EU ministers resigned to Israeli settlement building

Mon, 13 Dec 2010

Brussels- European Union foreign ministers restated Monday their commitment to the Middle East peace process, while appearing resigned to Israel's failure to stop settlement building in the West Bank.

Israel's decision not to renew a temporary freeze on construction in September brought the latest round of peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to a halt.

"The EU notes with regret that Israel has not extended the moratorium," a statement read after regular monthly talks in Brussels between ministers.

"It is an acknowledgment of the failure of direct talks," Italian deputy foreign minister Alfredo Mantica commented.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed the statement and told reporters in Gaza that the it "is an advanced stance, which considers the Israeli annexation of any part of the occupied Palestinian land illegal."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague declared himself "disappointed," but added that "now, whatever the situation, we have to try to make sure that there is a way forward."

Argentina and Brazil reacted to the stalemate by recognizing Palestine as a separate state, but the EU is unlikely to follow in their footsteps, at least for the moment.

"We must avoid everything that could endanger the success of the peace process. This means unilateral steps as well," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt agreed such a move was premature.

"We would be happy to (recognize a Palestinian state), but the conditions have to be there and the conditions aren't there as yet ... I think that the recognition that is really important is of course the recognition of Israel, and we are aiming for that to happen," he said.

The EU expressed its readiness to move on Palestinian recognition "when appropriate," acknowledging a World Bank report stating that, if current institution-building efforts by Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad continue, that moment could come "at any point in the near future."

In a further nod to Palestinian concerns, ministers reiterated that Jerusalem should be the capital of both Palestinian and Israeli states, and called on Israel to further loosen its embargo on Gaza by letting in construction materials.

The blockade has been enacted in 2006 and tightened in 2007 in response to militants abducting an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Ministers repeated appeals for him to be released "without delay."

The EU has so far been relatively successful in helping Fayyad, but the Gaza Strip, the other part of the would-be Palestinian state, remains an official no-go area because it is ruled by Hamas, which the EU and the US consider as a terrorist group.

Hague insisted that the leading role in trying to revive the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should be left to the United States.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said US Middle East envoy George Mitchell would fly to Brussels on Friday to brief her personally after holding talks in the region with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

"This will continue to need the leadership of the US. But as I said, there is more the EU can do to work with the United States to bring successful talks about," Hague said.

Last week, a number of former EU leaders called for a radically different approach by urging the EU to sanction Israel for its settlement building, which is in breach of international law.

But that course of action did not find a lot of support, with ministers stating that "the EU remains ready to develop further its bilateral relations with Israel."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358003,resigned-israeli-settlement-building.html.

Shots fired in Ivory Coast standoff between rival camps - Summary

Mon, 13 Dec 2010

Nairobi/Abidjan - Shots were fired in the air as troops loyal to Ivory Coast's rival presidents engaged in a tense standoff Monday around the headquarters of internationally recognized Alassane Ouattara.

Troops loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo sealed off roads to the United Nations-protected Golf Hotel, from where Ouattara - the man the world sees as Ivory Coast's rightful president - is trying to run an alternative government.

The electoral commission named Ouattara as winner of last month's presidential election - a result certified by the UN - only to be over-ruled by a Gbabgo ally on Ivory Coast's constitutional council.

Former northern rebel group New Forces, which backs Ouattara and has soldiers stationed at his hotel, accused Gbagbo's troops of being "putschists" who had mounted a failed attack.

"The armed wing of the New Forces delivered a shock to soldiers favorable to Laurent Gbagbo, who attempted an offensive on the Golf Hotel where the Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and his government are staying," the group, headed up by Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, said in a statement on its website.

Shots were fired in the air when the New Forces removed a checkpoint, Radio France International reported.

The increase in tension came as European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said they were beginning the process of instituting sanctions.

"These measures will include a visa ban and asset freeze targeting those leading figures who refuse to accept the democratically elected president," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told a news conference.

Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Alfredo Mantica explained that restrictions are likely to target "Gbagbo, his family and his close entourage."

Pressure is growing on Gbagbo, with normally more circumspect African bodies such as the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS adding their voices to the international chorus calling for him to stand down.

However, Gbagbo is clinging onto power and enjoys the backing of the Army in the south Ivory Coast, which was split by a 2002 civil war.

The election was supposed to end almost a decade of political and civil crisis in Ivory Coast but has instead raised fears of a return to war between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south.

The brief conflict broke out when Gbagbo, who came to power in the wake of violent demonstrations at the 2000 presidential elections, survived a coup attempt.

A 2007 peace deal brought the rebels into government through Soro, but the north-south divisions have never gone away.

Israel welcomes US decision to focus on core issues

Mon, 13 Dec 2010

Tel Aviv/Ramallah - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Monday a US decision to focus on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after an attempt to get Israel to freeze construction in West Bank settlements collapsed.

The decision, he told an economics conference in Tel Aviv "is good for Israel, and good for peace."

Netanyahu made his remarks days after the US said it was abandoning efforts to get Israel to freeze construction at its West Bank settlements for 90 days in order to resume direct peace talks.

The remarks also came just hours before US envoy George Mitchell arrived in the region and met with Netanyahu. Mitchell was due to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday.

By focussing on the "core issues" of the conflict, Mitchell said, "the parties can begin to rebuild confidence, demonstrate their seriousness, and hopefully find enough common ground on which to eventually re-launch direct negotiations and achieve that framework."

The US decision came because Washington realized that "the important thing is to reach the important topics, the issues at the core of our conflict with the Palestinians," Netanyahu said.

Direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed at the beginning of September after a break of nearly two years, plunged into limbo at the end of that month when Israel's partial, limited 10-month freeze on construction at its West Bank settlements expired.

Abbas insisted that the talks would not resume until and unless the freeze was renewed.

A US proposal that Israel freeze construction for a further 90 days, in return for incentives, went nowhere.

Mitchell will be making his first visit to the region in three months.

Although Netanyahu welcomed the focus on the core issues of the conflict, Israel has yet to present its positions on them.

The key issues include Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state, the future of Palestinian refugees and their descendents, water, and the fate of Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian leadership for its part, said Monday that any future negotiations with Israel should be based on clear terms of reference, and said it insists on a change in the course of the negotiations and the peace process in general "in light of the dead end it has reached as a result of Israeli policies."

"The Palestinian leadership, and after we received some ideas from the US administration on the peace process, believes that any future serious political process should be based on what the Palestinian leadership has stressed," Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said after a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee in Ramallah.

In particular, the Palestinians want recognition of the borders which existed between Israel and the West Bank before the 1967 war to serve as the borders of their future state, and a halt to all Israeli settlement activities.

Palestinians also wanted to see an end to the Israeli occupation "in all its forms," and an international force guaranteeing the security of the Palestinian borders, Abed Rabbo said, reading from a statement issued at the end of Executive Committee meeting.

He added that the Palestinian leadership held the Israeli government "fully responsible" for what he said was the failure of the US administration to get Israel to stop settlement activities in order to to restart direct negotiations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357997,decision-focus-core-issues.html.