Friday, February 17, 2006

US asks Palestinians to return $50 mil. in aid

By Sue Pleming 57 minutes ago

The United States has asked the Palestinian Authority to return $50 million in U.S. aid because Washington does not want a Hamas-led government to have the funds, the State Department said on Friday.

The money was demanded as part of a full review of all U.S. aid for the Palestinians that began soon after the militant group Hamas' surprise victory in elections last month. A Hamas-led parliament was set to be sworn in on Saturday but it could take several weeks for a Cabinet to be formed.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the caretaker government of President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to return the money, given last year for infrastructure projects after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

"In the interests of seeing that these funds not potentially make their way into the coffers of a future Palestinian government (made up of Hamas) ... we have asked for it to be returned and the Palestinian Authority has agreed," McCormack told reporters.

A Palestinian official confirmed Washington had asked for $50 million in aid to be returned. "The Palestinian Authority promised to comply," the official said.

Over the past decade, the United States has given about $1.5 billion in aid to the Palestinians, mostly through aid groups.

McCormack reiterated U.S. policy that aid could not go to Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist group, but he said the United States was looking at ways of ensuring humanitarian assistance could reach the Palestinians.

For a Hamas government to get direct aid, it would have to renounce violence, recognize Israel, disarm militias and agree to past Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates next week to discuss, among other issues, how to deal with Hamas and to convince those nations not to fill any funding gap.

The mediating powers in the Middle East -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- issued a statement last month in which they said Hamas must reject violence and recognize Israel or risk losing aid.

HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS

Several aid groups want the U.S. government to grant a waiver for humanitarian assistance to enable them to communicate with a new Palestinian government.

Elizabeth Sime, country director for CARE's program in the West Bank and Gaza, said world donors must understand that getting aid to the Palestinians required cooperation at least "on a technical level" with the Palestinian Authority.

McCormack told Reuters it was premature to talk about a waiver, adding it would be a few weeks before the review was completed.

Peter Gubser, president of American Near East Refugee Aid, said he feared his charity's school program might be affected by an aid cut because the group had to deal with Palestinian ministries.

Like many others, his group was looking at how to shift aid in a way that complied with U.S. law. A school program that would require dealings with the Palestinian Authority may be curbed and so his group might, for example, put more funds in their milk program for Palestinian preschoolers.

InterAction, an umbrella group representing about 160 aid groups, said there was concern any sharp cut in foreign assistance would create more unrest and hurt the weakest.

The group's president, Mohammad Akhter, said it was possible to work with civil society groups not linked in any way to Hamas. He pointed out the United States had given food aid to the North Koreans even though it opposed their polices.

Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News
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Thursday, February 16, 2006

Australian TV Defends Abuse Broadcast

By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago

An Australian television network on Thursday defended airing graphic images of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, amid U.S. concerns the photographs could heighten anti-U.S. sentiments in the Middle East and endanger the lives of American troops.

Mike Carey, senior producer of the Special Broadcasting Service's "Dateline" program, said the images appeared to show new cases of mistreatment that should trigger a fresh investigation by U.S. authorities.

"It is a quantum leap in terms of the seriousness of the apparent abuse. It does add a lot to what we know was going on there," Carey told The Associated Press.

Many of the images broadcast Wednesday by SBS were more graphic than the photos published in 2004 that prompted worldwide outrage and resulted in the prosecution of several American soldiers.

One video clip depicted a group of naked men with bags over their heads standing together and masturbating. The network said they were forced to participate. Other images showed what appear to be wounded people and the corpse of a man SBS said was killed during a CIA interrogation. SBS has refused to say how it obtained the images, and their authenticity could not be verified independently.

After they were broadcast, U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the images were part of material that had already been investigated by U.S. authorities. Nine American soldiers were convicted in the abuse and sentenced to terms ranging from discharge from the Army to 10 years imprisonment.

Whitman said more than 25 people have been held accountable for criminal acts and "other failures" at Abu Ghraib.

Carey conceded that many of the hundreds of photographs in SBS's possession appeared to have been taken at the same time as the previously published photos that showed naked detainees stacked in a human pyramid and being intimidated by guard dogs, as well as a hooded man standing on a crate with electrodes attached to his fingers.

But he said many of the images — such as the apparent photos of dead detainees — raised fresh questions about what occurred in the notorious Baghdad jail. He queried whether all the incidents of abuse depicted in the photos had been investigated.

"Maybe the Pentagon has investigated them all but it certainly, as far as I am aware, has not explained them publicly to the American people," he told the AP. "We felt a responsibility ... to broadcast them. It is a matter of free speech."

Officials in Iraq and the United States have expressed concern that the images could enflame public anger already running high over footage of British soldiers beating youths in southern Iraq.

In Baghdad, Iraq's prime minister condemned the latest abuse images. "The Iraqi government condemns the torture practices revealed through the recent pictures that show Iraqi prisoners being tortured," a statement issued by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's office said.

The abuse images were widely reported in news pages across Asia, though official reaction to their broadcast was muted. Anger in Muslim countries in Asia remained focused on the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, with continuing demonstrations in Pakistan and further denunciations by officials in Malaysia.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday that SBS had the right to decide whether to air the images, but suggested that if the photos showed acts that have already been exposed and prosecuted, there was no reason to publish them.

Howard, a strong ally of President Bush in the Iraq war, defended U.S. efforts to punish those behind past abuses at Abu Ghraib.

"In the end we are a democracy," Howard said, conceding that "once a journalist gets photographs of that kind, the reality is they are going to publish them."

Australia's opposition Labor Party said it was crucial to determine whether the abuse shown in the newly published images had been carried out by offenders who had already been punished, or whether there were other perpetrators that must be brought to justice.

"One of our strongest weapons in the fight against terror is our commitment to uphold the rule of law," said Robert McLelland, Labor's defense spokesman.

He said the U.S. Army should carry out a fresh investigation and urged Howard to raise the issue with Washington.

Australia has about 1,320 troops in Iraq and the Middle East. Despite widespread public opposition to the war, Howard has repeatedly refused to set a deadline for pulling Australian troops out of Iraq.

Source: AP via Yahoo! News

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Related: Iraq Prisoner Abuse Slideshow (Yahoo! News)
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Pakistani Rally Huge but Peaceful

By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago

Thousands of people shouting "God is Great!" marched through a southern Pakistan city on Thursday and burned effigies of the Danish prime minister in the country's fourth day of protests over cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, police said.

About 5,000 police and paramilitary forces, wearing helmets and wielding guns and shields, were deployed along the two-mile route of the rally to prevent the violence that has plagued other protests throughout the country this week, said Mushtaq Shah, chief of police operations in the southern city of Karachi.

About 40,000 people took part in the demonstration, which ended peacefully, said Shahnawaz Khan, a senior Karachi police officer.

Protesters burned Danish flags and chanted "God's curse be on those who insulted the prophet." The government ordered educational institutions to close for the day and many shops in the city — a hotbed of Islamic militancy — were shut. Most public transport was off the roads.

The "movement to protect the prophet's sanctity will continue until the pens of the blasphemous people are broken and their tongues get quiet," said Shah Turabul Haq, the head of Jamat Ahl-e-Sunnat, the Sunni Muslim group that organized the rally.

Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday appealed for European and other Western nations to condemn the cartoons, saying freedom of the press did not mean the right to insult the religious beliefs of others.

The drawings were first published in a Danish newspaper in September and later reprinted by other media, mainly in Europe. Many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. One of the drawings depicted the prophet with a turban shaped like a bomb.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said Wednesday that the Iraqi government had asked Denmark to keep its troops in Iraq, despite demands for a withdrawal by the provincial council in Basra, the town where the 530-strong Danish contingent is based.

The council had demanded that the Danish troops withdraw unless Denmark apologized for the cartoons. But Denmark asked for a clarification from Iraq's government, which replied Wednesday, Moeller said.

"What we have learned is that the Iraqi government asks us to stay. They believe that Danish soldiers are doing a very brave job," he told Danish broadcaster DR.

On Wednesday, a protest by more than 70,000 Pakistanis in the northwestern city of Peshawar dissolved into deadly riots by stone-throwing and gun-wielding youths, who targeted foreign businesses.

The unrest followed similar riots Tuesday in Lahore, where U.S. and other Western business properties were vandalized and the provincial lawmakers' assembly set on fire.

Five people have been killed in protests in Pakistan this week.

Ameer ul-Azeem, a spokesman for United Action Forum, an opposition coalition of religious parties that have organized most of the protests in Pakistan, said television footage of violent attacks by protesters on embassies in other countries had prompted Pakistanis to do the same.

He appealed for people to avoid violence in more demonstrations the coalition plans for later this month, but didn't expect people to follow his advice. "At least, there will be one violent protest in every village, town and city," he said.

Also Thursday, more than 1,000 traders also held a rally in the eastern city of Multan, closing most shops, said police officer Sharif Zafar.

Source: AP via Yahoo! News
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Israeli Defense Proposes Permanent Travel Ban

13 minutes ago

The Defense Ministry has recommended barring the passage of Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and prohibiting Gazan laborers from entering Israel, Army Radio reported Thursday.

The proposed restrictions come in reaction to Hamas militants' victory in Palestinian legislative elections.

The radio station also reported that the ministry would recommend turning crossings between Israel and Gaza into international borders, further encumbering Gazans' movements.

Source: AP via Yahoo! News
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Monday, February 13, 2006

Israel lobbies against "Palestine" tag at Oscars

By Dan WilliamsSun Feb 12, 3:03 PM ET

Israel and U.S. Jewish groups have lobbied organizers of next month's Academy Awards not to present a nominated film about Palestinian suicide bombers as coming from "Palestine," an Israeli diplomat said on Sunday.

With Israelis and Palestinians locked in conflict over national claims on the same land, the provenance of "Paradise Now" is as combustible an issue as its plot in the run-up to the March 5 ceremony, which will be watched by millions worldwide.

A drama about two men from the occupied West Bank recruited to blow themselves up in Tel Aviv, "Paradise Now" is a contender for the Oscar in the "best foreign film" category.

Many Israelis were irked when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in publishing the nomination, said "Paradise Now" came from "Palestine."

While the tag remains on the academy's Web site, an Israeli diplomat said he expected the film to be described as coming from the "Palestinian Authority" during the awards ceremony.

"Both the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles and several concerned Jewish groups pointed out that no one, not even the Palestinians themselves, have declared the formal creation of 'Palestine' yet, and thus the label would be inaccurate," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The academy could not immediately be reached for comment.

Palestinians seeking independence in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured in a 1967 war, won limited self-rule under interim accords that formed the Palestinian Authority. Some Jews opposed ceding the land, seeing it as their biblical birthright.

Fighting that erupted in 2000 and last month's victory in Palestinian elections of the Islamic militant group Hamas have dimmed hopes for peaceful two-state co-existence.

"Paradise Now" was a broad coproduction involving an Israeli Arab director and actors, Palestinian crew and locations, a Jewish Israeli producer and private European funding.

Major Israeli cinema chains have shunned the film, with distribution experts citing concerns of low audience turnout given its generally sympathetic portrayal of suicide bombers.

Palestinians have mostly responded well to "Paradise Now," although some voiced misgivings at its depiction of one bomber who undertakes his deadly mission because of social pressure as well as the call to avenge the travails of Israeli occupation.

The controversy around "Paradise Now" compounds an already fraught Academy Awards for Israel, thanks to several nominations garnered by Steven Spielberg's "Munich."

A thriller about the reprisals the Jewish state launched after 11 of its athletes died in a Palestinian raid on the 1972 Olympic Games, Munich has been accused by pro-Israel groups of skewing history and criticizing Israeli security policies.

Spielberg called the film his "prayer for peace."

Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News

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Sunday, February 12, 2006

Hamas, the peace party

Once they sent suicide bombers to Israel; now they bring discipline and a sense of realpolitik

Aluf Benn
Thursday February 9, 2006
The Guardian

A year ago I joined a planeload of Israeli journalists flying to the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. We accompanied Ariel Sharon to a summit with Mahmoud Abbas, the recently elected president of the Palestinian Authority. They met to celebrate a new era in Palestinian-Israeli relations after the demise of Yasser Arafat.

Looking back, it appears that, while reporting scrupulously on exchanges between Sharon and Abbas, I missed the broader picture. Abbas was a figurehead, carrying messages between Israel's authorities and the Palestinian power-brokers, the leaders of Hamas. Abbas came to the summit only after Hamas agreed to hold fire in return for integration into the political process.

Hamas - the Islamic Resistance Movement - has born the torch of Palestinian armed struggle against Israel since the late 80s. Its suicide bombers murdered hundreds of Israelis, leading the second intifada. Two years ago Israel hit back, killing Hamas's founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi. Israelis expected deadly retaliation, but it never came. Instead, Hamas decided to regroup and turn to politics. Sharon had already pledged to withdraw from Gaza. This was a major victory for Hamas, who did not want to spoil it.

Since then, both Israel and Hamas have abided by the ceasefire, as fighting went on between Israel and smaller Palestinian groups such as Islamic Jihad. The relative calm and the evacuation of Gaza facilitated Israel's economic boom.

Hamas also used the ceasefire to consolidate power. When it beat Fatah in last month's legislative elections, Israel was taken by surprise. In response, one camp argues Hamas will never rest until Israel's obliteration, and compromising will merely help the enemy. The counter argument is that responsibility will tame Hamas, and its record in social and municipal affairs suggests that a working "Hamastan" may be a lesser evil than a chaotic authority under Fatah.

Ehud Olmert, Israel's acting prime minister, with an eye on the coming election, is squeezed between domestic and international concerns. His rightwing rival, Binyamin Netanyahu, portrays Olmert as a Hamas patsy. The international community fears the collapse of the PA if Israel reacts to the Hamas victory with a boycott. Olmert's solution has been to buy time, using tough talk to fend off Netanyahu and offer Hamas a deal: a pardon for its murderous past in return for good behaviour. Jerusalem and Washington agree on the benchmarks for a Palestinian government: disarming the militias, renouncing violence and recognising Israel's right to exist.

Hamas and the new Israeli political mainstream share similar aims, believing a "final status" peace deal is a delusion. Olmert instead seeks to delineate the country's borders and end the occupation, without resolving the core issues of the conflict. Here lies the basis for a tacit understanding. Israeli Jews view Hamas's ideology - portraying Jews as aliens desecrating holy Muslim land - as encouraging their annihilation. At the same time, however, most Israelis care more about their day-to-day security. They want to board a bus knowing they will arrive in one piece, rather than be blown to bits by suicide bombers.

The exiled Hamas leader, Khalid Mesh'al, appears to understand this. In his article on these pages last week, he clung to his destruction rhetoric while offering a long-term truce. Would he and his colleagues shelve their unacceptable ideology in return for political legitimacy? The past year has shown that Hamas is highly disciplined and adept at realpolitik. If pursued earnestly, this policy could be the kernel of the next stage of Middle East diplomacy.

· Aluf Benn is diplomatic editor of the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aret, aluf@haaretz.co.il

Source: Guardian Unlimited
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