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Friday, October 06, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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U.S. pays to clear cluster bombs
The United States is paying $9 million to clear explosives in southern Lebanon, most of them cluster bombs fired by Israel.
Of funds budgeted for munitions clearance since this summer’s Israel-Hezbollah war, $5 million from the Pentagon will go toward “supporting the Lebanese Army Engineer Regiment’s clearing cluster munitions and other unexploded ordinance in south Lebanon,” according to a State Department accounting released Wednesday.
Human rights groups have criticized Israel for using the deadly weapons, which scatter hard-to-find bomblets over a wide area. Some of the cluster-bombs were U.S.-made. Israel has said its actions conformed to international law.
Congressman opposes security funding
An Arab American congressman reportedly said he opposes federal funds that help secure Jewish institutions.
In a meeting Wednesday with the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said he would cut the funds, as well as farm subsidies, columnist Chris Reed reported in his online blog. Reed said he challenged Issa to name spending items on which he would oppose his Republican party. Jewish groups received the majority of $25 million allocated in Homeland Security funding to non-profits in 2005, and Congress released another $25 million last week.
The money is used for security systems at Jewish buildings, and lobbying for its release became more urgent after a gunman killed a woman at the Jewish federation in Seattle this summer. Two Jewish Defense League leaders were jailed in 2001 after authorities uncovered a plot to bomb Issa’s office.
U.S. asking donors to expand Abbas force
The United States reportedly is asking international donors to contribute $26 million to bolster forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas.
The money will help expand the Palestinian Authority presidential guard from 3,500 to 6,000 troops, the New York Times reported Thursday. The United States wants the force to patrol crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip as a means of preserving trade and the Palestinian economy.
Maintenance of the crossings has been hampered by the lack of relations between Israel and the P.A. Cabinet led by Hamas, a terrorist group. Israel suspects Hamas will allow attackers to pass through the crossings if they’re fully opened. Israel is likelier to trust Abbas, a relative moderate elected separately from Hamas, but Israeli officials have yet to approve the plan.
L.A. Palestinian rally nixed
A Los Angeles teachers union backed off plans to hold a pro-Palestinian rally at union headquarters.
The Human Rights Committee of United Teachers Los Angeles had planned an Oct. 14 rally to express support for the Palestinian cause and for a boycott of Israel, Israeli products and companies, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Under pressure from Jewish organizations, however, union president A.J. Duffy said the rally could not be held at headquarters. “While as educators and union members we encourage a respectful debate on the important issues of the day, this event has provoked very sharp feelings among our members and concerns that this meeting is inappropriate,” said Duffy, who is Jewish.
It was not clear if the meeting would be held somewhere else.
Indonesian troops
President Bush budgeted $3 million to assist Indonesian forces in Lebanon.
Bush used his emergency powers this week to bypass Congress and appropriate the money to help Indonesia send more than 1,000 troops to maintain peace on the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel originally opposed Indonesian participation in the force because the two nations lack relations, but later dropped its objections.
U.S. and U.N. officials believe a strong Muslim contingent can tamp down local opposition to the force and its mission of containing Hezbollah, the radical Islamist group that launched this summer’s war against Israel. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Report Israel entry problems, group says
Arab Americans turned away from Israel’s border should report the matter to the U.S. State Department, an advocacy group said.
The Arab American Institute “is deeply troubled by this policy, which bars groups of Americans from traveling through the region simply because of their Palestinian ethnicity,” the institute said this week. AAI said as many as 120,000 Arab Americans could be affected by recent Israeli policy, which effectively bars citizens of foreign lands holding Palestinian papers from entering. The policy has been in effect since March, when the Hamas terrorist group assumed control of the Palestinian Authority government.
Under previous agreements, Israel must seek the approval of P.A. officials before allowing in Palestinians with dual nationality, but Israel will have nothing to do with the Hamas-led government. The dilemma is hampering family reunions and the distribution of charitable funds in Palestinian areas.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 11:32 PM Permanent Link
 
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