Bush calls on Israel to end occupation...

[Steve Gardner]

...of Palestinian land

After just seven years in office, Bush turns his attention to arguably the world's biggest headache: the occupation of Palestinian land. Way to go.

Seriously, what has taken so long. Had he set out to put the necessary pressure on both parties to move towards a peaceful settlement when he took office in early 2001, the world would be a very different place.

Now, facing the prospect of going down in history as the worst (and maybe least popular) President the US has even had, he decides he might try and do something that has a positive outward appearance.

Source: The Guardian

US president George Bush and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas hold a joint news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters

The US president, George Bush, today called on Israel to end its 41-year occupation of Palestinian land and predicted a peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office.

Speaking after a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Bush said: "There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. An agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people."

He reiterated America's "steadfast commitment to Israel's security" but said the future Palestine must be "viable", "contiguous" and "sovereign".

Bush highlighted the status of Jerusalem as perhaps the most intractable problem. "I fully understand finding a solution to this issue will be one of the most difficult challenges on the road to peace but that is the road we have chosen to walk."

Earlier, at a press conference with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the upbeat US leader told his host the "status quo is unacceptable".

He praised Abbas as a "good man" who has already improved the lives of ordinary Palestinians and the security situation in the West Bank.

In contrast to the "misery" Hamas had delivered to the people of Gaza since seizing the territory last summer, he said he was "convinced this government will deliver a hopeful future."

He also argued that in contrast to the "misery" Hamas had delivered to the people of Gaza since seizing the territory last summer, he was "convinced this government will deliver a hopeful future."

Later, the president announced that Lieutenant General William Fraser, assistant to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had been appointed to monitor the progress both sides made towards the roadmap peace agreement.

Bush told the conference: "President Abbas was elected on a platform of peace. He also said if you give me a chance I'll work hard to improve the lives of Palestinians and that's what he's done.

"It's not easy work and conditions on the ground are very difficult. But it is essential for the emergence of a Palestinian democracy."

The US president argued the emergence of a prosperous and democratic Palestine would defeat extremists.

He said: "Is it possible for the Israelis and Palestinians to work out their differences on core issues so a vision of peace can emerge? My vision is it's not only possible - it's necessary.

"I'm looking forward to helping. I believe there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office."

He added: "I'm confident that with the proper help the state of Palestine will emerge and when it emerges it will be a major step towards peace. I'm confident the status quo is unacceptable and we want to help you."

The US president, who appeared to be in an optimistic and at times jocular mood, said he would push both sides to honour their obligations in the "road map" which formed the basis of the Annapolis talks.

Referring to Israel, which has refused to rule out further construction in the West Bank, he said the US has "made our concerns about settlements known". He stressed a Palestinian state had to consist of contiguous territory if it was going to be viable and said "Swiss cheese isn't going to work."

He also told the media it was in Israel's interests if the Palestinians strengthened and modernised their security forces.

"To the extent Israel's actions have undermined the effectiveness of the force and the authority of the state, that is something we don't agree with and have made our position clear."

Turning to Israeli checkpoints, he said: "I understand why Palestinians are frustrated driving through checkpoints. I can also understand why the Israelis want a state of security."

He went on to joke that "my motorcade of a mere 45 cars made it through without being stopped."

A spokesman for Hamas later told Sky News that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was the "main source" of "diseases" such as terrorism and extremists.

"After the occupation is over we will be able to talk about peace and co-existence," he said.

[Steve Gardner]

Again, as good as it is to hear about a possible Israeli/Palestinian agreement, the question remains: why, if all Bush had to do to get the ball rolling was click his fingers, did he take so long to click them?

Source: New York Times

By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: January 15, 2008

JERUSALEM — Top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began talks on core issues on Monday, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel sought to lower expectations of reaching a final peace agreement within a year.

“I’m not sure we can reach an agreement, and I’m not sure we can reach its implementation,” Mr. Olmert told Parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee on Monday, an official who had attended the meeting said.

But Mr. Olmert said he would be “committing a sin to my duty” if he did not try, and called what he described as the right-wing opposition’s position of wanting to maintain the status quo “dangerous, adventurous and irresponsible.”

Tzipi Livni, Israel’s foreign minister, and Ahmed Qurei, the former Palestinian prime minister, met in a hotel here for two hours, without aides, charged by their leaders with discussing the contentious issues that must be resolved for any final status deal.

Being broached for the first time in seven years, the issues include borders, the fate of the Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants, and the status of Jerusalem, the eastern part of which the Palestinians demand as the capital of any state.

President Bush said last Thursday in the West Bank that he believed a treaty would be signed by the time he left office in January 2009.

Back in Jerusalem the same day, Mr. Bush expressed his views on some of the major issues, including the need for “mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities,” a reference to populous Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank that Israel intends to keep; and a solution to the refugee issue based on compensation and movement to a new Palestinian state, rather than a return to the refugees’ former homes in what is now Israel.

On Monday, Ms. Livni said the negotiations would be “conducted quietly,” away from cameras, to prevent the talks from becoming overly political, according to a statement from her office. “Faced with a choice between headlines and daily drama as opposed to results, I choose results,” Ms. Livni said.

“We need to make 2008 the year of peace and a treaty,” Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said in an interview. “I really believe it’s doable.”

The sides “are not beginning from scratch,” he said. “We have had many negotiations in the past, and we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”

The Israelis were satisfied with Mr. Bush’s statement last week. “We view it positively,” said Arye Mekel, a spokesman for Ms. Livni, adding that “it coincides with understandings we’ve reached with the United States.”

The Palestinian side was less enthusiastic. “Some of the things he said we agree with, and some we disagree with,” Mr. Erekat said, adding, “At the end of the day, what we need are Israeli-Palestinian agreements” rather than “decisions” from Mr. Bush.

Mr. Olmert’s remarks on Monday might have been intended partly for internal consumption, with two of his more hawkish coalition partners, the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party and the religious Shas Party, having threatened to leave the government if the talks become serious.

Mr. Olmert has tried to assuage the ministers who lead those parties, inviting them to a dinner with Mr. Bush Thursday.

“The prime minister wants to move ahead on the peace process and understands that the best way to do that is to keep the coalition stable and maintain a solid political base,” Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Olmert, said.

But Avigdor Lieberman, who leads Yisrael Beiteinu, was further angered by Mr. Olmert, who said in an internal meeting on Sunday that Israel’s failure to remove illegal outposts in the West Bank was “a disgrace,” said an official who was at the meeting and did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about it. Israel has long committed itself to removing about 26 outposts set up after March 1, 2001, and Mr. Bush expressed his annoyance here about the delay in their removal, saying they had “to go.”

Critics of Mr. Olmert, who has been prime minister for two years, expressed surprise that he would blame anyone but himself.

Ophir Pines-Paz, a Labor legislator, said: “The disgrace is the helplessness and idleness displayed by Olmert on the issue of outpost evacuation. Olmert has turned the promises made by Israel into a joke.”

Mr. Olmert did not say who was to blame for not removing the outposts, but some interpreted his criticism as being aimed at the defense minister, whose purview includes the settlements.

In what seemed to be a rebuttal, the daily newspaper Haaretz on Monday cited “sources close to” the defense minister, Ehud Barak, saying that he had agreed with leaders of the settlement movement on the peaceful evacuation of 18 outposts, but that Mr. Olmert had repeatedly opted to postpone the deal.

Yishai Hollender, a spokesman for the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlers, said in an interview that there had been dialogue between the defense minister’s representatives and the settlers, but no agreement. He said the prime minister’s office had “torpedoed attempts” to reach an agreement “time after time,” and had been unwilling to accept the settlers’ terms.

Mr. Regev said that he was “not aware” of tension between Mr. Olmert and Mr. Barak, and that they were “on the same page.”

[Steve Gardner]

Do the Israelis actually want peace? It doesn't look like it to me.

Here, CNN reports that the coalition government is fracturing because the Palestinian peace process is taking the emphasis off of Iran.

Even a cursory examination of this 'excuse' reveals it as bollocks.

The recent NIE, which was compiled from intelligence gathered by a large number of agencies, shows that Iran actually gave up its suspected nuclear weapons programme several years ago and, further, that it would be many years from developing a nuclear weapons capability even if it had an active programme today.

Now given Iran's emnity towards Israel is exacerbated by Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, doesn't it follow that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is likely to do more to settle Iran down than the perpetuation of the conflict coupled with a constant state of aggression towards Tehran?

Source: CNN

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The U.S.-led push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by year's end has hit turbulence as U.S. President George W. Bush winds down his eight-day Mideast trip.

Israel strengthened its military campaign against Gaza militants Wednesday while the withdrawal of a right-wing Israeli party further weakened the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Military incidents Wednesday included a stray Israeli missile in Gaza City killing three people, Israeli troops shooting a senior Islamic Jihad leader and Palestinian militants firing rockets into a central Israeli town -- all 24 hours after Israeli operations caused several fatalities in Gaza City.

Avigdor Lieberman announced Wednesday he was pulling his Israel Beiteinu party out of Israel's coalition government because the new push to peace was taking the focus off more pressing issues, such as the perceived nuclear threat from Iran.

Despite the loss of 11 seats in the Knesset, the coalition government will keep its majority, with 67 of the 120-seat total. But Olmert -- who has sparse public support -- now has a reduced political platform.

Olmert's office issued a statement Wednesday saying he was "determined" to continue negotiations. "They contain the only real chance to assure the peace and security of Israel's citizens," it added.

Under pressure to stop ongoing attacks from Gaza, the Israeli military has clamped down on the Palestinian territory in recent days as it tries to push militants away from the Gaza-Israel border, renewing complaints from the Palestinian leadership baout heavy-handed treatment.

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City Wednesday missed its target and struck a car carrying a Palestinian family, killing all three, Palestinian security and medical sources told CNN.

Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitch confirmed an Israeli missile struck the wrong car, stressing the IDF did not plan to harm innocent civilians and is investigating.

Leibovitch added that Palestinian militants in Gaza operate in populated areas and that civilians are sometimes unintentionally harmed.

Separately Wednesday Israeli troops killed Walid Obeidi, a senior leader with Islamic Jihad, an IDF spokesman said.

Soldiers were trying to arrest Obeidi in the northern West Bank when they returned gunfire, the spokesman said, killing him.

Obeidi, 46, led the military wing of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank. The IDF said he planned and executed several bombings in Israel, including an April 2006 suicide blast in Tel Aviv that killed 11 civilians and injured dozens.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said Israeli troops surrounded the house, in which Obeidi was hiding, at about 3 a.m. When he came out, heavy exchanges of gunfire followed and Obeidi was killed, they said.

Also Wednesday Palestinian militants fired about 20 Qassam rockets into and around the central Israeli town of Sderot, an Israeli army spokesman said. No injuries were immediately reported, said paramedics.

The incidents come a day after an Israeli military operation in and around Gaza City killed at least 17 Palestinians -- including civilians -- according to Palestinian security sources.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas -- negotiating with the Israelis on the peace deal -- called that operation "a massacre" and blasted the Jewish state for its ongoing "aggression against our people."

The Israeli military said it was responding to daily rocket and mortar fire from Gaza militants on civilian targets inside Israel.

Also Tuesday, snipers stationed near the Gaza-Israel border killed an Ecuadorean kibbutz farmer as he tended his field. An IDF spokeswoman said such attacks are "the reason Israeli forces are operating in Gaza."

The violence overshadow the burgeoning peace process, which began this week as Palestinian and Israeli delegations started discussing core issues in their conflict, including Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel and Jerusalem as the shared capital of a future Palestinian state.

But Lieberman, head of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, which co-ordinates policy toward Iran, said the peace issues being discussed threaten to divide the Jewish state. "The accelerated peace process is moving the weight from the subject which is in the center of the national consensus -- the Iranian issue -- to the Palestinian issue."

Last week Bush asked Israel's coalition government to support Olmert and the peace process, begun at the U.S.-sponsored summit in Annapolis last November.

But Lieberman responded: "This process, this direction of Annapolis, I cannot accept and if I cannot accept this process I must be out of the government."