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Mar5
Man goes on a rampage: rams police car and bus
Filed under: World; Tagged as: arab, breaking news, gaza, islam, islamic jihad, israel, muslim, palestinian, police, terrorist, terrorist attack, the middle east
An Israeli police officer escorts a wounded girl, whose face is painted for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim, from the scene after a bulldozer slammed into vehicles in Jerusalem, on Thursday.
JERUSALEM – A Palestinian driver rammed a construction vehicle into a bus and police car on a highway Thursday, wounding two officers before he was shot dead, police said, the latest in a string of attacks by militants using heavy machinery against Israeli targets.
Witnesses described a harrowing sight of a towering yellow front loader speeding along Jerusalem’s Begin Highway, dragging the police car, flipping it into the air and trying to crush it with its front shovel.
Begin Highway is a main thoroughfare connecting the city’s north and south. Witnesses said the attacker apparently worked at a nearby construction site. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and police said the man was not carrying identification.
“It was simply an attack meant to murder innocent people,” Mayor Nir Barkat told Channel 2 television. He called for the demolition of the attacker’s home, a tactic that has drawn international criticism in the past. Barkat said home demolitions are needed to deter other attacks.
The rampage came as Israel prepared to celebrate Purim, a holiday in which schools are closed, children dress up in costumes and families are out and about at parties and public events.
Barkat said the attack would not stop next week’s celebrations. “We need to get back to our routine as fast as possible to show the terrorists that they won’t ruin our holiday,” he said.
Man says he chased, shot driver
One witness, a taxi driver identified as “Dor,” told Israel Radio that he chased the driver as he watched the attack unfold.“I saw the police car fly into the air. He flipped it over twice, then continued dragging it toward a bus that was stuck in traffic,” he said. He told the station he fired four shots at the man, wounding him. “Then a policeman came with his M-16 and finished him off,” he said.
Deputy police chief Nisso Shachar said the attacker was first spotted by a traffic police car. “The officer saw the bulldozer lift up a police squad car with its shovel after trying to squash it,” he said. “It is without a doubt a terror attack.”
Schachar said the man was killed and an open copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, was found in the vehicle. He said the presence of the book indicated the attacker was affiliated with or influenced by Islamic radicals. Police said the two wounded officers were lightly hurt.
Third bulldozer attack in past 8 months
It was the third bulldozer attack in Jerusalem in the past eight months.Last July, a Palestinian smashed cars and a bus with his heavy construction vehicle in central Jerusalem, killing three people and wounding dozens. Three weeks later, a Palestinian attacker driving a construction vehicle rammed a bus, overturned a car and wounded five people before he was shot dead.
In September, a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a crowd of Israeli soldiers, wounding 19 people, before he was shot dead.
All of the attackers were from east Jerusalem, where Palestinian residents hold Israeli ID cards and can move freely about Israel.
New surge in Gaza fighting
The attack came amid a new surge in fighting in the Gaza Strip, about 50 miles southwest of Jerusalem.An Israeli air strike early Thursday killed two Islamic Jihad militants and wounded another, bringing to four the number of group members killed by Israel in less than 24 hours and drawing retaliatory rocket fire at Israel.
Islamic Jihad said the three men were returning together to their homes in the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza after a night spent on patrol along the Gaza-Israel border when they were targeted.
The Israeli military said an aircraft attacked the three armed men after they fired an anti-tank missile at troops on the Israeli side of the border fence. No soldiers were reported injured.
An Israeli airstrike Wednesday evening killed two members of Islamic Jihad — an Iranian and Syrian-backed militant group.
Vow of revenge
Islamic Jihad official Abu Ahmed vowed Thursday morning that his group would avenge the killings.“Our rockets and our resistance will not stop,” he said. “We know where and when we will take revenge for these crimes.”
Later on Thursday three rockets fired from Gaza landed in empty ground in southern Israel, the military said. There were no reports of casualties.
There has been sporadic violence in Gaza since Israel ended a fierce three-week offensive on Jan. 18. Egypt has been trying to broker a cease-fire since then.
No CommentsMar4Clinton denounces Israel over demolition of east jerusalem homes
Filed under: U.S., World; Tagged as: arab, breaking news, government, hillary clinton, israel, jerusalem, muslim, palestinian, Politics, secretary of state, washington
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert smile during a meeting in Jerusalem March 3, 2009.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Israel Wednesday over plans to demolish Palestinian homes in Arab East Jerusalem and said Washington would engage Israeli leaders on Jewish settlements.
Calling the planned destruction of more than 80 dwellings “unhelpful,” Clinton said after talks with Palestinian leaders: “It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem.” Israel says the homes slated for demolition were built without permits.
Palestinians say authorization from Israel’s Jerusalem municipality is nearly impossible to obtain. They accuse Israel of trying to drive them out of East Jerusalem, territory captured in a 1967 war, to make room for Jewish families.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its “united and eternal” capital, a claim that has not won international recognition. The Palestinian Authority wants East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state.
At a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank, Clinton stopped short of repeating U.S. calls for an immediate cessation of Israeli settlement expansion but promised to follow up on the issue.
“We will be looking for a way to put it on the table along with all the other issues that need to be discussed and resolved,” she said.
“I think at this time, we should wait until we have a new Israeli government. That will be soon and then we will look at whatever tools are available,” Clinton said repeating her support for creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
PEACE PARTNERS
Abbas said that unless Israel’s incoming leaders were committed to a two-state solution and halted settlement construction and Jerusalem demolitions, “we will not consider them as peace partners.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hold a joint news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 4, 2009
Clinton is on her first visit to the region as secretary of state during a time of political transition in Israel, which held an election on February 10 that led to right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu being invited to form a government by April 3.
The Likud party leader’s reluctance to commit himself to the creation of a Palestinian state could put him on a collision course with the Obama White House.
With Israel still in political flux and peace talks with the Palestinians stalled, Clinton used her Middle East visit to announce Tuesday a new approach to improve U.S. relations with Syria.
She said two U.S. officials would go to Damascus for preliminary discussions. Political analysts said the overture could pave the way for a resumption of Israeli-Syrian negotiations and weaken Syria’s ties with Iran and Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
In a show of support for Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, Clinton called it the only legitimate government of the Palestinian people.
The Authority has held sway only in the West Bank after Hamas Islamists wrested control of the Gaza Strip from his Fatah faction in fighting in 2007.
The West shuns Hamas over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals.
Clinton has said a durable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel in December launched a devastating 22-day offensive, hinged on Hamas stopping cross-border rocket salvoes.
No CommentsMar3Clinton: The creation of a palestinian state is inevitable
Filed under: Obama, Politics, World; Tagged as: barack obama, breaking news, hillary clinton, israel, palestine, president barack obama, secretary of state, syria, united statesNo CommentsSecretary of state also says two U.S. envoys to make rare visit to Syria 
U.S.'s top diplomat, who lays a wreath at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, left, says administration will vigorously pursue state's creation.
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday the new U.S. administration will vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state, stressing that movement toward Palestinian independence seems “inescapable.”
Clinton also said the U.S. would soon send two envoys to Syria for “preliminary conversations.” It was the most significant sign yet that the Obama administration is ready to mend relations with the Damascus regime. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador in 2005, accusing Syria of supporting terrorism.
“We have no way to predict what the future with our relations concerning Syria might be,” she told a Jerusalem news conference. “There has to be some perceived benefit of doing so for the United States and our allies and our shared values. But I think it is a worthwhile effort to go and begin these preliminary conversations.” Clinton, making her first visit to the region as secretary of state, made her comments ahead of a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister designate. Netanyahu’s past criticism of peace talks and opposition to full Palestinian independence has raised concerns that his incoming government could clash with the U.S.
‘Vigorously engaged’
When asked about Netanyahu, she acknowledged the possibility of disagreements with the hawkish Israeli politician and made clear the U.S. will push forward with its efforts to forge a peace deal that includes the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.“The United States will be vigorously engaged in the pursuit of a two-state solution every step of the way,” she said. “The inevitability of working toward a two state-solution is inescapable.”
Ahead of their meeting, Netanyahu showed signs of backing off his previous pledges to abandon the current round of peace talks, launched in November 2007 at a U.S.-hosted summit.
That message would mark a change in the Likud leader’s long-stated position that peace talks are a waste of time because of the weakness of the Palestinian leadership. He has suggested in the past he would instead invest in the Palestinian economy while continuing Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank indefinitely.
And Clinton signaled that open confrontation with Israel is unlikely, stressing the close relationship between the two countries and saying Israel must ultimately decide what is in its best interests.
“We happen to believe that moving toward the two-state solution, step by step, is in Israel’s best interests. But obviously it’s up to the people and the government of Israel to decide how to define your interests,” she said.
Rocket attacks criticized
Clinton also stressed the “unrelenting” U.S. commitment to Israel’s security. Clinton specifically criticized continuing rocket attacks out of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.“There is no doubt that any nation, including Israel, cannot stand idly by while its territory and people are subjected to rocket attacks,” she said at an earlier news conference with Israel’s ceremonial president, Shimon Peres.
Netanyahu, leader of the hardline Likud Party, is putting together a new coalition government after right-wing and Orthodox Jewish parties won a majority of seats in last month’s Israeli parliamentary election. He is expected to be sworn in as prime minister within weeks.
His criticism of U.S.-led Mideast peace talks during the recent election campaign — along with his reliance on small hardline partners — has raised fears that his government could clash with the Obama administration.
Netanyahu planned to tell the secretary of state that his government will continue peace talks with the Palestinians, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud Party said.
“I think that Hillary Clinton, when she comes today, will find Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to continue to hold negotiations, not only on economic projects but also political negotiations, a political process,” said Likud lawmaker Silvan Shalom, a former foreign minister.
Tense relations with Syria
In Damascus, the U.S. Embassy announced that Jeffrey Feltman, the State Department’s top diplomat for the Middle East, would lead the American delegation headed to the Syrian capital.Embassy spokeswoman Katherine Vandevate said the visit aims to build on his “substantive and constructive” meeting last month with Syria’s ambassador in Washington, Imad Moustapha.
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. Damascus denied involvement but in the uproar that followed was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year dominance.
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.
Clinton arrived in Jerusalem Monday evening from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, where she pledged $900 million in U.S. aid at an international donors conference for rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel’s recent offensive against its Hamas rulers.
A packed schedule of meetings with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem included talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. On Wednesday, she is to call on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
Feb21U.S. and Syria resume diplomatic talks
Filed under: Politics, U.S., World; Tagged as: arab, barack obama, breaking news, damascus, hillary clinton, islam, islamic, israel, missiles, muslim, nuclear, Politics, president barack obama, syria, united statesNo Comments
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The State Department’s top Middle East official will meet next week with the Syrian ambassador to the United States as part of what senior administration officials call a resumption of diplomatic dialogue with Damascus after nearly four years.Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary for the Near East, requested a meeting with Ambassador Imad Moustapha, according to State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid. Talks will take place next week after Moustapha returns from Damascus, where he is meeting with several visiting U.S. congressional delegations, Duguid said.
“The meeting is an opportunity for dialogue to discuss our concerns with the Syrians,” Duguid said. “There remain key differences between our governments.”
Duguid cited Syrian support for terrorist groups, its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its interference in Lebanon and worsening human rights situation as issues Feltman will address at next week’s meetings.
On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report that the U.N. nuclear watchdog found traces of uranium from samples retrieved at a Syrian site suspected to be the location of a nuclear site.
The site was bombed by Israeli aircraft in September 2007, and Syria says the missiles that destroyed the building at the site were the source of the uranium particles, according to the report. Damascus has denied it was being used for a nuclear reactor.
Next week’s talks come as the Obama administration weighs greater engagement with Damascus as well as with Iran. During her confirmation hearing last month Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said more dialogue with Syria may help Damascus become “a constructive regional actor” and benefit U.S. interests.
The first meeting with Moustapha since last September is being viewed as the start of more regular contacts between Washington and Damascus through normal diplomatic channels, senior administration officials told CNN.
The Bush administration withdrew the U.S. ambassador from Syria in 2005 following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Washington suspects Syrian involvement in the murder, which Damascus has denied. In lieu of an ambassador, a U.S. charge d’affaires working in the U.S. embassy holds sporadic talks with Syrian officials.
A series of congressional delegations have visited Syria in recent weeks. Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrats who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Maryland, visited Damascus this week. Rep. Howard Berman, D-California, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is traveling there in the coming days.
A seven-member delegation led by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, met with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus earlier this month and discussed improving ties.
Feb21Hamas slips note to Obama via Senator Kerry
Filed under: Obama, Politics, World; Tagged as: arab, barack obama, breaking news, cnn, gaza, hamas, islamic, israel, muslim, Politics, president barack obama, united nationsNo Comments
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas passed Sen. John Kerry a letter for President Obama while Kerry visited Gaza on Thursday, senior State Department officials said. The letter for the president is in the hands of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, the officials said Friday.Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, toured the devastation in Gaza and met with officials from the U.N. Works Relief Agency, the main provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Frederick Jones, the committee’s communications director, told CNN at the end of Kerry’s meeting with UNRWA chief Karen Abu Zayed that “she handed [Kerry] a letter addressed to the president of the United States along with other materials.”
The U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization and has no contact with the organization.
Kerry, D-Massachusetts, first learned that the letter was included in the materials, Jones said, after he left Gaza for meetings in Israel, when reports began to emerge that he had a letter from Hamas. Video Watch Kerry tour the Gaza devastation »
Without elaborating, Abu Zayed told BBC radio that Hamas had handed over a letter.
Kerry’s visit was part of a delegation including Reps. Brian Baird, D-Washington, and Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Although Kerry also visited Gaza separately from the two congressmen, according to an official who was traveling with the senator, none of the U.S. lawmakers visited representatives of Gaza’s Hamas leadership.
The Gaza visit was the first by U.S. officials since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007, effectively splitting the Palestinian government.
Jones said that because the letter was not addressed to Kerry but to Obama, the senator did not open it.
“Kerry turned the letter over to the consul general in Jerusalem this morning to handle through appropriate channels,” Jones said Friday.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Gaza-based spokesman for Hamas, denied that the organization had sent a letter to Obama via the United Nations and Kerry, saying that if Hamas chose to speak with the American administration, this is not the method it would employ.
But senior State Department officials told CNN that after reviewing the letter, the consulate determined that it was indeed from Hamas. Consulate officials are discussing the matter with the State Department and White House.
Consulate spokeswoman Mica Schweitzer-Bloom would say only that Kerry handed consulate officials a letter for the president and “it will be handled by the appropriate channels.”
Obama has not ruled out talks with Hamas but said the group must first renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by previous agreements successive Palestinian governments have reached with the Israelis.