Hamas says it will oversee Gaza relief efforts

GAZA CITY (AFP) – The Hamas-run government in Gaza said on Saturday it would create a committee of senior officials to oversee all relief efforts in the territory after Israel's massive assault earlier this month.

The National High Committee for Relief will be headed by Ahmed al-Kurd, the Hamas-appointed minister of social affairs, and will distribute some 35 million euros (45 million dollars) to those who lost family members or their homes.

"It will be the only body to oversee and supervise the rescue. We will be in contact with all other bodies, whether local, national or international, to organize the relief," Kurd said at a Gaza City news conference.

The Hamas authorities plan to distribute 4,000 euros (5,200 dollars) to each family whose home was destroyed and 1,000 euros (1,300 dollars) for every family member killed in the three-week-long conflict.

Kurd declined to specify how the government -- which has been under a strict blockade since Hamas seized power in June 2007 -- had raised the funds.

"We are a government that is in charge of all of Gaza," he said. "The ministries have budgets, they have funds, just like in the rest of the countries of the world."

The Israeli offensive, aimed at stemming rocket and mortar fire from the territory, killed more than 1,330 Palestinians. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed in the same period.

Both sides declared a unilateral ceasefire last Sunday and Israel completed its withdrawal from the territory on Wednesday.

Kurd would not specify the role the committee would play in rebuilding efforts in the battered territory, but demanded the lifting of the blockade and the reopening of Gaza's border crossings.

"From now on we will not accept a slow death by blockade. We sacrificed in this war... and we did not sacrifice our youth to return to square one."

The Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas -- whose forces were driven from Gaza by Hamas in June 2007 -- has said it should lead the reconstruction efforts, which it said would require some 1.9 billion dollars in aid.

Syria congratulates Hamas on Gaza 'victory'

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on the Islamist movement's "victory" over Israel in Gaza at a meeting in Damascus on Saturday, official media said.

Assad "congratulated the Palestinian people on the victory scored by the resistance in the Gaza Strip," the official SANA news agency said.

"Israel's inability to achieve its objectives despite using the deadliest of weaponry is proof of the devotion of the Palestinian people to its territorial rights and its deep belief in victory against occupation and aggression," it quoted Assad as saying.

Meshaal and his delegation responded by expressing their "deep appreciation of Syria for its efforts at all levels to support the resistance of the Palestinian people in Gaza during and after the Israeli aggression."

The Hamas delegation is to set off on a regional tour to "thank certain countries which have supported the Palestinian people," SANA added.

Syria provides a base in exile for Hamas's political leadership, including Meshaal.

The Islamist group has controlled Gaza since June 2007 when it ousted forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Both Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires last Sunday in their 22-day conflict in Gaza.

More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed in the war, nearly a third of them children, and vast swathes of Gaza left in ruins.

Pakistan hails Guantanamo closure

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan Saturday welcomed the closure of Guantanamo Bay by US President Barack Obama as "an important step towards upholding the primacy of the rule of law."

A foreign ministry statement said Islamabad hoped the new US administration would develop a holistic strategy to deal with the global problem of terrorism.

"Closing Guantanamo Bay detention centre signals an important step towards upholding the primacy of the rule of law and adds the much-needed moral dimension in dealing with terrorism," the statement said.

Following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban from power, the US military detained hundreds of men at Guantanamo for their alleged links to Islamist extremists.

According to the interior ministry, a total of 68 Pakistanis have been held at the US naval base, of whom 63 have been released. Five are still in detention.

On Thursday, Obama ordered the closure of the "war on terror" prison camp located in southeastern Cuba within a year.

Iran welcomes planned US pullout from Iraq

by Farhad Pouladi

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iran on Saturday welcomed moves by the new US President Barack Obama to pull American troops out of Iraq and insisted that Tehran would not meddle in elections here.

"We definitely welcome a US troop pullout from Iraq," Iran's ambassador in Baghdad Hasan Kazemi Qomi told AFP in an interview.

"This is what the Iraqi people and the government wants."

Obama has upped the tempo of a planned drawdown from Iraq since his inauguration on Tuesday, instructing top US commanders to prepare a "responsible" exit strategy, although other officials have been more cautious.

During his election campaign, Obama promised to bring all US troops home from Iraq within 16 months of taking office, but also said he would listen to his generals, and later narrowed the reduction pledge to combat units.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has since said he has been assured by Washington that there will be no rapid US withdrawal.

Under an agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad in November the US military is due to withdraw combat soldiers from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Kazemi Qomi, whose country has been accused repeatedly by the US of fomenting sectarian strife in Iraq to destabilize its fragile security, said it was up to Iraq's people to decide if they wanted American troops on their soil.

"What is mentioned in the pact is for the American troops to get out and this certainly makes the Iraqi people happy," said Kazemi Qomi, who has been Iran's ambassador in Baghdad since May 2006.

"It is up to the Iraqi people to judge what the Americans are doing in their country," he added, referring to a decision taken by the Iraqi parliament to hold a referendum this summer on the US troop presence.

With the help of the United Nations, Iraq's Independent High Election Commission, is organizing elections on January 31 in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces -- the first vote in the country since 2005.

In a report to the US Congress 10 days ago, the Defense Department said Iran was likely to use the polls to try and extend its influence in its western neighbor.

Kazemi Qomi, however, described the allegations as "an insult to Iraqis".

"Every time the Iraqis are going through a sensitive period in their history, the US comes up with such claims," he said. "The claims are like a broken record."

The ambassador instead predicted that the elections would see strong backing for candidates who had been victims of American military action.

"They (the United States) want to create a psychological atmosphere to put off the Iraqi people's real candidates who can truly serve Iraqis in difficult circumstances," he said.

"These allegations are a big insult to the Iraqi people and their representatives, and to the democracy that the US claims it has created.

"Contrary to the US psychological pressure, Iraqis will vote for the lists of the people that are stigmatized by those who have US backing," he added.

The US report said Iran's "malign influence" is one of a number of factors that still weighs on the security situation in Iraq even though violence has fallen to levels not seen since 2004.

At the same time, "it (Iran) continues to host, train, fund, arm and direct militant groups intent on destabilizing Iraq," the report added.

Kazemi Qomi reiterated Iran's opposition to any continued US troop presence in Iraq.

"As far as we are concerned the US are still on the Iraqi-Iranian border but the responsibility of the border is within each nation's sovereign rights," he said.

"It should be returned fully to the Iraqis which so far has not occurred."