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Monday, July 10, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Israel calls for tough line on Iran
Israel urged Western nations to deny Iran uranium-enrichment capabilities that could help produce nuclear weapons.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday he hoped for the success of efforts, led by the United States and major European Union members, to offer Iran incentives if it gives up enrichment plans. Iran is expected to give an initial answer to the Western compromise proposal this week, but insists it has the right to pursue nuclear technology. Noting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s calls for Israel’s elimination and his Holocaust denial, Olmert said Israel would not resign itself to a nuclear-armed Tehran. “We are talking about one of the most extreme anti-Semites of all time,” he said. “On the basis of the history of my people, I am not prepared at any time to acquiesce or to tolerate” this threat.
Ya’alon: ‘Two states’ no longer relevant
Israel must abandon the two-state paradigm when it comes to dealing with the Palestinians, its former military chief said.
“The two-state paradigm is not relevant,” Moshe Ya’alon said Monday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he has been a fellow since leaving the military last year. “Israel should issue a new paradigm.”
Asked to elaborate, he said one scenario could involve a regional arrangement among Israel, Jordan, the Palestinians and possibly Egypt. He said the Hamas regime, Iran’s increased role and Palestinian instability made Palestinian statehood unrealistic for now.
He said Israel should establish a “defensible-borders” policy, which would include a heightened military presence in the West Bank and pressure on the international community to recognize Israeli sovereignty in West Bank areas close to Israeli population centers.
Arabs threaten legal action over borders
An Arab American group threatened legal action over reports that Israel is blocking entry to Americans of Palestinian descent.
“We would not tolerate a country barring Americans entry because they are Jewish, black, Asian or Latino, and we certainly should not do so because they are of Arab descent,” the Arab American Institute said in a statement Monday based on a Ha’aretz report and on the personal experiences of its members.
Ha’aretz reported Monday that “thousands” of European and Americans had been blocked from entering Israel and the West Bank, some when they reached entry points, including Ben-Gurion Airport.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington had no comment, but Ha’aretz suggested the problem was caused by a breakdown since Hamas assumed power in the Palestinian Authority in March. According to prior agreements, Israel must vet Palestinians entering its borders in consultation with the Palestinian Authority, but consultations have stopped since Israel refuses to deal with officials from the terrorist group.
The institute said the policy violates a U.S.-Israel commerce treaty, and called on the Bush administration to press the matter with Israel.
Otherwise, “we will explore legal remedies,” the institute warned.
Settlers arrested for anti-police plot
Five West Bank settlers are in Israeli custody on suspicion of plotting to attack police.
The five Yitzhar residents were arrested recently on a tip that they planned to torch a car belonging to a senior Israeli policeman in the northern West Bank, security sources said Monday after a gag order on the case was lifted. Yitzhar is considered one of the most extreme West Bank settlements.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 11:08 PM Permanent Link
 
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