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Monday, September 18, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Prisoner swap seen
Egypt’s president laid out the terms for an anticipated prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Hosni Mubarak said Monday that an Egyptian-mediated draft deal was in place for the return of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza Strip gunmen in a deadly June 25 raid.
“The outlines of the agreement, which is not yet complete, affirm the release of the Israeli prisoner in exchange for an initial large batch of women and children and then the release of Palestinian prisoners in three batches,” Egypt’s official news agency MENA quoted Mubarak as saying.
It added that Mubarak “did not specify the number to be released but he indicated that the Israeli side had shown its willingness to release a number greater than expected.”
Shalit’s captors have demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
Israel at first ruled out a swap, but more recently has hinted it could relent.
Report: U.S. warns Abbas on P.A. deal
The United States reportedly warned Mahmoud Abbas over his efforts to form a Palestinian Authority coalition government with Hamas.
Yediot Achronot reported Monday that a senior U.S. official recently told the P.A. president that if he entered a planned unity government with the Islamic terrorist group in its current format, he would be shunned by Washington.
Hamas has angered Western power brokers by refusing to renounce terrorism or recognize the Jewish state.
According to Yediot, the U.S. warning prompted Abbas to announce Sunday that he had suspended coalition talks with Hamas.
Abbas is expected to meet President Bush later this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly summit.
Human rights group presses council
A leading human rights group called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to end its one-sided approach to the Middle East.
In a release Monday, Human Rights Watch said the recently formed council has passed three resolutions against Israel, but has ignored the actions of Hezbollah and armed Palestinian groups.
The council, which begins its second regular session Monday, should shift some of its focus away from the Middle East to human rights issues in areas such as Darfur and Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said.
The U.N. General Assembly created the council in March to replace the old Human Rights Commission, which included several nations with poor human rights records and which focused disproportionately on Israel.
Petition presses Calif. universities on Israel
A petition calling on University of California administrators to address anti-Semitism on campuses has gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
The petition will be presented Wednesday to the Board of Trustees of the California State University system and Thursday to the University of California’s Board of Regents.
The petition was launched after anti-Semitic incidents at universities in California and a growing sentiment that there is anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric in some classes.
The petition was initiated by the University of California at Santa Cruz chapter of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
http://www.jta.org/
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