Dweik: Balfour Declaration oppressed our people

04-11-2010

Al Qassam website -Gaza- Speaker of the Palestinian legislative council Dr. Aziz Dweik has said that the Balfour Declaration had inflicted great injustice on the Palestinian people.

Dweik, speaking to a students' rally in Gaza over the telephone on Wednesday night, said that Britain was responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of this infamous declaration.

He said that Britain had facilitated the immigration of Jews from the four corners of the world to Palestine and helped them to establish themselves on the ground and supported all their projects, which led to the creation of the "Zionist entity" at the expense of the Palestinian people.

Source: Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://www.qassam.ps/news-3718-Dweik_Balfour_Declaration_oppressed_our_people.html.

Algeria amongst less liberal Arab economies, study

Thursday 04 November 2010

Algeria has been ranked among less economically free Arab nation in a report by leading international think tank the Fraser Institute. Algeria has scored 5.5 out of 10, comparing to 5.7 recorded last year.

Algeria has been ranked in the same position with Syria, Tunisia and Mauritania, which economies are less free among Arab nations, indicated the report.

Bahrain is considered as the most liberalized economy among Arab nations, followed by Kuwait and Lebanon.

Source: El Khabar.
Link: http://www.elkhabar.com/quotidienFrEn/lire.php?ida=223348&idc=111.

US officials: Military wants to boost aid to Yemen

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The U.S. military wants to significantly increase its equipment and training aid to Yemen in 2011, proposing as much as $250 million to help the struggling country battle al-Qaida-linked extremists within its borders, according to U.S. officials.

The increase in funding was recommended well before last week's failed mail bombings, which U.S. officials believe were linked to the terror group's branch in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Military aid to Yemen in 2010 was $155 million, and the 2011 recommendation is expected to be well in excess of $200 million, depending on final negotiations between top administration officials.

Despite the fact that the funding recommendation from senior military leaders was made before the mail bomb plot, the Yemen aid proposal underscores the growing terror threat from Yemen and the need to bolster that country's ability to track and battle militants.

U.S. administration officials spoke about the aid recommendations on condition of anonymity because no final decisions have been made.

The exact funding has not been decided because Congress has yet to finalize any of the 2011 spending bills. Any specific foreign military spending recommendations must be approved by the defense secretary in coordination with the secretary of state.

The funding could be further complicated by the Republican election victories if they lead to any changes or cuts to the 2011 military spending bill. Under the proposed legislation, the Pentagon would spend $500 million overall on foreign military aid, up from $350 million in 2010.

The $155 million pledged to Yemen in 2010 was allocated for helicopters, planes and other equipment. But many of the big-ticket items are moving through the contracting process and have not yet been delivered.

A senior Yemeni official briefed on the aid details said the equipment is in the pipeline. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Two Chicago-bound packages shipped from Yemen were intercepted Friday in Britain and Dubai after authorities were tipped that they contained bombs. Officials believe that cell phones attached to the explosives were designed to detonate when the planes were airborne.

The U.S. has been growing more concerned about al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula over the past two years. Those fears were realized on Christmas Day 2009 when, authorities allege, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner.

The attack was later linked to al-Qaida leaders in Yemen, including radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Since then, the U.S. has redoubled its efforts to help Yemen target the insurgents.

Senior Obama administration officials have said they are focusing on broader economic and governmental problems in Yemen, targeting the confluence of factors that led to instability and the rise of the al-Qaida terror group.

Overall U.S. assistance to Yemen in 2010 was nearly $300 million, including roughly $150 million from the State Department for economic development and other government aid.

In a phone call this week with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, President Barack Obama said the aid is part of a broader, more comprehensive strategy to promote security as well as economic and political development. The U.S., Obama said, is committed to building the capacity of Yemen's counterterrorism forces as well as improving the lives of the Yemeni people.

The poorest country in the Arab world, Yemen is threatened by plummeting water and oil resources and an exploding population of 22 million. Almost half the population is 15 or younger, and many live on less than $2 a day.

In addition to the threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the country is battling Shiite Hawthi rebels in the north and a secessionist threat in the south, which has provided fertile ground for al-Qaida's recruiting efforts.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.

Iran marks US embassy takeover

Thu Nov 4, 2010

Iranians across the country are marking the 31st anniversary of the takeover of the US embassy by Iranian students.

In November 1979 and in less than a year after the victory of the Islamic Revolution that toppled a US-backed monarchy, Iranian university students that called themselves "students following the line of [the late] Imam [Khomeini]" seized the US embassy in Tehran.

The students justified the takeover by insisting that the compound had become a center of espionage and planning to overthrow the newly institute Islamic Republic establishment in Iran.

The students occupying the embassy later published documents proving that the compound was indeed engaged in plans and measures to overthrow the Islamic system.

The November 4th has been labeled as a national day of resistance against global arrogance in Iran. Every year, the Iranian nation, particularly its students, hold rallies across the country to mark the day.

On Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei praised the takeover as an indication of the bravery of Iran's revolutionary youth.

"This event symbolizes the bravery and courage of the young revolutionary generation against the authority of America because taking over the den of espionage destabilized US power... and brought America to its knees," the Leader said in an address to students in the Iranian capital city of Tehran.

"This fact should always remain in the historical memory of the Iranian nation, and especially the youth, that America never seeks ordinary relations with [other] countries… it seeks a master-servant relationship and the looting of the resources of [other] nations," Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149567.html.

Turkish president urges PKK to disarm

Wed Nov 3, 2010

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has urged the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to discontinue militant attacks and to transform itself into a civilian organization.

"I hope PKK's decision to lay down arms and not to stage any terrorist attacks would be permanent," Gul told reporters in the southern province of Osmaniye on Tuesday.

The Turkish president further added that no one could reach anywhere with terrorism.

"Turkey could in no way tolerate terrorism and would not let any one to carry arms illegally on its territories," he stated.

"This is the homeland of every one who is the citizen of the Republic of Turkey," he noted.

The Turkish president made the remarks after Sunday's attack that wounded 32 people in Istanbul.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the United States, and the European Union member states.

Over 40,000 people have lost their lives since the PKK launched its armed campaign against Ankara in 1984.

The PKK terrorists launch their attacks mainly from Iraq's Qandil mountains in the areas under the control of Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani. Israeli regime and companies are reported to operate in the Qandil mountain range.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149451.html.

Kosovo welcomes Turkey mediation over Serbia ties

Erdogan has said Turkey was ready assume a mediator role between Kosovo and Serbia if the two countries requested it.

Wednesday, 03 November 2010

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey was ready assume a mediator role between Kosovo and Serbia if the two countries requested it.

"We are ready for mediation between Kosovo and Serbia if receive such an invitation. Because we want setting in this region based on peace, which is all we need," Erdogan told reporters in a joint press appearance with his Kosovo counterpart, Hashim Thaci, in Pristina.

Erdogan said that Turkey's relations with Serbia had recently seen a significant progress, and that the Serbian leadership had signaled an expectation for a Turkish mediation, coupled with a similar position from the Kosovar side as well.

"Turkey is ready to assume whatever role it is requested of to contribute to the peace process in the Balkans," Erdogan said.

Erdogan said Turkey was among the countries first to recognize Kosovo's independence, adding that Muslim countries seemed hesitant for recognition.

"Turkey is a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and Turkey's recognition of Kosovo's independence is a signal for other members of the organization. And the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights will pave the way for more positive developments," Erdogan said.

"Welcomed"

Kosovo PM welcomed any of Turkey's efforts.

Anadolu news agency quoted Thaci as saying Turkey would make great contributions to dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Thaci said that they would be glad if Turkey would mediate in this process between Belgrade and Pristina.

Stating that Turkey and Kosovo had sound friendly ties and cooperation, he said that cultural and religious ties would be boosted more in the future.

Thaci said that they attached a great importance to services by Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) in his country and Turkish investors also contributed to economic development of Kosovo. Pristina International Airport would be operated by Limak as of January 1, 2011 and Turkish companies attended privatization tender of Post and Telecom of Kosovo, he said.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=65925.

Erdoğan rebuffs Sarkozy over missile defense system

French President Nicolas Sarkozy received a harsh response recently from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when he initiated a telephone conversation in a bid to convince the Turkish prime minister to support a planned NATO missile defense system -- some parts of which the US is eager to install in Turkey.

As long as Iran continues to be singled out as a threat within the planned system, its elements cannot be located in Turkey, Erdoğan told Sarkozy in firm remarks, according to a NATO official, who spoke to Today’s Zaman on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity, without elaborating exactly when the conversation took place.

Erdoğan reiterated the principles on which NATO member Turkey bases its approach to the missile shield during a meeting in Ankara on Oct. 28 with a visiting delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA), as he also recalled his conversation with Sarkozy during the meeting.

“Possession of nuclear weapons by Iran would be most annoying for us since we are a neighboring country; we have told this to Iranian officials may times. However, Iran says that its nuclear enrichment activities are aimed at producing energy. Producing low-enriched uranium for peaceful purposes is a right for every country,” Erdoğan told members of NATO PA’s Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Defense and Security Cooperation, led by committee chairman Julio Miranda Calha.

Turkey says it is not against the establishment of a missile defense system for NATO’s European allies but insists in talks with the US that the project should be built for defensive, not offensive, purposes. Any clear reference to Iran or any other neighboring country as a threat in the proposed missile defense system runs counter to Ankara’s chief foreign policy objective: zero problems with neighbors.

“We know that there are countries within this geography that possess enriched uranium,” Erdoğan said, in an apparent reference to Israel, which is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East. Israel has never confirmed or denied its possession of nuclear weapons and is not signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“I also told Sarkozy; we are not going to accept an approach that considers Iran a threat. My advice to those who want to locate the missile shield system to my own country: Let them locate it on your own territory first,” he added. Recalling that a majority of European countries are against the installation of a missile defense system on their own territories, Erdoğan said he believed that the European Union is pursuing contradictory policies regarding the missile defense system.

Last month, ahead of a NATO ministerial-level meeting that took place in Brussels last month when NATO’s secretary-general urged member states to endorse a proposed anti-missile system that would protect Europe and North America, a senior French official said Paris supports the planned missile defense system and is willing to help fund it, dispelling earlier talk that the country was skeptical.

As of Monday, during an official visit to Beijing, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu repeated that Ankara doesn’t perceive Iran as a threat. “If there is a global terrorist threat, a risk of proliferation of conventional weapons or anything related to nuclear weapons, NATO will definitely deal with these issues. Similarly, ballistic missiles are important in terms of global peace and it is an issue assessed by NATO. It would not be right to discuss this matter as if a war were about to start or as if missiles are to be stationed in Turkey,” Davutoğlu said in an interview with TRT Türk, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation’s (TRT) news channel. “We have no threat perception from our neighbors like in the Cold War era,” he said.
‘US contradicts itself’

While trying to convince Turkey to embrace the idea of the planned missile defense system, the US administration is using the argument that this system will be protective against possible threats from Israel too, Erdoğan, meanwhile, told the NATO PA delegation, calling such argumentation as contradictory.

“Those, who try to persuade us via saying that the missile shield system will protect us from nuclear missiles possessed by Israel, are considering Iran as a threat because of its nuclear program. However, Iran doesn’t even yet possess nuclear missiles like Israel does. We don’t want it [Iran] to possess [nuclear missiles] either because any tension between Iran and Israel would mean the greatest harm for us. Nuclear weapons are a threat, no matter who owns it; they are still a threat,” Erdoğan said.

The prime minister also voiced disappointment over the lack of a strong reaction from both by the US and NATO against Israel’s deadly assault on a Gaza-bound flotilla on May 31, during which naval commandos killed nine Turkish citizens on board, despite the fact that the brutality of the attack was confirmed by the United Nations.

A report by the Fact Finding Mission of the UN Human Rights Council called the military raid on the flotilla brutal and disproportionate. The report listed a series of crimes committed by Israeli forces, including willful killing and torture, and maintained there was “clear evidence to support prosecutions.”

In September, the US cast the lone vote against the endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council report, while the seven EU member states on the body abstained.

03 November 2010, Wednesday
ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-226171-100-erdogan-rebuffs-sarkozy-over-missile-defense-system.html.

Sunny Future For Australia's Solar Industry

by Staff Writers
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Nov 03, 2010

CSIRO has begun installing 450 large mirrors, called heliostats, for Australia's largest solar-thermal tower system at the CSIRO National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales.

The heliostats are part of an advanced new solar technology developed by CSIRO and manufactured by Central Coast company, Performance Engineering Group.

By developing such technology CSIRO aims to make solar generated electricity at the same cost or cheaper than fossil fuel generated electricity when the cost of carbon is taken into account.

Creating 2.4 x 1.8m panels of glass mirrors for a solar field is no easy feat. The glass needs to be a specific concave shape to achieve a highly accurate reflection point and strong enough to withstand extreme weather events.

Once installed, the heliostats will concentrate the sun's rays to create temperatures of up to 1000 degrees C.

The heliostats have a lightweight steel frame with a unique, simple design, specially created for mass production for the commercial market. The units are smaller than many heliostats currently being used around the world, but just as efficient, more cost effective and much easier to install.

CSIRO's Energy Transformed Flagship Director, Dr Alex Wonhas, says the economical design of the heliostats will also make solar fields more cost effective to build and operate.

"It's a local idea generated by CSIRO and manufactured by a local company, which will have global impact," Dr Wonhas said.

"We hope that one day we will see these economical heliostats used in solar fields all over Australia and the world."

Performance Engineering's Managing Director, Jon Priddle, says high quality heliostats will one day be mass-produced in Australia.

"We have a unique capability at Performance," Mr Priddle said. "We are using our expertise in automotive manufacturing - an industry geared for mass production - to create the most efficient manufacturing process.

"In addition, we are using a laser tracker developed for the aerospace industry to measure the accuracy of the heliostats. Accuracy and efficiency are the key outcomes for our production line."

The heliostat field is part of CSIRO's new solar Brayton Cycle project - a solar tower and field that generates electricity from just the air and sun.

Source: Solar Daily.
Link: http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Sunny_Future_For_Australia_Solar_Industry_999.html.

Gazprom wants Qatari partnership

MOSCOW, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Gazprom is examining a joint venture with Qatar for cooperation in the European and Asian markets, the company said.

Qatar has the third-largest natural gas reserves in the world. Gazprom could play a role in developing the country's North Field gas complex in the Persian Gulf after the country finalizes the development considerations at the field, the company said.

Gazprom officials are discussing teaming with Qatar to expand their reach into foreign markets, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.

"In particular, the parties discussed possible joint investment projects between Gazprom and Qatar Petroleum as well as cooperation on the markets in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region," the company said.

Russia, Iran and other leading natural gas producers had their first ministerial meetings for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran in 2001. It was established as a forum to boost cooperation among member states similar to its oil counterpart, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

In early 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during a Moscow meeting with officials from GECF member Qatar that the consortium would be an effective tool to coordinate the natural gas markets.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/11/03/Gazprom-wants-Qatari-partnership/UPI-18141288790253/.

Giant panda gives birth at Zoo Atlanta

ATLANTA, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The giant panda at Zoo Atlanta has given birth to a cub after about six hours in labor, officials said.

The panda, Lun Lun, is a mom for the third time, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Immediately after giving birth, Lun Lun scooped up the checkbook-sized baby and started bathing it, the report said.

Lun Lun's first delivery in 2006 required 36 hours of labor, while her second birth, in 2008, took nine hours.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2010/11/03/Giant-panda-gives-birth-at-Zoo-Atlanta/UPI-71201288790924/.

NASA greenlights Thursday launch of shuttle Discovery

by Staff Writers
Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP) Nov 3, 2010

NASA gave the go-ahead for Thursday's launch of the Discovery space shuttle mission to the International Space Station, but warned of another delay if weather does not improve.

Mission experts agreed on the launch attempt after a close study of the latest electrical glitch found that a circuit-breaker was the origin of a cockpit problem, not the main engine controller which would have been more serious.

But after three postponements so far to the Discovery's final flight before it is retired, NASA experts said gloomy weather could push back efforts again, and conditions would be reviewed Thursday morning ahead of the 1929 GMT launch.

"From a vehicle prospective we are ready to go," said mission management team leader Mike Moses.

"The weather still looks pretty bad for tomorrow," he added. "There's a chance we'll decide not to spend one of our (launch) opportunities.

The weather forecast at present calls for only 20 percent favorable conditions for launch. A green light from the mission managers would begin shuttle fueling operations, which normally take three hours and are scheduled to start at 1005 GMT.

The launch window closes Sunday. The next launch window for the mission would come on December 1 and last only a few days.

The Discovery's 11-day mission, originally scheduled for November 1, was delayed twice for an engine pressurization problem with and again on Tuesday for an electrical malfunction of a circuit-breaker in the shuttle's cockpit -- it failed to turn on as expected.

While the latest glitch with the back-up controller for shuttle engine three was not considered a major problem -- the breaker worked after several tries, NASA engineers wanted to understand its causes should it malfunction again during takeoff, Moses said.

Discovery's all-American six-member crew on this voyage, including female mission specialist Nicole Stott, will deliver a pressurized logistics module called Leonardo, which will be permanently attached to the space station to give it more storage space.

The shuttle will also bring Robonaut 2, the first human-like robot in space, and a permanent addition to the orbiting space station, as well as spare parts.

Two space walks, for maintenance work and component installation, are scheduled.

The flight to the orbiting ISS is the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired in 2011.

"Discovery is not going out easy, she is giving us a little bit of trouble but that is fine, she will fly perfectly when she does," said launch director Mike Leinbach.

The three US shuttles -- the other two are Atlantis and Endeavor -- are due to be sent off to become museum pieces after a final shuttle mission to the space station in late February.

That means Russian Soyuz spacecraft, a modernized version of which recently dropped off three fresh crew members to the ISS, doubling the crew to six, will for several years be the only vehicle for transporting humans into space.

However, NASA's recently approved 2011 budget has left the door open to an additional shuttle flight in June.

NASA Shuttle Status Report
MMT Gives "Go" For Thursday Launch Try, Eyes Weather

KSC FL (NASA) Nov 4 - After looking deeply into an issue with a main engine controller on space shuttle Discovery, the Prelaunch Mission Management Team is confident the issue has been resolved, said Mike Moses, chair of the MMT.

The team therefore gave a unanimous "go" for Discovery's launch Thursday at 3:29 p.m. EDT. That means the countdown will proceed through the night, including the retraction of the Rotating Service Structure from around the shuttle.

"From the vehicle perspective, we're ready to go," Moses said.

However, the weather forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of acceptable conditions, with the concerns being low clouds and rain within 20 miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility at launch time.

The MMT will meet at 5:30 a.m. Thursday to consider the forecast and will decide then whether to fill the shuttle's huge external fuel tank for the launch.

"The weather still looks pretty bad for tomorrow," Moses said. "There's a chance we'll decide not to spend one of our (launch) opportunities."

Source: Space Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NASA_greenlights_Thursday_launch_of_shuttle_Discovery_999.html.

Israeli car bomb kills militant 'planning Sinai attack'

Wed, 03 Nov 2010

Gaza City/Tel Aviv - Israel said Wednesday it was behind a car bomb outside western Gaza City's police headquarters that killed a senior Palestinian militant, who it said was planning an attack against Israeli and United States targets in the Sinai peninsula.

Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich told reporters that Mohamed al-Nemnem, 27, was a "ticking bomb."

The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security organization thus jointly carried out the targeted killing on Wednesday as they had a "window of opportunity" to do so, she said.

Al-Nemnem was reportedly a member of the radical Army of Islam militant group, which kidnapped British reporter Alan Johnston in March 2007 and released him four months later.

Palestinian witnesses and security officials said the explosion in the car was caused by a bomb planted under the driver's seat.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry, however, had said in an earlier statement that it believed the explosion to have been caused by a missile fired by an Israeli drone.

Leibovich said she could not give details, saying "I don't want to tell you exactly how this happened, but he was targeted with a bomb."

According to an earlier army statement, the Sinai attack was being planned in cooperation with Hamas members in the Gaza Strip. It also alleged that the Army of Islam has links with al-Qaeda and identified with the cause of "global jihad."

"This Mohamed al-Nemnem had a very direct involvement in planning terrorist attacks against both American and Israeli targets in the Sinai," Leibovich said.

The targets were to be Israel Defense Force soldiers, Israeli residents and Americans, she said.

She could give no further information on the attack she said was being planned, saying only: "Look, it's in the Sinai, so there are limited possibilities here."

"It did not happen because we took this guy down," she added.

Leibovich said the targeted killing would not necessarily mean an end to an unwritten truce that Israel and Hamas, the radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza, have largely adhered to - despite on-and-off rocket and mortar attacks, and Israeli retaliatory airstrikes - since the three-week Gaza war of the winter of 2008-2009.

But Israel could carry out more such assassinations in the event it had information of more "ticking bombs," she noted.

She also said the Egyptians were not involved in the targeted bomb attack, but hinted that Washington was given advance notification.

"Without getting specifically into more details, I can tell you there is very good cooperation between us and the Americans," she said.

"We have an ongoing relationship with the Americans, as well as with other forces, and from time to time we pass on information as with other sources," she said.

The last targeted killing of a Palestinian militant was on October 7, when Israel assassinated a member of the armed wing of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine movement whom it also described as a "ticking bomb."

Although the Army of Islam collaborated with Hamas in a June 2006 cross-border raid that saw Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit kidnapped, there have also been tensions - sometimes violent - between the two groups.

Al-Nemnem had in the past been arrested by Hamas security forces.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351782,militant-planning-sinai-attack.html.

Netanyahu: Israel has 'desire' for talks, Palestinians should too

Wed, 03 Nov 2010

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday called on the Palestinian leadership to not look "for excuses" to avoid direct peace negotiations and to drop their preconditions for such talks.

Defending his policies in a special Knesset session called by the opposition, he also blamed the Palestinians for not wanting to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

"I know we have the desire to advance (the political process)," Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament. "I hope that the Palestinian Authority will also demonstrate such a desire, and that they are not looking for excuses to avoid talks."

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed in early September but fell into limbo at the end of that month, when Israel did not renew a 10-month partial freeze on construction at its West Bank settlements.

Abbas has said there will be no further negotiations unless Israel renews the construction moratorium.

Apparently referring to his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Netanyahu said on Wednesday that "the cost of an agreement is first and foremost to recognize that we will be here."

"We have not seen these conditions ripen," he added.

If the recently launched direct talks failed, Netanyahu said, then it will be "because of an assumption made by the Palestinian Authority that perhaps they could circumvent or avoid the need for direct negotiations by moving straight on to international dictates."

The Palestinians have hinted that they may attempt to pursue a United Nations Security Council resolution or convince the United States to recognize the pre-1967 lines as the borders of a future Palestinian state if the direct talks fail.

Wednesday's parliamentary debate had been initiated by the centrist Kadima party of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, on what it described as Israel's international isolation caused by Netanyahu's policies.

The opposition leader accused Netanyahu, of the nationalist Likud party, of having turned Israel into a gridlocked country.

She also slammed government officials who earlier Wednesday had said on condition of anonymity that the result of midterm elections in the United States worked in Israel's favor because it would ease Washington's pressure to freeze Israeli settlement construction.

"Have you gone mad?" Livni asked. "To think that Israel needs a weak US president not only is irresponsible, it is dangerous."

Two Likud lawmakers were ushered out of the Knesset when they interjected Livni's address.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351791,talks-palestinians-should-too.html.

'Bury me in Jordan after Execution' - Tariq Aziz

2010-11-02

AMMONNEWS - Ziyad Aziz, son of former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz who was recently sentenced to death in an Iraqi court, said that his father stressed in his will that he wants to be buried in Jordan following his execution or death in prison, out of fear that his grave will be desecrated or his body exhumed by current Iraqi authorities.

Aziz added that his father wrote in a letter to his lawyer Suleiman Jabburi that he wishes to be buried in Jordan temporarily, and that his body should be returned to be buried in his country "after Iraq is liberated."

The son said his father fears his grave would be desecrated and his body exhumed as happened to the body of former Iraqi prime minister Muhammad Hamzeh Al Zubaidi.

Meanwhile, international entities called for a reduced sentence for Tariq Aziz, who was also former foreign minister under Saddam Hussein’s regime, considering that he suffers from various ailments, and recently suffered a brain stroke.

An Iraqi court last week sentenced Aziz to death by hanging to be executed within 30 days by the Iraqi Presidential Council.

Source: Ammon.
Link: http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=10456.

Israel suspends cooperation with UNESCO over West Bank holy site

Wed, 03 Nov 2010

Jerusalem - Israel said Wednesday it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO because it had described as a mosque a West Bank shrine said to be the tomb of the Biblical matriarch Rachel.

Deputy Foreign Minter Dany Ayalon told the Knesset, Israel's parliament, that the UN cultural organization should withdraw its "recognition" of the shrine as a mosque before Israel would resume its cooperation with it.

Israel alleged that UNESCO had blindly adopted modern Palestinian and Arab political terminology by describing the shrine - which until the mid-1990s had been known by both Jews and Muslims only as "Rachel's Tomb" - as "Bilal bin Rabah Mosque."

Such statements, Israel Army Radio quoted Ayalon as saying, were counterproductive to peace and understanding between the two peoples.

In its biannual session late last month, the UNESCO board adopted five proposals initiated by Arab member states regarding holy sites in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

One of them was Rachel's Tomb just outside the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Referring in its statement to the structure as both the "Bilal bin Rabah Mosque/Rachel's Tomb," the UNESCO board voted 44 to 1, with 12 abstentions, to reaffirm the site was "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories and that any unilateral action by the Israeli authorities is to be considered a violation of international law."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year sparked Arab anger when he included holy sites in the occupied territory in a list of Israeli and Jewish national heritage sites that his government wants to renovate.

Rachel's Tomb was on that list, prompting Arab member states, including Jordan, to push for the UNESCO executive board decisions.

Israelis maintain that Rachel's Tomb was traditionally referred to also by Muslims as "Qubat Rachel" in Arabic, although the complex also included a Muslim prayer house adjacent to a Muslim cemetery.

They charge that the name "Bilal bin Rabah Mosque" only came into use following Arab-Israeli riots in 1996 and was coined by Palestinians for political reasons.

The UNESCO executive board had also expressed "deep concern" over "ongoing Israeli excavations and archaeological works" at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's walled, historic Old City.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351792,west-bank-holy-site.html.