Galloway raps Egypt for stopping Gaza aid convoy

British Lawmaker George Galloway has criticized Egypt over denying the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip.

The humanitarian convoy to the Gaza Strip has become stuck in Jordan as Egypt is reportedly denying the convoy's passage through its territory.

"It's a strange Christmas for us. We are stuck in Aqaba. 500 people, 210 vehicles, hundreds of tons of aid which is desperately needed in Gaza," Galloway said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.

"Our Jordanian friends are doing their best to keep us warm and to feed us," he added.

The British anti-war activist also called it a very complex situation.

"It's a very complex situation. We have on the Turkish level quite a diplomatic activity going on, because the Turkish prime minister personally appeared on live television in Damascus three days ago and asked the Egyptian government to facilitate this convoy; so this is a slap in the face, you can say, to the Turkish government," he further explained.

"We don't yet know exactly what tactics we will follow. That would depend on the diplomatic situation, but one thing we are not going to do is run away. We came all this way to Aqaba."

"We are very sad not yet angry, but we will get angry if the days go by," he noted.

The humanitarian convoy arrived in Jordan on Tuesday and was expected to leave via sea to Egypt.

The convoy left London almost two weeks ago with 80 vehicles. Its size grew with the addition of dozens of vehicles from Turkish charities.

Galloway earlier appealed to Egyptian authorities to facilitate the convoy's passage through its territory. The convoy aims to break Israel's crippling blockade on Gaza.

Lifeline 3, the third international convoy headed to Gaza under the name Viva Palestina, comprises 210 trucks laden with basic food items and medical supplies. 450 activists, including 30 Americans, 150 Turks and a number of Europeans are accompanying the convoy.

The already impoverished Gaza Strip has been under a complete Israeli siege, with full cooperation of Egypt, ever since the Hamas resistance movement, which does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state, won parliamentary elections in a surprise victory in 2007.

Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, including a large number of civilians, deteriorated the already dire situation.

The Israeli assault led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $ 1.6 billion damage on the Gazan economy.

German Protestant leader says Afghan war 'unjust'

The head of Germany's Protestant churches has described the war in Afghanistan as "unjust" and has called for a complete troops withdrawal.

On Thursday, Margot Kaessmann called for the withdrawal of all of the 4,400 German troops taking part in the US-led NATO operation in Afghanistan.

"There is no just war. I cannot legitimize it from a Christian point of view," Kaessmann said in an interview in the Berliner Zeitung daily on Thursday.

The comments by Kaessmann, head of the EKD — an umbrella group for 22 Churches — comes while Berlin is mulling over sending more troops to the war-torn country following a troop boost request from Washington.

Germany is the third-largest force contributor in Afghanistan after the United States and the United Kingdom. Germany's Parliament, which has the final say on troop levels, has so far authorized a maximum level of 4,500 troops.

China slaps anti-dumping tariffs on European steel

Wed, 23 Dec 2009

Beijing - Beijing on Wednesday imposed anti-dumping duties on European steel products, accusing the European Union of protectionism after its decision to extend tariffs on shoes made in China and Vietnam. The Ministry of Commerce said it was "extremely dissatisfied" with the EU's move to extend import duties on shoes for 15 months and shortly afterward announced it was to levy duties on carbon steel fasteners, such as screws and washers, made by EU member states.

The anti-dumping duties, ranging from 16.8 to 24.6 per cent, are to be enforced as of December 28.

China repeatedly warned the EU to scrap the tariffs on China-made shoes, which are controversial within the 27-member bloc as well.

A Commerce Ministry spokesman in Beijing rejected dumping accusations and said China planned to bring the issue to the attention of the World Trade Organization.

Beijing argued that cheaply made shoes from China pose no direct competition to products made by European producers.

'I want the siege to be lifted': Tent life after Gaza war - Feature

Wed, 23 Dec 2009

Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza - The tent city in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya looked gloomy on this grey and rainy December day. Small children, barefoot and dirty, play in a cold pool of rain water in the center of the camp in the al-Atatra neighborhood, as their older siblings come "home" from the badly damaged nearby school to the NGO tents in which they spent the past year.

One year after last winter's war, hundreds of Palestinian families still live in tents, according to the United Nations.

Following Israel's December 27 - January 18, 2008 offensive, there have been far less rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza into Israel's southern communities, which had previously been all but paralyzed by the frequent fire.

But 1.5 million Palestinians in the densely populated coastal enclave have also paid a heavy price.

Some 1,400 people were killed, many of them civilians.

Over 3,500 homes were destroyed in massive Israeli shelling from the air, ground and sea. Almost 3,000 more were badly damaged and more than 50,000 suffered minor damage, according to the UN.

The worst destruction was in Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya in the north near the border with Israel, and in Gaza City's southern and eastern neighborhoods, where ground forces had penetrated.

Since then, the rubble has been cleared from the streets. But reconstruction has been barred by Israeli restrictions that only permit items such as food, medicine and limited amounts of fuel into Gaza under a tight blockade.

Cement and iron rods are not on Israel's list of essential humanitarian items. And without solid truce or a breakthrough in indirect negotiations on a prisoners swap with Hamas, Israel is not expected to let up the pressure on the radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza.

The whistling wind adds to the depression of the camp. Women keep cleaning the mud left behind by every step on the tent floor.

Some cook on kerosene stoves. Others have set up their tents near their partially destroyed homes and use whatever rooms or kitchen areas are still more or less intact.

Extension cables feed television sets in some of the tents. Mattresses are lined up on the sides. Schoolchildren do their homework on the floor.

Others have given up on school. Saleh Abu Laila, a 52-year-old with two wives and 20 children, says his have stopped studying. "They feel they have no future. That's why they don't study," he says.

"When it rained, I bought nylon and covered my tents, but water still gets in when it rains heavily. And the tents are very cold in winter and very hot in summer. I really don't know what to do. I pray that this situation will change soon," he says.

Hamas gave him 2,000 euros, Abu Laila says. "But they were not enough to buy simple furniture for the two tents we live in, let alone to rebuild a house," he adds.

"I really regret that I voted for Hamas. I hope that Fatah will control Gaza again," he says, referring to the secular movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Marwan al-Attar, 36 and a father of 10, did not get the 2,000- euro grant from Hamas that others whose houses were destroyed did.

"So far I did not get any help from Hamas," he says. "Maybe they did not help me because I don't support them and oppose their practices against the Palestinian people in Gaza," he adds.

"The Israelis provided me with food when I was imprisoned by them during the last war, but Hamas, which controls Gaza, never provided my kids with one meal," he says.

The half-blind man has to get by on 1,000 Israeli shekels (about 260 US dollars) which he gets every three months from the European Union through the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs.

An Israeli tank shell hit his house during last winter's war, he says. "We all thought we were going to die."

His donkey, with which he made a living by transporting goods, was killed in the shelling. He cannot spare the approximately 1,000 US dollars a new one would cost.

His family spent nearly the entire year in the tents they received from international organizations - up until 45 days ago, when they moved back into their destroyed house. His daughters had been suffering from worsening skin conditions because of the rain water and winds.

"I loaned money from a relative and rebuilt one room and toilet," al-Attar explains, heaving a sigh after almost every sentence he speaks.

"All of my kids suffer from psychological problems. The youngest ones wet their beds and suffer from lack of sleep," he says.

"I want a better future for my kids ... I want the siege to be lifted to get materials and rebuild my house. But it seems that my dreams will never come true. It has been almost one year and nothing has changed. On the contrary, things are getting worse."

China rejects criticism of its treatment of Uighur refugees

Wed, 23 Dec 2009

Beijing - China's government on Wednesday rejected criticism of the deportation of 20 Uighur refugees from Cambodia to China as interference into its internal affairs. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Jian Yu was quoted as saying by state-run media that the deportation was not connected to Beijing's financial support for the impoverished South-East Asian nation.

The Uighurs, members of a Muslim ethnic minority group in China, were suspected of having committed crimes and had illegally crossed the border between China and Cambodia, she said.

"Any country facing such circumstances is entitled to make its own decision in accordance with its domestic laws," Jiang said.

"How to handle with these people is the internal affair of China, and the outside world shall not make irresponsible remarks," Jiang said.

Human rights organizations and the US State Department expressed "deep concern" over the welfare of the deported Uighurs this week.

The 20 Uighurs fled the north-western Chinese region of Xinjiang this summer, fearing persecution after bloody ethnic unrest there and applied for asylum in Cambodia with the support of the United Nations refugee agency.

The office of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak sharply criticized Cambodia for giving in to Chinese pressure before the status of the asylum seekers could be clarified.

Cambodia deported the Uighurs Saturday, one day ahead of the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to Phnom Penh.

During his visit, the two states signed 14 agreements, including credits from China worth 1.2 billion dollars.

China's approximately 10 million Uighurs have long complained of suppression by Beijing both politically and culturally while the government is afraid of separatist tendencies in the Xinjiang region.

Tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese led to bloody clashes in July and September, in which, according to government figures, about 200 people lost their lives.

Jerusalem Patriarch ushers in Christmas festivities - Summary

Bethlehem, West Bank - Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Bethlehem Thursday, to celebrate Christmas in the city revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Patriarch Fouad Twal, arrived in the southern West Bank city in the mid- afternoon, after completing the traditional 8.5 kilometer Christmas procession from Jerusalem.

Twal, a 69-year-old Jordanian who was appointed Latin Patriarch last year, is to lead the Midnight Mass at Bethlehem's early medieval Church of the Nativity, built according to Christian tradition on the site of the stable where Jesus was born.

Israel, meanwhile, give permission for 420 Christians from the Gaza Strip to go to Bethlehem for the festivities. Some 3,000 Christians live in the coastal salient, which has a population of 1.5 million.

However only Christians under the age of 18, and over age 25, where permitted to leave the Strip, which Israel has kept under tight blockade since the Islamist Hamas and two other militant groups snatched an Israeli soldier during a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.

The Gaza Christians will join the estimated 15,000 people who Bethlehem Mayor Victor Bartarseh said are flocking to the city for the Christmas celebrations.

Choirs from around the world are scheduled to perform in the city, whose hotels are fully booked, as was the case last year, a welcome change from the years in which Israeli-Palestinian violence kept pilgrims away.

Twal will lead the midnight mass at the Church of St Catherine in Bethlehem in the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian and foreign officials.

In his Christmas message, Twal expressed regret that "our dreams for a reconciled Holy Land seem to be utopia."

"Despite the praiseworthy efforts of politicians and men of goodwill to find a solution to the ongoing conflict, all of us, Palestinians and Israelis, have failed in achieving peace. The reality contradicts our dreams," he said.

"The best gift we seek, above money and wealth, is peace," his message, concluded.

Philippines declares holiday truce with communist rebels

Wed, 23 Dec 2009

Manila - The Philippines declared a halt in military operations against communist rebels in observance of the Christmas and New Year holidays, a senior official said Wednesday. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the unilateral ceasefire declaration would be effective from December 24 to 26 for Christmas and December 31 to January 1 for New Year's celebrations.

"President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has approved the suspension of military offensive for the Christmas season," he said. "This is in keeping with the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill."

Communist rebels have been fighting the government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.