Israel, the mid-east, and Russia

[Shammu]

Efforts to free Israeli soldier 'hit impasse'

by Adel Zaanoun Sat Jul 1, 8:41 AM ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Efforts to free an Israeli soldier whose abduction has triggered a major Middle East crisis have hit an impasse, Palestinian officials warned after Israel rejected new militant demands.

Israel kept up the pressure on the Palestinians with a fourth straight night of air strikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip and insisted it would not negotiate with the captors of 19-year-old corporal Gilad Shalit.

Israel, which has warned of "extreme measures" to secure the release of the serviceman, rejected new demands issued by the three Palestinian groups holding Shalit on Saturday.

The Popular Resistance Committees, the armed wing of the governing Islamist movement Hamas and the previously unknown Army of Islam said they were seeking the release of "1,000 Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and other prisoners".

The statement did not explicitly say the releases were conditions for securing the release of Shalit, who a Palestinian official said was suffering three bullet wounds but had received medical treatment.

It said all detained Palestinian militant leaders as well as elderly and sick detainees should be freed, and reiterated an earlier demand for the release of women and juvenile prisoners.

The statement also urged Israel to end its military reprisals in the Palestinian territories, which have raised international fears of an escalation in the Middle East conflict that could spread through the region.

But Israel rejected the militant demands.

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been clear on this point. There will be no negotiations with the kidnappers. If Gilad Shalit is not freed, Israel will do what it necessary," said foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Palestinian officials said that the negotiations had reached an impasse.

"The situation is dangerous and we can say that things are stalled. Israel does not want to free any prisoner, which is the main claim of the groups holding the soldier," an official from Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's office said.

"After a whole week of intensive contacts with all the Palestinian and Arab parties, notably Egypt, president Abu Mazen (Abbas), is pursuing his efforts to bring the Israeli aggression to an end," a statement from his office added.

A senior Palestinian official said the life of Hamas prime minister Ismael Haniya -- whose government has already faced Israel's wrath with the detention of eight ministers -- could be at risk if Shalit is not returned home alive.

Overnight, fresh air strikes targeted Hamas and Fatah training camps and potential escape routes in a bid to prevent militants moving the soldier from southern Gaza where he is currently believed to be held.

Gunboats and ground forces also fired a barrage of around 350 artillery rounds on Gaza, although Israel has held off from a threatened ground offensive from the north to allow for the continuation of diplomatic efforts.

About 5,000 troops and columns of Israeli tanks are poised on the Gaza border in the largest Israeli military operation since it pulled out of the tiny coastal territory last September, ending a 38-year-occupation.

Egypt, which is trying to broker a way out of the crisis, said Friday that Hamas had agreed to secure his release but that Israel had not agreed to the conditions, which it did not specify.

Israeli public radio quoted a Palestinian official as saying a doctor who had visited Shalit described the conscript's condition as "good" and that he had been lightly wounded in the abdomen and shoulder.

As the international community appealed to both sides to show restraint, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was preparing to visit Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The UN Security Council also debated the crisis Friday after Arab nations called for the UN to adopt of a resolution condemning the Israeli intervention.

But the United States, Israel's closest ally, pointed the finger of blame at Syria, where several top Hamas militants are based

"We would not be where we are right now if it were not for Syria's support and harboring of terrorists," US ambassador John Bolton said.

Bolton pressed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to turn over for prosecution Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's exiled political leader who lives in Damascus and who famously escaped a Mossad attempt on his life in 1997.

"In addition, we call upon Syria to stop financing the terrorists and stop cooperating with other states, such as Iran, which finance terrorists," Bolton said.

Hamas, blacklisted as a terror group by Israel and the West, has vowed that the "barbaric aggression" by Israel would not topple its administration, which took office in March after shock electin win.

"We are working to end this crisis but the aggression must stop and the siege has to be lifted," Haniya said Friday.

A fighter from the hardline Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement was killed in an air strike overnight Thursday, while another militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to Abbas's Fatah party, was shot dead in the West Bank.

Israel had further ratcheted up the pressure on the Palestinian leadership Friday by revoking the Jerusalem residency rights of a Hamas minister and three MPs, meaning their likely expulsion from the occupied east of the Holy City.

Israeli troops rounded up scores of Hamas members in a massive West Bank sweep the day before, including eight ministers -- a third of the Palestinian cabinet -- and 24 MPs.

"If the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit does not return alive, there is no more Hamas government. Israel will erase this concept from the Middle Eastern political map," warned Israel's biggest selling daily Yediot Aharonot.

Many parts of Gaza, already facing a dire humanitarian crisis because of a cut in Western aid since Hamas took office, are without electricity and water because of the Israeli strikes.

Israel's offensive -- and a perceived lack of action by world leaders -- has drawn fierce criticism in the Arab world.

Efforts to free Israeli soldier 'hit impasse'

[Shammu]

Anyone who knows history, knows that WW1 was over the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  History tends to repeat itself if you look.

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Italian party leader urges gov. to condemn Israeli aggression on Gaza
POL-ITALY-GAZA
Italian party leader urges gov. to condemn Israeli aggression on Gaza

ROME, July 1 (KUNA) -- Chief of one the ruling coalition parties urged his government on Saturday to condemn the Israeli incessant aggression against the Palestinians that are suffering from a siege imposed on Gaza adding that there should be no leniency on the arrest of the Palestinian Ministers by Israel.

Secretary General of the Italian communist part Oliviero Diliberto said in a remark on the tight-lipped international community concerning the crimes committed against the Palestinians "I am waiting for my government's condemnation of at the European forums even independently what Israel did recently." He said there is leniency on Israel's incursion of territory of a state and arrest of its cabinet members.

The party chief reiterated his traditional solidarity with the Palestinian rights and voiced surprise on the calls for annexing Israel to the NATO despite the position against the Palestinian government elected through a democratic process.

Italian party leader urges gov. to condemn Israeli aggression on Gaza

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Gaza offensive earns shrugs in Israel

By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 47 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Military planners dubbed their Gaza attack plan "Summer Rain." It's a fitting image for how many Israelis have followed the operations to shake Hamas: watching closely as the storm gathered, then losing interest as it rolled on.
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Creating much noise but few casualties, the offensive to free a kidnapped teenage soldier has not come close to stirring
Israel's collective spirit like the Lebanon invasion in the 1980s, or the wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that tailed off last year.

There is little sense of a looming crisis that will tear into Israeli's lives like the suicide blasts or major call-ups of army reserves. Outside a synagogue, the talk Saturday was all about new bank credit laws that just took effect. Along the Mediterranean coast, beaches and restaurants were full.

The hyper-competitive Israeli television channels have stuck with regular programs rather than the blanket coverage used for big events, including the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip last year. Even Army Radio, a barometer of the military, has had as much talk about the World Cup as the pressure tactics in Gaza.

A few campaigners have proposed displaying blue ribbons in a sign of public support for Cpl. Gilad Shalit. (Blue is one of the colors of the Israeli flag.) But the appeal has had little result; it is nearly impossible to find an Israeli home displaying a ribbon.

In the latest violence, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchanged fire for several hours Saturday when Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed the border with Gaza and began razing farmland.

A 25-year-old man walking his dog in a Jerusalem park said Israelis have been through too much in recent years to dwell on the skirmishes.

"I wouldn't call this a crisis," said Mier Ben Amin. "I guess we could call it a crisis in progress. My worry is that it could eventually spin out of control. Don't forget: The Trojan War started over one person."

Explanations for Israelis' muted reaction include a general weariness of conflict, the fading of the Jewish state's sense of common purpose and questions over whether there's too much firepower and not enough diplomatic imagination.

There's also the irony of Gaza itself.

Last year, Israel endured a painful and divisive withdrawal of troops and soldiers from Gaza meant as a step toward peace. Now, tanks and artillery are back on the border and warplanes are blasting sites including former Israeli outposts believed used as militant camps.

"Expectations for anything positive are very, very low these days," said Yosi Sarid, a well-known commentator on Israeli affairs. "There's indifference to the current situation because people are not very sure what is the right track to follow."

The only real consensus is that the 19-year-old captive cannot be left to his fate. The pledge to never abandon a soldier, dead or alive, is deeply ingrained in Israel's military creed and spills over into a society where nearly everyone has had some days in uniform.

Israeli authorities have rejected any possible deal with Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in January but has refused to significantly soften its anti-Israeli views. Hamas' military wing claimed it kidnapped Shalit on June 25 in an ambush that also killed two soldiers.

The wisdom of a major retaliation has come under scrutiny. Critics are asking, in essence, whether Israel also is being held hostage by its military instincts.

"Experience has taught that such military measures have not been successful," said an editorial in the respected Haaretz newspaper. "It is best not to rely too much on a broad, sustained military operation, and to give the option of negotiation another look."

The religious newspaper Hatzofeh accused the government of lacking "clear goals" in Gaza, such as how far it is willing to go against Hamas.

Despite Israel's public rejection of any deals for Shalit's release, it's been done in the past.

In January 2004, Israel freed 400 prisoners and returned the remains of 59 others to Lebanon in exchange for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers and businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was captured in October 2000. Partly because of the disproportionate numbers, the swap provoked considerable criticism in Israel.

Gaza offensive earns shrugs in Israel

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Rival Gaza factions close ranks to fight Israel
(AFP)

1 July 2006


ABASSAN, Gaza Strip - In this unassuming farming village east of Khan Yunis, Palestinian militants stood in the olive orchard Saturday hoping for a shot at the Israeli armour digging in 300 metres away.

When an Apache helicopter swooped in overhead and fired a burst at the militants, gunmen in headbands -- some black, some green and others yellow -- hunkered down shoulder to shoulder behind a weathered stucco water tower.

“Who’s fighting now, Hamas or Fatah?”, one observer asked.

A balding middle-aged gunman turned around.

“There is no Hamas or Fatah now,” he said.

Abassan, a usually sleepy community of olive, tomato and fig growers, witnessed some of the most violent infighting between Palestinian factions when the governing Hamas movement and the ousted Fatah met head-to-head in a bitter struggle for power.

But now the slowly building Israeli military operation to release a soldier captured by militants in the Gaza Strip has given the one-time enemies a common rallying cry.

Israeli armoured vehicles responded to Palestinian shots with automatic gunfire before the gunships were called in, and the militants also saw reinforcements rush to the scene of the fighting with rocket launchers and mines.

According to Israeli military sources, armoured vehicles had been combing the area for explosive devices.

“All the fighters are in one trench together now,” said Abu Al Abed, toting an ammo vest and a Kalashnikov assault rifle, surrounded by fellow gunmen from his Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement.

“Past differences have been forgotten in front of the Israeli aggression.”

He stood just metres (yards) away from a squad of national security fighters, the Fatah-dominated force Hamas once accused of trying to bring down its government.

“Now we are one,” said Abu Mohammed, who sported yellow officer’s stars on his olive fatigues. “Defending the homeland is more important than all the titles, names and factions,” added the Fatah fighter.

Israel has launched a massive military operation in the war-torn territory following the June 25 abduction of an Israeli soldier. The 19-year-old corporal is believed to be alive but his location is unknown.

His capture by a coalition of Islamist factions has boosted the morale of radical militants who complain that Israel has continued to take out targets in Gaza since its pullout from the territory nine months ago.

Hamas’s routing of the long-ruling Fatah party of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in January enflamed rivalries among the countless armed factions in the Gaza Strip.

The internecine violence reached a pitch on May 8 in Abassan during a pitched battle between Hamas and Fatah fighters firing rocket-propelled grenades at each other.

The clashes left three gunmen dead and 11 wounded, and prompted Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya to urge a truce and call for ”Palestinian blood to be spared”.

While differences remained obvious between Hamas and Fatah on the means of solving the political crisis engendered by the soldier’s capture, the various armed factions appeared to have closed ranks Saturday in the face of a common foe.

Rival Gaza factions close ranks to fight Israel

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 Mubarak Demands Syria Expel Mashaal
11:46 Jun 30, '06 / 4 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has demanded from Syrian President Bashar Assad the expulsion of Hamas head Khaled Mashaal unless Hamas frees kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The demand comes in the context of a deal that Mubarak is attempting to broker in which Israel would free prisoners whose terms expire within the year in exchange for the release of Shalit.

Gidon Meir, a senior Israeli foreign Ministry official, said that Israel has rejected the offer. "In general Israel's stance is, as the prime minister said earlier, that the soldier will only be released unconditionally and there will be no negotiations with a gang of terrorists and criminals who abducted a soldier from Israeli territory," said Meir.

However Arab sources say that Israel has not officially rejected the offer.

Mubarak Demands Syria Expel Mashaal

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Syrian president must use influence on Hamas to free soldier.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz spoke with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Saturday and asked her to pressure Syria regarding the kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

Peretz said: “Syria cannot evade responsibility. Syrian President Bashar Assad must use his influence on Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to gain the soldier’s release.”

Syrian president must use influence on Hamas to free soldier

[Shammu]

Israel rejects demand for release of 1,000 prisoners
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Defense Minister Amir Peretz told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad to influence Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal to bring about the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Peretz met with senior IDF and Shin Bet security service officials on Saturday evening regarding Shalit.

Shalit was abducted Sunday morning in an attack on his IDF post near the Gaza border. Two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack.

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A statement released by the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas earlier Saturday said mediation efforts by Egypt and other countries to resolve the crisis over Shalit had yet to bear fruit mainly because it was unclear who in Hamas - the militants or the group's leadership abroad - was authorized to make decisions about Shalit's fate. Abbas later said that the statement should not be attributed to him.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, apparently has no say in the matter, according to a statement from Abbas' office.

"The next hours are critical, sensitive and serious. And though the efforts are still ongoing, we have not reached an acceptable solution until now," Abbas' office said in a separate statement.

"After a week of continuous and long contacts with all parties, Palestinian, Arab, international and particularly Egyptian, the [Abbas] ... is still exerting efforts to stop the Israeli aggression and avoid more disasters for the Palestinian people," the statement said.

Abbas also appealed to all parties to work to find "an acceptable solution" to the crisis.

Israel said Saturday that it rejects a demand by the three Palestinian militant groups holding Shalit to free 1,000 security prisoners being held in its jails and end the IDF offensive launched in Gaza in the wake of his kidnap.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian deputy minister said Saturday that Shalit has received medical treatment for wounds sustained during his abduction and that he is in stable condition.

Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, Deputy Minister for Prisoner Affairs Ziad Abu Ein cited unidentified "mediators" as telling him that Shalit had been wounded during his abduction.

"He has three wounds," Abu Ein said. "I guess shrapnel wounds." He did not give further details.

But Abu Ein told Haaretz later Saturday that he had simply been quoting media reports and had not received any new information.

Channel 1 television, citing a senior Israeli security official, reported Friday night that a Palestinian doctor treated Shalit for minor shoulder and stomach wounds, and that the soldier was in good condition. Israel Radio said the doctor's visit took place Thursday.

A statement released overnight Friday by the three groups did not say explicitly that the soldier would be freed should their demands be met. But a spokesman for the military wing of the governing Hamas party, one of the three factions involved in the kidnapping, said the demands specified in the statement were in fact conditions for releasing Shalit.

Repeating Israel's refusal to bargain for Shalit's release, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in response to the statement that "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reiterated that there will be no deals, that either Shalit will be released or we will act to bring about his release."

IDF troops entered the southern Gaza Strip in the early hours of Wednesday, in a bid to pressure the Palestinians to release Shalit.

The militants' demand Saturday for the release prisoners was the second statement by the groups since Shalit's abduction. "We are declaring to the public our just and humanitarian demands," the statement said.

The statement repeated an earlier demand for the release of women prisoners and minors in exchange for information on Shalit, but made the added request for Israel to free 1,000 "Palestinian, Arab and Muslim prisoners."

It said these would have to include all Palestinian faction leaders as well as humanitarian cases.

The statement cast doubt on hopes voiced by mediators that Shalit could be freed soon.

"In spite of the good efforts of the mediators who tried in silence to speed up the treatment of this humanitarian matter, the enemy and their political leadership are still under the pressure of the security and military command," it said.

"The escalation and arrogance mean the enemy will be responsible for the bad consequences," it said.

Strikes across Gaza
Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force attacked several sites late Friday and early Saturday in the latest round of raids across the Gaza Strip. There were no casualties in any of the incidents, Palestinian medical workers said. (Click here for a map of Gaza)

The attacks were on what the IDF called a "terrorist training facility" in the south of the Strip, and on a building in Gaza City which Palestinians said was used by Hamas militants.

The military confirmed attacking a Hamas facility in Gaza and a former Israeli settlement near Rafah, close to the Egyptian border, which was abandoned in last year's Israeli withdrawal and taken over by militants.

Palestinians said the new occupants, activists of the Abu Rish Brigades,
loosely affiliated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, recently evacuated the complex, fearing just such a strike.

The military could not confirm reports of a missile landing on open ground near the southern town of Khan Yunis.

Also early Saturday, IAF aircraft reportedly hit a Hamas training facility in central Gaza. There were no injuries, but the building was set on fire, Palestinian officials said. The IDF said it was looking into the claim.

Earlier Friday evening, three Palestinians were hurt in an IAF strike in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said. According to witnesses, an IAF missile was fired and landed adjacent to a vehicle in Gaza City.

The IDF said the strike targeted an Islamic Jihad Qassam rocket-launching cell. Palestinian sources said four militants were in the vehicle at the time of the strike. Three managed to flee.

Qassam lands hundreds of meters from Ashkelon
Also Friday, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed within hundreds of meters of Ashkelon, in what police said was the closest a Qassam strike has come to the southern city.

Police confirmed that the rocket was an improved version of the Qassam. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Early Friday, the IAF struck the Palestinian Interior Ministry in downtown Gaza City, Palestinian witnesses said, setting it on fire. There was no word of casualties.

The Interior Ministry is nominally in charge of Palestinian security forces, though Abbas removed most of its authority.

The IDF confirmed its planes hit the office of Interior Minister Saeed Siyam, which it called "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity."

A Palestinian militant injured in the strike died of his wounds early Friday, the first fatality in the IDF incursion in Gaza, hospital officials said. The local leader of Islamic Jihad, Mohammed Abdel Al, 25, had been seriously wounded in an air strike in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Three Fatah militants said they were wounded early Friday in a gun battle with IDF forces in northern Gaza, while the army denied troops had entered or fired into the territory, where forces have been massing.

Palestinian hospital officials said a 5-year-old girl was wounded in an air strike in northern Gaza early Friday. Doctors said her condition was not serious.

On Thursday night, IDF artillery shells hit the electricity distribution network in the northern Gaza Strip, plunging parts of the area into darkness.

Palestinian officials said two power transformers were struck, and two security officers were wounded by shrapnel. Dr. Ali Mousa, director of the Abu Yousef al-Najar Hospital in Rafah, also said a 15-year-old boy was moderately wounded by shrapnel in the blast.

The strike came two days after IAF aircraft attacked a major Gaza City power station, reportedly leaving roughly two-thirds of Gaza's 1.3 million residents without electricity.

The IDF confirmed it had been firing artillery at open spaces in the area at the time of Thursday's incident. The army said it has a report of an electrical pole being hit and was checking if the artillery fire was in any way related.

According to information gleaned by the PA, Shalit is being held in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in southern Gaza. Peretz said Thursday afternoon that the IDF would sustain its blockade on the Gaza Strip until Shalit is brought home safely.

Militants killed in Nablus
In the West Bank, IDF troops Friday shot and killed two Palestinian militants during a fierce gunbattle in a Nablus cemetery, Palestinian security officials said.

The soldiers surrounded the cemetery, trapping four militants inside. Initially, two of the militants were arrested, one fled and one was killed, the security officials said. The militants belong to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which is tied to Fatah.

A military source said shooting broke out when troops entered Nablus on a raid to arrest militants. The troops fired back, killing the first militant, the IDF said. The second militant was killed in a exchange of fire which pursued after he had already been arrested by troops.

Israel rejects demand for release of 1,000 prisoners

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CPI asks Israel to pull out of Gaza

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, July 1: The CPI on Saturday sought immediate release of all Palestinian ministers and MPs arrested by the Israeli security forces and demanded Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip.

In a letter to Israeli ambassador David Danieli, a group of CPI MPs, led by Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, said, "We are shocked and aghast at the latest massive military offensive launched by the armed forces of Israel in the Gaza Strip. During the raids, almost one-third of the Palestinian council of ministers and a large number of MPs have been arrested by the invading Israeli forces."

The CPI leaders said, "It was obvious that the Israeli forces are bent upon destroying the elected government of Palestine. sThe arrest of ministers and MPs is a blatant violation of all international laws and norms."

The CPI(M) had earlier condemned the kidnapping and the latest spate of Israeli military violence against the Palestinian people.

It said, "It is clear that Israel is spinning out of control as it sees targeted assassinations, reprisals against civilian population and serial bombardment of its occupied territories as business as usual."

CPI asks Israel to pull out of Gaza

Edited for those of you who don't know what  CPI is,  Communist Party of India

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Turkish PM slams Israel's Gaza operation, arrest of Palestinian politicians
Published: 7/1/2006

   
ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday denounced Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territories and the arrest of dozens of Palestinian politicians as a disproportionate and mistaken response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.

"I find it hard to understand the abduction of (Palestinian politicans) and cannot see it as a contribution to Middle East peace," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara, the Anatolia news agency reported.

"It is a very, very mistaken attitude," he added.

Following the capture of the Israeli soldier in a Palestinian raid on an army post near Gaza last Sunday, Israel hit back with a massive ground and massive offensive in the Gaza Strip, an area it evacuated only nine months ago.

On Thursday, the Israeli army rounded up 64 politicians from the governing Islamist movement Hamas, among them eight cabinet ministers and 24 Islamist MPs, in a massive sweep in the occupied West Bank.

"It is not right to kidnap a soldier, but should the price of that be the abduction, capture of parliamentarians and local administrators?" Erdogan said.

He also criticised Israel's air strikes in Gaza, which has knocked out bridges and a power station.

"It is not possible to say, as people who believe in peace, that the bombing of civilian areas is positive," the Turkish leader said.

Erdogan added that he had telephone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday to heldp defuse the crisis, and said he would speak to US President George W. Bush later Saturday.

Turkey, a non-Arab Muslim nation with a secular system, has been Israel's main regional ally since the two signed a military cooperation deal in 1996, but relations have gone through cooler periods since the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party came to power in Ankara in 2002.

Turkey angered Israel in February by hosting a delegation from Hamas after its stunning victory in the Palestinian elections.

Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government defended the talks as an effort to put pressure on Hamas to renounce violence while Israel warned that bilateral ties might suffer.

Ankara also enjoys close ties with the Palestinians and supports their claim for statehood.

Turkish PM slams Israel's Gaza operation, arrest of Palestinian politicians

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Talks falter as Israel rejects militant demands
Sat Jul 1, 2006 8:31 PM BST

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel on Saturday rejected demands from Gaza Strip gunmen who abducted an Israeli soldier to free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails as Egyptian-led mediation efforts to free the captive appeared to founder.

A Palestinian official said mediators had reported the soldier was alive and stable after being treated for wounds.

With Israel having sent troops and tanks into southern Gaza and threatening to broaden the offensive unless Corporal Gilad Shalit is freed, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been in around-the-clock talks with the Hamas government.

Israeli troops and Hamas gunmen clashed inside southern Gaza in one of the worst exchanges of fire since the assault to free Shalit began, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reiterated that there will be no deals, that either Shalit will be released or we will act to bring about his release," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, responding to the fresh demands.

Shalit's seizure in a raid across Gaza's frontier last Sunday sparked a crisis that has pushed Israeli-Palestinian ties to new lows and dashed any chance peace talks might be revived.

U.S. President George W. Bush said freeing Shalit was key to ending the crisis in Gaza and should be the initial goal, the White House said.

A statement from the militants did not specify that freeing the 1,000 "Palestinian, Arab and Muslim prisoners" and ending Israel's Gaza assault would be in exchange for Shalit's freedom.

But a spokesman for the Hamas armed wing, one of the three groups that captured Shalit, said that was what it meant.

The government of the Hamas Islamists, already straining under a U.S.-led economic embargo to get it to recognise Israel, has said it had no prior knowledge of the militants' raid.

While militants have not said if Shalit was dead or alive, a Palestinian official said mediators had said he was fine.

"He is in a stable condition according to mediators," Ziad Abu Ein, a senior official with the Fatah movement of Abbas, said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

ABBAS HOPEFUL

The United Nations said its Middle East special envoy, Alvero de Soto, would go to Gaza on Sunday for talks with Abbas.

Abbas voiced hope for a negotiated solution in which Shalit would be freed and at least some Palestinian demands met.

"Things are not deadlocked," he told reporters. "People are looking for a satisfactory solution and hopefully we will get that solution."

Israeli tanks entered the southern Gaza Strip this week in the biggest push into the territory since Israel pulled out troops and settlers last year after 38 years of occupation.

Aircraft fired missiles on Saturday at training camps and access routes used by militants to fire rockets at Israel.

Diplomats had said Israel wanted to give the Egyptian-led mediation efforts more of a chance before broadening its operations, expected with a push into northern Gaza.

But talks were foundering partly because the militants were insisting on prisoners being freed in return for the 19-year-old tank gunner, the diplomats and Palestinian officials said.

One Hamas leader said the militants had rejected an Egyptian proposal that Israel free a group of prisoners because it gave no number or timeframe.

Diplomats said Egypt was trying to get Syria to lean on Damascus-based Hamas leaders with greater sway over the armed wing than political leaders based in Gaza.

Israel has said it was playing no part in the mediation.

Its air strikes have targeted roads, bridges, power plants and areas used to fire rockets. Two militants have died and many Palestinians are complaining of a looming humanitarian crisis.

Piling on further pressure, Israel has detained dozens of Hamas cabinet ministers and lawmakers in the West Bank.

Talks falter as Israel rejects militant demands

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Israel pullout from Gaza a mistake, ambassador tells UN
Irish Sun
Saturday 1st July, 2006 

Israel has continued its extraordinary attack on the Palestinian population, which followed the capture of an Israeli soldier last Sunday.

Since the abduction Israel has bombed more than forty targets including government buildings and two power stations, extending the aerial campaign into Saturday. Much of the Palestinian territories are without power, and will be for up to nine months, according to a UN agency.

Israel's continuing offensive has come despite calls from the United States, the UN, the World Council of Churches, and several nations, to exercise restraint, and seek a resolution through negotiations. Israel has ruled out negotiations.

Meantime the Israeli ambassador to the UN has told the world body his country's withdrawal from Gaza was a mistake, while the U.S. ambassador John Bolton has broadened the blame for the conflict to Iran, Syria, and Lebanon.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday night to hear criticism of the military onslaught in the Gaza Strip. Describing the escalating violence of the past few days as a "grave crisis," a senior United Nations official warned the Security Council another full-scale conflict between Israelis and Palestinians could easily be set off, and urged all sides in the region to "step back from the brink."

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane called on the Palestinian Authority to stop holding hostages and end indiscriminate rocket attacks, saying "nothing justifies" such actions. She also called on Israel to stop destroying civilian infrastructure, ensure civilians are protected, and allow for humanitarian assistance to get through. In addition, she expressed concern at the arrest of large numbers of the elected Palestinian Government.

"This is a grave crisis. The slightest turn of events could easily set off another full-scale conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, bringing greater dangers to civilians, and with serious regional repercussions. All parties must recognise this, and act with wisdom and care, and in full conformity with international humanitarian law," she said.

"All concerned parties must step back from the brink, and give dialogue a chance to avert a full-scale confrontation that will only lock Israelis and Palestinians in deeper and deadlier conflict."

Ms. Kane gave a detailed account to the 15-member body of how the crisis has developed over the past five days, highlighting in particular the capture last Sunday of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, now being held by Palestinian militants in Gaza who have said he will not be set free before Israel releases all Palestinian female and under-age detainees.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled out negotiations over any exchange of prisoners and Ms. Kane went on to highlight the military operation to obtain the release of the Corporal. She also covered the Israeli forces detention of 64 Palestinian Authority officials - including eight ministers and 21 Palestinian Legislative Council members - along with 23 suspected militants.

Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, said Israel's recent military aggression was "clearly premeditated and planned" well prior to the capture of the Israeli military solider on 25 June, he said, adding that Israel had been issuing threats about launching a major invasion of the Gaza Strip. Then, on 28 June, after amassing thousands of troops along the southern border of the Gaza Strip, Israel launched an air and ground military assault by warplanes and tank artillery bombardment, punishing and terrorizing the civilian population. Israel then expanded its aggression into the West Bank, carrying out kidnappings and detention of at least 64 Palestinians, the majority of them high-ranking, democratically-elected officials and holding them, along with 9,000 Palestinians, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

He said it was the duty of the Security Council to address the crisis situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by condemning Israeli aggression and calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities, compliance with international law, the withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces from within the Gaza Strip, and the release of Palestinian officials being detained. A failure to do so would only serve to bolster the occupying power's impunity. It was not too late for the Security Council to asserts its rightful role and use its authority to bring an end to the breaches being committed and salvaging the prospects for reaching peace on the basis on international law, UN resolutions, the Quartet's Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Israel's representative, Daniel Carmon, said Gaza was now a terror base actively supported by the elected Hamas Government. The aggressive terrorist provocations had persisted only because they were supported by the official Palestinian Government, a terrorist regime with a sworn intent to deny Israelis their most fundamental human rights. But Hamas was not alone in its campaign of terror. The dangerous realities in the Middle East were further inflamed by the active and direct collaboration between Syria, Iran, Hizbollah and Palestinian terror groups, comprising an "axis of terror."

Israel, like any other responsible Government, could not tolerate a situation in which its citizens were being held hostage by members of a terrorist group, he said. The military operation now taking place was specific in nature and limited in scope, and Israel was taking every effort to minimize any harm to Palestinian civilians. In light of the escalation of Palestinian terrorism, Israel had decided to intensify its efforts to arrest those operatives responsible for terrorist attacks, so they could be tried and brought to justice. He urged the international community to continue applying all possible political pressure on the Palestinian Authority and on the Hamas terrorist organization, including its members and sponsors in Damascus, so as to ensure the immediate and safe release of Gilad Shalit, and to bring to an end the use of Palestinian territory as a base for terrorist operations.

Other participants in the Council debate decried Israel's military operations as punitive to the civilian population and called for urgent humanitarian assistance to address a dire and worsening situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. They also underscored the importance of a formal response by the Security Council to the situation.

Washington's UN Ambassador John Bolton suggested the best way to end the offensive would be to immediately release the captured Israeli soldier. He charged Syria and Lebanon with stoking regional tensions, and called on Syrian President Bashir al Assad to help resolve the crisis.

"The United States is of the firm view that a prerequisite for ending this conflict is that the governments of Syria and Iran end their role as state sponsors of terror and unequivocally condemn the actions of Hamas, including this kidnapping," he said.

Arab nations had requested the late Friday Council session, and more than 25 countries joined in criticizing the Israeli offensive. But the Palestinian representative offered no resolution, and the meeting ended inconclusively.

The United States has in the past vetoed draft Council resolutions on Israel, arguing they were not balanced.

Israel pullout from Gaza a mistake, ambassador tells UN

[Shammu]

U.S. to pay $48 million to cover damages to Gaza power station
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

United States officials said they expect that U.S. funds will be used to pay for the damages caused by an Israel Air Force strike Tuesday on a Palestinian power station in the Gaza Strip. The power station was insured by a U.S. government agency, according to The Boston Globe.

The Foreign and Defense Ministry departments that oversee foreign relations were unaware of the decision to target civilian facilities in the Strip, or the decision to attack the power station. Because of this, officials did not know that the station was insured by a U.S. government agency. Israel did not inform the U.S. prior to attacking the power station.

The power station in Gaza was built over a period of five years, at a cost of $150 million. In 1999, the Enron Corporation, along with Palestinian businessman Said Khoury, began working on the project. In 2000, Khoury's Morganti Group purchased Enron's share of the project.

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The power station began operating in 2002, reaching full commercial capacity in 2004. The owners of the power station insured it, through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, for a sum of $48 million due to "political risks." OPIC is a U.S. government authority that insures U.S. investments in developing markets.

A spokesman for the agency said the insurance purchased by the Morganti Group covers instances of political violence, which include wars and acts of terror.

The plant supplies electricity to some 860,000 people.

U.S. to pay $48 million to cover damages to Gaza power station

[Shammu]

 PGCC condemns Zionist atrocities in Gaza
Riyadh, July 1, IRNA

PGCC-Israel-Condemnation
The six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council on Saturday condemned Israel's air and ground raids on Palestinian lands, saying occupiers' brazen crimes are clear instances of the rule of jungle.

The PGCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Bin Hamad al-Attiyah said in a statement, a copy of which was made available to IRNA, that Israeli regime's arrest of Palestinian cabinet officials and members of the Palestinian Legislation Council (PLC) is also in breach of all the global laws, including the fourth Geneva Convention.

The PGCC statement calls on global communities to intervene in the case and halt Israel's brutal measure in attacking Palestinians.

It said Israel's crimes prove falsehood of opinions that the measures are for self-defense.

The statement also referred to recent Zionist jet fighters' violation of Syrian airspace as an affront to regional peace and stability.

Israel has since last week been conducting air and ground bombardment in Gaza, killing a number of Palestinians and seriously damaging the region's infrastructural facilities.

The occupying troops have also kidnapped number of the Hamas-led government members and PLC members, taking them to an undisclosed location.

PGCC condemns Zionist atrocities in Gaza

[Shammu]

Iranian Jews do not officially recognize Israel
Moscow, July 1, IRNA

Iran-Israel-Yashai
The Iranian government and nation do not officially recognize Israel and Jews share the same position, according to an Iranian Jewish figure.

Head of the Committee of Tehrani Jews Haroun Yashai told Russian Gazetta daily, "We are citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran." He ruled out allegations that religious minorities are deprived of their rights in Iran, saying, "Foreign journalists usually think that our comments on good condition of religious minorities in Iran are false; foreign journalists wrongly believe that we express everything on the call and under pressure of Iranian officials."
He said Jews are free to react to some of the policies of government and even write to government officials on the issues.

He went on to say that Jews are free to perform their religious duties and say their prayers in the Jewish language.

He added that Jews follow their customs and have been living in Iran since 2,500 years ago, when Cyrus the Great ruled the country.

Currently, maintained the Jewish figure, there are 40 synagogues in Iran, 23 of which are active, and the Jewish population are mostly scattered in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan.

There are 25,000 Jews living in Iran.

Iranian Jews do not officially recognize Israel