israel to hold on them. The deal is there. It's important to get these negotiations going, because it's in American interest to preserve Lebanon?s independence."

On Iran, Indyk said that it seems that "Israel is willing to give diplomacy a chance, maybe for tactical reasons - to let Obama understand that it doesn't work, and then get to sanctions. They appear to give it a chance. I sense that this horizon has stretched a bit."

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Egypt recalls commerce delegation to Israel

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 22:09 19/02/2009

Egypt suspended commercial cooperation talks with Israel on Thursday in what was thought to be protest over Israel's cabinet decision on Wednesday not to open its border crossings with the Gaza Strip until Hamas agrees to release abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Egypt has been mediating efforts to strike a cease fire agreement between Israel and Hamas since Israel's three week military offensive in the Gaza Strip ended on January 18.

Hamas, who have held Shalit since he was abducted by Gaza militants in 2006, said that by linking Shalit's release to a Gaza cease-fire agreement, Israel essentially stabbed Egypt in the back.

The Egyptian commerce delegation was called to return to Cairo urgently. Delegation members, Egyptian foreign ministry officials involved in cultivating commercial cooperation between Egypt and Israel, arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday for talks with Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.

However, Egypt's ambassador to Israel called the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem Thursday evening and said that the delegation suspended the talks due to technical reasons and was called back to Egypt for professional consultations. He stressed that the move was not politically motivated and that the delegation will return to Jerusalem to resume the talks as early as next week.

Shortly after the talks began on Thursday, the head of the Egyptian delegation received a phone call from the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv informing him of an order from Cairo to halt the talks and return to Egypt immediately.

The Egyptian diplomats apologized and explained "this is an order from up high, and we must abide."

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying "we regret the Egyptian decision to halt the quarterly talks held today at the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry in Jerusalem. This is an economic meet whose very existence represents Egyptian interests no less than Israeli ones. This decision sends a negative message to business people in Egypt, Israel and the U.S. who wish to promote commerce between the two nations. We hope the talks will resume soon."

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George Mitchell: U.S. committed to Israel security, Palestinian state

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 01:45 20/02/2009

On the eve of his second visit to the Middle East this weekend, the U.S. administration's special envoy to the region George Mitchell told the heads of several U.S. Jewish groups on Thursday that the U.S. was committed both to Israel's security and to the establishment of a Palestinian state and that though the issue of Israeli settlements comes up in every conversation with Arab leaders, "it is not the only issue."

Among the participants in the conference call with Mitchell were Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; UJC representative rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Ira Forman, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), representatives of J Street, Americans for Peace Now and others.

The U.S. envoy stressed that striking economic peace between Israel and the Palestinians, without diplomatic efforts, would not succeed, explaining that diplomatic and economic efforts "must be parallel, not sequential. You can't have economic development when you're shutting the door in the face of any diplomatic development."

"We had 700 days of failure in Northern Ireland [where Mitchell served as a central negotiator] and one day of success. I cannot guarantee you a result, but I can guarantee you an effort," he said, adding that "we have a firm and unshakable commitment to the security of the State of Israel, and a commitment to seek a lasting peace based on a two-state solution."

Mitchell announced that though he has no intention of postponing his planned trip to the region, he also plans to attend the March 2 Gaza Donors Conference in Cairo together with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for whom the trip would mark the first visit to the region in her current capacity.

The U.S. administration is waiting to see how the results of Israel's recent elections will take shape, Mitchell said, adding that when a new coalition emerges in Israel "we'll take up a full range of issues."

The Mideast envoy told the Jewish group leaders that on his way back from his first visit to the region, he was struck while reading the "Mitchell Report" he had written on the Middle East eight years ago how much has changed in that time. For instance, he said, Iran was not mentioned in that document, but the country was brought up in the "first sentence" of his initial meetings with every leader in the region. Today, he said, all the conflicts in the region are viewed through the Iran prism, and the U.S. administration will devise a "coordinated strategy that will take into account regional leaders concerns regarding Iran."

Ira Forman of NJDC said after the conference call: "Clearly they wanted to create an impression that this administration is really serious about an input from their constituency groups. I was impressed with their openness. He was comfortable with the role of the diplomat, he knew the politics of the region and he said more than once that two principles that this administration was talking about the unshakable firm commitment to peace process that ends up in a two state solution."

Ori Nir, the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, voiced satisfaction over the the U.S. administration's frankness with the pro-Israel community in the U.S., saying "Mitchell's positive, hope-driven attitude must be commended."

"[U.S. President Barack] Obama's administration expects the incoming Israeli administration to abandon the campaign slogans and roll up its sleeves in order to seriously operate on the economic and diplomatic planes simultaneously," he said.

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Ehud Olmert, we will miss you

By Ariel Zilber

Last update - 23:18 19/02/2009

It's time for a left-winger's mea culpa, a letter of apology to the man who coulda, woulda, shoulda led our camp to the promised land. Make no mistake, we will rue the day we ran Ehud Olmert out of office.

We can comfort ourselves until we're blue in the face and say it was the right thing to do, the moral thing. After all, how can we keep looking away when allegation after allegation surfaces of Olmert's wrongdoing, some of which leaves you wondering how shameless the man could be for racking up frequent flyer miles at the expense of Yad Vashem and Friends of the IDF.

Still, we will curse ourselves for jettisoning this man, who for all his warts and criminal tendencies is still the best hope for the peace camp, perhaps the last hope for the peace camp. That is why we must pray that he be exonerated for all of the petty crimes which he is suspected of committing.

The left-wingers who are now crying in their Miso soup following last week's election debacle have no idea how good they had it over the last two years. They have no clue as to who their prime minister was. Olmert is the great white hope, the knight in shining armor, the man that Israel needs to return to the political scene once his legal troubles subside.

Think about it: he is perfectly positioned to lead Israel out of the West Bank. He is the right mix of moxie, arrogance, egomaniacal drive, and Machiavellian slipperiness.

Ariel Sharon could not have picked a better successor, since they share so many of the same traits that enabled them to weather the rough waters of Israeli politics over the course of decades. Olmert is just as wily, just as slick and corrupt as Sharon. And, thanks to the bookend military adventures against Hezbollah and Hamas, he has proven himself to be just as brutal.

The carnage in Gaza will only enhance Olmert's "street cred" in the eyes of Israelis. For the job of peacemaker, wimps need not apply, especially in the Middle East. Yossi Beilin's ideas of how the region should look in 20 years are precisely in line with the policies which the Israeli government should adopt, yet Yossi Beilin is the absolute last person on earth who will ever be voted into office to see his vision through.

If Olmert steers clear of prison and overcomes his legal hurdles by the time the next elections roll around, he can lay claim to another hallowed piece of real estate - the center of the Israeli political map. He can attract votes from security-minded rightists by claiming that he deterred rocket attack in the north and the south by whipping Hezbollah and Hamas. To leftists, he can point to his peace negotiations with the Palestinians. If only those pesky police and prosecutors had just left me alone, we would have been out of Hebron by now.

Could anyone other than Charles de Gaulle have uprooted one million French settlers from Algeria? How does one explain Richard Nixon, the man who built a career out of the worst kind of red-baiting and whose hatred for Communism was legendary, executing what many historians consider to be strokes of foreign policy genius ? opening relations with Communist China and signing arms-control treaties with the Soviet Union? King Hussein was lauded as a peace-loving statesman, yet he would never have reached his position had he not brutally suppressed the Palestinian coup attempt against his regime in September 1970, which resulted in the deaths of thousands. Rabin could not have recognized the PLO without having ordered his army to "break the bones" of Palestinian stone throwers in the first intifada a few years earlier. And Sharon could not have withdrawn from Gaza without skillfully manipulating and subordinating Israel's democratic process to his will.

The moral of the story is that it makes little sense to hold our leaders to a standard that we ourselves could never reach. For as much as many would hate to admit, Olmert is a reflection of all of us. Who wouldn't want a steep discount on a pricey piece of real estate, or a chance to kick back in first class while sampling the finest bubbly and puffing on a fat Stogie? Olmert is simply a prisoner of his baser instincts. His hedonism brought about his downfall, and the loss is ours. Here's hoping a comeback is in the offing.

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Amnesty: Egypt will not disclose location of blogger protesting its Gaza policy

By Reuters

Last update - 18:55 19/02/2009

Egyptian authorities have not disclosed the whereabouts of a blogger and activist who campaigns against Egypt's Gaza policy and was reported to have been detained this month, Amnesty International says.

Diaa Eddin Gad, 22, was detained on February 6 outside his home in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya by security men, Amnesty said in a statement on Thursday.

"He is believed to be held incommunicado in an unknown location, putting him at danger of torture," the London-based rights group said.

Inquiries by his lawyers and family have failed to locate Gad. Egypt normally reveals the location of detained activists to their families or lawyers within days.

Gad's blog Sawt Ghadib or "An Angry Voice" (http://soutgadeb.blogspot.com) contains pro-Gaza slogans, news and commentary on Gaza, as well as strident denunciations of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and security services.

Egypt has been less tolerant of criticism of its Gaza policy since the Israeli offensive that ended on January 18. This increased Egyptian public opposition to Cairo's participation in an Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-run territory.

Authorities also detained an Egyptian-German activist who blogs on Gaza issues, Philip Rizk, this month. They released him after several days following an international outcry.

The Egyptian government is wary that public support for Gaza will boost the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group in the country, which has ideological and historical ties with Hamas.

Related articles:

Egypt to Hamas: Take Gaza truce before Netanyahu is voted PM

Hamas: Shalit release not included in Gaza truce

Egypt's Mubarak to EU: Hamas must not be allowed to win in Gaza

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UAE grants Israeli tennis player Ram visa to compete in Dubai tournament

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

Last update - 19:21 19/02/2009

The Association of Tennis Professionals says Israeli player Andy Ram has been granted a visa to enter the United Arab Emirates to play at next week's Dubai Tennis Championships.

ATP president Adam Helfant says the United Arab Emirates government has made the right decision in allowing Andy Ram to enter their country and compete.

Thursday's decision comes only days after Israeli player Shahar Peer was

denied a visa for this week's WTA Tour tournament in Dubai.

The ATP had previously given the UAE a Friday evening deadline to decide whether to grant Ram a visa, the player's agent said.

The small, Arab Gulf nation banned Israeli women's tennis star Shahar Peer earlier this week from entering the country to participate in the lucrative Dubai Tennis Championships and had been reluctant to respond to Ram's request to play in the men's tournament next week. Organizers said they feared fan anger over Israel's recent military offensive against Hamas in Gaza would spill into riots if Peer were to play.

The tennis world has harshly criticized the UAE for its ban of Israelis, with top past and present women players coming to Peer's defense - including Billie Jean King and Venus and Serena Williams. Tennis governing officials warned that holding future tennis events in Dubai could be in doubt if the ban on Israelis persisted.

Meanwhile French daily newspaper Le Monde published a caricature Thursday, ridiculing bodies that have recently disparaged Israel.

The caricature notes that Shahar Peer has been denied a visa to the UAE, and shows an image of the Pope saying "Israel? Does it still exist?"

Last month Pope Benedict XVI stirred outrage throughout Jewish communities when he lifted the excommunication of a bishop who publicly denied the Holocaust.

The artist asks in the drawing if Peer will be replaced in the tournament, and as a reply draws a figure of a Muslim woman in traditional clothing and a tennis racket as a veil saying "I already have the equipment."

The controversy could undermine the UAE's desire to host big-time global sporting events. The Peer incident has already tarnished the country's reputation. The Tennis Channel canceled plans to televise the women's tournament, and the Wall Street Journal Europe withdrew as one of its sponsors.

A prominent group of Jewish American leaders has urged the Women's Tennis Association to punish the UAE for banning Peer and called on international tennis authorities to cancel the men's tournament if Ram was not allowed to participate.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he had dispatched a letter to Dubai authorities urging them to reconsider their stand. "I hope they got the message and don't compound one mistake with another," he said in Jerusalem.

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, announced Wednesday that the UAE ambassador to the U.S. informed him that Ram would be granted a visa. But Ram's agent said he has not heard anything official from tennis officials.

The UAE's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Ram's visa status Thursday. The tournament's director did not answer repeated calls from AP and neither did the director of Dubai's Naturalization and Residency Department.

The ban on Israeli athletes is just the latest fallout for Israel from its three-week-long offensive against militants in Gaza. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis were killed in the fighting. The operation was heavily criticized around the world and sparked a public spat with the leader of Turkey, war crimes allegations and broken ties with Venezuela, Bolivia and Qatar.

On Wednesday, Swedish authorities said that Sweden and Israel will play their first-round Davis Cup tennis match in an empty arena next month because of security concerns.

Several anti-Israel demonstrations are planned during the best-of-five series, which will be played March 6-8 at the 4,000-seat Baltic Hall. The city's recreational committee said it could not guarantee security for the fans.

Michael Klein, chairman of the Israel Tennis Federation, said it was a shame that political demonstrators could force Sweden to keep fans out.

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Iran envoy calls for global nuclear disarmament

By Reuters

Last update - 15:19 19/02/2009

An Iranian enovy called on Thursday for global negotiations aimed at total nuclear disarmament, saying that the elimination of atomic weapons was the only guarantee against their use or threatened use.

Alireza Moaiyeri, Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, addressed the Conference on Disarmament shortly before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was expected to issue its latest watchdog report on Iran.

Western powers suspect Iran is secretly trying to develop the capacity to make atomic bombs. Iran says its uranium enrichment program is only to meet growing electricity needs.

"The existence of nuclear weapons simply means that all states will continue to live with a permanent sense of insecurity," Moaiyeri told the Conference on Disarmament (CD).

"Along that line, the primary goal for the CD should be to remove this source of insecurity and to establish a world free of nuclear weapons."

IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said in Paris on Tuesday that Iran was still not helping UN inspectors find whether it worked on developing an atom bomb in the past but that Tehran had slowed its expansion of a key nuclear facility.

ElBaradei's remarks suggested that progress on installing more centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment site was much slower than had been expected.

Moaiyeri said Tehran supported the start of talks on a fissile material "cut-off" treaty to ban production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium used for making nuclear bombs.

The pact should cover existing stocks of fissile material as well as future production, according to its envoy.

Iran also backed negotiations on preventing an arms race in outer space and on a legally binding instrument to provide security assurances to non-nuclear weapon states, he said.

The Geneva disarmament forum has failed to reach consensus needed to launch talks on any issue since clinching global pacts banning chemical weapons and underground nuclear explosions in the 1990s.

Diplomats hope the new U.S. administration will offer initiatives to revive the conference, given President Barack Obama's public commitment to furthering nuclear disarmament.

The CD's 65 members include the five official nuclear weapon powers - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - as well as nuclear-capable India, Pakistan and Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arms.

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Jewish Yemenite family arrives in Israel after secret rescue

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and the Associated Press

Last update - 00:25 20/02/2009

A small group of Yemenite Jews arrived in Israel on Thursday in a covert operation carried out by the Jewish Agency.

The Agency's Spokesman Michael Jankelowitz refused to say how the 10 people were rescued, citing security concerns, but said they had been threatened by al-Qaida.

The Ben Yisrael family was extricated from the city of Raida, after suffering from anti-Semitic attacks and repeated death threats.

A few weeks ago, a grenade was thrown into the courtyard of the family's home in Raida, possibly by al Qaida-affiliated extremists.

Said Ben Yisrael, who heads the Raida Jewish community, and his family are due to take up Israeli citizenship upon their arrival. They will be taken to Beit Shemesh, accompanied by a Jewish Agency team.

There are approximately 280 Jews left today In Yemen, 230 of whom live in Raida in the Omran province, and another 50 Jews live in the capital city of Sana'a.

Yemenite Jews have the special protection of the President of Yemen Ali Abdallah Salah. In recent years, however, anti-Semitic attacks against Jews have spiralled out of control.

The tension reached a boiling point last December, when Moshe Yaish Nahari, father of 9, was murdered by a Muslim extremist.

Threats against Jews in Yemen have escalated following Israel's recent three-week offensive in Gaza.

Director General of the Jewish Agency, Moshe Vigdor, said that the Jewish Agency is closely following the situation of the community in Yemen and promises to help in any way possible.

Director-General of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah and Absorption Department Eli Cohen said that the Jewish Agency strives to ensure the safety of community members and that it is working to bring to Israel quickly most of the Jews in Yemen who wish to immigrate. The new immigrants will receive special assistance from the Jewish Agency, including a grant of 40,000 shekels per family.

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U.S. Senator John Kerry makes rare visit to Hamas-ruled Gaza

By The Associated Press

Last update - 20:30 19/02/2009

United States Senator John Kerry visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday as part of a rare trip by American politicians to the area.

The former Democratic presidential nominee said he was in Gaza to see the aftermath of Israel's military offensive there last month. He did not meet with anyone from Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group.

Kerry said his visit did not signal any change in American Mideast policy. He told residents that Hamas must take moves toward peace and halt its rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Kerry was joined by an armed United Nations convoy. He inspected the ruins of a school destroyed in the Israel Defense Forces offensive and toured a neighborhood in northern Gaza that was heavily damaged in the fighting.

Earlier Thursday, two Democratic congressmen traveled separately to Gaza, the first congressional delegation to enter the area since Hamas took power nearly two years ago.

The Democratic congressmen, Brian Baird of Washington and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, were in Gaza early Thursday, the U.S. consulate said.

Consulate spokeswoman Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm said the lawmakers would meet with United Nations officials. There were no plans to meet with Hamas.

Visits by U.S. officials to Gaza have been rare since Palestinian militants blew up an American diplomatic convoy in October 2003, killing three people, and no American representatives have gone since Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006. The group violently seized control of Gaza the following year.

Since taking office last month, President Barack Obama has repeatedly said he hopes to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world. As the first Muslim member of Congress, Ellison could play a key role in that mission. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

The three-week operation IDF operation in Gaza, launched to end years of Palestinian rocket attacks, killed some 1,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza officials. 13 Israelis were also killed in the hostilities.

Several UN facilities, including a large warehouse at the organization's Gaza headquarters, were heavily damaged. The UN has been trying to raise emergency funds to meet what it says are dire humanitarian needs in Gaza following the offensive.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said he had no knowledge of the lawmakers' Gaza visit.

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Report: Vatican readmits society that propagates anti-Semitism

By Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 16:56 19/02/2009

In lifting the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson who has been accused of Holocaust denial last month, the Catholic Church also readmitted a priestly society that openly propagates virulent anti-Semitism, according to a probe by a Belgian Jewish newspaper.

The Roman Catholic Church excommunicated The Society of St. Pius X in 1988 along with Williamson and three other member priests, declaring their consecrations were "unlawful" and "schismatic."

In January of this year the Vatican lifted the excommunication. On the same day, a Swedish television station aired an interview with Williamson in which he denied the existence of gas chambers during the Holocaust.

In a research performed after the readmittance, a team of journalists from Joods Actueel, an Antwerp-based Jewish news publication, found what they describe as "a slew of anti-Semitic content" on the society's Web sites in five languages.

The probe whose results were made public on Thursday, found that the society's official U.S. Web site described Jews as "the enemy of man, whose secret weapon is the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy," adding that "heads of Jewry have for centuries conspired methodically and out of an undying hatred against the Catholic name."

The South African site said that "Jews have come closer and closer to fulfilling their substitute-Messianic drive towards world dominion." The Irish site asks whether "the Jews are guilty of Deicide," answering: "We must say yes."

The site from Germany, a country with strict limitations on anti-Semitic speech, clarifies that "contemporary Jews are for sure guilty of the murder of God, as long as they don't recognize Christ as God."

The Belgian site accuses Jews of "still believing they are the chosen people" while "awaiting world domination." The Austrian site warns that the Jewish organization B'nai Brith is "found everywhere" and "commands the entire world."

Michael Freilich, editor-in-chief of Joods Actueel, told Haaretz that anti-Semitic content was being pulled offline even as the team of four journalists were documenting and saving the material ? which Haaretz obtained from Joods Actueel.

Noting that The Society of St. Pius X is believed to have between 600,000 and a million followers, Frielich said: "Williamson's Holocaust denial has attracted much attention, but this anti-Semitic content is in many ways worse because he is a lone fool and not taken seriously by the masses, whereas here we are talking about an entire society spreading hatred around the world."

Freilich added that "while Williamson's lies negate the past, what we have uncovered here is preaching of lies and hate against Jews today."

The Society of St. Pius X was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Experts on the Catholic Church such as Dirk Verhofstadt - brother of the former Belgian prime minister - have said that in addition to expressing these positions on Jews, society members have also disavows the Nostra Aetate - a document whereby the Church says Jews were not responsible for the death of Christ.

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'Shalit first' is just spin designed to dupe public

By Israel Harel

Last update - 21:26 19/02/2009

At the cabinet meeting Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel does not have to behave as if it has lost its last vestige of strength and dignity. But that is exactly how Israel has behaved. In spite of the tactical decision to open border crossings only after Gilad Shalit is returned, the significant part of the transaction - primarily the general agreement for a wholesale release of murdering terrorists - surrenders to Hamas' dictate.

"Shalit first" is therefore no more than spin designed to deceive the public. It provides a false halo of dignity to a disgraceful, dangerous capitulation to a murderous terror organization that has sworn not to lay down its arms until the Jewish state is destroyed.

One reason for the establishment of the State of Israel was to restore the dignity of the Jewish people, who for hundreds of years were forced to kneel in order to survive as a persecuted minority among other nations. Even if national dignity was not among Operation Cast Lead's defined goals, it was an important moral goal for residents of the Negev, who have been bombarded incessantly, as well as for quite a few soldiers and many citizens in general. When Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the top Israel Defense Forces brass declared the goals of the campaign had been "entirely achieved," the declaration was received with overwhelming consensus, partially due to its element of national dignity.

If the goals were achieved, the chief of staff and the defense minister must explain where Hamas - which was defeated, after all - draws the strength to dictate that Israel release high-profile murderers as well as the duration of the cease-fire. If the IDF won, why is the government paying the price of defeat?

If this is indeed the case, then our consciousness has been seared while Hamas' consciousness was not affected by the campaign; in fact, it may have grown stronger.

Anyone who decides to release hundreds of killers is responsible for the murders these people will commit. Furthermore, this encourages kidnappings and raises the price of freeing future captives. These considerations make the decision extremely illogical. The would-be prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, must declare that and use public pressure to block the decision from being implemented.

Netanyahu, say his associates, prefers to let the present government complete the deal. But as pretender to the national throne he must not be swept along, like the current government, by pressure groups that favor the good of the individual over the public interest, and the present over the future. Mainly, he must ignore the self-righteous media, which is interested primarily in ratings.

Netanyahu's steadfastness is not particularly impressive. When he was prime minister he was pressured to release Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and in Ariel Sharon's government he voted for the unbelievable Elhanan Tennenbaum deal (Tzipi Livni voted against). Since Hamas and Hezbollah continue to plan kidnappings (as far as Hezbollah is concerned, the account has not been closed in the killing of terror leader Imad Mugniyeh, among others), some may occur during Netanyahu's term. Therefore, only a tough and principled stand now may convey to the terror organizations that kidnappings will not pay while Netanyahu is in charge.

The general mood that caused the government to accept the dictates of terror stem from the takeover of Israeli values by extreme individualism - "the individual (Gilad Shalit) is above any other national interest." Checking this trend, which leads to national disintegration, must be one of the central goals of a Netanyahu government.

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Terror victims sue U.S. oil companies for funding terror

By Yossi Melman

Last update - 18:25 19/02/2009

American and Israeli victims of terrorism have filed a precedent-setting suit against three U.S. oil companies and their directors, charging them that they indirectly assisted the funding of terrorist organizations. This is the first time that Israeli victims of terrorism have filed a suit of this kind against American firms.

The suit was filed in January at the U.S. District Court in the capital, Washington D.C., by attorneys Michael Miller and Gavriel Mairone against NuCoastal Corporation, El Paso Energy Corporation, Bayoil (USA) Inc., and directors Oscar Wyatt Jr. and David B. Chalmers Jr.

To date, most suits by terror victims were filed against Arab or Iranian individuals, terrorist groups, Iran and various Arab states.

The suit argues that the companies and their directors traded with Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the period 2000-2003 under the framework of the United Nations' Oil for Food program. Investigative reporting and a UN probe revealed that bribes were paid and other violations were carried out in order to bypass the limitations set by the program, which was meant to allow Iraq to sell some of its oil in order to purchase food and medical equipment for the civilian population of Iraq.

The UN probe concluded that Saddam Hussein and senior officials of his regime also transferred funds to terrorist organizations and the families of suicide bombers, in order to encourage terrorism during the intifada.

Saddam Hussein announced at the time that he would make a $25,000 contribution to the family of each terrorist. Among those benefiting from the money were Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades of Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the Arab Liberation Front, a group set up during the 1960s by Iraqi intelligence.

The suit emphasizes that the aim of these groups was to engage in systematic and widespread acts of terror, crimes against humanity and genocide with the publicly stated goal of destroying and eliminating the state of Israel and ethnically cleansing its Jewish population. The suit also mentions dozens of attacks that claimed the lives of more than 100 Israelis.

After the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, U.S. intelligence found documents that allegedly proved that the oil companies named in the suit and their directors bribed Saddam and senior officials in his regime in order to win tenders. The bribes were allegedly placed in secret bank accounts which were not reported to the UN.

In 2007 the companies and the directors were tried, admitted part of the charges against them and reached plea bargains which included jail time and millions in fines.

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Not everyone is convinced notorious Nazi 'Dr. Death' is really dead

By Yossi Melman

Last update - 04:21 19/02/2009

It could have been the biggest private operation of the decade. Its impact on the Holocaust ethos would have equaled the capture of Adolf Eichmann.

Several former senior security officials with proven skills and experience in monitoring, establishing contact, intelligence gathering, and data analysis had already been enlisted. There were several working meetings and efforts were already underway, despite the world financial crisis, to raise funds from foreign donors. The still as of yet unnamed operation would have capped the many years devoted by Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem branch, of locating Nazi war criminals, bringing about their arrest and extradition to their native countries and putting them on trial.

The target was Dr. Aribert Ferdinand Heim, who had merited the title, "the most wanted living Nazi war criminal." But the joint investigation by the German television station ZDF and The New York Times upset the operation.

Earlier this month, the two media outlets publicized the news that Heim, a senior Waffen SS officer, died in the Egyptian capital of Cairo in 1992.

Heim, a native of Austria, was a doctor in the Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen concentration camps, where he committed awful acts and abused hundreds of prisoners. He would amputate limbs without an anesthetic, and would inject gasoline into the hearts of his victims and use a stopwatch to clock how long it took them to die. In another case, he scraped the tattooed skin off a live prisoner to use as a cover for the camp commandant's chair. On his desk there was a human skull he had chopped off as a souvenir. In 1942, his mistress got pregnant and gave birth to his daughter, Waltraud, who would later play a central role in the efforts of Heim's family and friends to protect him and conceal his whereabouts. After the war, the United States army captured Heim. He remained in a detention camp for two and a half years, but was not identified and eventually was released.

He married and had two children, Rudiger, who still lives today in his parents' home in Baden-Baden, and Christian, who lives in the university town of Heidelberg.

For almost a decade and a half, Dr. Aribert Heim continued working unhindered in his hometown as a gynecologist. But in 1962, after Adolf Eichmann's capture, he grew concerned that the Mossad and law enforcement agencies in Austria and Germany, who had issued an arrest warrant for him, were also on his tail. So he got into his red Mercedes and escaped with the help of relatives and Nazi friends from Germany to an unknown destination.

The search for him never officially stopped, but the efforts to capture gradually waned until 2004. That year, law enforcement authorities in Germany investigated a charge of suspected tax evasion against one of Heim's sons. During the course of the investigation, they came across a bank account in Berlin in Dr. Aribert Heim's name with two million euros in it. Following that, the hunt for him was renewed and the German government offered a reward of $130,000 for anyone with information about him that would lead to his arrest.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which two years earlier had launched Operation Last Chance to locate the last of the war criminals, obtained a donation and increased the amount of the reward by another $135,000. Dr. Zuroff persuaded the Austrian government to also contribute another $50,000.

The search changed direction when the Wiesenthal Center received information claiming that Heim may be hiding in southern Chile and living near his illegitimate daughter, Waltraud. In the 1970s, Waltraud married Ivan Diharce, a businessman and building contractor, and the couple settled in the city of Puerto Montt on the Pacific coast. Dr. Zuroff traveled to Chile twice and managed to establish contact with one of Diharce's workers.

He told him that a few days earlier he had met his employer as he was carrying large bags of food. According to the employee's testimony, Diharce told him the food was for one of his elderly relatives. This testimony strengthened the suspicions that the devoted daughter and her husband were hiding the Nazi war criminal.

Zuroff even conjectured where the hiding place might be: a forest preserve on an island not far from the city's coast. Zuroff sailed to the island but discovered to his disappointment that the wooden hut in the heart of the forest was destroyed in a winter storm.

Despite the news, Zuroff redoubled his efforts. He contacted private investigators and former intelligence officials in order to look into the possibility of enlisting them in the effort. In the end, he chose two former security officials who agreed to join the effort.

"I considered this operation a challenging assignment of unprecedented national and moral importance," said one of them, who asked to remain anonymous. Efforts were also undertaken to finance the operation, cut short by the report on German television and in The New York Times.

According to the investigation, Heim converted to Islam in Egypt, called himself Tarek Hussein Farid and lived modestly in a small Cairo hotel, until his death in 1992. He left his body to science, but Islamic law prohibits this. His son Rudiger claimed in the article that he traveled to Egypt to try and smuggle his father's body into Germany so that his organs could be donated to fulfill his will. He said the authorities uncovered the plan and buried Heim anonymously in a common grave. He also has a certificate documenting his father's death that was issued by the Egyptian authorities.

"I'm still not convinced about the veracity of the story," said Zuroff. "Such a document can easily be forged."

Why, he asks, did the son remember only now "to kill" his father. How is it possible to explain the fact that to this day Heim has a bank account? If he died 16 years ago, why was his bequest not distributed and why does it remain in his name at the bank?

One possible answer to this question is that perhaps Heim is still alive and by staging his death, his sons are trying to put an end to the chase after him. Zuroff is also responsible to a certain extent. On his trip to Chile he went to the public about the hunt for "the butcher" of Mauthausen and prompted a lot of media coverage.

Heim and his family may have gotten scared and decided what they decided. Zuroff says in response that he had no choice but to use the help of the media to obtain information and spur interest in the chase.

"It is possible that we will never know the truth," he concluded sadly, "because there is no body and it will not be possible to conduct checks to verify what happened to the last notorious war criminal on earth."

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ANALYSIS / Israel's strategic games may endanger Shalit deal

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

Last update - 04:27 19/02/2009

The political-security cabinet on Wednesday unanimously approved Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's proposal that Israel would be willing to discuss extensively broadening activity in the border crossings of the Gaza Strip, "when the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit is released."

In its statement, the cabinet stated that Israel has placed at the top of its list of priorities the release of Shalit and that the effort to reach agreement on a cease-fire and an exchange of prisoners through Egyptian mediation would continue.

The statement essentially backs Olmert's declared position during the past several days, which conditions the reopening of the crossings to the release of Shalit.

Senior sources in the defense establishment expressed grave concerns last night that Olmert has backed off from his originally declared willingness (as late as last week) to expedite negotiations for a deal on Shalit during his tenure. They say that the chances of completing the deal in the near future appear to be slim.

The same sources also said that there is a chance that the opportunity for a deal will pass and Shalit will remain in captivity for years.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has so far avoided commenting publicly on the differences of opinion in the Israeli leadership.

One thing the cabinet meeting did not discuss was the issue of the price Israel is willing to pay for Shalit's release. Apart from a vague reference about the willingness of Israel to "make every effort to release [Shalit] that will involve the release of Palestinians," not much more was said.

For the past two-and-a-half years this forum hears periodic reports on the situation of the negotiations and to date it has never had to discuss a central issue: Who is Israel willing to release in order for Shalit to come home?

"Why is there no list of Palestinian prisoners to be released?" National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer wondered Wednesday. "Place lists [of names] on the table. Who are we waiting for?"

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London museum to hold Israel science event despite promoters' boycott

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Last update - 03:00 19/02/2009

Despite protests by promoters of a boycott against Israel, the Science Museum in London says it intends to go ahead with an event planned for next month which will showcase Israeli scientific achievements.

On Monday the Guardian ran a letter cosigned by 368 people, including well-known academics and politicians, demanding the institution cancel the Israel Day of Science, promoted by Zionist Federation of Great Britain.

"The event is going ahead as a normal commercial corporate-hire booking," the museum's press officer, Laura Singleton, told Haaretz. She added the event was "scientific, non-political and aimed at the educational sector."

Calling Israel's recent invasion into Gaza "an attempted annihilation of all the infrastructure of organized society," the authors of The Guardian letter wrote, "how can this celebration [the Israel Day of Science] be allowed to borrow respectability from distinguished institutions?"

They also wrote, "what reaction can be expected from the many young people, already disaffected from science?" adding, "the event is being billed as a celebration of science. In fact it is an attempted celebration of Israel."

Ronnie Fraser, a key figure in countering and monitoring Israel boycott initiatives in the U.K., said that "targeting institutions that host Israel-related events is a new tactic by boycott promoters, now riding the post-Gaza wave."

Fraser says he believes that the protest letter was drafted by the British Committee for universities for Palestine [Bricup] as part of an organized and ongoing campaign to boycott Israel.

Fraser pointed to such signatories as Professor Jonathan Rosenhead from the London School of Economics and Dr. Sue Blackwell, well known for their critical stance on Israel. Also undersigned are MP Ian Gibson and Professors Jim Al-Khalili, Steven Rose and R.S. MacKay.

"Academic Israel-boycott efforts have recently been stepped up," a pro-Israel activist, who preferred to not be named, told Haaretz. "From a backroom operation it has become something of a full-time occupation for a few academic staff members."

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Israel drafts new Hamas prisoner list for potential Shalit swap

By Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents

Last update - 04:28 19/02/2009

Israel has prepared a new list of Palestinian prisoners it is willing to release in exchange for Gilad Shalit and is ready to relay it to Hamas as quickly as possible in order to further a possible swap arrangement.

The political-security cabinet decided Wednesday to make Shalit's release a precondition to any new cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

A source in the Prime Minister's Bureau stressed Wednesday that Israel is willing to enter intensive talks with Hamas in Cairo, through Egyptian mediation, in order to resolve the matter. Defense establishment and Justice Ministry officials have prepared a new list of prisoners that Israel would be willing to release in exchange for Shalit if an agreement were reached with Hamas.

Most of the prisoners on the list do not have "blood on their hands" - the euphemism used to describe Palestinians jailed for their role in the murder of Israelis. The list, which has already been presented to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, includes approximately 200 prisoners whom Hamas has requested and who were approved in the past by a committee headed by Minister Haim Ramon.

The list also includes the names of hundreds of prisoners Israel is willing to release - among whom Hamas may select. The total number of prisoners to be released was set in past agreements, which call for an initial release of 450 prisoners in return for Shalit, to be followed by another 550 prisoners released as a goodwill gesture to Egypt and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In the end, women, minors and Hamas parliamentarians will also be released.

Sources at the Prime Minister's Bureau called on Hamas Wednesday to send representatives to Cairo as soon as possible to hold intensive talks on Shalit.

According to the Israeli proposal, Ofer Dekel, who is Olmert's envoy to the negotiations for Shalit, will meet separately with Egyptian mediators, while Hamas does the same, and the parties will agree on a formula.

"The ball is in Hamas' court," said a senior political source Wednesday. "Hamas will not get everyone it wanted. We are willing to release many people on their list, but not everyone. In any case, it is a matter for negotiation and we are willing to negotiate."

During Wednesday's cabinet meeting, Defense Minister Ehud Barak presented the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire agreement and urged his colleagues to approve it, but was unsuccessful.

"This is an opportunity that should not be missed," he said.

However, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On attacked Barak, saying, "How does this proposal bring Shalit back?"

"We will have to work wisely," was Barak's laconic response. "If you want to talk about Shalit, fine, but we will need to pay the price they [Hamas] are asking."

Olmert also attacked Barak, quoting a June 2008 document in which the head of the political-security bureau at the defense ministry, Amos Gilad, wrote that without resolving the Shalit issue it will not be possible to preserve a cease-fire agreement with Hamas.

"I did not come here to be moralistic," Olmert said, "But we would harm ourselves if we admit that we did not achieve the goals of the first cease-fire agreement. There was no calm, [arms] smuggling continued, and we did not get Gilad Shalit back. As a result we wound up with Operation Cast Lead."

At the end of the meeting, the cabinet rejected Barak's proposal to accept Egypt's cease-fire formula and adopted Olmert's insistence on Shalit-first.

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Last update - 08:22 19/02/2009

UN envoy: Gaza will suffer more violence unless truce achieved

By The Associated Press

The UN's top Mideast envoy warned Wednesday that Gaza could erupt in renewed and more devastating violence unless there is a lasting cease-fire.

Since unilateral cease-fires were declared by Israel and Hamas a month ago, Robert Serry said "Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired 15 rockets and 12 mortars toward Israel and detonated an Israeli jeep near the border fence - attacks that are as irresponsible as they are unacceptable - while Israel has launched 19 airstrikes in Gaza."

"There is an urgent need for all acts of violence to cease and for full respect of international humanitarian law by all parties," he said.

Serry spoke to the UN Security Council shortly before Israel announced that it will not open Gaza's blockaded borders until Hamas militants free captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

The decision was a major blow to Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire between the two enemies, and was immediately condemned by Hamas, which desperately wants the blockade lifted so it can start repairing the widespread damage from Israel's military offensive in Gaza last month.

Serry told council members that a durable cease-fire can only be achieved if there is broad progress including an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Shalit, who was captured in a 2006 cross-border raid, action to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, the opening of borders, and unity among rival Palestinian factions.

These steps, he said, would also pave the way for the longer term recovery and reconstruction of Gaza.

"I emphasize these points...because one month since unilateral cease-fires were declared, a proper cease-fire is still not in place, and there is an ever present danger of a return to the unsustainable conditions of last year, or even for renewed and more devastating violence," Serry warned.

Asked afterward about Israel's decision to link the border openings with

Shalit's release, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said, "If you want to improve the situation in Gaza, you have to look at the other issues as well, and Shalit is a very important one."

The Palestinian UN observer, Riyad Mansour, stressed the importance of achieving a long-lasting cease-fire so that Israel does not go and attack our people as they want but said Shalit's release should not be linked to the opening of border crossings.

"These are two separate issues," he told reporters. "To connect them in this manner, it means that the Israeli government is not interested in a long-lasting cease-fire now, and not interested in opening the crossings and lifting the siege."

Japan's UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu, the current Security Council president, said members noted the fragility of the unilateral cease-fires and also want a durable cease-fire as soon as possible.

Israel launched the 22-day air and ground war on Dec. 27 in an effort to halt years of militant rocket fire by Hamas on its southern communities and arms smuggling into Gaza. The offensive caused an estimated $2 billion in damage and killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, Palestinian officials have said, while at least 13 Israelis died.

In the month since major fighting stopped, Serry said, a daily average of 146 trucks loaded mainly with food and medical supplies entered Gaza, four times the number in December but only a third of the number that entered Gaza in May 2007, before the Hamas takeover. There are still food shortages, he said.

Israel has continued to ban gasoline and diesel oil, and only 52 percent of the industrial fuel and 23 percent of the cooking gas required were allowed in during the last month, he said. A 13-month ban on exports continues with the exception of one truckload of flowers bound for Europe.

The UN Development Program estimates that the Israeli offensive damaged and destroyed 14,000 homes, as well as public buildings, schools, and entire industrial areas, leaving destruction in some places that is shocking to see, Serry said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who leads the rival Fatah-run government in the West Bank, announced a plan Wednesday that would stream reconstruction money directly to the people of Gaza. That would effectively sideline Hamas.

Serry told the Security Council that the U.N. welcomes Fayyad's initiative to provide immediate assistance to the civilian population in Gaza, with U.N. assistance, which will be presented to a donors' conference on March 2 in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.

It includes $50 million in cash transfers for temporary shelter, $11 million for electricity repairs, $6 million for water pipeline repairs and a $600 million housing loan guarantee scheme to supplement cash assistance, Serry said.

"We are still in a very grave situation in the region, but also not without opportunities, but for that we need redoubled efforts, and we need particularly also unity in the international community to achieve...progress," he said.

Serry said the UN is also hoping that an important international conference will take place in Moscow before the end of June to relaunch the Mideast peace process.

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Arab League: Rightist Israel coalition will at least say no to our face

By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 08:28 19/02/2009

Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa on Wednesday said that the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is on its last legs and that there is no solution on the horizon.

Moussa made his remarks in an interview on Syrian television, and said that there would be no difference between the current government and a government led by Foreign Minister and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni.

"Livni did not advance the peace process at all and she has excelled at foot-dragging without making decisions," said Moussa.

The Arab League chief accused Israel of talking peace, while at the same time actively working to expand settlements and "create new facts on the ground" that ultimately aim to change the region's demographics.

"Perhaps a right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu will say 'no' to our face, as opposed to the sophisticated way of refusal the current government, which calls itself left or center-left, employs," said Moussa.

According to Moussa, the Palestinian people also view the peace process with pessimism. "The fact is that there is already talk among some Palestinians of one state for two peoples," said Moussa. "The solution of two states for two people cannot be seen on the horizon."

The Arab peace initiative calls for Israel's withdrawal to 1967 lines in exchange for recognition of Israel and normalization of relations by all Arab states. It also says the issue of Palestinian refugees should be solved in accordance with United Nations resolution 194, which calls for refugees to be allowed to return to their homes in Israel or receive compensation.

U.S. State Department: Syria can play positive role in Mideast

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press

Last update - 09:04 19/02/2009

U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said at a press conference Wednesday that Syria could play a positive role through efforts to bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

"Syria can play a role, and a positive role, in the region by trying to help bring peace and stability to the Middle East, and I think that the Syrians understand that they can do that," Duguid told reporters. "That is what the U.S. would like to see all nations in the region do."

Duguid's remarks came in response to an interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad published in the British newspaper The Guardian on Tuesday, in which the Syrian leader voiced hope that U.S. President Barack Obama's policies will facilitate stronger ties between Syria and the U.S.

In the interview, Assad said that he hoped the U.S. would send an envoy to Damascus and fulfill Obama's promise to renew dialogue with nations shunned by the previous U.S. administration of George W. Bush.

"We have the impression that this administration will be different, and we have seen the signals. But we have to wait for the reality and the results," Assad was quoted as saying.

On the other hand, U.S. senators visiting the Middle East said Wednesday that Syria needs to change its behavior to improve relations with the United States.

The comments came from Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, who met with Assad on Wednesday, and John Kerry, a Democrat who heads the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in Beirut Wednesday. Kerry is slated to visit Damascus later this week as is another congressional delegation.

U.S.-Syrian relations have long been tense, particularly since the U.S. ambassador was pulled out by the Bush administration in 2005 to protest Syria's suspected role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in neighboring Lebanon. Damascus denied involvement but in the uproar that followed was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.

The United States has also criticized Syria for supporting militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and has accused Syria of not doing enough to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. Syria has said it is doing all it can to safeguard its long, porous border.

After meeting with Assad, Cardin said the U.S. administration will be watching Syria's actions very carefully.

Cardin said he blamed Syria for the deteriorated relations, saying Syria has isolated itself by sponsoring international terrorism, providing safe haven for terrorist organizations and Syria's troubling relations with Iran.

"The question we came to try and answer here in Syria is whether or not Syria is ready to make important and significant decisions that bring us closer rather than lose this opportunity to move forward," Cardin said.

Kerry said the U.S. would renew diplomacy with Syria but in return expected Syria to change its behavior, particularly with respect to Iraq and Lebanon. He said the U.S. also wants Syria to help with the disarmament of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

"But unlike the Bush administration that believed you could simply tell people what to do and walk away and wait for them to do it, we believe we have to engage in a discussion," he said.

"And so we are going to renew diplomacy but without any illusions, without any naivete, without any misplaced belief that just by talking, things will automatically happen," Kerry added after a meeting with the Lebanese president.

Syria's official news agency said Assad told Cardin that his country wants to develop relations with the United States. It said their talks focused on developing bilateral relations through serious and positive dialogue based on mutual respect and joint interest in finding just solutions to the region's problems.

Wall Street Journal drops Dubai sponsorship after Israeli tennis player denied visa

By News Agencies

Last update - 22:53 18/02/2009

The Wall Street Journal Europe dropped its sponsorship of the current Dubai tennis tournament after the United Arab Emirates refused to issue a visa to Israel's star tennis player Shahar Peer.

Peer was reportedly denied the visa due to fan anger over Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. UAE officials said that they feared riots could break out.

"The Wall Street Journal's editorial philosophy is free markets and free people, and this action runs counter to the Journal's editorial direction," the Wall Street Journal Europe said in a statement Wednesday.

The Journal's parent company, Dow Jones & Co, is owned by Rupert Murdoch's international media conglomerate News Corp.

The Tennis Channel has also canceled plans to televise the women's tournament in light of the Peer incident.

Meanwhile Wednesday, a prominent group of Jewish American leaders urged the Women's Tennis Association to punish the United Arab Emirates for banning Peer from entering the country for the tournament.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also called on international tennis authorities to cancel a men's tournament in Dubai next week unless the UAE allows another Israeli player, Andy Ram, to participate.

Later Wednesday, U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner of New York said that Ram will get a visa to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships, adding that as a result he will not ask the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to cancel the event.

But Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Washington, has assured Weiner that the male doubles player will be allowed to play in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, which starts Monday.

The Jewish umbrella group, which is holding meetings in Jerusalem this week, called the decision to bar Peer from participating offensive, discriminatory and unacceptable.

In an interview, the conference's executive vice chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein, said his group had been in touch with WTA tour chief Larry Scott and urged him to cancel the women's tournament next year if Dubai did not change its policy.

"There has to be some price," he said. "History teaches us if you let a thing like this go, it grows, and if people perceive it as a license to discriminate, there will be no limit."

He said Scott was very responsive but offered no immediate promises. Scott has said he will consider dropping Dubai from the tour's calendar. The WTA is expected to discuss the matter at an upcoming board meeting.

Hoenlein said his group planned to contact Dubai authorities later Wednesday to express its dissatisfaction and urge it to allow Ram into the country. "We will have a letter there today," he said.

Ram was competing in a tournament in France on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But his agent, Amit Naor, told The Associated Press that his client is hoping to play and has already booked a ticket to Dubai for Sunday.

The controversy has trapped the UAE between its desire to host big-time global sporting events and its stance on Mideast politics. The country sees itself as a guardian of the Palestinians.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor condemned the UAE, but said there is little the government can do, because the countries don't have diplomatic relations.

In new fallout, Swedish authorities said that Sweden and Israel will play their first-round Davis Cup tennis match in an empty arena next month because of security concerns.

Several anti-Israel demonstrations are planned during the best-of-five series, which will be played March 6-8 at the 4,000-seat Baltic Hall. The city's recreational committee said it could not guarantee security for the fans.

Michael Klein, chairman of the Israel Tennis Federation, said it was a shame that political demonstrators could force Sweden to keep fans out.

EU Jewish leader: Anti-Semitism spurred by economy, not Gaza war

By The Associated Press

Last update - 20:23 18/02/2009

The leader of the European Jewish Congress said Wednesday the main blame for growing anti-Semitism across the continent was the economic crisis, not the Gaza war.

Congress President Moshe Kantor said that what he believes to be anti-Semitism levels unseen since World War II had nothing to do with Middle East issues.

"All these problems started before Gaza and continued afterwards," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Some 1,300 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to Gaza health officials. Israel launched the attacks to halt years of rocket fire on southern Israeli communities.

"Economical things trigger humanitarian tragedies," he said. "Jews were made scapegoats for economic difficulties Germany faced in the 1930s," he said. "And this is the lesson."

Kantor met with the European Union Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot and the EU Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering on Wednesday to discuss anti-Semitic attacks and statements across Europe.

A recent survey for the U.S. based Anti-Defamation League conducted in Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Britain found that 31 percent of respondents blame Jews in the financial industry at least a little for the global financial meltdown.

"Europe is a continent of tolerance, but that tolerance is threatened," Kantor said.

Attacks against Jews and synagogues have been reported in France, Britain and Sweden.

Kantor also referred to a call by a union in Italy for the boycott of Jewish-owned shops in Rome.

"There is a shortage of historical memory," he said. "The situation in Europe is dangerous again, not only for Jews, for all Europeans."

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Palestinian PM proposes direct aid to Gaza's needy, bypassing Hamas

By The Associated Press

Last update - 01:33 19/02/2009

Donor countries should send Gaza reconstruction funds directly to property owners and contractors, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday, offering a plan that effectively bypasses the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers.

Fayyad is preparing a detailed spending proposal for international donors, to be presented at a pledging conference for rebuilding Gaza after Israel's devastating military offensive against Hamas last month.

The conference is set for March 2 in Egypt, with about 80 countries and organizations participating. Fayyad heads the West Bank-based government formed after Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in June 2007.

Hamas has said it wants to have a say over how the money is disbursed. However, the international community is unlikely to hand hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic militants, still shunned by most of the world.

The centerpiece of Fayyad's plan is to send hundreds of millions of dollars in aid directly to owners of thousands of homes that were damaged or destroyed. Under the proposal, the donors would either send the money through Fayyad's government or deal directly with Gaza's banks. Homeowners would apply for reconstruction money, get it through the banks and work under the supervision of independent inspectors.

Fayyad said he expects to sign a memorandum of understanding with Gaza banks on Thursday. He said he has also briefed donors, who he said like the idea. In any case, it will be up to the donors to decide on the aid mechanism when they meet in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik next month, he said.

"It's a bypass of delays," he told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday, when asked if he was trying to bypass Hamas.

"There are a lot of people in Gaza who are homeless, displaced and we really need to move fast to ensure that they have the housing they need as quickly as possible," he said. "We have examined different ways of possibly going about this, and the best we found is the one I have just described, aimed at getting assistance directly to people, through the banking system."

Under Fayyad's plan, even roads would be fixed by private contractors.

Hamas accused him of trying to hijack reconstruction for political gain.

"This is an attempt to politicize the project of reconstruction in Gaza, which contradicts all the Arab, international and Palestinian intentions to neutralize this project," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

However, it was not clear whether Hamas would try to stop the flow of aid and risk a backlash at home.

The debate over reconstruction comes as Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are trying to reach a new power-sharing deal.

Talks are to begin Sunday in Cairo. Abbas said Wednesday he is approaching the negotiations with an "open heart," striking a conciliatory tone in marked contrast to months of acrimony between the rivals.

Any reconstruction plans depend on whether Israel and Egypt lift their blockade of Gaza, imposed after the 2007 Hamas takeover.

On Wednesday, Israel's Cabinet said it would end the blockade, as part of a truce deal with Hamas, only if the militants free an Israeli soldier they've been holding for nearly three years. The statement appeared to deal a setback to a truce deal, since sharp disagreements remain over the terms of a prisoner swap that would bring about the release of the soldier.

Police arrest Netanya group allegedly behind international drug ring

By Yuval Goren, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 15:47 18/02/2009

Police announced Wednesday the arrest of a number of Israelis suspected of running an international cocaine and hashish smuggling ring.

Police suspect that the Israelis, most of them from the coastal city of Netanya, had contacted a group of Argentinians to operate for them as couriers.

The couriers allegedly trafficked drugs hidden in packages of clothing, some of them stashed into the buttons.

Initial investigations have found that the ring mainly operated out of South America, Europe, and India.

Year after declaring independence, Kosovo awaits Israeli recognition

By Haaretz Service

Last update - 15:19 18/02/2009

Thousands took to the streets in Kosovo this week to celebrate the first year anniversary of the tiny Balkan country's declaration of independence.

In spite of the furtive steps taken by the Balkan state to forge ahead toward prosperity and universally-recognized independence, it is still still awaiting Israeli support for its statehood.

Israel has so far side-stepped the issue of Kosovo independence. On the one hand, Jerusalem is hesitant to endorse the independence of a break-away Muslim country, in light of the implications it could have for Israel with regard to the Palestinians.

Israel may also view recognition of the breakaway republic as one that could potentially lead to a domino effect which could encourage other contested areas to declare independence, and possibly raise international calls for Palestinian statehood.

During the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999, many Israelis sympathized with Kosovar Albanians subject to a campaign of displacement widely identified as a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the remnants of the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitary forces.

On another level, for Israel and many other countries, the issue of Kosovo independence and support of the 1999 NATO campaign have served as a point of contention, much like last summer's war between Georgia and Russia, which pitted the West - specifically NATO - against a resurgent Russia.

The independence day celebrations in Kosovo this week took place in the shadow of the stark segregation and ethnic violence that continues to reign between the country's Albanian majority and its 10 percent Serbian minority.

The tentative sovereignty of the national government in Pristina is still weighed by the hardships faced as Europe's poorest country, dealing with the global financial crisis.

Over the last year, Kosovo has ratified a constitution, issued its own passports, and commissioned armed forces and an intelligence service.

Nonetheless, the unemployment rate stands at 45 percent and nearly half of the population lives below the poverty line. In addition, the country is a hotbed of corruption and organized crime, and is one of the centers of drug, weapons, and human trafficking in Europe.

As of today, 54 states have declared their support for Kosovo independence, including the majority of the countries in the European Union. Opposition has been strident from Russia, which sees the Serbians as Slavic, Orthodox Christian cousins beset upon by the west, particular NATO.

In Serbia itself, Kosovo is seen by many as an inseparable part of the Serbian homeland ever since the Kingdom of Serbia was defeated by Turkish forces at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.

The area has served as a Serbian crowd symbol since, in what many authors have compared to the way that Jerusalem and the ancient Hebrew communities of the West Bank did for the Jewish Diaspora after the destruction of the second temple and until the founding of the State of Israel.

Manila arrests Islamist over plot to attack Israeli, U.S. embassies

By The Associated Press

Last update - 09:56 18/02/2009

Philippines police have arrested a Muslim militant suspected of plotting to attack the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Manila, as well as helping to mastermind a series of deadly bombings in the country's southern islands, local officials said.

Police intelligence agents arrested Muaweya Abubakar Masabpi last week in

Manila's Pasay district. It was not clear if he was in the capital to carry out an attack or was trying to lie low due to an anti-terrorism crackdown in the south, national police Chief Jesus Versoza said.

Versoza said Masabpi was involved in at least six bombings on the region, including a 2002 blast at a Roman Catholic cathedral in southern Cotabato city, a 2003 bombing of a disco in the same city and a 2007 attack that killed one person and wounded scores of others in an electronics center in southern Kidapawan city.

Intelligence agents were hunting for a number of militants who worked with Masabpi in past attacks, Versoza told a news conference where he presented a video of the suspect in custody.

He said Masabpi belongs to an elite combat force of the 11,600-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group which has been engaged in on-and-off peace talks with the government. He has also worked in past attacks with members of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf and the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, Versoza said.

Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said he was not sure if Masabpi is a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front but added his group has never targeted

civilians.

A Philippine anti-terrorism official said Masabpi was also involved in a plot to bomb the U.S. and Israeli embassies that has not occurred for unclear reasons. Both embassies are among the most heavily guarded in Manila. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Masabpi is the third important terror suspect to be arrested in recent weeks.

The military announced last week the capture of Filipino militants Omar

Venancio and Mokasid Dilna, who allegedly helped top al-Qaida-linked foreign terrorists gain a foothold in Muslim strongholds in the southern Mindanao region to carry out bombings.

Among those helped by the two were top Indonesian terror suspects Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who goes by one name. The two Indonesians allegedly helped plot the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings in Indonesia that killed 202 people in Southeast Asia's worst terrorist attack.

Export of Golan apples to Syria: 'Doing business with an enemy state'

By Eli Ashkenazi

Last update - 06:04 18/02/2009

It was bone-chillingly cold Tuesday at Quneitra crossing in the Golan Heights, but for workers transporting apples from Israeli to Syria it was just another day at the office.

Five years after a deal was struck for the export of apples from Druze communities in the Golan to Syria, the project has all but become routine to those involved. But as the head of the Agriculture Ministry's Galilee and Golan division, Amir Antler, likes to remind people, "We're actually doing business with an enemy state."

In recent weeks some 8,000 tons of apples (one-fifth of the total Golan harvest) will be transported from the orchards of the Druze villages of Majdal Shams, Masadeh and Bukata into Syria.

"This is a humanitarian activity that aids the agricultural economy of the Druze," Yael Segev-Eitan, spokeswoman of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which mediates between the two countries on the project, said. "This year both sides had a vested interest in seeing the project come to fruition. We hope this will create the right atmosphere for putting other humanitarian issues on the table," she said.

The project was launched not only to aid Druze farmers but also to boost Israel's apple growers by removing excess supply from the market maintaining retail prices.

In the eyes of the Druze farmers, thanks are due to one side alone for buying their produce - the government in Damascus.

"This is humanitarian aid from Syria to the people of the Golan Heights. They are helping us distribute our apples so that the prices aren't too low. Hundreds of thousands of apples are grown in Syria - they could survive without our fruit," one Druze grower said.

"If we hadn't been able to sell these apples to Syria the price would have fallen. They are definitely helping us," Sa'id Farhat of the Druze growers' committee said. He said that about 70 percent of Golan Druze support themselves from farming, some as a primary occupation and others to supplement their income.

Kurtzer: Netanyahu-Lieberman is 'bad combination' for U.S.

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 15:22 19/02/2009

Daniel Kurtzer, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on Tuesday that a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu that also included Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman would be a "bad combination for American interests."

"It would be much more difficult for the right-wing even with determined American leadership to advance the peace process," Kurtzer said. "Not impossible, but very difficult."

The U.S. official position is that it looks forward to "working with any government," but in back-channel messages the Obama administration has made it clear it would like to see a Likud-Kadima unity government in Jerusalem over a narrow right-wing government which would in all likelihood result in a freeze in peace talks with the Palestinians.

The former envoy added that the Obama administration would find it politically risky to embrace a government that included Lieberman, who has voiced controversial views about Arabs.

"There will be an image problem for an American administration to support a government that includes a politician who was defined as racist," Kurtzer said during an appearance at Georgetown University. "But the Israeli system doesn't respond well to perceptions of outside parties," he said.

Kurtzer, who was speaking at an event examining the U.S. perspective on the Gaza conflict, said the peace process will be on hold as Israel spends the next five weeks attempting to cobble together a stable coalition.

He added that the recent Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip had tacit support from Arab regimes who are fearful of growing Iranian influence.

"Israel was in a fact an instrument, a tool of the moderate Sunni majority in the Middle East that sought to push back Shia [influence]," Kurtzer said. "There was great anger at Hamas's means of governance in Gaza. To be sure, there was as well a great split in the Arab world between the Arab street and the governing circles. About week three of the war the pressure from the street was too much even for those regimes. But it'll be interesting over time to see over time if what we saw in the first two weeks of the war to characterize Arab government behavior."

Meanwhile, two Massachusetts professors, Dennis Gaitsgory, a mathematician from Harvard University, and MIT Professor Josh Tenenbaum this week launched an online petition entitled "No government with Lieberman," calling on the next Israeli prime minister to cease courting the Yisrael Beiteinu leader.

The petition is addressed to the leaders of Kadima and Likud, the two factions with the best chance to cobble together a coalition.

"As friends of Israel and supporters of Israeli democracy, we say: Don't do it!" the petition reads. "Through his platform and his rhetoric, Mr. Lieberman threatens Israeli society with the darkness of race-baiting, demagoguery and ultra-nationalism.

"We respect the right of Israeli citizens to elect their own political leaders. Yet as supporters of a democratic state, we cannot remain silent at this crucial time."

Assad: Gaza offensive won't derail our peace talks with Israel

By Haaretz Service

Last update - 23:45 17/02/2009

Syrian President Bashar Assad told the Guardian in remarks published on Tuesday that Israel's recent offensive on the Gaza Strip would not derail peace talks with Jerusalem.

"It will make it harder, but in the end we will return to talks," Assad was quoted as saying, in reference to the Israel Defense Forces' 22-day operation against Hamas' infrastructure in the coastal territory.

Assad said the likelihood of reaching a peace agreement with what is expected to be a right-leaning Israeli government is low. "Betting on the Israeli government is a waste of time," he told the Guardian, though he did add that he expected negotiations to resume.

In an interview with the British newspaper, the Syrian leader also urged the new U.S. administration to return its ambassador to Damascus and to open a new chapter in relations following the chill in ties during the Bush presidency.

Assad said he is encouraged by the tone of the Obama administration, which has indicated that it seeks to engage Damascus in hopes of advancing regional stability. U.S. Senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate foreign relations committee, is due in the Syrian capital later this week.

"An ambassador is important," Assad said. "Sending these delegations is important. This number of congressmen coming to Syria is a good gesture. It shows that this administration wants to see dialogue with Syria. What we have heard from them - Obama, Clinton and others - is positive."

"We are a player in the region," Assad told the Guardian. "If you want to talk about peace, you can't advance without Syria."

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Last update - 06:51 18/02/2009
'Say 'nyet' to Lieberman,' leftist U.S. Jews urge Kadima, Likud

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent

Reflecting the official position of the new administration which is careful not to interfere with the delicate issues of the domestic policy in Israel, major Jewish organizations in the United States have chosen to keep silent amid the uncertainty of the recent Israeli elections.

But a few left-wing Jewish activists have been busy, taking little time to rest in between demonstrations against Israel's policy toward Gaza and the prospects of Avigdor Lieberman's joining the ruling coalition.

Two Massachusetts professors, Dennis Gaitsgory, a mathematician from Harvard University, and MIT Professor Josh Tenenbaum launched an online petition entitled "No government with Lieberman," calling on the next Israeli prime minister to cease courting the Yisrael Beiteinu leader.

The petition is addressed to the leaders of Kadima and Likud, the two factions with the best chance to cobble together a coalition.

"As friends of Israel and supporters of Israeli democracy, we say: Don't do it!" the petition reads. "Through his platform and his rhetoric, Mr. Lieberman threatens Israeli society with the darkness of race-baiting, demagoguery and ultra-nationalism.

"We respect the right of Israeli citizens to elect their own political leaders. Yet as supporters of a democratic state, we cannot remain silent at this crucial time.

"We remember too well how democracies in the 20th century were brought down by anti-democratic leaders who came to power through popular elections". They add, that "granting Mr. Lieberman a senior ministerial post would endanger the foundations of Israel as a democratic state and delegitimize it in the eyes of the world. Such a government would be one that even Israel's friends would find increasingly difficult - if not impossible - to identify with or support".

The petition lists some of Lieberman's controversial campaign slogans and positions regarding the Arab citizens of Israel, including his elections "ace" of calling for Arab citizens of Israel to sign an "oath of loyalty" to the state or be stripped of their citizenship.

The call to exclude Lieberman comes alongside another petition by the California-based Jewish Voice for Peace, which calls on President Obama to urge Israel to lift the Gaza blockade and to initiate a dialogue with the Islamist organization.

"We are Americans who voted for you and we are Palestinians and Israelis a world away," the petition reads. "We are the women, men, and children who are suffering every single day in Gaza and Israel and we are the people who seek to heal their suffering. We are mothers of soldiers and children of refuseniks."

"Press for an end to the blockade of Gaza, so that the people there can have food, medicine, fuel, and basic necessities. That is the only way that they can live, thrive, and rebuild their economy."

"Talk to everyone, including Hamas. The late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban said, 'You make peace by talking to your enemies.' This holds true today. Even a majority of American Jews support negotiations even with Israelis "worst enemies."

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Last update - 21:57 17/02/2009
Colombia frees 11 Israelis jailed over alleged drug-for-sex deal

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Eleven Israelis who were arrested in Colombia on Monday on suspicion of supplying drugs to minors in exchange for sex have all been released, given back their passports and told they were free to go.

A Foreign Ministry official said the entire affair had been inflated by local police in the city of Cartagena in an effort to show that they were cracking down on drug dealing and sex tourism.

The Israelis, in their mid-twenties, were on a post-army tour of South America. Eight were released shortly after being detained on Monday. The other three were held overnight and released on Tuesday.

Last update - 21:34 17/02/2009
UN watchdog: Iran not cooperating fully with probe of its nukes

By Reuters

Iran is still not cooperating with efforts to resolve outstanding questions regarding its nuclear program, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Tuesday.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog repeated that Iran was meeting its obligations to allow inspectors into nuclear sites, but the lack of cooperation regarded questions on past activities.

"Iran right now is not providing any access or any clarification with regard to those studies or the whole possible military dimension," ElBaradei said in Paris at a media event.

"No, I'm not obviously happy with the degree of cooperation. They shut off any cooperation with the agency over the past few months," he said.

Iran has been pressing ahead with expanding its ability to enrich uranium which can be used to fuel power plants, or potentially nuclear weapons.

But ElBaradei said Iran hadn't added any further centrifuges to refine enriched uranium.

"They haven't really been adding centrifuges, which is a good thing," he said. "Our assessment is that it's a political decision."

The IAEA said in its latest report in November that Iran had not boosted the number of centrifuges regularly refining uranium since reaching a level of 3,800 in September.

Turning to the subject of an alleged reactor site in Syria that was destroyed in an Israeli air raid in 2007, ElBaradei repeated that samples from the site were not conclusive and called for greater cooperation from the Syrian authorities.

ElBaradei had said in November that uranium traces found at the Syrian site were not sufficient evidence of undeclared nuclear activity but Syria should be more open to help clarify the issue.

Last update - 21:17 17/02/2009
Shas chief Yishai: Israel must free Jews jailed for nationalistic crimes

By Haaretz Service

As Israel's cabinet prepares to mull a prisoner swap with Hamas in exchange for captive soldier Gilad Shalit, Shas chairman Eli Yishai said on Tuesday that the government must release incarcerated Jewish criminals who were jailed for politically motivated crimes.

"We must release Jewish prisoners who committed crimes that were motivated by nationalism and ideology," Yishai wrote in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The Shas leader, who is also minister of industry and trade, said that Jewish prisoners have voiced contrition for their deeds, while Hamas operatives have not. "There is a need to get a sense that these gestures are made towards both sides (Jews and Arabs)," Yishai wrote.

"The ministers of Shas, which I lead, are of the mind that the release of terrorists does not contribute to Israel's security state and its political state," Yishai wrote. "The balance within Israeli society has been breached. Many citizens are asking themselves why the state does not release Jews who took the law into their own hands due to the security situation."

"In the past, Israeli governments and the president have pardoned prisoners from this category and none of those who were released have returned to their evil ways," the minister wrote. Yishai noted that his position is supported by every sector of Israeli society and all across the entire political spectrum.

Peace Now secretary general Yariv Oppenheimer criticized Yishai's initiative, which he called "distorted and damaging." A wholesale release of prisoners would pave the way for a wave of ideologically motivated killings, Oppenheimer said.

Last update - 17:16 17/02/2009
Fearing anti-Semitism, Jews in Muslim lands distance themsleves from Israel's actions

By The Associated Press

Outrage at the Israel war in the Gaza Strip has turned to intimidation and even violence against Jews living in some Muslim lands, raising questions about the stability of these often tiny communities.

In Turkey, Yemen and Indonesia, Muslims have shut down a synagogue, stoned homes and used anti-Semitic slurs. Although the incidents have been isolated, the Jewish minorities in these lands are concerned.

"Before the conflict broke out in Gaza, we were very involved in the community," said Yusron Samba, whose family for years had operated a synagogue in Indonesia that shut down in fear over the war. "Of course we're afraid following strong reaction recently from some Islamic groups questioning our presence here."

The fury over Gaza has centered around the hundreds of Palestinian civilians killed in the war, in which 13 Israelis also died. Israel says it could not avoid killing civilians because Gaza militants operate from residential areas, but critics accuse it of using disproportionate force in its war to halt rocket attacks on its territory.

The steep Palestinian death toll sparked protests across the Muslim world, Europe and in Venezuela, and in some cases, the rage turned to violence. Firebombs were hurled at synagogues in France, Sweden and Belgium, Jews were beaten in England and Norway and an Italian union endorsed a boycott of Jewish-owned shops. In Venezuela, vandals shattered religious objects at a synagogue and spray-painted, "Jews, get out", on the walls.

In Yemen, where Islamic militancy is on the rise, anti-Israel protesters pelted several Jewish homes with rocks and smashed windows, wounding at least one person, security officials said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has offered to give plots of land in the capital, San'a, free of charge to Jews who want to relocate from the provinces, officials said. No one has taken him up on the offer, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the offer was made privately in a meeting between the president and Jewish leaders.

As many as 250 of Yemen's estimated 400 Jews are thought to live outside San'a.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, Islamic hard-liners marched to the gates of the country's only synagogue, chanting, "Go to hell, Israel."

"If Israel refuses to stop its attacks and oppression of the Palestinian people, we don't need to defend [the synagogue's] presence here," said Abdusshomad Buchori, who led the protest in the town of Surabaya and has threatened to drive out its Jews. The synagogue has been shuttered since.

"In the past, Jews in Surabaya have experienced no hostility," Samba said. "But

ncreasingly - probably because of events like the Gaza war - a smattering of swastikas has appeared on the backs of buses," he said.

"Because of the hostile reaction, we're not exposing ourselves to the media right now," he said. "We also report all protests to the police."

Several dozen Jews are thought to be living in Indonesia, descendants of traders from Europe and Iraq.

Jewish leaders in Egypt and Syria were curt when asked about the climate toward Jews in their countries.

"We have no troubles and we don't talk politics," said Carmen Weinstein, head of

the Jewish Community in Cairo.

In Syria, Jewish community head Albert Komho said, "There is no fear and there are no threats. We are not involved in any political activity and we are functioning normally."

Jews moved to the Middle East and north Africa after Spain expelled them in the 15th century. Jews were often restricted to separate neighborhoods, had curtailed rights, and sometimes were persecuted. Their condition deteriorated sharply in the first half of the 20th century as a result of Arab nationalism and Israel's impending establishment. Hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from Arab lands around the time of Israel's 1948 creation, and today, only several tens of thousands remain.

Some communities are tiny, numbering about 100 in Syria and less than a dozen in Baghdad. The biggest concentrations are in Turkey and Iran, where Jews enjoy the stated protection of Islamic governments.

The Iranian Jewish community went out of its way to distance itself from Israel during the Gaza fighting, issuing a statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and condemning the Israeli offensive. The inhuman behavior of the Zionist regime contradicts the religious teachings of the Jewish faith, the statement said.

A group of Iranian Jews, including Jewish lawmaker Siamak Mara-Sedq, protested against the war in front of the UN office in Tehran in late December.

Turkey is Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world, but the greatest turbulence over the Gaza war has taken place there. Earlier this month, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confronted Israeli President Shimon Peres over the high Palestinian civilian death toll, before storming off the stage they shared at a high-profile forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Some of Turkey's 23,000 Jews, however, were more alarmed by a government-ordered minute of silence in schools for Gaza's dead, which they fear is a sign that the Islamic-leaning government's declared intolerance of anti-Semitism might waver. Erdogan's recent observation that the Ottoman Empire welcomed Jews also rankled many who took it to mean that Turkey

considered them guests, not citizens.

Although Turkish fury was mostly directed at Israel, a few Turkish protesters held placards with anti-Semitic messages. Turkish media showed a photograph of three men in front of the office of a cultural association, holding a dog and a sign saying, "Dogs are allowed, but Jews and Armenians aren't."

Jewish community leaders say hundreds of anti-Semitic writings have appeared in Turkish media, and that prosecutors have failed to take legal action.

"Everyone can criticize the policies of Israel, we respect that," Silvyo Ovadya, head of the Jewish community in Turkey, told the Milliyet newspaper. "However, every speech criticizing Israel has a tendency to turn into cries of 'Damn Jews.' I don't recall such an atmosphere previously."

Erdogan has tried to reassure Turkey's Jews, who live in a country of more than 70 million Muslims, that criticism of Israel does not amount to an attack on Jews and their faith.

"There has been no anti-Semitism in the history of this country," Erdogan told ruling party lawmakers last week. "As a minority, they're our citizens. Both their security and the right to observe their faith are under our guarantee."

Last update - 22:02 17/02/2009
Obama officials meet U.S. Jews to explain their Durban II policy

By Shlomo Shamir and Raphael Ahren, Haaretz Correspondents

Officials from the Obama administration met with U.S. Jewish leaders on Monday to explain why the government has decided to participate in planning the controversial World Conference Against Racism, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

Jerusalem fears that the "Durban II" summit, set to be held in Geneva this April, will be used by Arab nations and others as a forum to criticize Israel as was its predecessor in 2001.

The closed-door talks were led by the White House and the State Department, according to the JTA, and the content of the meeting was off-the-record.

The meeting was held after the State Department sent a high-level team to an informal preparatory session in Geneva this week, but declared that a "change in direction" was required before it could commit to full participation in the April meeting.

"If you are not engaged, you don't have a voice," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said on Tuesday.

"We wanted to put forward our view and see if there is some way we can make the document a better document than it appears it is going to be," he said. "That does not mean, however, that we will take part in future meetings or indeed in the conference itself."

Delegates to the talks on Monday told the JTA they were organized to give the Jewish leaders a chance to voice their concerns and for the Obama administration to explain its policy about the controversial event.

The decision to attend the planning sessions sparked some criticism from Jewish groups but drew praise from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who urged all member states "to engage constructively on all the outstanding issues" at the conference.

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the Durban process was biased against Israel.

"While we understand the pressure on the U.S. to go to Geneva, we urge America not to participate in a fatally flawed UN racism conference that demonizes Israel by singling it out for condemnation," he said.

U.S. human rights organizations have been urging the Obama administration to engage in the conference in order to tackle the issues that will be discussed during the meeting.

Human Rights First, the leading human rights organization in the U.S., on Tuesday issued a statement welcoming Obama's intention of participating in the summit.

"We urge the administration to work to ensure that the conference advances rather than undermines the protection of fundamental rights, and to engage with others to press for that outcome," the statement reads.

"This session provides an opportunity for the United States to lead efforts to address problems with language proposed for the current draft of the outcome document," said the statement. "The United States should also encourage states to review the implementation of their international commitments to combat racism. Although this is the stated purpose of the conference, states have put in very little effort so far to engage in any meaningful review."

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday appealed to the U.S. not to participate in the UN-sponsored conference. Speaking before a delegation of visiting American Jewish leaders, Livni said that "Israel expects the free world not to participate in Durban II."

Israel and Canada have announced they are boycotting the April 20-24 conference in Geneva, a follow-up to an acrimonious meeting in 2001. Canada said the conference was likely to descend into anti-Semitism while Israel said it would be an "anti-Israel tribunal".

European Union (EU) countries including Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands are under pressure from Jewish lobbies to follow suit. But they have stayed engaged while struggling to tone down a final UN text to be issued by the conference, diplomats say.

The 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban was meant to lay down a blueprint for nations to address sensitive issues.

Israel and the United States walked out in protest over a draft text branding Israel as a racist and apartheid state, language that was later dropped.

Last update - 14:40 17/02/2009
Report: Iran seeking Russian missiles to repel Israeli assault

By Reuters

Iran's defense minister will seek to convince Russia on Tuesday to deliver air defense systems which could help repel possible Israel and U.S. air strikes, Russian media reported.

Iran has long been interested in buying medium range Russian S-300 air defence systems from Russia but Israel has sought to convince Moscow not to deliver the systems.

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in Moscow on Tuesday.

"I hope this visit will lead to the further development of relations between our two countries in all areas, including in the sphere of military cooperation," Najjar was quoted as saying by the Iranian embassy in Moscow.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper said Najjar will seek to get Russia to deliver the systems during his visit to Moscow, though the paper said Moscow was extremely wary of selling the systems to Tehran.

Russia has repeatedly denied it intends to sell Iran the S-300 systems. Najjar will meet Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in Moscow on Tuesday.

Kommersant said an e800 million contract for five S-300 systems had already been signed between Iran and Russia, but the paper cited a source in the Russian weapons industry saying that Moscow had not yet made a decision on whether to deliver them.

An Iranian lawmaker said last year that deliveries had already begun and some Russian media have reported that Russia is fulfilling a S-300 contract with Iran.

Iran, which the West fears is trying to build a nuclear bomb, is emerging as an issue where the United States has signaled it could work more closely with Russia and thus ease the stormy relations with Moscow.

A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters this month that the if Russia agreed to help dissuade Iran from seeking nuclear weapons then Washington could slow development of a missile defense system in Europe.

The United States, its European allies and Israel say Iran is seeking to build nuclear arms under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Iran denies the charge.

The new administration of Barack Obama has said the U.S. is prepared to talk to Iran, a step that has dampened speculation about pre-emptive strikes against Iran.

Russia says it has seen no evidence that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and has warned that pushing Tehran into a corner would be counterproductive.

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr, and says it will start up the reactor at the plant this year.

In October, Russia's Foreign Ministry denied media speculation that Moscow would sell the medium-range S-300 system, saying it had no intention of selling weapons to "troubled regions".

The most advanced version of the S-300 system can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km away. It is known in the West as the SA-20.

Last update - 05:57 17/02/2009
Vichy government found responsible for deporting Jews in WWII

By The Associated Press

PARIS - France's top judicial body on Monday recognized the French government's responsibility for the deportation of Jews during World War II, the clearest such recognition to date of the state's role in the Holocaust.

The Council of State found that the government of Nazi-occupied France at the time held the responsibility for deportations that led to anti-Semitic persecution

The decision released on Monday also found that the deportation had been compensated for since 1945, apparently ruling out any reparations for deportees or their families.

Thousands of Jews were deported from France to Nazi death camps during the occupation. After the war, subsequent French governments took decades to acknowledge any role played by the collaborationist Vichy regime in the Holocaust.

A Paris court had sought the Council of State's opinion on a request by the daughter of a deportee who died at Auschwitz for reparations from the French state. She was also asking for material and moral damages for her own personal suffering during and after the occupation.

The council left it up to the Paris court to rule on her request.

But in its decision, the council said that it ruled that because the acts and actions by the state led to the deportation of people the Vichy regime believed to be Jews, (they) constituted errors and became its responsibility.

The council called for a solemn recognition of the state's responsibility and of collective prejudice suffered by the deportees.

Today, France has western Europe's largest Jewish community, numbering approximately 500,000.

Last update - 10:23 17/02/2009
Gaza mine-clearing teams waiting for Israeli okay

By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent

GAZA CITY - A team trained to remove and destroy unexploded ordnance has been operating in the Gaza Strip for three weeks, but its work is being held up because Israel has not approved the entry of its equipment nor an area for storing and neutralizing ordnance. For now some of the latter, located by the Palestinian police, is being stored in locations that are dangerously close to population centers in Rafah, Khan Yunis and Gaza City.

The team was sent by the British humanitarian organization Mines Advisory Group, whose purpose is to reduce the danger to the local population posed by unexploded mines and other weapons in conflict zones around the world. MAG is co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. In Gaza, the MAG team works in cooperation with the United Nations Mine Action Service.

The head of the team in Gaza told Haaretz that the actual work of neutralizing and destroying the explosives is not complicated, and that it is the coordination that takes time. The transfer of the ordnance to a safe location for controlled explosion must be coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces as well as with the Palestinian authorities in the Gaza Strip. The neutralization methods chosen will depend on the equipment Israel will allow in.

The IDF Spokesman's Office issued the following statement: "The conclusion that the IDF is not permitting the force's entry lacks all factual basis, since no response has been issued. The issue is being considered with a favorable eye and the IDF's answer will be given within a few days."

Military sources pointed out that the IDF Spokesman's Office issued, after the end of the military operation, a severe warning about the danger of unexploded ordnance and that several Arab news media reported the warning to Gaza Strip residents.

Despite the delays, the team has made some progress that does not depend on equipment: MAG's technical director, Mark Buswell, examined six main thoroughfares in the strip to make sure there are no mines or other ordnance that could explode on or near them. Nothing was found, and the roads were declared safe. MAG also examined 38 schools that sustained direct hits and removed large quantities of ordnance. UN facilities, industrial areas and water and sewage installations were also checked. White phosphorus bombs found in Gaza City and in the northern Gaza Strip last month and placed in a lot near police headquarters in Gaza City, near bombs with a collective weight of 7,500 kilograms, were neutralized by being submerged in water and covered with sand.

Buswell, who served in the British army for nine years, said the Palestinian police did a good job of removing and storing most of the unexploded ordnance. Kerei Ruru of the UN Mine Action Team said that unlike in Lebanon no cluster bombs were found in the Gaza Strip and no evidence was found that Israel had used depleted uranium. Buswell said the team found no Palestinian mines, only indications of antitank mines used by the IDF to blow up Palestinian homes. MAG also found no evidence that Hamas had booby-trapped buildings. Buswell said that if there were still any boobytrapped homes, people would have been injured and the team has received no reports of such injuries.

Last update - 09:00 17/02/2009
ANALYSIS / Why has Israel backtracked on Shalit deal?

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents

Israel's behavior in the past few days in the discussions for the Shalit deal and the cease-fire agreement has put the Egyptian mediators off balance.

About 10 days ago, when senior defense official Amos Gilad traveled to Cairo, the Egyptians understood that the matter was nearly closed. The tahadiyeh [lull] is within reach, and in parallel, or approximately so, the abducted soldier would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. The Egyptians had hoped to issue an official statement on a deal close to Election Day in Israel, but when that was not possible they assumed it would take a day or two more.

In the meantime, a week has gone by and Israel is reopening issues for discussion they in Cairo had thought were closed.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak put things bluntly.

"Israel has withdrawn from its position," he said. "There was an agreement for a lull, and now the Israelis are going back a bit, but we are pressing them."

Shalit, Mubarak says, "is a different matter," and progress on it will commence only after an agreement is reached on the cease-fire.

The change during the weekend occurred on the Israeli side. It is not only the absolute linkage that Israel is making between opening the crossings into the Gaza Strip, central to the cease-fire agreement, and the release of Shalit, which was announced by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Saturday. Israel is reconsidering entirely the whole question of a cease-fire.

It seems that if it were possible, Israel would opt for a "Shalit Minus" framework for a deal: the soldier in exchange for prisoners, without involving a cease-fire at all.

From the point of view of Hamas, the order of priorities is reversed. The cease-fire, and especially the reopening of the crossings into the Strip, is an urgent demand. The prisoners can wait. They have been sitting in prisons for more than a decade - another month will not make a difference.

Shift in the halls of power

The rather unclear result of the Israeli elections has something to do with what is going on in the Israeli leadership. Defense Minister Ehud Barak appears to have lost some of his influence. Not only has he avoided public appearances (his last was when the election results were announced last week), but there is an atmosphere at the Defense Ministry that his bags are nearly packed.

Under such circumstances Barak, who had been the one pushing for a deal linking the cease-fire with Shalit, is still facing formidable skepticism from the corner of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Not only does she not share his enthusiasm for concessions in exchange for Shalit, but she also opposes any binding cease-fire agreement. Now Olmert is backtracking and finding merit in Livni's reservations.

Both are questioning whether it is possible to use a strategy of deterrence along the border with the Gaza Strip, without having to go into a cease-fire deal. Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is unofficially participating in the consultations and is apparently a lot more eager to resolve the Shalit issue than agree to a lull. In any case, he does not believe that it would be possible to achieve long-term stability vis-a-vis Hamas.

Even though the cabinet may meet tomorrow to discuss a possible deal, it seems that the matter is suddenly less urgent. This is linked to politics too: it will take a long time before a coalition government is formed. Olmert will probably still have time to enjoy five or six cabinet sessions. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the Egyptians are getting impatient. As late as Saturday they were convinced they would be able to meet each side's needs. But Israel's stance is making things complicated for them.

Last update - 21:19 17/02/2009
Hamas leader Meshal: No Shalit deal before Gaza truce

By Jack Khoury, Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff, Anshel Pfeffer and Yanir Yagna, Haaretz Correspondents

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal on Tuesday accused Israel of thwarting Egyptian efforts to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip by adding conditions to the deal at the last minute.

Meshal made his comments in reference to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's insistence that no truce could be reached with Hamas until an agreement has been set for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

The Hamas leader said his group would not reverse its stance that the Gaza truce remain separate from any deal to release Shalit, who has been in Palestinian captivity since he was captured by Hamas-allied in a 2006 cross-border raid.

The pan-Arab daily Al Hayat on Tuesday, however, quoted a Hamas official as saying the group was not opposed to freeing abducted Shalit before a truce took effect.

The official said that for this to happen, Israel must release all of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas has demanded in return for Shalit, the London-based paper reported.

He was further quoted as saying that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti was among the prisoners Hamas had demanded, and that Israel did not oppose his release.

But the official said Israel was opposed to freeing Ahmed Sa'adat, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader jailed for ordering the 2001 assassination of former tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

The report came as Olmert said on Tuesday that he hoped a deal for Shalit's release would soon be reached, even if not during his tenure as premier.

"I hope that the issue will be concluded within a short amount of time," Olmert said while on a tour of the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem.

The prime minister on Wednesday intends to bring before the cabinet for its approval a demand that conditions a cease-fire deal in Gaza on Shalit's release.

"We will reach decisions on this tomorrow, and I hope that these decisions will be a base that will enable a solution to the problem within a short amount of time - even if not within the present government's term," he added.

The premier also said that Israel is determined in its position on the Shalit issue and has placed it at the top of its priorities, alongside halting rocket fire from Gaza and smuggling to the coastal strip. He praised efforts by Egypt to combat the smuggling and said this matter too would be discussed on Wednesday.

Olmert updated Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his position and stressed that Israel would not agree to a different arrangement for a cease-fire deal.

Olmert stressed on Monday that he had informed Mubarak of his view after Defense Minister Ehud Barak assumed the opposite position with Egyptian mediators.

Olmert believes that if the cabinet decides to accept his precondition that any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip be contingent upon Shalit's release, then Barak will be unable to strike a different deal with the Egyptians.

"We will bring our own proposal for a framework [deal]," sources close to Olmert said on Monday. "If the defense minister or anyone else has a different proposal, let them bring it and we will see if it will be approved."

The prime minister and his aides were upset by the behavior of Barak, who had granted interviews to the media days prior to the election, declaring that a resolution of the Shalit case was close at hand. Barak had warned that for this to happen, difficult decisions must be made.

Olmert and his aides attributed to the defense minister a series of media reports on a framework agreement for Shalit's release, as well as reports that the cease-fire agreement would not include the soldier's release.

During a visit in southern Israel on Monday, Olmert made a statement which targetted Barak. "I have insisted from day one that there will be no cease-fire before Shalit is release," Olmert said. "I did not speak of this in public, and I asked in every possible way: Do not talk about

Gilad Shalit in public. Contrary to other people, I thought that it should not be talked about."

"Every day I witnessed dramatic appearances of individuals on television talking about the need for decisions. I thought that it was appropriate for whoever carrying the supreme responsibility in the State of Israel to tell the public the truth," he added.

Olmert also said that he had called the Egyptian president to clarify Israel's stance on Shalit's release. The prime minister hinted that Barak had given Egypt mixed messages.

"I spoke with the highest officials in Egypt so that there will be no misunderstanding," Olmert said. "I said that we will not reopen the border crossings [in the Gaza Strip] and assist Hamas so long as Gilad Shalit is in their brutal prison. When Gilad is home, we will be ready to discuss other matters."

Egyptian President Mubarak said on Monday that his country would continue the mediation efforts between the two sides despite setbacks.

"The release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is a separate issue and cannot be linked to the truce," Mubarak said while meeting in Bahrain with the country's leader, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.

Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Hamas politburo in Damascus, Musa Abu Marzuk, said on Monday that the final outcome of the cease-fire talks would become clear in two or three more days.

He said that if Israel wanted Shalit returned, it had to release Palestinian prisoners to their homes, hinting that Israel had insisted on releasing them outside the Palestinian Authority.

Arab sources reported on Monday that Hamas had already agreed to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal and to Cairo's conditions - namely that the border crossings would not be fully opened before Shalit's release.

Last update - 08:49 17/02/2009
ANALYSIS / A rightist coalition will be on collision course with Obama from day one

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

The one question that interests Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni more than which of them President Shimon Peres will pick first to form a coalition, is what mandate President Barack Obama will give the new government.

All three of them understand that a right to extreme-right coalition will be headed on a collision course with the great power from day one. They fear that a Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu-Jewish Home-National Union-Shas coalition will condemn Israel to isolation. But if Netanyahu/Livni try to dismantle even a windowsill of one mobile home in one outpost, as was promised a number of times to the United States, Avigdor Lieberman and Eli Yishai will dismantle the government.

Peres will sleep better with Netanyahu as prime minister than with Livni, whom he used to call "the high school girl" sleeping next to the red telephone. He already gave her the go-ahead to form a government once and she came back empty-handed. He views the round of consultations with faction leaders as a waste of time; in any case almost everyone will keep talking and lying to everyone else until the last minute.

The voices calling for him to let Netanyahu put together a fanatical nationalist-religious coalition and let the people pay the price have penetrated the walls of the President's Residence, where they compete with Yitzhak Rabin's statement of, "we do not have a spare country." In the great confusion, someone has even said that Bibi and Livni will eventually return to Peres without a coalition and send Israelis back to the polls.

Related articles:

White House: Obama to push peace process, regardless of Israel leader

For Livni and Netanyahu, rotating government could be the only option

Slow Obama stance on Iran nukes worries Israel

Last update - 13:08 17/02/2009
Lieberman, Livni mull 'civil front' to counter religious bloc

By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman and Kadima chief Tzipi Livni are working to form a "civil front" to counter the right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties which Likud has been wooing in the coalition talks.

Sources in Kadima and Likud say they don't expect Lieberman to recommend any candidate to President Shimon Peres on Thursday as Yisrael Beiteinu's choice to form a new government. Lieberman would instead try to force the formation of a national unity government consisting of Kadima, Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu, without ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party Shas.

"Bibi doesn't have Lieberman," Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Haaretz on Monday, using the nickname of Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu. "And the significance of this is that Netanyahu doesn't have 61 Knesset members who will recommend that he be asked by the president to form the next government. On civil matters, Lieberman is more of our [Kadima's] partner than Bibi's."

Kadima came in first in last week's general election, followed by Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu and Labor.

But Labor party chairman Ehud Barak reportedly said that Livni's dealings with Lieberman mean that Labor will not recommend to Peres that Livni form the next government.

Closer relations between Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu were reflected Monday in a meeting between Ramon and Stas Misezhnikov, the head of Yisrael Beiteinu's negotiating team for the coalition talks. Ramon presented a document showing that Kadima had accepted all of Yisrael

Beiteinu's five demands except for the proposal on citizenship legislation.

In everything related to religion and state, the Kadima document is similar to Yisrael Beiteinu's position, including support for a civil-marriage law, a change in the system of government and a solution for the conversion issue.

At minimum Lieberman will try to show his electorate that he is promoting the so-called civil agenda he advocated during the election campaign, sources say.

Senior figures in Lieberman's party say their boss is interested in creating a situation in which Kadima will not enter the government without Yisrael Beiteinu.

Netanyahu associates, meanwhile, say there is no chance that Shas will be excluded from a Netanyahu government. They expect Netanyahu to lead the next coalition.

Last update - 08:19 17/02/2009
Noam Shalit not optimistic about deal for Gilad's release

By Jack Khoury

Noam Shalit is not optimistic about a pending deal for the release of his son, Gilad, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

During the past two days, officials have updated Shalit on developments in the negotiations. Shalit told Haaretz on Monday that the cabinet session on the cease-fire deal was important but did not point to anything beyond a general outline of an agreement for his son's release.

"There is still no deal, and it appears to only be a discussion on authorizing a general outline," he said.

Shimshon Leibman, who heads the Shalit support group, said on Monday that the family and the organization were following the developments closely. He added that there was a sense for the first time that a good opportunity to gain Shalit's release was at hand.

"This time, there is strength to make concessions, both as a consequence of the war and also because of the broad public support [for Shalit's release], and the fact that this government is ending its tenure and the prime minister feels the need to bring an end to this matter," he said.

The question of public support for the deal was raised earlier this week over the debate concerning the exchange of Palestinian prisoners involved in the mass murder of Israelis. The Shalit support group prepared a list of bereaved families that support the release of their loved one's murderers in return for Shalit.

The initiative of involving bereaved families is not new and was first raised in an effort to lobby for an exchange with Hezbollah for the two abducted IDF reserve soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Ora Leffer Mintz, who lost her son Raz Mintz in a shooting near Bet El in 2001, and who wrote the prime minister 18 months ago that she was willing to pay the price of seeing her son's killers go free in return for Goldwasser and Regev, reiterated her call Monday: "I think that we need to make the same decision on this matter. If my son had been abducted I would have been willing to release the whole world for his release," she told Haaretz on Monday.

Last update - 20:06 16/02/2009
UN nuclear watchdog: Israel's 'perceived double-standard' hurts NPT

By Reuters

A perception among Arab nations that Israel has undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a major obstacle to global nuclear disarmament, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

Tensions within the IAEA run deep over Israel's presumed nuclear might and its shunning of the NPT. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal but it has never confirmed or denied it.

In an article for the International Herald Tribune, Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, set out what he thought should be done to achieve consensus on nuclear disarmament.

"What compounds the problem is that the nuclear non-proliferation regime has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of Arab public opinion because of the perceived double-standards concerning Israel, the only state in the region outside the NPT and known to possess nuclear weapons," he wrote.

ElBaradei also reiterated he was encouraged by new U.S. President Barack Obama's commitment to making the elimination of all nuclear weapons a central part of his policy platform.

To do that, nations have to overcome cynical attitudes to the United Nations, he said.

"The UN and related agencies must be given adequate authority and funding and put in the hands of leaders who have vision, courage and credibility," wrote ElBaradei.

In a broadside against the United States and Israel, he said: "Above all, we need to halt the glaring breach of core principles of international law such as limitations on the unilateral use of force, proportionality in self-defence and the protection of civilians during hostilities in order to avoid a repeat of the civilian carnage in Iraq and, most recently, in Gaza."

ElBaradei, who is due to leave office in November when his third term expires, clashed with the former Bush administration over what he saw as its unilateralism and refusal to engage with foes like Iran.

Last update - 22:32 16/02/2009
Livni: Israel must give up land to remain Jewish and democratic

By Raphael Ahren, Haaretz Correspondent

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told visiting American Jewish leaders on Monday that Israel must give up part of its land "in order to remain a Jewish and democratic state."

"I do believe Israel is fighting for existence not only because it's the only democracy in the Middle East, but also because it's the only Jewish state in the world," Livni told a delegation of about 100 leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, currently holding its annual leadership mission in Israel.

"No refugee can enter Israel as part of the peace process," Livni said. "Their [Palestinian] national aspiration gets an answer in a different place," she added, reiterating comments she has made at least twice in the past few months.

She also told the delegation that Israel must take the initiative and come forward with its own peace plan to head off international programs. "Any plan put on the table will not be in our interest," she said.

During her address, Livni also appealed to the United States not to participate in the UN-sponsored Durban II anti-racism conference, set to be held in Geneva this April.

"Israel expects the free world not to participate in Durban II," she said, repeating Jerusalem's concerns that the meeting will be used by Arab nations and others as a forum to criticize Israel.

The U.S. State Department said it would send diplomats next week to participate in preparatory meetings for the conference, which some countries including Israel have already decided to boycott.

In a statement released late Saturday, the State Department said the U.S. delegation to the planning discussions would review current direction of conference preparations and whether U.S. participation in the conference itself is warranted.

The American Jewish delegation has already met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fisher during its visit, which began earlier this week. The delegates are also scheduled to speak with President Shimon Peres and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat over the coming days.

The group comprises 51 member organizations representing virtually all political and religious streams of America Jewry; from the Orthodox Union to the Union of Reform Judaism, as well as the American Friends of Likud and the local branches of Peace Now.

About 60 of the delegates met last week with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, before arriving in Jerusalem. Trying to defuse a controversy over his rehabilitation of a bishop who denies the Holocaust, the pope told the delegation during their visit last Thursday that "any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable."

Last update - 18:14 16/02/2009
Auschwitz blueprints to be put on display in Berlin

By The Associated Press

Architectural plans for the Nazi death camp Auschwitz that were discovered in Berlin last year will be put on public display in the German capital on Tuesday.

The Axel Springer Verlag publishing company said Monday that it was its duty to put on display some of the 28 sketches that turned up in an apartment in November and ended up in its possession.

The documents, drawn on a scale of 1:100, show details for expanding the camp in Poland that include a crematorium and a gas chamber. They are dated between 1941 and 1943, and have been authenticated by Germany's federal archive, Axel Springer's Bild newspaper reported.

Other original plans for Auschwitz exist, but these are the first that are in Germany's possession, Bild reported.

For the professional historian these documents bring an addition or two to their research; for the layman, they show how systematically the Nazi

criminals went about murdering the European Jews, said Kai Diekmann,

editor-in-chief of Bild.

The plans will be on display starting Tuesday at the publishing company's

office in Berlin's Kreuzberg district through Feb. 27.

Following the exhibit, the company plans to pass the documents on for

permanent display to a museum or an archive, but has not yet decided where.

Last update - 11:15 16/02/2009
South Korea to buy Israeli radar system in $215 million deal

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters

South Korea's military has decided to buy Israel's Oren Yarok (Green Pine) radar warning system, in a deal worth $215 million, according to a report in Sunday's Korea Times newspaper.

South Korea plans to install the system for operational use by 2012.

The United States and France also put in bids for the deal. The U.S., however, was only willing to sell South Korea a less advanced radar system.

The deal is one of the largest weapons sales ever between Israel and South Korea. Israel Aerospace Industries previously lost a tender to sell South Korea the Falcon radar warning system, after the U.S. pressured them to favor American companies.

Oren Yarok was developed by Elta, and is used as Israel's main warning system.

Mexico police buy Israeli air surveillance systems

Another Israeli firm, Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd., on Monday said it had won 22 million euros in contracts to supply Mexico's federal police with airborne surveillance systems.

Products sold include the Skystar 300, a blimp with on-board cameras offering 24-hour monitoring of surroundings, and the Orbiter, a miniature unmanned spy plane, Aeronautics said in a statement.

Last update - 11:29 16/02/2009
Muslim comics superheroes battle radical Islam

By The Associated Press

From videogames to a Kuwaiti entrepreneur's comic-book empire featuring Muslim superheroes, the Arab world's private sector is leading a push to provide Muslim and Arab youth with homegrown heroes, something sorely needed as a bulwark against the trend toward radical Islam throughout the Middle East.

In "Bab el-Hara," Abu Essam's footsteps echo loudly as he walks through the narrow alleys of Damascus' old city. Around him in 1930s Syria, tall stone buildings block the scorching sun.

Cautiously, he walks on. Around the next corner he could find the key to the gate to free prisoners captured by Syria's colonial ruler, France. Or he could face a shot from a French soldier's rifle. As he turns the corner, a shot rings out - but it is the soldier who is dead.

This is not Syria of 75 years ago, however. It is a rolling, 3-D videogame on Wael El-Zanaty's cell phone, and his thumb is a blur of motion as he navigates the alleys and fires at soldiers.

"The best thing about this game is that this is something that Arabs can relate to," said El-Zanaty, the technical director for Egypt's Good News Group, which developed the game "Bab el-Hara" based on a hit television series that airs during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"It's about part of [Arab] history - the resistance to the French occupation."

Clearly, heroes in games or comics won't offset all the problems that stoke radicalism - anger at corrupt Arab regimes and at Israel over its treatment of Palestinians - but El-Zanaty said he hoped these pop-culture characters could give young people a sense of hope and a positive image of themselves as Arabs.

"We wanted something that reflected our culture...developed with an Arab perspective," he said.

In Kuwait, Naif al-Mutawa had a similar vision. The Teshkeel Media Group founder, a psychologist, drew some inspiration for his comic-book empire from treating Iraqi soldiers suffering trauma after the first Gulf War in 1990. Some of these men told him they'd been raised to view Saddam Hussein as an Arab hero.

"What kind of message are we sending to our children about what a hero is, and what a hero does?" al-Mutawa asked, seated in his Kuwait City office.

His "The 99" - as the comic-book series is called - draws from the heyday of Muslim civilization. Each hero is named after one of the 99 qualities the Quran attributes to God, such as "The Powerful" and "The Loving."

While Teshkeel has yet to turn a profit, al-Mutawa has raised about $23 million from investors, including a Bahrain Islamic bank. The company also recently signed a multimillion dollar deal with Dutch media giant Endemol - behind hit shows like "Big Brother" and "Power Rangers" - to animate "The 99" for global distribution.

Al-Mutawa's stories are based on a pivotal moment in Islamic history: The 1258 Mongol invasion of Baghdad that left the city in ruins and led to the dumping of books from its famed library into the Tigris River, with the ink by legend turning its waters black.

In his stories, some librarians escape and are able to place special stones in the river to suck up wisdom otherwise lost.

Hundreds of years later, the 99 stones are found in different corners of the world by heroes who come from 99 different countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Hungary and Indonesia.

Jabbar, the Saudi hero, is a Hulk-like figure whose name means "The Powerful." The American hero, Darr, or "The Afflicter," is a young man paralyzed from the waist down when a drunk driver crashed into his car, killing his family. His power is to take away or inflict pain.

While al-Mutawa used Islam as the basis for his comics, none of the heroes prays or reads the Quran. There is no mention of religion, and the characters are roughly divided between men and women - one of the main figures is Noora, an 18-year-old woman - and only a few of the women in the comics wear the Islamic headscarf.

Such moves were calculated, said al-Mutawa.

"Our [Islamic] story has become [more] about what not to do, than about what to do," he said. "I wanted to...go back to the same sources others have pulled out a lot of negative ideas from, and pull out positive, tolerant, multicultural, accepting ideas.

"I'm not trying to sell religion here. I'm trying to sell the idea that at the values level, we're all the same."

The message has resounded in the Muslim world and beyond. About 1 million of the comics are distributed monthly in several languages. The first of six theme parks built around "The 99" is to open in Kuwait later this year, and the superhero characters will appear on water bottles under a deal signed with Nestle SA and at an Arab arts festival next month at Washington's Kennedy Center.

While his comic books are broadening their reach, the computer games developed by Egypt's Good News Group also have a potential for a widespread audience.

Across Cairo, small storefronts and apartments are converted into videogame salons, where an hour in front of an LCD TV hooked to a Playstation 2 console costs $1 to $5 an hour, doing brisk business day and night.

"What else is there to do?" 22-year-old Mustafa Abdel-Rahman said when asked why he was playing a soccer videogame at 3 p.m. on a weekday. "I've put in applications, but still haven't found work."

Youths like Abdel-Rahman can be found in large numbers in much of the Middle East where sluggish economies do not provide nearly enough jobs to keep up with fast-growing populations. The situation provides a healthy market for the Good News Group's videogames, said Ayman Shoukry, the company's managing director.

In Egypt alone, a country of about 78 million, "there are 40 million mobiles," said Shoukry, referring to cell phones. "We don't have 40 million [other types of] devices anywhere in Egypt. Not 40 million TVs, not 40 million washing machines."

Shoukry declined to reveal any revenue figures from the games, saying only that they had registered "hundreds of thousands of downloads."

Al-Mutawa, also the author of a prize-winning children's book, said part of the motivation for his comics was to introduce Arab youths who have grown up in a world dominated by the West to heroic characters similar to those from the Arabs' glorious history.

"I really think that we [Arabs] limit ourselves with this catastrophic thinking that the world is controlled by others and there is nothing we can do," said al-Mutawa. "I think this is rubbish."

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Last update - 09:09 16/02/2009
Sudan rebel leader meets top Israeli defense official

By Barak Ravid and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents

The leader of one of the rebel groups in Sudan's Darfur region visited Israel to request its support in the rebels' fight against the Sudanese government.

Abdel Wahid al-Nur is the head of the Sudan Liberation Movement. While in Israel, he met with Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, who heads the Defense Ministry's political-security department. However, since he was not an official state guest, he did not meet with Foreign Ministry personnel.

Al-Nur came to Israel earlier this month at his own initiative, to attend the annual Herzliya Conference. He came with a group of European Jews, most of them French, who have been active on behalf of the Darfur refugees. He did not speak at any of the sessions, but did observe several.

At the conference, he was introduced to Gilad, and the two arranged a meeting, which took place a few days later at the Defense Ministry.

The ministry responded, "In the interests of national security, various and sundry meetings are held. We are not in the habit of giving responses after each of these meetings."

The Sudan Liberation Movement was founded in 1992. It is a secular group that opposes the Islamist regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, and its official stated goal is to turn Sudan into a democracy that grants equal rights to all its citizens. However, it also has a military wing that has been fighting government forces in Darfur since 2001.

Al-Nur fled to France in 2007 and has not been back to Sudan since then. He has won support from international human rights organizations and is considered very close to French Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy. In the past, he has spoken in favor of establishing diplomatic ties between Sudan and Israel, and a year ago, he even announced that his movement was opening an office in Tel Aviv, staffed by Sudanese refugees who found asylum in Israel after fleeing the massacres committed by Bashir's forces in Darfur. However, this was his first visit here.

Israel currently has more than 600 Darfur refugees, and Ehud Olmert's government decided to grant them all asylum and work permits. This decision was made in part because Bashir's government announced that any Sudanese refugee who set foot in Israel would be considered a "Mossad agent" and would therefore be sentenced to death should he or she ever return to Sudan.

Last update - 22:33 15/02/2009
Senator John Kerry says U.S. eager to talk to Syria

By News Agencies

U.S. Senator John Kerry is challenging Syria to demonstrate its seriousness about encouraging peace and stability in the Middle East.

The chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee will meet with Syria's president this week on a tour of the region that began Sunday in Egypt.

The U.S. has accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross its border into Iraq, though Syria denies that. Kerry has in the past spoken of his concern about what he said was the flow of money, weapons and terrorists through Syria into Iraq and Lebanon.

In Egypt on Sunday, the senator said the U.S. is eager to talk to Syria, whose president said last month he also wants a dialogue with Washington, but without preconditions.

Syria's Assad meets Saudi intelligence chief

Syrian President Bashar Assad met Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief on Sunday in a rare high-level encounter between the two countries that differ sharply on Arab and regional issues.

Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz gave Assad a message from Saudi King Abdullah about "bilateral ties and the importance of consultation and coordination between the two sides", the official news agency said.

Assad and Abdullah met briefly at a summit in Kuwait in January shortly after the end of Israel's three-week assault on Gaza. Assad said late last month that there have been no practical steps to improve ties since.

Relations between Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, and Damascus plummeted over Syria's policy toward Lebanon and Syria's decision to reinforce its alliance with Shi'ite Iran in the last few years.

Damascus and Riyadh back opposing political forces in Lebanon and former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated in Beirut in 2005, was well connected with the Saudi monarchy and had Saudi nationality.

A United Nations investigation implicated Syrian security officials in the killing. Damascus denied involvement.

The latest Israeli offensive in Gaza further worsened relations, with Syria supporting the Palestinian group Hamas, which opposes the Saudi- and U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Last update - 22:18 15/02/2009
Russia: Israel election results must not harm peace process

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press

Russia's foreign minister on Sunday called for Israel to not let last week's election results freeze the peace process, if a government dominated by the right-wing takes over.

"Russia sees great importance in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Israel must "preserve the momentum of the diplomatic process in spite of the results of Israel's elections."

Lavrov also said that Russia is planning a Mideast peace conference for the first half of this year.

Lavrov said that Moscow has diplomatic channels with Hamas and is pressing on the militant group to engage in peace talks with Israel, but that their leaders are not all of the same opinion.

Lavrov added that Arab nations and Israel will be invited to the conference.

He said the conference will be a continuation of U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks restarted in 2007, and an Arab peace initiative.

Lavrov is visiting Israel. He told President Shimon Peres on Sunday that he hopes the new Israeli government will renew peace talks.

According to a statement, Peres responded, "Our hand will always be extended in peace, but we cannot accept a situation in which rockets are fired at our citizens."

Last update - 16:59 15/02/2009
Olmert confirms Pope Benedict to visit Israel in May

By News Agencies

Pope Benedict will visit Israel in May, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday, confirming the spring pilgrimage and avoiding any mention of tense Catholic-Jewish relations over a Holocaust-denying bishop.

"This May, we will receive a special visitor, Pope Benedict XVI," Olmert told his cabinet, without giving an exact date. "President Shimon Peres will accompany him to various sites in Israel."

Olmert said he will ask the government to appoint Vice Premier Haim Ramon to be responsible for organizing the visit, and PMO Director-General Ra'anan Dinur to chair an inter-ministerial team to coordinate preparations for the visit.

"Naturally, we very much hope that the visit will be held in an appropriate atmosphere and will be as successful as Pope John Paul II's was," said Olmert. "A Papal visit to the Holy Land is always an exceptionally significant event and we hope that it will be this time as well."

Benedict confirmed on Thursday he would go to Israel, and Vatican sources said the trip, the first by a pope to the Holy Land since John Paul visited in 2000, was expected in May.

Catholic-Jewish relations have been extremely tense since Jan. 24, when Benedict lifted excommunications of four renegade traditionalist bishops in an attempt to heal a schism that began in 1988 when they were ordained without Vatican permission.

One of the bishops, Richard Williamson, denies the full extent of the Holocaust and says there were no gas chambers.

The Vatican has ordered him to recant but he so far has not done so, saying he needs more time to review the evidence.

Faced with Jewish anger over Williamson's remarks on the Holocaust, the pope said during a meeting with American Jewish leaders on Thursday that "any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable."

A detailed itinerary of the pope's visit is not yet available.

It would be the third visit of a reigning pontiff to Israel since the state was created in 1948.

Pope Paul VI made a one-day stopover from Jordan in 1964, but since the Vatican and Israel did not yet have diplomatic relations, he avoided any statement or act that could be interpreted as even indirect recognition of the Jewish state.

In March 2000, Pope John Paul II made a five-day pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian territories, during which he visited Christian and Jewish holy sites.

Last update - 18:59 15/02/2009
UAE denies Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer visa for tournament

By News Agencies

The United Arab Emirates has refused to grant a visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer to take part in a $2 million tournament in Dubai this week, the women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour said.

"We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the United Arab Emirates denying Shahar Peer a visa that would permit her to enter the country to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships," WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott said.

The board of directors will now meet to discuss the future of the Dubai tournament. WTA rules insist that any player should be allowed to play at any event on the tour.

The Dubai Tennis Championship is one of the WTA Tour's most prestigious events and this week features every player from the world's top 10 except the injured Nadia Petrova.

But like most Arab countries, the UAE has no diplomatic ties with the Israel, and Israelis are routinely denied entry.

Dubai Duty Free, owners and organizers of the event, have made no comment. There was no immediate comment from the UAE government.

"All the players support Shahar," said Venus Williams, who is in Dubai for the tournament. "We are all athletes and we stand for tennis. The players have to be unified and support the tour whichever direction they take on the issue."

Added French Open champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia: "I really don't like sports to be mixed with politics."

Peer's brother and spokesman, Shlomi Peer, said the 21-year-old player applied for a visa months in advance and was assured by tournament organizers that she would be allowed entry.

"Ms. Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally," said the statement by Scott.

"The WTA believes very strongly and has a clear rule and policy that no host country should deny a player the right to compete in a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking," Scott said.

Peer had planned to travel to Dubai from Thailand, where she lost in the

semifinal of the Pattaya Open to fifth-ranked Vera Zvonareva of Russia on

Saturday. She is expected to return to Israel Sunday, and could not be reached for comment.

Peer, a former top 20 player currently ranked 48, became the first Israeli to play in a tour event in the Gulf Arab region when she took part in the Qatar Open in February 2008.

Qatar, which had low-level ties with Israel including an Israeli trade office in its capital, suspended those relations in protest against the three-week Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip that ended in January.

At the time, Peer said she had received a warm welcome in Doha.

"I really got a warm welcome from the tournament," Peer said. "When you go on the court you don't think about politics. You just want to play your tennis. They treat me really nice. I feel very comfortable."

"I'm not coming here to help the politics of course, but if by me playing in this tournament it can help anything in the world, for peace or anything, I'll be really happy," she said.

The Gaza offensive, which killed 1,300 Palestinians and 14 Israelis, caused deep anger around the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Last update - 15:11 15/02/2009
Palestinians press for international probe of Israel for Gaza 'war crimes'

By The Associated Press

Palestinian leaders pressed prosecutors of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Friday to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes during the recent Gaza conflict.

Justice Minister Ali Khashan said crimes against Palestinians should not go unpunished.

Palestinians have been seeking "justice from the international community" since the day Israel was created in 1948, Khashan told reporters. "This is the moment" for them to act.

Israel launched a three-week offensive in December with the aim of ending years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel. The fighting left nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.

Whether a case can begin hinges on the validity of the Palestinian Authority's declaration last month recognizing the court's jurisdiction, since it does not represent a state. Israel does not accept the court's authority.

Israeli officials could not be reached for comment on Friday night, the start of the Sabbath, but the Foreign Ministry has in the past cited the court's own rules, which state it has jurisdiction only over sovereign states which accept its authority.

"The ICC charter is adhered to by sovereign states and the Palestinian Authority has not yet been recognized as one so it cannot be a member of the ICC," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said earlier this month, after Palestinian Justice Minister Ali Khashan wrote to the court, accepting its authority.

Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said the Palestinians want to create a precedent by initiating legal action for crimes against them.

Dozens of countries recognize a Palestinian state, he said. The Palestinians have no seat at the United Nations, but have long been accorded observer status and maintain a permanent UN mission.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said last week that it will likely take months before a decision is reached on whether a case can begin.

If the court decides it can investigate crimes in Gaza, Hamas also will likely be targeted by prosecutors for the deadly barrage of rockets it has unleashed on Israel.

Khashan conceded that Palestinian militants could be prosecuted. "We don't care about the nationality," he said, adding that the Palestinian Authority had not sought Hamas' blessing before approaching the court.

The Fatah organization which dominates the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, is a bitter rival of Hamas, which has governed Gaza since expelling Fatah's fighters in 2007.

"We are not going to ask permission from one faction or another," Khashan said.

Human Rights Watch has called for an international investigation into allegations of war crimes by both Israel and Hamas.

Moreno-Ocampo said last week that he has received 150 separate communications alleging war crimes during the Gaza conflict.

Al-Malki said the Palestinians can provide evidence to prosecutors if an investigation is launched.

"We have enough evidence to prove there is really a case," he said. "We expect the prosecutor really to take action."

Last update - 09:41 15/02/2009
Woman who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis marks her 100th birthday

By The Associated Press

Anne Frank called them the "Helpers". They provided food, books and good cheer while she and her family hid for two years from the Nazis in a tiny attic apartment.

On Sunday, the last surviving helper, Miep Gies, celebrates her 100th birthday, saying she has won more accolades for helping the Frank family than she deserved - as if, she says, she tried to save all the Jews of occupied Holland.

"This is very unfair. So many others have done the same or even far more dangerous work," she wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press this week.

It was Gies who gathered up Anne's scattered papers and notebooks after the hiding place was raided in 1944. She locked them ? unread ? in a desk drawer to await the teenager's return.

Anne died of typhus in the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen seven months after her arrest. British and Canadian troops liberated the camp two weeks later.

Gies gave the collection to Anne's father Otto, the only survivor among the eight people who hid in the concealed attic of the canal-side warehouse. He published it in 1947, and it was released in English in 1952 as "The Diary of a Young Girl." Retitled "The Diary of Anne Frank," it was the first book about the Holocaust to win popular appeal, and has sold tens of millions of copies in dozens of languages.

As she looked forward to a quiet birthday with her son and three grandchildren, Gies paid tribute to the "unnamed heroes" who helped Dutch Jews escape the net during the five years of Nazi occupation.

"I would like to name one, my husband Jan. He was a resistance man who said nothing but did a lot. During the war he refused to say anything about his work, only that he might not come back one night. People like him existed in thousands but were never heard," she said.

Jan Gies, who was not one of the four office workers who supplied the Frank family with their daily needs, died in 1993.

Such people fought a lonely battle in the Netherlands. Historians say collaborators were many and anti-Nazi resistance was light. Of the prewar Jewish population of 140,000, some 107,000 were arrested and deported. The Red Cross says only 5,200 of them survived the war.

Like the Franks, about 24,000 Dutch Jews went into hiding, of which 8,000 were hunted down or betrayed in exchange for a bounty.

After the war, Gies worked for Otto Frank as he compiled and edited the diary, then devoted herself to talking about the diary and answering letters from around the world. After Frank's death in 1980, Gies continued to campaign against Holocaust-deniers and to refute allegations that the diary was a forgery.

Though she ended her travels years ago and no longer gives interviews, her son Paul Gies says his mother "still receives a sizable amount of mail which she masters together with a longtime family friend."

Miep Gies suffered a stroke in 1997 which has slightly affected her speech, but she is generally in good health, her son said in an e-mail. She spends her days at the apartment where she has lived since 2000 reading two newspapers and following television news and talk shows.

A new edition of her 1987 book "Anne Frank Remembered" is due to be published this year.

Gies was born in Austria, and came to the Netherlands at age 13 to escape food shortages and live with a foster family. In 1933 she was hired as an office assistant in Otto Frank's spice business. Frank asked her in July 1942 to help hide his family in the annex above the company's warehouse and to bring them food and supplies.

The family, joined by four other Jews, hid for 25 months before they were betrayed. Repeated investigations by police and historians failed to definitively identify who turned them in.

Last update - 04:20 16/02/2009
U.S. fends off Israeli pressure, decides to help plan 'Durban 2'

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press

The Obama administration said late Saturday it would participate in planning a United Nations conference on racism, despite concerns the meeting will be used by Arab nations and others to criticize Israel.

The U.S. will decide later whether to participate in "Durban 2," the second UN-sponsored World Conference Against Racism.

The State Department said it would send diplomats next week to participate in preparatory meetings for the World Conference Against Racism, which is set to be held in Geneva, Switzerland in April and which some countries including Israel have already decided to boycott.

In a statement released late Saturday, the State Department said the U.S. delegation to the planning discussions would review current direction of conference preparations and whether U.S. participation in the conference itself is warranted.

"This will be the first opportunity the (Obama) administration has had to engage in the negotiations for the Durban Review, and - in line with our commitment to diplomacy - the U.S. has decided to send a delegation to engage in the negotiations on the text of the conference document," the department said.

"The intent of our participation is to work to try to change the direction in which the review conference is heading," it said. "We hope to work with other countries that want the Conference to responsibly and productively address racism around the world."

Officials in Jerusalem expressed concern that Israel and Barack Obama's administration are on a collision course over the U.S. decision to participate in the conference.

The Foreign Ministry has sought to block efforts by senior U.S. officials to convince Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to alter American policy set during the Bush administration not to attend the conference, which is regarded by Israel as a forum of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli vitriol.

Israel is boycotting the conference because a declaration equating Zionism with racism is expected to be made there. In addition, it is expected that the organizers and participants will charge that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians, and, like before in Durban, will make anti-Semitic statements.

The Bush administration agreed with Israel last year that the U.S. would not participate unless it received guarantees that the conference would not become a stage for anti-Semitism and one-sided criticism of Israel, as occured during the first Durban meeting in 2001.

Canada also announced that it was boycotting the conference and the Foreign Ministry has tried in recent months to convince European Union countries to also avoid participating.

The Foreign Ministry received confidential telegraphs from Israel's embassies in Washington, the United Nations and Geneva, about a possible change in the policy of the new U.S. administration regarding "Durban 2."

"Iran and Arab countries will once more take over the conference, and if the U.S. participates in 'Durban 2,' it will be a major blow," a senior Israeli diplomat told Haaretz. "This will pull the rug from under us and will lead to the participation of many more countries in the conference."

In one of the telegrams, a number of Obama officials reportedly pressed Secretary of State Clinton to announce the U.S. would participate in the conference.

One of the leading officials pressuring Clinton on "Durban 2" is the new U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, who was Obama's close campaign adviser.

Rice is also pushing for the U.S. to join the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. The body had been boycotted by the U.S., in part because of its one-sided criticism of Israel.

President George Bush had accused the HRC of opting to focus on Israel instead of dealing with the genocide in Darfur.

The other official pushing for American participation in "Durban 2" is Samantha Power, another Obama adviser at the National Security Council.

Power participated in the initial Durban conference as the representative of a non-government organization and is known for her strong criticism of Israel. In the past, she expressed support for cutting U.S. military assistance to Israel and transferring the funds as aid to build a Palestinian state.

Senior State Department officials contacted Israeli diplomats and asked them to take swift action to block the Durban initiative.

"This is the time for Israel and Jewish organizations to intervene," U.S. officials said.

While the Obama administration is addressing pressing issues like the U.S.'s economic crisis, Israel which has yet to establish its new government expects a more decisive stance regarding the complex Iranian nuclear issue.

Last update - 02:55 15/02/2009
Israel concerned U.S. may agree to take part in 'Durban 2'

By Barak Ravid

Officials in Jerusalem expressed concern that Israel and Barack Obama's administration are on a collision course over an expected U.S. decision to participate in "Durban 2," the second UN-sponsored World Conference Against Racism, scheduled in Geneva this April.

The Foreign Ministry has sought to block efforts by senior U.S. officials to convince Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to alter American policy set during the Bush administration not to attend the conference, which is regarded by Israel as a forum of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli vitriol.

Israel is boycotting the conference because a declaration equating Zionism with racism is expected to be made there. In addition, it is expected that the organizers and participants will charge that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians, and, like before in Durban, will make anti-Semitic statements.

The Bush administration agreed with Israel last year that the U.S. would not participate unless it received guarantees that the conference would not become a stage for anti-Semitism and one-sided criticism of Israel, as occured during the first Durban meeting in 2001.

Canada also announced that it was boycotting the conference and the Foreign Ministry has tried in recent months to convince European Union countries to also avoid participating.

The Foreign Ministry received confidential telegraphs from Israel's embassies in Washington, the United Nations and Geneva, about a possible change in the policy of the new U.S. administration regarding "Durban 2."

"Iran and Arab countries will once more take over the conference, and if the U.S. participates in 'Durban 2,' it will be a major blow," a senior Israeli diplomat told Haaretz. "This will pull the rug from under us and will lead to the participation of many more countries in the conference."

In one of the telegrams, a number of Obama officials reportedly pressed Secretary of State Clinton to announce the U.S. would participate in the conference.

One of the leading officials pressuring Clinton on "Durban 2" is the new U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, who was Obama's close campaign adviser.

Rice is also pushing for the U.S. to join the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. The body had been boycotted by the U.S., in part because of its one-sided criticism of Israel.

President George Bush had accused the HRC of opting to focus on Israel instead of dealing with the genocide in Darfur.

The other official pushing for American participation in "Durban 2" is Samantha Power, another Obama adviser at the National Security Council.

Power participated in the initial Durban conference as the representative of a non-government organization and is known for her strong criticism of Israel. In the past, she expressed support for cutting U.S. military assistance to Israel and transferring the funds as aid to build a Palestinian state.

Senior State Department officials contacted Israeli diplomats and asked them to take swift action to block the Durban initiative.

"This is the time for Israel and Jewish organizations to intervene," U.S. officials said.

Last update - 11:45 15/02/2009
U.S. expected to pressure Israel on settlement construction

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Even though the American administration would prefer an Israeli government that is committed to a two-state solution, the United States does not intend to take a stance on the composition of the next coalition. In view of the expected naming of Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition with the support of right-wing parties, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. envoy George Mitchell will focus during their next visit to Jerusalem on efforts to preserve the West Bank under the control of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The Americans will demand that Israel avoid creating new facts on the ground that may burden achieving an agreement in the future. Toward this end, the U.S. administration is preparing to put heavy pressure on the new government to freeze all settlement construction and keep its promises to lift roadblocks. A freeze on settlement activity will be a higher priority than removing illegal outposts.

Measures the Obama administration is likely will be to cut the equivalent sum of the latest investments in settlements from the remaining budget for U.S. guaranteed loans, approximately $1.3 billion out of a total of $10 billion that the U.S. made available to Israel for it to absorb immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

In Jerusalem the view is that in the absence of any progress in the Annapolis process, the partners to the U.S. in the Quartet - the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - will ask for real steps to be taken against Israel in response to the continued construction in the settlements.

Last week the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, protested officially to the Foreign Ministry over activities in Area E1 [the neighborhood to be built between Ma'aleh Adamim and Jerusalem] and plans to expand the settlement of Adam to take in those evacuated from the settlement of Migron.

Senator Mitchell's team will include experts who are familiar with the subject of the settlements and the ways in which Israel has avoided meeting its obligations for years.

In his report to then president George Bush in late April 2001, Mitchell rejected Israel's view that it is possible to expand the existing settlements to meet the needs of a naturally growing population there. The report also warned that the security cooperation that Israel is seeking from the Palestinians is incompatible with the expansion of settlements. The Bush administration did not heed the report and except for discreet protests ignored the ongoing expansion of settlements.

Meanwhile the State Department is evaluating the implication of reports that MK Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beiteinu, was a member of the extreme right group Kach. It appears on a State Department list of terrorist organizations.

If the Obama administration confirms the report that appeared last week in Haaretz, and which was not denied by Lieberman, the Yisrael Beiteinu leader may not be granted a visa to enter the U.S. The close cooperation between Israel and the U.S. on matters of strategy, defense, economics, commerce, tourism and transportation means that ministers charged with relevant portfolios often visit the United States.

A new MK, Michael Ben-Ari of the National Union, confirmed that he had been a member of Kach while it was headed by Meir Kahane and may face similar restrictions.

Last update - 08:40 15/02/2009
ANALYSIS / Olmert denial of Hamas talks is almost comical

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

There was something almost comical about outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement on the negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit.

The announcement, which was released as a clarification in response to speculation, said that "Israel is not negotiating with Hamas and will not reach any understandings with Hamas."

So apparently there's another explanation for the frequent visits by Amos Gilad, the defense establishment's envoy, to Cairo. He just digs the pyramids.

During Olmert's three-year term, his bureau his challenged reality more than once in its announcements, with each defiance appearing to set a small, new record.

After all, Israel has been engaged, though Egyptian mediation, in talks with Hamas for the past several years. It would be extremely difficult to agree on an extended cease-fire in the Gaza Strip without reaching an understanding with Hamas.

And it would be completely impossible to bring back Shalit without reaching an agreement with the organization, even though no signed agreement will emerge.

The important bit in the prime minister's announcement pertains to the deal for Shalit's release. Israel, it said, would not agree to open the crossings into the Gaza Strip without Shalit's return.

This announcement followed a slew of reports in the media about alleged progress in talks. This myriad of articles makes it a bit difficult to understand the situation properly. The fact that the Israeli side is keeping uncharacteristically quiet does not clarify matters. This time, it's the Palestinians who can't keep a lid on it.

As published by Haaretz a week ago, Egypt is close to formulating a framework of understanding between Israel and Hamas that would allow an 18-month calm, the opening of the crossings and Shalit's release in exchange for the release of some 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including hundreds of convicted killers.

One of the gaps in the positions of the two parties pertains to the release of a certain number of "serious offenders." Israel is prepared to consider releasing some of them as long as they are not allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank. But the head of Egyptian intelligence, General Omar Suleiman, said on Friday that Cairo insists they be allowed back into the West Bank.

Last update - 13:16 15/02/2009
Slow Obama stance on Iran nukes worries Israel

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Israeli officials are putting together a position paper on talks between the United States and Iran for the new administration in Washington, Israeli officials say. The paper will include a list of reservations about the state of international efforts against Iran's nuclear program. One worry is that negotiations will go on for too long.

The paper states that talks between the United States and Iran should be limited to a short period of time. It also recommends that harsh sanctions be imposed against the Islamic Republic if negotiations fail.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who appointed envoys to the Middle East and Afghanistan within days of his inauguration, has not done so with Iran. An Israeli official in Jerusalem told Haaretz that "this procrastination is very disconcerting."

Israel and several leading countries in the European Union are concerned about the delay in formulating a U.S. policy on Iran's nuclear program.

About two weeks ago, senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany met in Berlin to discuss developments on the Iranian front. According to a senior official in Jerusalem, the European delegates were "severely disappointed" by what the American delegate, Under Secretary of State William Burns, had to say.

The official said that when Burns was asked when the United States would forge a final policy on the Iranian issue, he said the matter was being examined and that the process would take about two months. The French, German and British delegates said they were disappointed to hear this and that "the process must be hurried along," according to the official.

He said the French delegates favored an approach whereby talks with Iran would offer Tehran a "one-shot" option. They added that if the American position took two months to formulate, it was advisable to postpone them further, until June when Iran elects its next president.

"There is little sense in investing [effort] in a dialogue with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad before the elections," the Israeli official quoted a French delegate as saying. "He could be replaced before long." Ahmedinejad, a hardline Islamist, is running against Mohammad Khatami from Iran's reform movement.

An Israeli diplomat told Haaretz that a senior consultant to German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "it's preferable that Ahmadinejad stays on instead of a smiling president who enjoys the image of a pragmatist like Khatami, who would mislead public opinion in the West and carry on with the Iranian nuclear program."

Last update - 22:30 14/02/2009
Report: Nine arrested in England by terror police en route to Gaza

By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Police in a counterterrorist operation arrested three men and seized three vehicles that tried to join a convoy organized by a British charity to carry aid to the Gaza Strip, authorities said Saturday.

Lancashire Constabulary said the men were arrested Friday evening while traveling on a major highway near Preston, 220 miles (360 kms) northwest of London.

The vehicles were seized in the same area, but police declined to say if the three men were traveling in them. Police also declined to say what the men - aged 26, 29, and 36 - were suspected of doing.

The police said the contents of the three vehicles and five houses in the nearby town of nearby Burnley were being searched as part of the operation.

They declined to disclose the contents of the vehicles.

According to Sky News, the vehicles included an old ambulance that bore an image of the Palestinian flag and signs saying "Stop Killing Children, Free Palestine" and "From Blackburn (U.K.) to Gaza."

Sky News reported that there were medical supplies and clothes on board, and that the men were apparently planning to drive to London and then on to the Gaza Strip.

The rest of the aid convoy to Gaza, organized by British charity Viva

Palestina, set off from London on Saturday. More than 100 vehicles carrying food, medicine and toys will drive in the convoy to Gaza in a journey that is expected to take around two weeks.

The group's Web site said volunteers planned to drive 5,000 miles (8,000 km) through France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt where they had hoped to cross the border at Rafah into Gaza on March 2.

A spokesman for Viva Palestina told Press Association, the British news agency, that the organization did not know the people involved in the arrests and that it had not been contacted by police.

Police Chief Superintendent Neil Smith said the police were trying to be sensitive to the local communities.

Another six men arrested as part of the same operation on Friday evening were released without charge.

Israel unilaterally ended a three-week offensive in Gaza, meant to halt years of rocket fire on southern Israeli communities, last month.

Last update - 22:51 14/02/2009
IDF: Officer's criticism of Turkey does not represent official view

By Barak Ravid and Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson on Saturday said that IDF Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi's recent criticism of Turkey does not reflect the official position of the IDF.

"While referring to the criticism of Israel by Turkey, Gen. Mizrahi made

statements that could be interpreted as criticism of Turkey's past," said a statement by Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, a spokesman for the IDF.

"The IDF spokesperson wishes to clarify that this is not the official position of the IDF."

Turkey earlier on Saturday called on Israel to explain remarks quoted in Haaretz by Mizrachi that questioned Turkish policies toward Kurds and Cyprus, saying ties between the Middle East allies could be at stake.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also on Saturday summoned Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy to protest comments by Mizrahi, commander of Israel's land forces.

Mizrahi was quoted as saying Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan should have "looked in the mirror" before slamming President Shimon Peres last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mizrachi also said that Turkey was not in a position to criticize Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories when it stations troops in northern Cyprus.

He also accused Turkey of repressing its Kurdish minority and massacring Armenians during World War I.

The Turkish military said on Saturday that Mizrachi's criticism threatened to harm relations between the two countries.

The flap was the latest sign of tension between Turkey and Israel, who maintain close military ties but whose alliance has been strained by the Israeli offensive on Gaza.

Erdogan accused Peres of "knowing very well how to kill" in a public debate last month at the World Economic Forum.

The Turkish General Staff, in a statement carried by the state-run Anatolian news agency, said Mizrahi's remarks were completely unacceptable.

"The comments have been assessed to be at the extent that the national interests between the two countries could be damaged," it said.

Turkey and Israel's military cooperation includes allowing Israeli jets to use Turkish airspace for training.

Erdogan told Reuters on Friday there were no plans to halt that agreement.

Turkey keeps about 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus after invading the island in 1974 to thwart a coup attempt by Greek Cypriots. It is the only country to recognize a Turkish Cypriot administration there.

Turkey has also fought a 25-year war against Kurdish separatists seeking to establish a homeland in the southeastern part of the country.

Turkey denies accusations that it committed genocide against 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.

Related articles:

WATCH: Turkey PM storms off stage over Peres remarks on Gaza

Turkey PM: Israel election results paint 'very dark picture'

Last update - 18:49 14/02/2009
Turkey PM: Israel election results paint 'very dark picture'

By The Associated Press

Turkey's fierce censure of Israel's offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip will not end its role as a peace mediator in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

Israel's military campaign, which ended in a Jan. 18 truce, triggered protests from its ally Turkey that culminated in shouting match between Erdogan and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Erdogan, in an interview with Reuters and two Turkish newspapers late on Friday said the results of the Israeli elections this week, showing gains by right-wing parties, had "painted a very dark picture" for the future.

Predominantly Muslim but officially secular, NATO member Turkey has a unique position in the region as it has close ties with Israel and Arab countries as well as with Washington.

Some diplomats and analysts say Turkey's role as a mediator in the Middle East, and in particular as a neutral negotiator between Israel and Syria, suffered short-term damage because of Erdogan's fierce criticism of Israel and defense of Hamas.

"I don't think that way... Turkey is a strong country that has a [unique] international position," said Erdogan, speaking on his plane while returning to Ankara from a campaign trip to Sivas.

"We were not the ones who wanted this negotiations role. In negotiations between Syria and Israel both countries wanted Turkey to be the mediator - that is why we took part in it."

He said critics misunderstood Turkish foreign policy if they thought the government was siding with Hamas or was against Israel. Turkey wanted peace in the region and was defending the helpless, in this case the civilians in Gaza, he said.

He said the ruling AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, had restored Turkey's influence in the world and it was only natural that Turkey should use its newfound strength to help solve crises from the Caucasus to the Middle East.

Erdogan received a hero's welcome in Turkey and praise in the Arab world after his outburst in Davos, where he accused Israel of "knowing very well how to kill," but raised eyebrows among Western diplomats who asked whether Turkey was turning away from the West.

Erdogan urged the next Israeli government to look at how it conducted policies and actions towards the Palestinians and to lift what he called an embargo on the Palestinians. He said Israel's tough stance against the Palestinians was failing.

Analysts say Israel is as split as the Palestinians and the prospects of the two making peace are dimmer than ever.

"Unfortunately we have seen that the [Israeli] people have voted for these [rightist] parties and that makes me a bit sad," Erdogan said of the Israeli election result. "Unfortunately the election has painted a very dark picture."

"With the cease-fire the embargo should be lifted. The Palestinian people should be freed from an open-air prison they are living in right now, this is against human rights," he said.

In a phone call expected soon with U.S. President Barack Obama, Erdogan said he would urge him to take a different approach to the Middle East than the Bush administration.

"I am expecting President Obama to be the voice of the voiceless and the protector of the unprotected," he said.

Erdogan again defended his criticism of Israeli authorities.

"We have to distinguish between two things - the Israeli people and the Israeli government. I say the same to my people. I see anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity," Erdogan said.

"I have also said that while anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity, Islamophobia is also a crime against humanity. I have said that the Jewish people should take part in fighting this kind of prejudice," he said.

Last update - 13:13 14/02/2009
Austrian Muslim teacher loses license over alleged anti-Semitic pamphlets

By The Associated Press

Austria's Islamic Community says it has revoked the license of a Muslim religion teacher who allegedly gave his students anti-Semitic pamphlets.

The announcement Friday came a day after the Islamic Community suspended the man for allegedly encouraging students to abstain from shopping at businesses he listed as "Jewish."

The teacher in question taught at a regular school in the Austrian capital but has not been identified. He was banned by the Vienna School Authority on Thursday.

An Islamic Community spokeswoman said the teacher and officials mutually agreed it was best to revoke the license.

In Austria, official religious authorities license religion teachers.

Related articles:

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U.K. anti-Semitism on the rise after Israel's Gaza operation

ADL: Anti-Semitic posts flood Web in wake of Bernard Madoff affair

Last update - 16:39 14/02/2009
U.S., EU indicate they prefer Kadima-Likud unity government in Israel

By Natasha Mozgovaya and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and The Associated Press

While the make-up of the next government remains a question mark in Israel, it appears that the United States and the European Union have already weighed in with a clear preference for a unity government that includes Kadima and Likud.

The U.S. official position is that it looks forward to "working with any government," but in back-channel messages the Obama administration has made it clear it would like to see a unity government in Jerusalem over a narrow right-wing government which would in all likelihood result in a freeze in peace talks with the Palestinians.

Aides to Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Friday that Washington officials did indeed relay the message while associates of Kadima chief Tzipi Livni denied receiving such a message.

Officially, the State Department said the coalitional line-up is an internal Israeli matter with which Washington does not involve itself.

The European Union's foreign policy chief says a new unity government of Israel's Kadima and Likud political parties would help Mideast peace talks.

EU official Javier Solana says an Israeli government led by Netanyahu would be more difficult for the peace process.

In the most likely scenario for a unity government, Netanyahu would be prime minister while Kadima would hold ministries such as finance, defense or foreign affairs.

Solana also said Friday in Washington that there could be a deal within 48 hours between Israel and Hamas on a long-term cease-fire in Gaza. Egypt is mediating the talks.

Last update - 17:55 13/02/2009
Dutch lawmaker banned from U.K. to take anti-Koran film on 'world tour'

By Cnaan Liphshiz

In response to his expulsion from Britain, Dutch legislator Geert Wilders announced yesterday he is taking his controversial film on Islam on "a world tour" - beginning next week with Rome.

On Thursday, British immigration officers detained Wilders at Heathrow Airport and put him on a plane back to the Netherlands. This was done under orders from the Home Office, whose officials said Wilders' presence would disrupt public order.

"This event [in Rome] is part of the 'Facing Jihad' world tour that will serve to expose Islam for what it is, an ideology that preaches terrorism, anti-Semitism and the oppression of women, homosexuals and non-Muslims," Wilders said.

Wilders - who heads the Party for Freedom, a rightist movement of nine seats in parliament - had been invited to show his 17-minute film "Fitna," which he released last year, at the House of Lords in London before being turned back.

In the text of a speech he had intended to deliver at the House of Lords, obtained by Haaretz, Wilders wrote: "Britannia rules the waves, and Islam will never rule Britain, so I was confident the Border Agency would let me through. After all, you have invited stranger creatures than me. Two years ago the House of Commons welcomed Mahmoud Suliman Ahmed Abu Rideh, linked to Al Qaeda.

"If you let in this man, then an elected politician from a fellow EU country surely is welcome here too. By letting me speak today you show that Winston Churchill's spirit is still very much alive," he added.

In Holland, Wilders is expected to stand trial for allegedly inciting hatred in the film, and for equating the Koran with Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

The film mostly features footage of hate speeches by Muslim clerics against Jews. It also urges Muslims to "tear out" violent passages from the Koran. Wilders told Haaretz he thought the decision to prosecute him was "a political attack on freedom of expression."

In addition to the screening, the February 19 event in Rome will also see Wilders receiving the Orianna Fallaci Free Speech Award, after the late Italian author and journalist.

The organizers of the Rome event - the Italian nongovernmental civil liberties organization A Way for Orian and the Copenhagen-based International Free Press Society - said the prize will be awarded as a "symbol of the fight against Islamic fascism."

One of the first international screenings of the film and the largest so far was held in Israel in December before a crowd of 600 people. It was also shown at the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, and various locations around the United States.

Last update - 15:03 13/02/2009
Cyprus unloads weapons arsenal from Iran ship allegedly running arms to Hamas

By The Associated Press

Cypriot authorities have started unloading an Iranian ship detained off its coast for allegedly attempting to smuggle weapons to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Cyprus has accused Iran of breaching a United Nations ban on its arms exports. A government statement said Friday the cargo, which it did not identify, would be stored on the island. State CyBC radio said containers are being transported to a naval base under police and military guard.

The Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk has anchored off the port of Limassol since it arrived January 29 under suspicion from U.S. officials of ferrying weapons from Iran to Hamas fighters in Gaza.

The U.S. military said it found artillery shells and other arms aboard the ship after stopping it last month in the Red Sea. Iran denies the ship contains weapons.

Last update - 08:28 14/02/2009
'I was accused of being everything from Israeli spy to Hamas militant'

Last update - 10:27 13/02/2009
Jimmy Carter: Include Hamas in Israel-Palestinian peace talks

By Akiva Eldar

Likudniks don't scare former United States president Jimmy Carter. On the contrary: The electoral turnaround of 1977 that brought them to power for the first time enabled Carter to be inscribed in the history books as the leader who facilitated the first peace agreement between Israelis and Arabs. In his new book, "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land" (Simon & Schuster), Carter relates that neither he nor America's Jewish community knew what to expect from prime minister Menachem Begin, a former underground fighter who had acquired a bad name for himself as a war-mongering fanatic. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat reported to Carter that he had asked Eastern European leaders who knew the new prime minister whether Begin was an honest man and a strong person. According to him, the answers were in the affirmative.

In a telephone interview before this week's election, I asked Carter what he thinks of Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu. From his office at the Carter Center in Atlanta, the 39th U.S. president answered calmly that Netanyahu is a practical politician, and that if a proposed peace agreement wins broad support among the Israeli public, the Likud leader would not turn his back on it, and would be "constructive."

Carter does remember, however, that he had differences of opinion with Netanyahu, who argued - in contrast to Ariel Sharon, who as Begin's agriculture minister, enthusiastically supported a peace agreement with Egypt - that relinquishing Sinai would be harmful to Israel. Still, Carter thinks it is also important to note that during Netanyahu's first term as prime minister, he sent out feelers to Syria regarding the Golan Heights.

The need for an immediate renewal of Israel's peace process with Syria, as well as with the Palestinians and Lebanon, was one of the topics of the conversation last month between the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the newly elected 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama. The elderly peace activist says he came away with the feeling that he had burst through an open door.

Peace plan outline

Carter's latest book begins with a personal confession concerning the use of the word "apartheid" on the cover of his previous book ("Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid"), and ends with an outline for an American peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians. It includes the demilitarization of the Palestinian state and the introduction of peacekeeping forces; a withdrawal to the 1967 boundaries, with border adjustments in Jerusalem and its surroundings, in exchange for alternative territories for the Palestinians; shared control over Jerusalem's Old City; a Palestinian right of return to the territories only; and monetary compensation for the refugees. Carter proposed setting this September as the target for achieving these goals or at least for evaluating the progress and the remaining difficulties.

There are voices in the Israeli peace camp who believe that the United States, as well as other countries in the West, should be sending a clearer message to Israel about the military operation in Gaza, which not only cost the lives of so many, but also undermined the support, peace and trust of many Palestinians as well as Israelis in the process.

Carter: "Yes, I believe that's true. I'm very gratified to see the choice that President Obama has made of a peace envoy: George Mitchell. In my opinion, he's the best American he could possibly have chosen for that task and it may be that, with the strong backing of the White House and some direct American involvement in the negotiations, we'll see some progress made."

Do you think that if Israel had accepted the document you brought from Damascus [in April 2008], from Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, we could have avoided this last round of violence in Gaza?

"Absolutely ... And Meshal and his entire politburo, top members, were committed to that. To stop the rockets completely and to observe the cease-fire would open up the gates and let the people there have food, water, medicine and fuel.

"Hamas had offered to extend the cease-fire in December, but the Israelis were not willing to do it. I have met twice with Hamas leaders during this past year and both times that seems to be the only thing that they demanded - that there be no more attacks by either side, and that the crossings be opened, so that at least a moderate amount of food and water and medicine and fuel be permitted to come in to the people in Gaza.

"I don't have any doubt that Gaza could be peaceful if the one and a half million people there could get adequate food and supplies and have access to the outside world. But when you imprison that many Palestinians, of all political persuasions, and deprive them of the basic necessities of life, and also of freedom to move back and forth between there and the West Bank - or there and Egypt, or there and Jordan, or there and the ocean - then you breed dissension and that dissension is going to be expressed in violence."

In your opinion, why is Israel doing this?

"I don't understand why. Unless it's an attempt to punish the people in Gaza so badly that [they] will turn politically against Hamas. But I think that has proven to be a fallacy."

'Two separate issues'

Noting similarities between Hamas and Hezbollah, Carter says: "I think that Hezbollah in Lebanon has now gotten a very substantial status, as part of a major political organization. I was in Lebanon in December to help them prepare for an [upcoming] election, and Hezbollah and the other similar groups there might very well gain substantial [electoral] strength."

You have spoken to Meshal recently about captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. What are the chances that he will be home soon?

"When I met with the leaders in Damascus, they said he was well and alive, and so one of my requests to them was to get a letter written from him to his parents so they would know he was okay.

"I think that a good negotiator could work out an accommodation between Israel and Palestinians on a prisoner exchange that would result in the freedom of Shalit. But I don't think it's advisable to tie that to a cease-fire. I think they ought to be two separate issues."

Would you advocate Israel speaking directly with Hamas?

"Well, I think there needs to be a step-by-step process. The first step, in my opinion, in an overall peace agreement - there's got to be some reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. And that can go forward, I believe, if the United States and Israel would give it our tacit support, our strong support."

Carter points out that Meshal has said that "Hamas would accept any agreement negotiated between [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] Abu Mazen and Israeli authorities if it was submitted to the Palestinian people in a referendum and got a positive vote. So, it's not a hopeless case to have good-faith talks based on a two-state solution that would be approved by the Palestinians."

Would you advocate a change in the American attitude toward Hamas?

"Yes. I think it's absolutely important that Hamas be involved in any sort of peace process. In fact, I don't know what the relative popularity is of Hamas - I haven't seen any public opinion polls since the invasion and attack on Gaza, but I was the main observer in 2006, in January, when Hamas won a majority of the parliamentary seats. And as you know, almost all of those candidates who won, who lived in the West Bank, are now in Israeli prisons. So that means that the Hamas and Fatah unity government can't be formed at all. It's not an elected government there representing the Palestinian people; it's just a temporary government, basically appointed just to avoid having Hamas members."

George Mitchell visited Israel and the West Bank, and he went to Jordan and Egypt, but he avoided seeing Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"I know. I think that was just his first trip, where he's probably trying to refresh his memory, and learn the latest developments over there. But I have confidence that in the future, without too much delay, the United States will have diplomatic relations with Syria once again. When I go to the Middle East, I always go to Syria because I've known Bashar Assad since he was a college student, in London. When I go over there I enjoy meeting with him. I find him to be quite intelligent, and quite eager to have an agreement with Israel. And to be supportive, not only of the Golan Heights issue providing peace, but also supportive of the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement."

The former president adds that he believes that if Assad feels comfortable with the United States and with Israel, he can also play a positive role vis-a-vis Hamas and Hezbollah.

You often sound like you're more concerned about the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state than many Israelis.

"I am. I'm deeply concerned about it. I would say that the top priority in my life, for international affairs in the last 30 years, has been to see Israel as a Jewish state living in security and peace. That's a number one priority that I have in my life. I'm getting old now, but I'm still active, and that's still a very high priority for me.

"I've known the history of the Jewish people, the Hebrew people, the Israelites, and I've taught these things every Sunday since I was 18 years old. So I'm deeply committed as a Christian to seeing the covenant with Abraham fulfilled," says Carter, noting that peace in the Middle East is also "a key to tremendously reducing the level of animosity against my own country, and reducing the commitment to violence through terrorist acts."

Do you believe it's also an American blunder that, in spite of U.S. policy and warnings and messages, the settlements kept growing and they keep growing actually as we speak?

"That's true. When I first visited the West Bank and the Golan Heights in 1973, I think there were only 1,500 Jewish settlers in the occupied territories. I think that [the expansion] happened particularly in the last 16 years. George Bush, Sr. was very strict in deterring, I think, then-prime minister [Yitzhak] Shamir from building settlements, and even withheld several hundred million dollars in U.S. aid from Israel because of a large settlement between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. And Shamir backed down because of that. But under president [Bill] Clinton and president George W. Bush, the settlements have not been deterred by influence from the United States, which is a mistake."

Carter is asked whether, after the traumatic evacuation of Gush Katif, it would be possible to remove approximately 120,000-130,000 settlers from the West Bank, and whether NATO countries will go along with his proposal to send forces there. He says he definitely believes that, within the context of a peace agreement, Israel will evacuate settlements. He also does not discount the possibility that U.S. forces could "assure that during the transition period, there wouldn't be any threats to Israel from Palestinians or to Palestinians from Israel."

The former president adds that "another option might have been Turkey, since a few weeks ago, Turkey and Israel were fairly friendly" - or alternatively any Arab or Muslim country that would be acceptable to both sides.

How do you see the solution to the problem of Iran's nuclear program?

"I spent several days studying the maps and looking at the flight paths and the distances and so forth, because my profession was military as well, so I'm familiar with how far a plane can fly, of different types, and how much fuel that requires. When you have to go 2,000 miles round trip, you're going to have to refuel somewhere, over Iraq or over Saudi Arabia, which would be very difficult, or you'd have to carry a very tiny bomb to drop. You know you can't have both.

"I think that that kind of attack would not be effective in destroying Iran's plans for nuclear power ..., but I think it would enhance the support that Arab countries are giving Iran. I think Iran has been greatly strengthened in the last few years - by the war in Iraq, which I think was unnecessary, and also by the lack of progress on meeting the legitimate needs of the Palestinians. So if we can get out of Iraq, and if we could bring peace to the Palestinians - those two factors in themselves would greatly reduce the influence of Iran."

Last update - 09:06 13/02/2009
Week before Gaza op, Israel and Syria were ready for direct talks

By Zvi Barel

Israel and Syria were about to announce that they would speak directly a week before the fighting in Gaza broke out, a Turkish official said. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had spoken with Syrian President Bashar Assad during Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to Ankara, and had mediated in crafting a joint statement.

But a few days later, while still awaiting Olmert's approval for the statement, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and Erdogan felt betrayed.

"Nobody imagined that Olmert would go behind Erdogan's back like that and not even hint that he intended to start fighting in Gaza," the Turkish official said.

Erdogan had invited Olmert to his official residence after he met Turkey's president. He suggested calling Assad and drafting a joint announcement about a direct discussion between the Israeli and Syrian delegations.

The source said Erdogan called Assad, told him that Olmert was at his residence and asked whether he would accept Erdogan's mediation. Assad agreed and the two began drafting the statement.

Every few minutes Erdogan's assistant brought Olmert, who was in another room, notes from Erdogan's talk with Assad and asked for his comments. Erdogan passed Olmert's comments on to Assad and took down his responses, which he then passed on to Olmert.

The source said the three-way conversation continued for more than four hours, until about 1 A.M. Olmert told Erdogan he must return to Israel. Erdogan said he would continue talking to Assad and call Olmert the next day for his comments.

"The joint Syrian-Israeli statement was nearly finished and needed only a few corrected words to be completed," the Turkish source said.

"After making the statement, the parties were to announce that they were ready to start direct negotiations and Erdogan was convinced that he had an agreed-on draft," the source said.

The statement had been expected to include an agreement to adhere to the understanding reached with Yitzhak Rabin.

This stipulated that Israel would be prepared to withdraw from the entire Golan in exchange for permanent peace and security arrangements, as well as agreement on what the term normalization would mean for future peaceful relations.

But a week later, Israel launched the offensive in Gaza. When Erdogan heard of the attack he said that Olmert had stabbed him in the back and that Israel must pay for it, one of his aides said.

Last update - 16:00 12/02/2009

Mohammad Khatami criticizes rival Ahmadinejad over Iran's isolation

By The Associated Press

The top reformist candidate in Iran's presidential race has criticized hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the country's international isolation.

The comments were the first by Mohammad Khatami about the president since

Khatami entered the race last weekend. They signaled that his campaign will likely focus on Iranians' worries that Ahmadinejad's fiery anti-Western rhetoric has worsened the country's status in the world at a time when Iran is suffering economic woes.

Khatami, a liberal cleric who was president from 1997-2005, told a group of his supporters that the current situation in the country is not desirable, according to Khatami's Web site.

Khatami warned at the meeting late Wednesday that if the situation continues, the country's social capital and international reputation will be damaged even more. He said Iran needs active diplomacy to decrease international pressures and isolation.

Khatami also assured the country's clerical leadership that he would not go beyond the ruling establishment's red lines. "We are working within the framework of the system, and we are loyal to the constitution and leadership," he said, according to the Web site.

Khatami was trying to deflect accusations from hard-liners that reformists aim to undermine - or even overturn - the clerical rule installed by the 1979 Islamic revolution, headed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters.

Khatami is seen as the sole reformist candidate capable of beating

Ahmadinejad, who has the support of Khamenei and hard-liners. Under Ahmadinejad, Iran has suffered international isolation, skyrocketing

prices and disputes over the country's nuclear program, which the U.S. and some of its allies fears masks a nuclear weapons pursuit. Iran denies the charge.

Still, Ahmadinejad enjoys popularity among the poor for his government's direct cash payments to impoverished sectors and among those admire him for standing up to the West.

Last update - 17:40 12/02/2009

Iraq MPs seek reparation for 1981 Israeli attack on nuclear reactor

By News Agencies

Iraqi parliamentarians are demanding Israel pay billions of dollars in reparations for a 1981 Israeli attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor, Baghdad's daily al-Sabbah reported Thursday.

Mohammed Naji Mohammed, a member of parliament with the United Iraqi Alliance coalition, is leading a campaign for a parliamentary resolution obliging the Iraqi foreign ministry and courts to seek billions of dollars in reparations for an Israeli air strike on the Osiraq nuclear reactor, the newspaper reported.

The organizers reportedly said they will argue their case based on a UN Security Council resolution passed in the wake of the attack.

UN Security Council Resolution 487 "strongly condemns" Israel's air strike against Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor in June 1981, and "considers that Iraq is entitled to appropriate redress for the destruction it has suffered, responsibility for which has been acknowledged by Israel."

Israeli officials at the time said they were concerned that the

reactor could eventually be used to produce nuclear weapons.

The Security Council, however, noted at the time that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had testified that its safeguards had been "satisfactorily applied" in Iraq."

Rather, the Security Council said, the Osiraq attack constituted 'a serious threat to the entire safeguards regime' of the IAEA.

Subsequent UN Security Council resolutions 'deplored' Iraq's noncompliance with the IAEA inspections regime, which the Security Council in 2002 called a 'threat... to international peace and security.'

The Iraqi lawmakers now pushing for reparations were reportedly careful to stress that they were concerned with Iraq's development, and that the campaign did not imply an endorsement of the former Iraqi regime.

Mohammed reportedly said that if foreign governments could hold Iraq responsible for reparations for acts committed by Saddam Hussein's regime, then Iraq could hold foreign governments responsible for reparations for acts committed against Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power.

While the parliament has not yet taken any decision to act on the campaign, Mohammed's affiliation with the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of mostly of Shiite parties that won the greatest share of seats in Iraq's 2005 parliamentary elections, may smooth its passage through the legislative assembly.

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Last update - 13:10 12/02/2009

Pakistan admits Mumbai terror attack partly planned on its soil

By The Associated Press

Pakistan acknowledged for the first time Thursday that the Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 164 people were launched from its shores and at least partly plotted on its soil.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik also said Pakistan had arrested most of the main suspects and had started criminal proceedings against them.

The revelations appear to suggest that Pakistan is serious about punishing those behind the November attacks, which killed 164 people and stirred fear that the nuclear-armed neighbors could slide toward war.

India and the U.S. have urged Pakistan to crack down on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group widely blamed for the bloodshed. Pakistan has already arrested several of its leaders.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi he had no immediate response to the remarks.

Malik said investigators had traced a boat engine used by the attackers to sail from Pakistan to India and busted two hideouts of the suspects near the southern city of Karachi.

Other leads pointed to Europe and the United States, and Malik said Pakistan would ask the FBI for help.

"Some part of the conspiracy has taken place in Pakistan and...according to the available information, most of them (the suspects) are in our custody," Malik said at a media conference.

New Delhi says all 10 gunmen - only one of whom was captured alive - were

Pakistanis and that their handlers in Pakistan had kept in touch with them by phone during the three-day assault on 10 locations, including the Mumbai Chabad House.

Six Jews inside the building, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, were killed.

In the first readout on Pakistan's investigation, Malik said criminal cases had been opened against eight suspects on charges of abetting, conspiracy and facilitation of a terrorist act.

He said six of them were already in custody.

Malik said the assailants used three boats to travel from Pakistan to Mumbai.

He said detectives had traced an engine recovered from one of the vessels to a shop in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi. He said the shopkeeper had provided the phone number of the buyer which led to a bank account in the name of Hammad Amin Sadiq.

Malik said authorities had arrested Sadiq and obtained from him information that led them to bust two hideouts of the terrorists, one in Karachi and one about two hours drive away.

He described Sadiq as the main operator, but didn't elaborate.

Investigators identified locations where the attackers had practiced the sea-borne portion of their attack plan, he said.

Malik said the pieces of evidence collected connect to the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, who India says masterminded the attacks.

But he said Pakistan needed more assistance from India if it was to bring a successful criminal prosecution.

He said one suspect, Javed Iqbal, had been in Barcelona, Spain, but was now in Pakistani custody.

Investigators were probing money paid in Italy, and $238 paid in Spain for Internet domain names, he said, giving few details.

The terrorists used phones with Indian SIM cards, Malik said.

Suspects also used a digital teleconferencing system whose service provider is based in Houston, Texas, while a Thuraya phone was issued in a Middle Eastern country, Malik said.

"It is not only Pakistan, but the system of the other countries has also been used," Malik said.

He said Pakistan would request assistance from the FBI, but didn't elaborate.

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Last update - 15:07 12/02/2009

Pope tells Jewish leaders Holocaust denial is 'intolerable'

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

Pope Benedict XVI, trying to defuse a controversy over his rehabilitation of a bishop who denies the Holocaust, told Jewish leaders on Thursday that "any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable."

The pope made the comments in his first meeting with Jews since the controversy over traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson began in late January. The Vatican had decided to lift Williamson's excommunication, despite the bishop's denial of the full extent of the Holocaust and statement that there were no gas chambers.

"The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah [Holocaust] was a crime against humanity. This should be clear to everyone, especially to those standing in the tradition of the Holy Scriptures," the pope told a group of about 60 Jewish leaders visiting the Vatican.

The German pope recalled his own visit to the death camp at Auschwitz in 2006 and, in some of the strongest words he has ever spoken about the Holocaust and relations with Jews, said:

"It is my fervent prayer that the memory of this appalling crime will strengthen our determination to heal the wounds that for too long have sullied relations between Christians and Jews."

He repeated the prayer that the late Pope John Paul used when he visited Jerusalem's Western Wall in 2000 and asked forgiveness from Jews for Christians who had persecuted them in past centuries. "I now make his prayer my own," he added in his own words.

"This terrible chapter in our history [the Holocaust] must never be forgotten," the Pope told the Jewish delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, adding that he hoped relations between Catholics and Jews can now grow stronger.

The pope also confirmed that he was planning to visit Israel. Vatican sources say the trip is expected for May.

Catholic-Jewish relations have been extremely tense since January 24,when Benedict readmitted four renegade traditionalist bishops to the Catholic faith in an attempt to heal a schism that began in 1988 when they were ordained without Vatican permission.

The Jewish delegation to the Vatican was led by New York Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a Holocaust survivor.

In his address to the pope, Schneier, whose synagogue is to host the pontiff during a visit to New York in April, said:

"As a Holocaust survivor, these have been painful and difficult days, when confronted with Holocaust-denial by no less than a bishop of the Society of St Pius X.

"Victims of the Holocaust have not given us the right to forgive the perpetrators nor the Holocaust deniers. Thank you for understanding our pain and anguish.".

Both the pope and Schneier expressed the hope that dialogue between Catholics and Jews could emerge from the crisis even stronger.

Before Thursday's meeting Schneier said he wanted to thank Benedict for his commitment to strong Catholic-Jewish ties, calling the controversy over Williamson was a temporary setback to relations between the two religions.

Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on January 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers." He also said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

The Vatican says Benedict did not know about the views of Bishop Williamson when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops last month.

However, the Vatican move has drawn much criticism from the international Jewish community and from world leaders.

Germany's Central Council of Jews is breaking off contact with the Catholic Church, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that Pope Benedict make a stronger statement against Holocaust denial.

Williamson has apologized to the German-born pope for having stirred controversy, but he has not repudiated his comments.

Last update - 02:41 06/02/2009

In search of mutual respect

By Sergio I. Minerbi

Tags: israel news, pope benedict

In recent days, we have witnessed a flare-up of emotions regarding relations between the Jews and Pope Benedict XVI. What follows is a tentative explanation of the occurrences leading to the present tensions.

Some Jews have a tendency to see Benedict XVI as the "bad guy," in comparison to his "good guy" predecessor, John Paul II. I believe this is a superficial judgment that does not take into account either John Paul's comparison of Auschwitz to Golgotha, the place of Jesus' crucifixion, or his

establishment of a convent in Auschwitz, or his characterization of Edith Stein, after her conversion to Christianity, as "a faithful daughter of her people, the Jewish people."

John Paul II's tendency toward syncretism - i.e., the arbitrary conciliation of opposite doctrines - has been abandoned by Benedict XVI, and we should be glad for it. We need clarity, and dialogue should not be an attempt to confuse ideas. On theological matters, there will always be a profound rift between Jews and Catholics, since the former can accept neither the Holy Trinity nor the resurrection. The best we can hope for is mutual respect - and that goal is good enough for me.

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In 1965, the Second Vatican Council approved the declaration Nostra Aetate, in which the Catholic Church reduced the guilt of the Jews for the killing of Jesus. It was not a complete absolution of responsibility, but it nonetheless put an end to the senseless accusations that held all Jews culpable for all time. This major change in Church theology, together with the beginning of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians nearly three decades later, allowed for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel in 1993.

Many Jews were impressed by gestures made by Pope John Paul II, including his visits to Auschwitz (1979) and to the Great Synagogue in Rome (1986), as well as his official pilgrimage to Israel (2000). But political relations between the Holy See and Israel continued to be tense, tarnished by the unsolved Palestinian problem and by the fact that, even to this day, the Curia considers Israel to be a transitory entity rather than a permanent state.

John Paul's successor has taken a different stand on two main issues: Islamic fundamentalism and the Shoah. In 2006, at a lecture in Regensburg, he expressed his resistance to fundamentalist Islam, a significant issue for European Jews who feel threatened by the continent's growing Muslim population. One may also expect that anyone who is conscious of the danger of Islamism, should recognize Israel's important role in the Middle East. At Auschwitz, on May 28 of that same year - although he repeated John Paul II's comment that, "six million Poles lost their lives during World War II: a fifth of the nation," back at the Vatican, the pope corrected himself three days later, saying: "Hitler had more than six million Jews exterminated in the camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and in other similar camps."

Benedict XVI thus took a very important step away from his predecessor's attempt to "Christianize" the Holocaust by transforming it into a Polish Catholic event. On a related issue, that of the beatification of Pius XII, who maintained his silence about the Jews' murder throughout World War II, Benedict XVI said in 2008 that he wanted to pause for reflection before giving his approval.

Benedict is deeply concerned about the unity of the Church, which is why, in July 2007, he renewed the use of the old Latin version of the traditional Mass. This version includes a prayer asking God to "illuminate [the Jews'] hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the savior of all men." In response, the chief rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, rightly decided to suspend the participation of Italian rabbis last month in a planned meeting with Italian bishops.

A conservative himself, Benedict XVI decided on January 21 of this year to revoke the excommunication of four bishops who were ordained in 1970 by the rebel traditionalist French bishop Marcel Lefebvre. The four were excommunicated in 1988, with the active participation of Cardinal Ratzinger, who was then in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This was a purely internal Church matter until it became known that one of the four former bishops, Richard Williamson, was on record claiming that the Nazis had not murdered six million Jews and that no more than 300,000 of them died in concentration camps. Holocaust denial has been condemned by the Church - in its document "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah" (1998) - so it's strange that it took so long for the Vatican to ask Williamson to retract his remarks. I can only suggest that the Pope lacks advisers of the same caliber he was when he served as an aide to John Paul II.

This incident has sparked a global uproar, and Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel has even accused Benedict XVI of anti-Semitism, a debatable statement that may simply have been an overreaction. In this context, let us recall what Benedict XVI said on January 28: "I renew with affection the expression of my full and unquestionable solidarity with our [Jewish] brothers."

Another source of concern is the relations between the Holy See and Israel. Cardinal Renato Martino, former permanent observer of the Vatican to the United Nations, said on January 7 that Gaza now "resembles a big concentration camp." In his message to the Holy See's diplomatic corps the following day, Benedict XVI said, regarding Gaza: "Once again I would repeat that military options are no solution and that violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned. I express my hope that with the decisive commitment of the international community, the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip will be reestablished."

No one in the Vatican has ever protested the firing of rockets from Gaza against Israel's civilian population. When Benedict XVI visits Israel next May, it would be useful to offer him a comprehensive tour d'horizon on the politics of the Middle East, to make him understand that the only guarantee for the continued survival of the Christian communities in the Middle East is a strong Israel.

Sergio I. Minerbi, a former Israeli ambassador, has been a visiting professor of political sciences at the University of Haifa.

Last update - 00:20 12/02/2009

Sarkozy: I want Obama to engage in Iran talks with `spirit of firmness`

By Reuters

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he wanted U.S. President Barack Obama to act firmly in any direct talks with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Sarkozy said during a visit to Kuwait that the new U.S. administration should be resolute in its dealings with Iran.

"I strongly hope that the new U.S. president, Mr. Barack Obama, launches these talks with a spirit of dialogue, of course, and with a certain firmness," Sarkozy told a news conference after holding talks with Kuwaiti officials on closer ties and the possible sale of Rafale combat jets and warships.

In a break from the policy of former President George W. Bush, Obama has said he is willing to start talks with Iran, which Washington and allies such as France and Britain believe is amassing the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Tehran says it only wants to master atomic technology to generate electricity.

Sarkozy said he did not expect any talks to take place before the Iranian presidential election in June, which the West hopes will see President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replaced by a more moderate figure.

"I think it is wise to wait until these elections take place for the talks to enter a new phase," Sarkozy said.

The French president added that Paris and Kuwait were in talks on a possible sale of warships and 14-28 Rafale fighter aircraft, a high-tech but expensive jet for which France has yet to find a foreign buyer.

"We have set the end of the year as a deadline," he said.

Sarkozy said he was committed to helping to maintain security in the Gulf region and that France and Kuwait were working on a strategic partnership that could be concluded before the end of the year.

"France confirms its resolute, determined engagement for the security of our Kuwaiti friends," he said. "Kuwait can count on France."

Pro-Palestinian Bronx Expressway banner - a Jewish initiative

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: New York, Israel news

If drivers on New York City's Brooklyn-Queens Expressway were wondering who was responsible for hanging banners over the highway calling to "Free Palestine" - they might be surprised to discover it was an initiative by Jewish activists.

Another banner was spotted over New York's entrance to the Cross Bronx Expressway, at 179th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan on Wednesday morning.

The group is calling itself JATO (Jews against the occupation); some of its members also participated in demonstrations against last month's Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, claiming that "The occupation is being paid for with U.S. taxpayers' money," and "Even if foreclosures and unemployment weren't decimating our neighborhoods, surely there are better uses for $3 billion a year than helping the Israeli government commit war crimes."

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"Today's action is one small contribution to the growing movement in solidarity with the 1.5 million Palestinians whose lives are being destroyed by the occupation," said Ethan Heitner, one of the activists.

"We know from our own history what being sealed behind barbed wire and checkpoints is like, and we know that 'Never Again' means not anyone, not anywhere - or it means nothing at all," he said.

Last update - 20:08 11/02/2009

Europeans fearful over rise of right wing in Israeli elections

By The Associated Press

As the two leading candidates in Israel's election continued to claim victory, many Europeans expressed fear Wednesday that the shaky peace process was the real loser in the nearly deadlocked vote.

With an ultranationalist in the role of kingmaker, many were predicting that the hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu would eventually prevail over the moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - hardening the government's stance in already stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The ambiguous election results threaten President Barack Obama's desire to make a peace deal an urgent priority, as signaled by his appointment of veteran negotiator Sen. George Mitchell as special envoy, European politicians and commentators said.

Andrew Gwynne, a Labour Party legislator in Britain who chairs a pro-Israeli group, said he was disappointed by the results, which he said are likely to bring Netanyahu's rightwing Likud Party back to power.

"That seems the most realistic outcome, sadly, although I would like to see a progressive government committed to the peace process," said Gwynne, chairman of Labour Friends of Israel.

In the past, Netanyahu has strongly resisted compromising with the Palestinians.

The rising influence of Avigdor Lieberman, whose ultranationalist party won enough seats to become the third-leading force in Israel's Parliament, also caused alarm. His party pushed Israel's once formidable Labor Party, which has often pursued peace, into fourth place.

"Can you imagine anything further from the proposals of Barack Obama than the xenophobic ideas proposed by Lieberman," asked Italy's left leaning La Repubblica newspaper.

The Swiss daily newspaper Basler Zeitung said the vote showed the majority of Israelis don't believe in peace and that impetus toward a settlement must now come from outside.

Mike Williams, a specialist at the University of London who advised Obama's foreign policy team during the presidential campaign, said the election results pose a challenge to Obama.

"It's not good for the peace process," he said. "Obama wanted to start from day one, now that is going to be problematic."

He said the results also raise the prospect that a hardline Israeli government might launch unilateral action against Iran to curtail the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

"It ratchets up the pressure on the Obama administration to keep Israel in line over Iran," he said. "The major concern for the U.S. is that Israel will start a military operation it can't finish and Washington would have to mop up afterward. The Israelis don't have the technology to effectively retard the Iranian nuclear program."

In Norway, University of Oslo history professor and author Hilde Henriksen Waage said the vote will likely lead to more Israeli use of military force.

"I think the whole Israeli society has taken a step to the right and a more military direction," she said.

Swedish newspapers agreed that the Israeli vote would probably bring about more problems than solutions, largely because Netanyahu has the best chances to form a government but would have to rely on alliances with far-right parties to do so.

But such a government, where Netanyahu is totally exposed to three or four fanatic extremist parties, and which soon would come on collision course with both the U.S. and the Arab world, is one he wants to avoid, the daily Dagens Nyheter said.

Avi Shlaim, a foreign affairs specialist at Oxford University who frequently criticizes Israel, said it is not inevitable that Netanyahu will emerge atop a new Israeli government - but he said the only way the peace process can move forward now is if the Obama administration pressures Israel.

"The implication of the election for the peace process is more of the same," he said. "Only America can push Israel. Obama is an improvement, an honest broker, but America must go a step forward and push Israel toward a settlement."

Last update - 02:46 26/01/2009

Obama has power

By Ze'ev Segal

Tags: Knesset, Barack Obama

When then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy appointed his brother Robert as attorney general in the 1960s, he responded to his critics by saying that if the president could not even manage to appoint his own brother, he had no chance of succeeding in doing anything.

The American president is considered to be the most powerful man in the world. This is true even from a constitutional standpoint, despite the limits Congress can impose on him. The presidential orders Barack Obama issued immediately after taking office - restoring public financing for abortions, delaying the trials of suspected terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo, requiring treatment of detainees to comply with the Geneva Conventions, increasing governmental transparency and tightening ethics rules - are only a few examples of his power.

In short, the president's power is enormous, even though the aftermath of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s and various Supreme Court rulings have made it clear that the president is subordinate to the constitution and the law, and is not entitled to declare the illegal legal, as Richard Nixon once claimed.

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Experts in American constitutional law have trouble placing the president within the framework of the three ostensibly equal branches of government. In reality, the president is more equal, thanks to the power conferred by his roles as supreme commander in chief, the country's representative to the rest of the world and the person responsible for upholding the law and the constitution. His powers are interpreted broadly, encompassing all powers not assigned by law to any other branch of government.

The president, not the entire cabinet, constitutes the executive branch - unlike in Israel, where the cabinet is the executive branch, and individual ministers are explicitly given authority by various laws, including the authority to enact regulations. In the United States, the holders of cabinet positions are the president's "secretaries" and derive their authority from him. The Vietnam War led to the passage of the War Powers Resolution, which reduced the president's executive authority by requiring him to obtain congressional approval to declare war or maintain a military force in another country for more than 60 days. Nevertheless, the president continues to enjoy higher status as the army's supreme commander.

Presidents may veto congressional legislation, though they rarely do. They have the power to appoint Supreme Court justices, whose impact on the shape of American society is no less than that of the president. Such appointments require confirmation by the Senate, but this is usually forthcoming, out of respect for the special status of the president, who was directly elected by the people.

The president's power rests on one key foundation: a fixed term of office from which he can be ousted only via a complex process that requires strong evidence that he committed a crime. In Israel, a prime minister can be ousted by a vote of no confidence for any reason, at any moment. All that is needed to replace a sitting government is for 61 MKs to vote in favor. That is a key reason for the lack of governmental stability in Israel. It is currently hard to believe that whatever new government is elected next month will live out its full four years in office.

Even during Israel's brief experiment with direct elections of the prime minister, it never had an American-style presidential regime. The Knesset retained the right to oust the prime minister by a vote of 61 MKs, as long as it also agreed to hold new Knesset elections, or by a vote of 80 MKs without new elections.

All this curtails the prime minister's options, both then and now, because he is constantly waging a battle for survival. Any 61 MKs can topple a government, as long as they can present an alternative prime ministerial candidate who enjoys the support of a majority of the Knesset. Thus an Israeli prime minister can only be jealous of the American president's ability to run the country and institute reforms.

The current candidates for prime minister have all spoken on various occasions about the need to change Israel's system of government in order to stabilize it. But now their voices have fallen silent on this issue, which has such enormous influence over every aspect of our lives. The public thus has an interest in knowing their views on this subject - both before and after the elections.

Last update - 18:17 11/02/2009

Iran charges 7 members of Baha'i faith with spying for Israel

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Seven people belonging to the Baha'i faith are scheduled to stand trial in Iran over charges of "spying for Israel," among other charges, the Iranian ISNA news agency reported Wednesday.

The news agency quoted Tehran's Deputy General Prosecutor Hassan Hadad as saying that the seven defendants also face charges of "desecrating Islam and campaigning against an Islamic republic."

The deputy prosecutor and the news agency did not specify the nature of the espionage the seven are suspected of having engaged in.

The disciples of the Baha'i faith, founded in 1863, are considered infidels in Iran and are subject to persecution which has gained momentum since the rise of the Islamic Republic 30 years ago. At the end of 2008 it was reported that Iran had hanged a Baha'i man on charges of adultery and rape. Approximately a month ago, the secretary of human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi had been arrested on charges that she had maintain contact with members of the Baha'i faith, and suspicion that she herself may have been a member.

In May of last year, Haaretz reported that Iran had held six Baha'i members on similar charges, but it was not clear whether the seven were the same Baha'I leaders arrested in 2008.

The European Union reiterated its deep concern over "the ongoing systematic discrimination and the persecution of the Iranian Baha'is."

Last update - 16:38 11/02/2009

Mauritania says it has closed its embassy in Israel

By The Associated Press

The head of Mauritania's military junta says the West African country has closed its embassy in Israel.

Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz made the announcement late Tuesday.

He did not say that Mauritania was severing its ties with Israel.

Last month, Mauritania said it was suspending ties over the fighting in Gaza.

Mauritania, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, has been one of only three Arab League countries to have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

Tens of thousands of people took to the sandy streets of Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, to protest Israel's military action.

Last update - 11:26 11/02/2009

Why does Hollywood love the Holocaust?

By Rebecca Spence, The Forward

Tags: Jewish World, Holocaust

With "The Reader" garnering five Oscar nominations, and just as many Holocaust-related films playing this winter, Hollywood?s long-simmering romance with one of the greatest tragedies in human history is reaching a fever pitch. Even a former official of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a certain fatigue.

"I find myself wanting to take my wife out to a non-Holocaust film, and everything is touching on the Holocaust," said Michael Berenbaum, who now teaches in Los Angeles at the American Jewish University.

Indeed, "The Reader," "Defiance," "Valkyrie," "Adam Resurrected" and the "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" all touch in some way - while not necessarily directly - on the slaughter of the 6 million. In view of this recent spate of films, how to explain Hollywood's continuing fascination with the Holocaust?

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The answer is not a simple one. In interviews with the Forward, film directors and scholars offered a wide range of views on what compels the movie business to grapple with the myriad facets of Holocaust history, and the myriad lives shaped by the Holocaust's indignities. Are the reasons primarily commercial? Artistic? Moral?

"Part of it has to do with the fact that the Holocaust is about ultimate issues," explained Berenbaum, who served as senior consultant on the 2004 documentary "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust." "People face life and death challenges once or twice in their existence, and Holocaust survivors and victims faced it as an everyday issue."

In an industry long transfixed by matters of good and evil - think Westerns, where cowboys and Indians were depicted simply as respective good guys and bad guys - the Holocaust provides fertile ground for a host of such narratives. And in keeping with Hollywood conventions, including the imperative of a happy ending, even Holocaust movies often include some element of redemption.

"The Reader," directed by Stephen Daldry and based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink, is yet another example of this phenomenon. The film centers on an erotic affair between a former concentration camp guard and an adolescent German boy who initially knows nothing of his lover's past. And while the film attempts to explore questions of human complicity in a nuanced and complex way, the same conventions of redemption inevitably play out. In a final act, the former guard - played by Kate Winslet, whose performance earned her a best actress nomination - leaves her money to a Jewish survivor.

In a January 9 opinion piece in the pages of this newspaper, historian Deborah Lipstadt warned of the dangers of romanticizing the Holocaust. Parsing the case of the recently debunked Holocaust memoir "Angel at the Fence," which turned out to be fiction, Lipstadt mused on what led publishers and film producers to ignore the warning signs that Herman Rosenblat's story was utterly implausible. "They all seemingly wanted a story that made the Holocaust heartwarming, even though, as Waltzer aptly put it, the 'Holocaust experience is not heartwarming, it is heart rending,'" Lipstadt wrote, referring to historian Ken Waltzer.

Mark Jonathan Harris, director of two Academy Award winning Holocaust documentaries, traced the abundance of Holocaust films to the idea that people are fascinated by how they themselves might have behaved. "These are deeply emotional subjects," Harris said. "The fascination and why people keep returning to it is because they keep returning to the question of 'how would they have acted?'"

In "The Reader," which is also up for best picture, the question revolves around how the hero of the story - the former concentration camp guard?s lover, played as an adult by Ralph Fiennes ? is later compromised by the feelings he had for someone who participated in the brutality. That, Harris said, implicates all the Germans who stood by and allowed the horrors to occur. This sort of existential dilemma is also raised in "Defiance," a tale about Jewish partisans directed by Edward Zwick." In that film, the question is whether one would have resisted or gone passively to the death camps.

Others view Hollywood's fascination with the topic in more pragmatic terms. Steven Ross, a University of Southern California historian, said that commercial concerns trump all else.

"The Holocaust is a great drama, and the bottom line is that Hollywood is ultimately in the profit-making business, not in the consciousness-raising business," Ross said. "They make films that audiences want to see, and what audiences want to see are compelling dramas and melodramas, and Holocaust films offer that."

But while seminal films such as "Schindler's List" (1993) - which many credit with paving the way for other Holocaust films ? grossed more than $300 million worldwide and about $96 million domestically, there are plenty of examples of Holocaust films that proved unlucrative. Even "The Reader," with its cache of Academy Award nominations, has grossed just under $13 million domestically so far. The film, which has seen almost no box office bump from the Oscars race, cost some $32 million to make.

Aside from this cultural moment, at least one filmmaker argues that Hollywood's so-called obsession with the Holocaust is vastly overrated.

"I find it to be an antisemitic sentiment, because there are not a lot of films about the Holocaust," said Daniel Anker, the director of "Imaginary Witness." "There's a degree of antisemitism when someone says, 'Another Holocaust movie,' and rolls their eyes, because there?s an implication that another Holocaust movie is one too many. No one rolls their eyes about Vietnam War movies, or other World War II movies.

Last update - 08:37 11/02/2009

Key witness in Olmert probe, Talansky, acquitted of Long Island assault charges

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

Tags: israel news

Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky, they key witness in an ongoing corruption probe against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was acquitted Tuesday on separate charges of assaulting a dentist in Long Island.

A Nassau County District Court judge ruled Tuesday that prosecutors had not proved that Talansky attacked Dr. Leonard Barashick in a 2007 dispute over dental work. Judge William O'Brien said during the ruling that he did not believe Barashick's testimony.

Following the acquittal, Talansky said he was "grateful to the Almighty and to my defense attorneys."

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Last May, Talansky testified in Jerusalem that he gave Olmert $150,000, often in ash-stuffed envelopes, before Olmert became prime minister. Olmert denies any wrongdoing, but the probe spurred him to resign in September.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni took over as chairwoman of his Kadima party. Following her failure to assemble a coalition government, Livni called for general elections which were held on Tuesday, and which she won by a tight margin

U.S. authorities said last month they were prepared to offer partial immunity to Talansky. According to the offer, any prospective testimony given by him in an Israeli courtroom will not be used as direct evidence against him.

The testimony may be used in other instances, for example, as a lead to assist the Department of Justice in its investigation, to cross-examine Talansky should he be brought before an American court, and as rebuttal to any assertions made by Talansky or his attorneys.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) decided last year to open a probe into Talansky's conduct, a move which came as no surprise to Israel's police investigators.

Senior police officials said it is customary for the FBI to become involved in Israeli investigations being conducted within the United States.

Last update - 07:37 11/02/2009

Arab media declares early Israel election victory for 'extreme right'

By Zvi Bar'el

Tags: israel elections, israel news

Hours before exit poll results were announced Tuesday, Arab media predicted "extremist" right-wing political parties were expected to make a strong showing in the Israeli elections.

The lead story of the Web site for the Arab Al Arabiya news declared "[Avigdor] Lieberman's radical party" was to become the third largest faction in the Knesset. The Web site's decision to refer to the leader of Yisrael Beitinu by only his surname shows the familiarity of Arab readers with Israeli politicians.

At the same time, Jordanian television broadcast a speech by King Abdullah on the event of a national day honoring its armed forces. During the monarch's speech, in which he praised his father's peace-making policy, a news ticker ran on the bottom of screen that "[Israel's] rightist bloc is expected to win" in the elections, a bloc whose ideology differs from the vision of the late King Hussein.

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In London, locally published Arab-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi informed readers about Israel's right wing opposition to Palestinian refugees' right of return and the division of Jerusalem. Its main rival, the Saudi-owned Asharq Alawsat ran a story with the headline, "Israeli elections a contest between the right and the extreme right."

The term "rightist" and "Israel" were inseparable in Arab media Tuesday. But the Israeli elections coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Islamist revolution in Iran and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, which dominated coverage.

A search for articles about the future of relations between Israel and the Arab world turned up only one article in the Arab-language London-based Al-Hayat newspaper.

"There is no difference between the parties, either the rightists that follow the teachings of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, or those that adhere to Ben-Gurion, who was even more right-wing than Jabotinsky and during whose tenure the Kafr Kana massacre took place," Mostafa Zein wrote. "Jabotinsky will be the one that wins the elections, whether he is personified by [Ehud] Barak, [Benjamin] Netanyahu or Lieberman, or takes on the form of a woman by the name Tzipi Livni.

Last update - 20:18 10/02/2009

UN appoints panel of inquiry to probe deaths at Gaza compounds

By News Agencies

Tags: Gaza, IDF, israel news

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday appointed a board of inquiry into incidents that caused deaths and destruction at UN compounds in Gaza Strip during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.

The board will be headed by Ian Martin, a Briton that has led various crucial UN missions around the world, who is called to complete the inquiry and submit a report within one month.

Ban said the board will comprise legal advisers and a military expert.

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The UN agency caring for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East maintains several offices and schools throughout Gaza, which have been used to shelter thousands of people who fled the fighting.

A number of Palestinians died at its compounds during the Israel Defense Forces' 22-day offensive in Gaza.

The UN last week reversed its stance on one of the most contentious and bloody incidents of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, saying that an IDF mortar strike that killed 43 people on January 6 did not hit a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school after all.

UNRWA, an agency whose sole purpose is to work with Palestinian refugees, said in response that it had maintained from the day of attack that the wounded were outside of the school compound. UNRWA said the mistake had originated with a separate branch of the United Nations.

The intense three weeks of fighting, which erupted on December 27, has killed more than 1,300 people and injured thousands in Gaza. A shaky cease-fire was being implemented by both sides and a formal deal for a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas is progressing, official party to the talks have said.

The high number of civilian deaths in Gaza has prompted demands for an international investigation, which are supported by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and the UN in New York.

"The UN will engage in an ... independent investigation," Ban said at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York.

Ban said he plans to attend a peace and humanitarian conference in Cairo on March 2 organized by the European Union, the UN and the governments of Egypt and Norway.

"It is critical that we consolidate the ceasefire [in Gaza], promote Palestinian unity and revive the peace process," he said.

Ban praised U.S. President Barack Obama for his quick decision to appoint a special envoy for the Middle East, former US Senator George Mitchell, who already visited several capitals in the region.

"As secretary general of the UN, I will devote every effort to helping push the peace process forward," he said.