Hamas Not Budging In Israel, Fatah Talks / Egypt Seeks Softer US Hamas Line

Hamas Not Budging In Israel, Fatah Talks / Egypt Seeks Softer US Hamas Line

(NSI News Source Info) KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - March 18, 2009: An opening of Gaza’s blockaded borders, access to billions of dollars in foreign aid, a popularity boost — Hamas would have much to gain by working out a prisoner swap with Israel and a power-sharing arrangement with its West Bank rivals. Instead, Gaza’s Islamic militant rulers have been sticking to their demands, even though that would seem to be hurting their interests. But some analysts suggest that Hamas believes time is on its side and that Israel, along with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the West, will eventually give in. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal attends a meeting with parliament members from Greece and Italy in Damascus March 18, 2009. "They are not acting like people who are negotiating from a position of weakness," said Robert Blecher, an analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank. Egypt has been mediating parallel sets of talks involving Hamas — with Israel on exchanging a captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and with Abbas’ Fatah movement on a transitional government that would pave the way for new elections. Hamas wants Israel to release 450 prisoners with lengthy terms for Schalit, and resists demands by Abbas that the unity government commit to the Palestine Liberation Organization program, including its recognition of Israel. In both cases, Hamas is refusing to make concessions that could lead to a lifting of the Gaza closure, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas’ violent takeover there in 2007. "Hamas is sticking to its demands," spokesman Ayman Taha said after the failure of the prisoner talks Tuesday, even adding a threat that Hamas would try to capture more Israeli soldiers. On Wednesday, Hamas’ military wing said it might harden demands in future talks. Hamas’ defiance comes, in part, from surviving the border blockade and Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza, which served to emphasize how hard it would be to bring Hamas down. Ending Gaza’s isolation has become more urgent since the war — reconstruction requires open borders and huge sums in foreign aid, already promised by donor countries. But several Hamas officials said the group is in no hurry. On the prisoner swap, Hamas expects to see its demands met if it waits long enough. "We believe the occupation (Israel) is going to retreat," said Osama Muzini, a Hamas spokesman. In the final stage of negotiations over prisoners this weekend, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to free 320 prisoners of the 450 Hamas was demanding. Compromise on the prisoners might be seen in Gaza as inadequate compensation for the hardship that befell the territory after Hamas-allied militants captured Schalit in a cross-border raid in 2006. Israel closed Gaza’s borders, bombed Gaza’s only power station and unleashed military strikes that killed hundreds. Hamas is also under pressure from the families of prisoners not to leave any lifers behind. "Getting the prisoners out is more important than open borders," 70-year-old Khadije Salameh said Tuesday, flanked in her living room in the town of Khan Younis by the gold-framed posters of her imprisoned sons Hassan and Akram.

Hassan Salameh is among the 11 prisoners Israel says it will never free. Arrested in 1995, he is serving 48 life terms for masterminding several suicide bombings that killed dozens of Israelis. The release of the 11 names and Olmert’s pledge not to lift the blockade without Schalit will tie the hands of his designated successor, hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Hamas could have a tough time getting a better deal from Netanyahu. The deadlock complicates the international community’s plans for Gaza reconstruction. "We are not able to bring anything in for rebuilding Gaza until the case of the Israeli soldier Schalit is resolved, and that’s what the Israelis are telling us," Karen Abu Zayd, who runs the major U.N. aid agency in Gaza, said Tuesday. Donor countries are ready to give billions of dollars to fix the war damage, including repairing or rebuilding 15,000 homes, but can’t do so without open borders and won’t give the money to Hamas. The purpose of the Palestinian unity talks is to form an interim government made up of both rival factions until new elections are held by January 2010. Such an arrangement would let funds start flowing, but would force Hamas to soften its opposition to Israel. And Hamas can’t afford to compromise on its principles, especially with the possibility of elections in less than a year, said Hani Basoos, a Gaza analyst now based in Europe. Hamas is committed to Israel’s destruction, in contrast to Fatah, which seeks a Palestinian state alongside Israel. An implicit recognition of Israel would also undercut Hamas’ main argument in any election campaign that Fatah’s 16 years of peace talks with Israel have been a waste of time. Hamas has shown that its stubbornness is not a negotiating tactic, Basoos said. "If they wanted to compromise, they would have done it last year or the year before," he said. "It is a waiting game."

Israel Believes Iran Can Build Nuclear Weapons

Israel Believes Iran Can Build Nuclear Weapons

(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM - March 9, 2009: Iran is now capable of producing atomic weapons, Israel's top military intelligence officer said Sunday, sounding the highest-level warning that Israel's arch-enemy has achieved independent nuclear capability. At a Cabinet meeting, the chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, did not say Iran already has an atomic bomb, participants said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, center, convenes the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 8, 2009. However, he said, Iran has "crossed the threshold" and has the expertise and materials needed for one. The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because the Cabinet meeting was closed. They said Yadlin told them that Iran continues to accumulate uranium for enrichment and hopes to exploit the Obama administration's intention to open a dialogue as a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Yadlin's comments follow a similar assessment by the U.S. military chief, Adm. Mike Mullen. He said a week ago that Iran has enough fissile material to build a bomb now. Israeli officials have long identified a nuclear Iran as the most serious threat to the Jewish state. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly called for destruction of Israel, and Iran has tested long-range missiles that could strike Israel. Israel's long-held policy is that the world must cooperate to defuse the Iranian nuclear threat. While not directly threatening to take out Iran's nuclear facilities, Israel has avoided taking the military option off the table. Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who is putting together the next Israeli government, for years has said that Iran represents an existential threat to the Jewish state. He is seen as more likely than other Israeli leaders to order an attack. However, most experts believe that wiping out the Iranian nuclear program is beyond the ability of Israel's military. In 1982 the Israeli air force destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in a lightning strike, but Iran's facilities are scattered around the country, some of them underground. Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. Israel has been watching carefully how Washington develops its policy toward Iran. Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, President Barack Obama has called for diplomatic contacts with Iran as a way of persuading its rulers to drop their nuclear ambitions. In talks last week with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Israeli officials raised concerns about Iran's intentions and questions about the Obama administration's approach. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he did not object in principle to the idea of U.S-Iran talks, but he warned that Iran could use the contacts to stall while it readies its nuclear arsenal. Olmert said that would be unacceptable. Israeli strategic analyst Yossi Alpher said Yadlin's determination must be taken seriously. "It clearly renders the entire issue of how to deal with Iran both for the Obama administration and for Israel more urgent," he said. "It affects possible diplomatic initiatives, sanctions and the military option." Last week an Iranian leader declared that Iran's missiles can strike all of Israel's nuclear facilities. The main Israeli reactor is in the southern Negev desert, and a smaller research reactor is closer to the center of the country. Experts quoted in foreign publications believe Israel has several hundred nuclear weapons. Israel neither confirms nor denies reports about its nuclear capabilities.

Barak Says Israel Not Planning New Gaza War

Barak Says Israel Not Planning New Gaza War

(NSI News Source Info) Jerusalem - February 2, 2009: Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Israel does not intend to launch another broad operation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after launching air strikes on Sunday in response to rocket fire. "It is not our intention to have an Operation Cast Lead 2," Barak said in an interview with the YNet news Web site, using Israel's name for its recent 22-day offensive in Gaza.

"We said there would be a response and there was a response last night."

His comments clashed with statements on Sunday by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who said that, if necessary, Israel would mount a new offensive in the Gaza Strip to choke off cross-border rocket fire.

Both Barak, head of the centre-left Labour Party, and Livni, chairman of the ruling, centrist Kadima party, are candidates for prime minister in Israel's February 10 election.

Opinion polls forecast victory for right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud.

Israeli planes attacked a Hamas security complex and smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border on Sunday, the latest of several outbreaks of violence that have strained a ceasefire that went into effect on January 18.

There were no reported casualties in the air strikes, the Israeli military said. The attacks followed the firing of about a dozen rockets and mortar bombs into southern Israel on Sunday, which wounded two Israeli soldiers and a civilian.

"Disproportionate response"

Israeli aircraft went into action hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened a "disproportionate" response to the rockets. Israel carried out its Gaza campaign with the declared aim of ending such attacks by militants.

A wing of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group belonging to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, said it had launched some of the rockets, but not all were claimed.

"We know that most of this fire is not from Hamas but from other, smaller groups. However, Hamas bears responsibility," Barak told Israel Radio on Monday. "Hamas has to act to stop this." Taher al-Nono, a spokesman for the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, urged all factions on Sunday to "respect the national consensus" on the ceasefire, which the Islamist group declared two weeks ago after Israel said it was halting its assault on Gaza.

With US backing, Egypt is seeking a long-term truce deal that would end Hamas weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip and also lead to a reopening of the enclave's border crossings, one of Hamas' main demands.

Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza after Hamas Islamists seized the territory from the Western-backed Abbas in 2007.

Since the truce was declared, in addition to Sunday's injuries, one Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded when a bomb exploded next to their patrol. Israeli air strikes have killed three Palestinians and wounded 10.

During Israel's 22-day offensive, at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, including 700 civilians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israel Urges Turkey To Rethink Its Ties With Hamas And Iran

Israel Urges Turkey To Rethink Its Ties With Hamas And Iran

(NSI News Source Info) February 1, 2009: Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday warned the cabinet against deepening a schism with Turkey that was sparked by fierce Turkish censure of Israel's offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

"[I'm] very concerned by the behavior in public on the subject of Turkey," Olmert said. "Our relations with Turkey are important, and I recommend that we don't intensify our statements on the subject."

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (C), Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel (R) attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem February 1, 2009. Olmert threatened on Sunday a "disproportionate response" to the continued firing of rockets into Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces campaign, which ended in a Jan. 18 truce, triggered protests from Turkey culminating in a shouting match last week between its Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum. Despite his warning, Olmert added that Turkey, a key ally of Israel, was "not exempt from domestic considerations... being a Muslim state on the eve of elections."

"The Turks also know that we are obliged to thwart terrorism," he said.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, meanwhile, said on Sunday that the onus was on Ankara to get tough with Hamas, which won a 2006 Palestinian vote but has been shunned by the West for refusing to recognize Israel and stop firing rockets at Israel from Gaza.

"It must be remembered that after Hamas took power, Turkey was the first country to invite them over, so we find ourselves both in an important relationship but also in a dispute about how to conduct ourselves regionally," Livni told Israel Radio.

"Despite the street demonstrations, despite the difficult images from Gaza ... Hamas is everyone's problem. And most countries in the region, in the Middle East, have understood this more than the Turks," said Livni.

Shifting focus to Iran and its nuclear plans, Livni said other nations in the region "understand that Iran is everyone's problem" and steps need to be taken to deny it the means for making an atomic bomb. Tehran denies having any such intent.

"Turkey, in this case, has found itself in a regional position different to everyone else," Livni said.

Friendly with an Arab world over which it ruled in Ottoman times, Turkey has billed itself as a force for rapprochement, hosting indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria last year. Ankara's army is also an important Israeli defence client. Assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, Israel has held air force drills in northern Turkey which may have been designed to convey strategic reach in the face of Iran.

Some Israeli diplomats have voiced quiet concern over the direction of Turkey under Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK party. The flareup of tensions over Gaza prompted many Israeli travel agents to cancel usually sold-out packages at Turkish resorts.

Speaking from Ankara, Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy said he was working with local authorities to repair ties. He predicted improvement after next month's local elections in Turkey; some political analysts believe Erdogan's Gaza rhetoric was designed to shore up AK's popularity with a pro-Palestinian electorate.

"There is a rift in our relations. This cannot be hidden. But these relations are very important for both countries," Levy told Israel Radio, adding that "the Turkish government (is) drawing a distinction between bilateral ties and the censure they are levelling at us over the (Gaza) operation."

Israel: Troops, Palestinian Militants Clash Despite Cease-Fire / Hamas Offers One-Year Truce With Israel

Israel: Troops, Palestinian Militants Clash Despite Cease-Fire / Hamas Offers One-Year Truce With Israel

(NSI News Source Info) GAZA CITY - January 28, 2009: A bomb killed an Israeli soldier patrolling near Gaza on Tuesday, and Israel responded with an airstrike, straining the fragile cease-fire on the eve of a visit by President Obama's new Mideast envoy. The violence jolted the calm that has largely prevailed since Israel ended a devastating three-week offensive in Gaza on Jan. 17. Since withdrawing its troops, Israel has threatened to retaliate hard for any violations of the truce. Israel carries out an air attack on Gaza and sends tanks across the border, after Palestinian militants kill an Israeli soldier. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called an urgent meeting of Israel's top defense officers after the bombing. "We will respond, but there is no point in elaborating," Barak said shortly before the airstrike. Barak talked with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after the meeting, but no details of the discussion were released. The Israeli military dismissed earlier reports that the explosive might have been an old land mine triggered accidentally. The military said it had determined that the bomb was activated by militants, but it would not give details. The blast also wounded three Israeli soldiers and triggered a brief battle when Israeli troops briefly crossed the border in search of the attackers. Later, Hamas said one of its militants was wounded in the Israeli airstrike.

The violence — a day before the new U.S. Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, was due in Israel — underscored the difficulty Obama faces as he tries to get Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts back on track. Gazans are struggling to resume normal life after the fighting and as international donors discuss how best to help the territory rebuild. Gaza's Hamas leader said Tuesday the group — which is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union — would not try to claim any of the reconstruction funds. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh remains in hiding because of fears he could be assassinated by Israel. "Our aim now is to ease the suffering of our people and to remove the aftermath of the aggression in Gaza," the Hamas statement said. "Therefore we emphasize that we are not concerned to receive the money for rebuilding Gaza, and we are not seeking that." Hamas said the airstrike wounded one of its members as he rode a motorcycle in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. The Israeli military said the bomb targeted an Israeli patrol near the border community of Kissufim. There was no claim of responsibility. Not long after the bombing, a 27-year-old Gaza farmer was killed by Israeli gunfire along the border several miles away, according to Moaiya Hassanain of Gaza's Health Ministry. Two other Palestinians were wounded. The military had no comment, and it was unclear whether the two incidents were related. Israel closed its crossings into Gaza to humanitarian aid traffic after briefly opening them Tuesday morning. Gaza border official Raed Fattouh said Israeli officials informed him the closure was due to the bombing. Israel's offensive on Gaza was aimed at halting rocket fire from the territory. Israel announced a unilateral cease-fire Jan. 17, which was followed by a similar announcement from Gaza militants. In the days immediately after the cease-fire, there was shelling by Israeli gunboats and some gunfire along the border. Although there was no claim of responsibility for the deadly bombing, Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader, said Israel was to blame for continuing to fire into Gaza. Al-Masri said his group had not agreed to a full cease-fire but only to a "lull" in fighting. "The Zionists are responsible for any aggression," he said. Egypt is trying to negotiate a longer-term arrangement to allow quiet in the coastal territory of 1.4 million people, which has been ruled by the Islamic militants of Hamas since June 2007. Israel wants an end to Hamas rocket attacks and guarantees that Hamas will be prevented from smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt reopen Gaza's border crossings, which have been largely closed since Hamas took power. The crossings are Gaza's economic lifeline. The Israeli offensive killed 1,285 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, according to records kept by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed during the fighting.