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Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Spain proposes peace conference
Spain proposed reprising its 1991 conference for Israeli-Arab peace.
The Madrid summit brought together Israeli, Jordanian, Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian leaders under U.S. and Soviet auspices.
“Perhaps it would be timely for all the interested parties to meet again, at the same level as in 1991, to reaffirm their commitment to a comprehensive solution and to the basic principles on which that should be based,” Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Wednesday in an article published in the Al-Hayat newspaper.
The Madrid conference led to Israel’s 1994 peace accord with Jordan and short-lived negotiations with Syria. Moratinos said Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah demonstrated the importance of peace talks.
“At this stage, the important thing is not to invent new solutions but to have the courage, the historic generosity and the political will to apply the formulas that were examined to a large extent in the course of previous negotiations,” he wrote. Israel has generally opposed these types of conferences, saying the U.S.-backed “road map” is the framework for peace negotiations.
Anti-boycott language in Oman agreement
President Bush signed a free trade agreement with Oman that includes language barring boycotts of Israel.
The U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement, signed by Bush on Tuesday, is the latest such agreement that mandates an end to participation in primary, secondary or tertiary boycotts against Israel, a measure promoted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and embraced by the Bush administration.
Oman already maintains trade relations with Israel.
Court delays hearings because of Yom Kippur
The Supreme Court will postpone its “First Monday in October” hearings because of Yom Kippur.
Seven justices will convene Monday for routine business, such as admitting new lawyers to the Supreme Court bar and announcing which cases the court has accepted for argument, but hearings launching the formal court year will not start until Tuesday out of respect for Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, who are Jewish and observe the holy day.
This is only the second time the court has postponed “First Monday” arguments for Yom Kippur; the first was in 2003.
House resolution calls for Lebanon force
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging Lebanon to allow international troops along its border with Syria.
The nonbinding resolution, which passed 411-5 on Tuesday evening, urges Lebanon’s government “to request without delay a robust international force deployment on the Lebanese border with Syria, so as to prevent the resupply of weapons to Hezbollah.”
Lebanon has been reluctant to ask international troops to patrol its border, fearing Syrian reprisals.
Kids get Sandler gifts
Hundreds of children in Israeli conflict zones received video games donated by Hollywood actor Adam Sandler.
Foreign Ministry staff on Wednesday handed out some of the 400 Playstation consoles and games donated by Sandler at northern border towns that came under Hezbollah rocket attack during Israel’s recent Lebanon war.
Children in Sderot, a southern town frequently targeted by Palestinian rocket crews in the Gaza Strip, are also to receive the gifts.
A Foreign Ministry statement said Sandler, a Jewish man who lives in Los Angeles, had been moved to “bring happiness to the hearts” of Israeli children forced to take to shelters during the rocket salvoes.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 11:01 PM Permanent Link
 
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