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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Mossad head goes to Washington
The head of Israel’s Mossad spy service reportedly is holding talks with U.S. counterparts.
Israel’s Channel 1 television reported Tuesday that Meir Dagan was in Washington for talks expected to include the prospect of curbing Iran’s nuclear program.
Dagan, who took over the Mossad in 2002, is believed to have streamlined the agency so that its main areas of operations are Iran and Al-Qaida.
U.S. accepts Turkey-Hamas meet
The United States accepted Turkey’s explanation for why it hosted a delegation from Hamas.
The February meeting with the terrorist group, which won victory in Palestinian Authority legislative elections in January, angered Israel, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed this week that the Bush administration also sought explanations.
“The Turks made very clear that while they wanted to meet with Hamas, they wanted to send a very strong message to Hamas that Hamas needed to accede to the ‘Quartet’ requirements,” Rice said Monday.
The diplomatic Quartet of the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations guides the Middle East peace process and has required Hamas to recognize Israel and end terrorism if it wants international ties. The Turkish message was “completely consistent,” Rice said.
Knesset panel session postponed
A session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Commitee was postponed over the controversial participation of an Israeli Arab lawmaker.
The sensitive panel was to have heard Monday from the military chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz, but the briefing was deferred given a debate over whether Issam Mahoul of the United Arab List should be allowed to take part.
Mahoul, the second Arab ever appointed to the committee, drew censure across the Israeli political spectrum by meeting earlier this month with Palestinian Authority lawmakers from Hamas.
Several faction heads called for him to be disqualified from the panel, if not from the Knesset.
Leading Israeli Arab lawmaker Ahmed Tibi protested the postponement of the session, arguing that Mahoul was being penalized for his political views.
http://www.jta.org/
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