Israel could recapture Gaza Strip, minister warns - Summary

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Jerusalem - Israel escalated its war of words against the Islamist Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip Sunday, after a weekend in which bloody clashes in the salient left two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians dead.

Addressing ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel held Hamas responsible for the latest violence, and said Israel's response would be "sharp and vigorous."

Before the cabinet session, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz had told Israel Radio that Israel would recapture the Gaza Strip if left with no other choice. He added that Israel would also not allow Hamas to rearm itself with long-range missiles.

The weekend clashes broke out Friday afternoon, after Israel sent a force into the salient after spotting two men placing explosive devices along the border fence.

It was the first deadly incident in which Israeli soldiers were killed since Israel's devastating offensive against Gaza militias 14 months ago.

The Israeli force left the Strip Saturday morning.

"Israel's policy of response is sharp and vigorous," Netanyahu told the cabinet.

"We will respond sharply to any attack on our citizens and soldiers. This policy is well-known and will continue. Hamas and the other terrorist organizations must know that they will bear the responsibility for their actions," an official cabinet communique quoted him as saying.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but launched the winter offensive a year ago in response to ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from the coastal enclave at its southern communities. Both it and Hamas have faced allegations of war crimes committed during the war and in the run-up to it.

Hamas had largely observed an unwritten truce for much of the past year, but recent weeks have seen sporadic launchings of rockets from the Strip against Israel. Although other Gaza militias are behind those launchings, Israel holds Hamas, as the de facto authority in the Strip, responsible.

Israeli analysts Avi Issacharof and Amos Harel, however, said that the recent violence does not mean Hamas is interested in inciting another war.

"There is no doubt that Hamas is satisfied with the renewed attention the media has given to an area that has ceased to interest the world, but it does not appear that, at this point, there is a will in Hamas to begin a real escalation," they wrote in the Ha'aretz daily Sunday.

"The organization," they said, "is mainly interested in reminding Israel, the PA, and the United States, that it still exists."

An Israeli military spokesman, meanwhile, announced Sunday morning that the West Bank will be closed off from midnight Sunday until midnight, April 6, for the duration of Passover holiday.

However, persons needing medical attention will be allowed to enter Israel, and humanitarian aid, as well as doctors, NGO workers and lawyers will be able to enter the West Bank.

The closure is in keeping with the Israeli practice of sealing off the occupied territories ahead of Jewish festivals, fearing militants might try to launch attacks to disrupt the festivities.

On March 27, 2002, a Hamas suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 140 more when he blew himself up in an Israeli hotel at the beginning of the traditional Passover feast.

Passover, which commemorates the Exodus of the Israelis from Egypt, begins this year at sundown Monday, and ends at sundown, Tuesday April 6.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316161,israel-could-recapture-gaza-strip-minister-warns--summary.html.

Italian regional elections get off to slow start

Rome - Only about 10 per cent of the electorate had turned up by midday to vote in Italy's regional elections on Sunday, 3 percentage points less than in the elections of five years ago, the Interior Ministry reported.

Voters in 13 of the country's 20 regions have until Monday 3 pm (1300 GMT) to go to the ballot boxes.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party (PDL) is attempting to wrest control of 11 of those regions from the center-left, led by the main opposition Democratic Party.

The 73-year-old billionaire and media magnate has declared the regional elections to be a "national test" for his conservative coalition government, which he has led for two years.

The most recent polls have predicted that the prime minister faces a low turn-out and losses for his anti-immigrant coalition partner, the Northern League.

Berlusconi's alleged attempts to avoid corruption charges by changing the law, as well as further corruption scandals embroiling members of the PDL and its allies are said to have led to disillusionment among voters.

In addition, the PDL has suffered the embarrassment of having several of its candidates excluded from standing in Rome's Lazio region, after party officials missed a deadline to submit its list of candidates.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316166,italian-regional-elections-get-off-to-slow-start.html.

ANALYSIS: Merkel's Turkey visit dominated by EU entry dispute

Berlin - Conservative Germans were outraged last week when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded Turkish-language schools be set up in Germany - but that issue is minor compared to the main disagreement between the two nations.

Turkey wants to join the European Union as a full member and Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to keep it out. When she visits Ankara and Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday, nobody will be able to put that profound disagreement out of their minds.

Erdogan's point about schools was more of a teasing nature, and is not expected to play much of a role in the policy talks.

Merkel and her Christian Democrats have argued for years that a largely Islamic state with a distinct culture and history has no place in the EU, a club that Germany co-founded.

Whereas Turkey, which has been in NATO for half a century, sees its future in integration with western Europe, Merkel wants to preserve the EU's "special character," as her aides express it.

Berlin opposes entry by nations that do not share that character, but is willing to offer Turkey something less, a closer relationship described as a "privileged partnership," without voting rights.

Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc and its junior coalition party, the Free Democrats, signed a policy accord last year when they formed a new government, which sets it out this way: "The negotiations directed at accession and begun in 2005 are to be an open-ended process.

"If the EU is not able to let it in, or Turkey is not capable of fully meeting all the undertakings involved in membership, then it should be bound into European structures as closely as possible in a way that further develops its privileged relationship with the EU."

This week's visit to Turkey will be Merkel's second as chancellor.

Since her October 2006 visit, EU accession talks have proceeded at a snail's pace.

On one of the central sticking points, Cyprus, there has been no change from Berlin's point of view.

Ankara was warned in 2006 that the talks would stall if Turkey did not opens its ports and airports to visits by Cyprus-registered ships and planes by the end of the year. Ankara never did.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into a Turkish Cypriot section in the north and a Greek Cypriot section in the south. The two sides have been in talks since 2008 on reunification, but not for the first time.

The Republic of Cyprus, led by Greek Cypriots, has been an EU member since 2004. The republic of northern Cyprus, led by Turkish Cypriots, is only recognized by Turkey. Greek Cypriots are determined to block Turkey's EU entry till the day the island's division ends.

Thus, Merkel has made very clear that vessels from any and every EU nation must have rights of access to the ports of a future "partner."

Erdogan by contrast is not willing to make do with something less than EU membership. He insists that reforms to bring Turkey's governance to EU standards are proceeding steadily.

When the ships issue came to a head, EU leaders called a halt to accession negotiations on eight of the 35 chapters, or topic groups.

So far only 12 chapters are under way, and only one has been brought to a conclusion.

"That leaves a huge amount still to be done," point out officials in Berlin.

Accession talks and reforms to qualify for EU entry generally take several years, whatever country is involved, so the current government in Berlin sees little likelihood that it will have to make any yes-no choice over Turkish entry, which the FDP views with greater sympathy.

The next German general election is scheduled for September 2013.

"It's not a decision for now, or for the next three and a half years," said one person close to the government who asked not to be quoted by name.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316170,analysis-merkels-turkey-visit-dominated-by-eu-entry-dispute.html.

'No talks' between Iraq's al-Maliki and front-runner Allawi

Baghdad - Incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition remains "committed" to seeing him serve another term, a spokesman said Sunday.

Al-Maliki has vowed to challenge results from the March 7 polls announced Friday, which gave former prime minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi List a two-seat lead, despite Allawi's invitation to "all parties" to join in talks aimed at forming a government.

"We are still committed to nominating Nuri al-Maliki as the only candidate to head the next government," Hajim al-Hosni, spokesman for al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, told the German Press Agency dpa.

"We are not having any talks with the Iraqi List," he said.

Al-Maliki has said he will seek a court ruling requiring a manual recount of the votes, saying he had evidence of instances of fraud, particularly in Baghdad and Mosul.

In another move that could tilt the results in al-Maliki's favour, Iraq's Justice and Accountability Commission on Saturday said it might also disqualify an additional 50 candidates, including some from Allawi's coalition, for their alleged past connections to the banned Baath Party.

The same body ignited fierce controversy ahead of the elections by banning hundreds of candidates from standing in the polls.

Friday's results gave Allawi's list 91 seats out of 325 in the new parliament, to the State of Law's 89. The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition of mostly Shiite religious parties, won 70 seats.

The Kurdistan Alliance, a union of the two parties that have for decades defined Kurdish politics, won 43 seats, enough to cement their role as a crucial part of the new government.

"We are talking with the INA and the Kurdistan Alliance because we believe these two entities are close to our platform, vision, direction, and faith in the constitution," State of Law's al-Hosni told dpa.

There had recently been "a marked improvement" in the negotiations, he said, adding that al-Maliki's coalition hoped to form an alliance in the coming days.

The INA and the Kurdistan Alliance, both of which have also been in talks with Allawi's list, remained noncommittal.

"We are for partnership agreements and the participation of all winners in the formation of the upcoming government," the INA's Maen al-Khadhimi told dpa.

The INA and the State of Law coalition were "close," he said, but talks between the two on forming a government "had not yet reached a solid position."

The Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, the largest party in the outgoing parliament and the largest component of the INA, left al- Maliki's coalition last year because it wanted the prime minister to be drawn from the council's ranks, a condition al-Maliki's Dawaa Party refused.

Kurdish politicians remained similarly ambiguous when discussing the current state of negotiations to form a new government.

"Talk of creating alliances between the winning coalitions is premature. There are discussions, but I think they will have a broader scope once we are done with the appeals and have fully verified the election results," leading Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman told dpa.

Talks "should tackle all issues, based on the constitution and (a spirit of cooperation, to solve all problems," Othman said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316175,no-talks-between-iraqs-al-maliki-and-front-runner-allawi.html.

German states eye lost millions hidden by communists

Berlin - German states which were formerly under communist rule are hoping to regain hundreds of millions of euros siphoned away by former communist party bosses, legislators said Sunday.

The states' hopes for a windfall have risen after a Swiss court directed Italian-owned UniCredit Bank Austria to pay 230 million euros (306 million dollars) to the five states and the city-state of Berlin.

UniCredit Bank Austria, which reportedly said it would appeal, warned stockmarkets that its exposure might be 240 million euros.

German investigators found 128 million euros mysteriously vanished in 1992 from the accounts of Novum, a trading arm of the old communist party.

They claim Novum's chief executive switched the funds in small transactions to other accounts with help from Bank Austria's predecessor.

News reports said the Thursday ruling requires the bank to compensate the states, which have been the rightful owner of former communist party property since East Germany ceased to exist in 1990. The bank must pay for the loss of the funds plus interest.

Michael Kretschmer, a senior Christian Democrat in Germany, said in remarks to appear Monday in the newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung that the sum was just the "tip of the iceberg," with banks liable for other nest-eggs siphoned away by former communists.

An ex-legislator who investigated the pillage of the funds, Vera Lengsfeld, told the same newspaper, "This is only one tenth of the siphoned-off assets."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316185,german-states-eye-lost-millions-hidden-by-communists.html.

Fraser calls for expulsion of Israeli diplomats

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has called on the Federal Government to expel Israeli diplomats from Australia.

Four Australians apparently had their passports forged and used as part of the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai.

It is believed the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, is responsible for the murder.

Mr Fraser says the Government must protect the rights and identities of Australians overseas and take action against the Israeli government.

Mr Fraser says Australia must follow Britain's lead and expel diplomats.

"I believe that is totally and absolutely unforgivable and Australia's disapproval should be registered by an action not less than that which the British took," he said.

"I think there's been a long history, if you like, of double standards. People will not do, in relation to Israel, what they would do if the same action was conducted by some other country," he told ABC Radio's Jon Faine.

The Zionist Council of Victoria says the Government needs to wait for the results of an inquiry into the passport scandal before taking action.

Council president Danny Lamm says Mr Fraser has overreacted.

"I think Malcolm Fraser has shown an unhealthy obsession with attacking Israel," he said.

"It's got worse and worse and worse. And at the same time he wants to indicate that Hamas is almost pure."

Source: ABC.
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/29/2858768.htm?site=melbourne.

Iraq's PM Defeated, New Government Starts to Form

By Peter Sedik
Epoch Times Staff

Leader of the winning party in Iraq’s parliamentary election has begun negotiations to form the biggest bloc of seats in a bid to become the new prime minister.

Ayad Allawi, leader of the secular Iraqiya alliance, said at a news conference on Saturday that he hopes the Kurdish and Shi'ite parties will join his block to form the new government.

Mr. Allawi, whose bloc won 91 seats in the national parliament, defeated his rival State of Law Party of the current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who got 89 seats. The Iraqi National Alliance (INA) ended up third with 70 seats, followed by the Kurdistan Alliance with 43.

However, Prime Minister Maliki has not yet accepted the election results, saying that he plans to file a legal appeal due to the allegation of fraud in the polls. The U.N. and U.S. envoys to Iraq said the elections were credible.

Mr. Maliki is also negotiating the merger with the Iraqi National Alliance, with the intention that the newly formed bloc could earn the right to form a government first. Iraq's Supreme Court responded to Mr. Maliki’s query on Thursday, saying that the “largest Council of Representatives bloc,” as mentioned in the constitution, could include an alliance formed after the election.

Iraqiya Party can also lose some of its candidates, since the officials responsible for clearing the government of the former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party are planning to disqualify 52 candidates, most of them from the Mr. Allawi’s bloc.

Although the two leading parties could have a majority in the Council of Representative’s 325 seats to form a government, this scenario is very unlikely. Mr. Allawi expects that his bloc Iraqiya will form an alliance with Kurdish parties, who already confirmed that they entered into the negotiations.

However, to secure the prime minister post, Iraqiya will have to find additional partners, as even with the Kurds they will still fall short of having the majority of seats.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/32287/.