Friday, June 26, 2009

Lebanon`s Hariri set to become prime minister

Lebanon`s Hariri set to become prime ministerBy Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A large majority of members of Lebanon`s parliament will nominate U.S.-backed Saad al-Hariri for the post of prime minister, paving the way for his appointment later this week, political sources said on Friday.
President Michel Suleiman will hold consultations with parliamentarians later on Friday and on Saturday to decide on the next prime minister. On Saturday he will designate the candidate with most support.
Lebanon`s sectarian power-sharing system reserves the premiership to a Sunni Muslim.
The sources said Hariri, a Sunni, would be nominated by his coalition`s 71 MPs in the 128-seat assembly as well as the 25 parliamentarians of Hezbollah and its Shi`ite Amal ally.
Hariri, who led a U.S.-backed coalition to victory over Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies in this month`s election, met Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah overnight.
A joint statement by both men said the leaders, who had only met once before in three years, had held talks and discussed the outcome of the election and the possible shape of the new government.
"They also agreed on continuing discussions in the current positive calm atmosphere and stressed the logic of dialogue, cooperation and openness," it said.
Hezbollah had called for the formation of a national unity government with veto power for the minority alliance after the parliamentary election, though the group has not repeated the demand since the vote. Hariri rejects such a veto.
While his majority coalition could nominate him and effectively appoint him to the post, Hariri had been keen on getting the backing of his powerful rivals to ensure a smooth launch of his administration.
He offered to open a new page immediately after the election and called for the shelving of the contentious issue of disarming Hezbollah. The group, labeled as terrorist by the United States, has battled Israeli forces since the early 1980s.
It fought a 34-day battle against Israel in 2006 in which 1,200 people died in Lebanon and some 160 in Israel.
Saudi Arabia and western countries including the United States have been major supporters of Hariri, whose father Rafik was assassinated in 2005, and his allies in their power struggle with rivals backed by Syria and Iran.
The meeting between Hariri and Nasrallah is also set to defuse Sunni-Shi`ite tensions that threatened to boil over into a civil war last year when Hezbollah fighters routed Hariri and his allies` supporters in Beirut and mountains to the east.
A Qatari-sponsored deal in May 2008 ended the crisis but sectarian tensions rose again in the run-up to the election.
Hariri, 39, was thrown into politics in 2005 by the assassination of his father, becoming the strongest Sunni leader in a country where politics is defined by a sectarian political system.  Continued...
Original article

Israel plays down reports of imminent Gaza deal

By Alastair Macdonald and Adam Entous
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli officials played down reports on Friday that a deal was close with Hamas that would include the release of an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Israeli and Palestinian political sources and Western diplomats confirmed, however, that Egyptian mediators were still working on a package of measures that could combine exchanges of prisoners, ceasefire agreements, an easing of Israel`s blockade on Gaza and rapprochement between rival Palestinian factions.
A July 7 deadline set by Egypt for Islamist Hamas and the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to ease a schism that has divided Gaza from the West Bank, as well as this week`s third anniversary of Hamas`s capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, has fueled speculation of a deal.
Responding to Israeli press reports citing European diplomats that Shalit was about to be sent to Egypt, Israeli officials and European diplomats in the region said on Friday they knew of no new concrete developments in negotiations.
Hamas officials have also played down earlier reports.
Nonetheless, diplomats said negotiations were in train.
The family of Shalit, who also has French citizenship, has stepped up pressure on new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal. The government has long baulked at Hamas`s price for Shalit`s release, notably the freeing of leading Hamas militants responsible for attacks on Israelis.
Netanyahu is also under pressure from the United States and its European allies to ease a blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza that has prevented billions of dollars in foreign reconstruction aid from reaching the enclave since Israel`s offensive in January.
Israel, which is also under U.S. pressure to renew peace talks with Abbas, has tied the blockade to the fate of Shalit.
An Israeli government official said Netanyahu wanted the international community to pressure Hamas, not Israel: "Hamas has held Gilad Shalit for some three years. He hasn`t even been given one visit by a representative of the Red Cross.
"The international community should be pushing for his release and should be pushing for such a visit."
"PACKAGE DEALS"
Hamas, which seized control of Gaza two years ago in fighting with Fatah-led forces, is keen to bolster its support among the 1.5 million Gazans by improving supplies.
Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament elected in 2006, told Reuters on Thursday, two days after he was released himself from an Israeli prison: "The Egyptians are behind the package deal which is expected to speak about the truce, to speak about opening all the crossings to (the) Gaza Strip and to speak about Shalit."
"We would like (it) to be accomplished in the very few coming days because I left ... almost 11,000 prisoners in Israeli jails," Dweik added, speaking in English.  Continued...
Original article

Zimbabwe`s Mugabe attacks West on sanctions, aid

Zimbabwe`s Mugabe attacks West on sanctions, aidBy MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe attacked Western countries Thursday for refusing to lift sanctions because he was still in power, but said his country would get aid from friends who would not impose conditions.
Mugabe and arch-foe Morgan Tsvangirai, now Prime Minister, formed a unity government in February in a bid to end a decade of heightened political hostility and an economic crisis.
For the past three weeks Tsvangirai has been on a tour of the United States and Europe to raise cash from donors. He has little money to show for it but has come under more pressure to persuade his partner to bolster democracy and human rights.
The southern African country says it needs $10 billion to rebuild dilapidated infrastructure and ease unemployment.
"Everywhere they were saying `no`, they will not remove sanctions. Why, why, because ... they wanted ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe to be defeated," Mugabe was quoted by state TV telling a meeting of his ZANU-PF party in Harare late Thursday.
"Sir (Tsvangirai) you have seen them, these that you call your friends. Imperialists can never be friends of those countries and people that desire for freedom."
The 85-year-old leader said Zimbabwe would get aid from friends who would not impose conditions.
He did not name the countries but in the past five years Mugabe has been trying to strengthen ties with Asian countries especially China, and with Muslim nations like Iran, sometimes promising them the country`s vast mineral deposits.
"We will get friends who will assist us, friends who will not demand conditions, we have those friends and we will show the West that we also have friends," Mugabe said.
Tsvangirai has been telling Western leaders that although democratic reforms have been slow, they were irreversible and that he had a good working relationship with Mugabe.
Zimbabwe has started hearings on a new constitution that many hope will strengthen the role of parliament, whittle down the president`s powers and guarantee civil liberties and political and media reforms.
But Mugabe appeared headed for a clash with Tsvangirai`s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when he said ZANU-PF wanted the hearings to focus on a draft charter, named "Kariba Draft," penned by his party and the MDC in 2007.
The charter, which until Wednesday had not been made public, is a "hybrid" draft between one rejected in a 2000 referendum and another written by civic society groups the same year.
"Which country have you seen where a constitution is written by the grassroots? You don`t do that," Mugabe said.
"Our party has to be very careful and not to be derailed away from the Kariba Draft."
(Editing by Michael Roddy)
Original article

OSCE makes last Georgia patrol, issues warning

By Matt Robinson
TBILISI (Reuters) - The OSCE`s mission in Georgia has warned of a new conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia with its monitors facing a deadline to leave next week.
Its 20 military monitors in Georgia conducted their final patrol up to the de facto border with South Ossetia on Friday before a June 30 deadline to pull out after 17 years.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe must withdraw after Russia opposed extending the current mandate having recognized South Ossetia as independent in the wake of last August`s war with Georgia.
A similar dispute over sovereignty saw Russia this month veto an extension to the mandate of some 130 U.N. observers in Abkhazia, Georgia`s other breakaway region also recognized by the Kremlin as independent.
The European Union, with 225 unarmed monitors deployed after the five-day war, stands to be alone in patrolling up to the de facto borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Authorities in both regions have forbidden them to go further.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) thinktank warned this week of the risk of new "full-blown hostilities" in the absence of an "effective security regime in and around the conflict zones."
Asked about the warning, OSCE mission head Ambassador Terhi Hakala told Reuters this week: "Unfortunately I think it is possible. I share the analysis of the ICG."
"The situation is unstable. The security situation is a bit better but it is not good definitely."
"EYES AND EARS"
Russia crushed a Georgian assault on pro-Moscow South Ossetia, launched in early August after weeks of escalating skirmishes in the rebel territory, which like Abkhazia threw off Tbilisi`s rule in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eight OSCE monitors entered after the first war.
Moscow says the Georgia assault, which drew a devastating response from Russia, created "new realities" on the ground that the West should recognize.
"They (Russia) wanted to have an independent mission also in South Ossetia due to the fact that they recognized independence, and that`s why we are in this situation," Hakala said.
"Maybe there is this interpretation of course that they wouldn`t like to have extra eyes and ears on the ground," the Finnish diplomat said.
Greek Foreign Minister and OSCE chair Dora Bakoyanni told Reuters this week the OSCE still hoped for a deal to salvage the mission before Tuesday. But negotiations have already been halted. Hakala spoke in an improvised office in a Tbilisi hotel having moved out of the mission headquarters.
In white armored 4x4s, the monitors conducted their last patrol to the Georgian villages on the boundary on Friday, having been denied access to South Ossetia since the war.  Continued...
Original article

Turkey`s military says plot report is smear campaign

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey`s top general said on Friday that allegations of a military plot to undermine the government were part of a campaign to divide the armed forces and offered a guarantee he would never tolerate coup activities.
Liberal Turkish newspaper Taraf published last week what it said was a document drafted by a navy colonel on stopping the ruling AK Party and a religious movement from "destroying Turkey`s secular order and replacing it by an Islamist state."
The controversy has raised tensions between the military and the AK Party, which has roots in political Islam but also embraces center-right and nationalist forces. The army has removed three government in the last 50 years and sees itself as the ultimate guarantor of Turkey`s secular political system.
"We see this piece of paper as part of an organized smear campaign to weaken the military. This is an attempt to stir up and divide the military," General Ilker Basbug told a rare news conference.
"The military does not shelter those that would engage in (coup) activities. I give my guarantee as the chief of the Turkish armed forces."
Markets have so far reacted calmly to the row, seeing little risk of a military coup against the AK Party, but are closely following developments. Bonds, stocks and the lira firmed on Friday as hopes of a fresh loan deal with the IMF supported sentiment.
At the news conference, Basbug urged civilian courts to find out who was behind the document.
Turkey`s military has seen its public influence wane in recent years as the Muslim country has pushed liberal reforms aimed at winning membership of the European Union.
Senior retired officers and serving military are amongst those arrested in connection with a separate coup plot allegation. The military denies any link to what is known as the "Ergenekon" plot involving a campaign of bombings and assassinations to precipitate a military takeover.
The AK Party, which denies any secret Islamist agenda, has been at odds with a conservative secularist establishment including generals, judges and academics over the direction of the country.
Original article

Doctor flees Iran over "Neda" killing: report

Doctor flees Iran over Neda killing: reportLONDON (Reuters) - One person captured on Internet videos helping "Neda," the young Iranian woman killed last week who has become an icon of the protests, was identified by a British newspaper on Friday as a doctor who has since fled Iran.
"I felt she was trying to ask a question, `Why?`," Dr. Arash Hejazi told the Times in an interview as he recalled her final moments lying in a street with blood pouring from her body.
"She was just a person in the street who was against the injustice going on in her country, and for that she was murdered," said Hejazi, an Iranian who is resident in Britain but says he went to Tehran on a business trip.
Hejazi said Neda Agha Soltan, a 26-year-old music student, was killed by a government militiaman.
Iran has accused the West, particularly Britain and the United States, of inciting violence. State television has blamed violence on "terrorists" and "vandals."
Hejazi, 38, said he fled from Iran when the video footage sped around the world on websites because he feared his own life might be in danger as he could be seen with Soltan.
Before trying to leave, he said he emailed a friend in Britain to say he hoped to join his family in the university city of Oxford where he was studying: "If something happens to me, please take care of (my wife and son)."
He said he had gone outside into Tehran`s streets only when he and some friends heard a commotion.
Hejazi said Soltan`s death would always haunt him but was glad she had become a global symbol.
"This way her blood is not wasted and she did not die in vain," he said.
In Iran, supporters of defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, who says the June 12 presidential poll was rigged, plan to release thousands of balloons on Friday with the message: "Neda you will always remain in our hearts."
About 20 people were killed when the disputed poll sparked the worst unrest in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
A security crackdown by Iran`s hardline government has largely driven demonstrators off Tehran`s streets this week.
(Editing by Ralph Gowling)
Original article

Pakistani violence spreads to Kashmir

Pakistani violence spreads to KashmirBy Abu Arqam Naqash
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two soldiers were killed on Friday in the first suicide bombing in Pakistani Kashmir while several people were hurt in a blast near the Afghan border as the army prepares to attack Taliban in that region.
Islamist militants have carried out a series of bomb attacks across Pakistan in recent weeks in retaliation for a military offensive in the northwest but there have been no such attacks in Pakistan`s part of the disputed Kashmir region.
The army launched its offensive after Taliban gains raised fears for U.S. ally Pakistan`s future and worry about the safety of its nuclear arsenal.
The blast in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, will raise concern that the militants are expanding their campaign to distract the military as it closes in on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
"The bomber blew himself up near a military vehicle. Two of our soldiers embraced martyrdom," a military spokesman told Reuters. Three soldiers were wounded in the attack.
Kashmir is at the core of a decades-old dispute between Pakistan and India and the cause of two of their three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947.
Separatist insurgents backed by Pakistan have been fighting Indian security forces in India`s part of the Himalayan region for the past 20 years. But Pakistani Kashmir had been peaceful.
The United States has hailed Pakistan`s action against the militants and on Wednesday the U.S. Senate approved tripling aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for five years as part of a U.S. plan to fight extremism with economic development. U.S. President Barack Obama has put Afghanistan and Pakistan at the center of his foreign policy agenda and has launched a strategy aimed at defeating al Qaeda and stabilizing Afghanistan, where thousands of extra U.S. soldiers are arriving.
AL QAEDA ALLY
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani appealed on Thursday to visiting U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones for U.S. help to resolve the dispute with India over Muslim-majority Kashmir.
Gilani`s office cited Jones as saying the U.S. government wanted to help the nuclear-armed neighbors resolve "core issues."
Jones is in India on Friday.
India broke off talks with Pakistan after militant attacks on the city of Mumbai in November. India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militants and wants Pakistan to act against them.
The United States is pushing for an easing of tension between the rivals so Pakistan can focus on fighting the Taliban.
The military has been launching air strikes on Mehsud`s bases this month while soldiers have been securing main roads and sealing off his stronghold  Continued...
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Amnesty urges Thailand to open lese-majeste trial

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty International urged Thailand on Friday to open the trial of a political campaigner charged with insulting the monarchy after it was closed for reasons of "national security."
Amnesty said the court`s decision to bar the media and public from attending the trial of Darunee Charnchoengsilpakul, a "red shirt" supporter of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, could jeopardize her chances of receiving a fair hearing.
Darunee, 46, also known as "Da Torpedo," was arrested and charged with lese-majeste last July after delivering an exceptionally strong speech on the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.
"When a judge closes the doors on a trial it significantly raises the risk of injustice taking place," Amnesty`s Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, said in a statement.
"The Thai government will have a very difficult time explaining why the trial of someone charged with making an insulting remark could compromise Thailand`s national security.
"In this case, a fair trial means that the doors should remain open," Zarifi said.
On Tuesday, Judge Prommas Phoo-sang ordered journalists and Darunee`s supporters to leave the courtroom in Bangkok`s Criminal Court because her case was a "matter of national security.
In an emotional response to the ruling, Darunee she could not be guaranteed justice if the public were barred from attending. Her lawyer has filed an appeal.
The trial, which resumes on July 28, is the latest in a slew of lese-majeste cases critics say are stifling dissent and freedom of speech.
Lese-majeste, or insulting the monarchy, is a very serious offence in Thailand, where many people regard 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej as semi-divine and above politics. It is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Judge Prommas said he had no comment on the Amnesty statement, but stood by his decision to close the trial.
"One thing I can say, I am impartial," he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Martin Petty and Kittipong Soonprasert; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Sanjeev Miglani)
Original article

China intellectuals seek release of dissident

BEIJING (Reuters) - Dozens of China`s most prominent liberal intellectuals have issued a petition urging the release of Liu Xiaobo, the veteran dissident facing subversion charges after promoting a petition demanding an end to one-party rule.
Liu was formally arrested on Tuesday, charged with "inciting subversion of state power," following his detention late last year for promoting the "Charter 08" petition, which challenged the underpinnings of Communist Party rule.
The move brings one of the most prominent critics of the Party a step closer to trial, and his case has galvanized criticism from human rights groups at a time when China`s Internet controls also face controversy.
Now some of China`s best-known academics and writers have added their voice to the outcry.
"We urge the immediate release of Dr Liu Xiaobo, and the true exercise of freedom of expression as promised by the Constitution," stated the petition, dated June 24 and received by Reuters on Friday.
"Liu Xiaobo`s troubles show the environment each of us must survive in ... He cannot freely express his views, and that means that none of us can freely and openly express our views."
The 53-year-old dissident has a Ph.D. in Chinese literature and was active during the 1989 pro-democracy protests quelled by the bloody June 4 crackdown.
Late last year, he was among 303 dissidents and rights activists who launched "Charter 08," a petition calling for the dismantling of one-party rule and creation of multi-party democracy.
The 52 signatories of the new petition include Xu Youyu, a philosopher; Mao Yushi, a prominent liberal economist; and Qin Hui, an historian whose writings on rural China and on economic reform have been widely influential.
Xu told Reuters that the petition, addressed to the country`s Party-controlled parliament, showed that Liu`s case will remain a lightning rod for opposition to political controls.
"This is intended to send the government a signal that intellectuals and scholars with some influence are very worried about Liu," Xu said by telephone. "His case is a blow to freedom of expression."
(Reporting by Chris Buckley and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Original article

Two weeks after: Iran rallies fade, elite split

Two weeks after: Iran rallies fade, elite splitBy Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran`s leadership has quelled mass protests over a disputed presidential poll two weeks ago, but the battle has moved off the street into a behind-the-scenes struggle splitting the clerical establishment into two camps.
EDITORS` NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
Hardline preacher Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami is expected to reinforce the government message when he leads Friday prayers that the June 12 election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared victor was legal and fair.
Supporters of defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, who want the result annulled, plan to release thousands of balloons on Friday with the message: "Neda you will always remain in our hearts," in memory of the young woman killed last week who has become an icon of the protests.
The last mass protests were on Saturday and a combination of warnings, arrests and the threat of police action have driven large demonstrations off Tehran`s street with small gatherings dispersed with tear gas and baton charges.
The worst unrest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 set off by the poll left about 20 people killed, prompting President Barrack Obama to say he was "appalled and outraged" by the security crackdown in the world`s fifth largest oil exporter.
Group of Eight powers meeting in Trieste plan in a statement to deplore post-election violence, to urge Tehran to settle the crisis through peaceful, democratic means and to respect basic rights including freedom of expression, a diplomat said.
The condemnation by Obama, who had been trying to improve ties with Iran before the election, prompted Ahmadinejad to accuse Obama of behaving like his predecessor and say there was not much point in talking to Washington unless Obama apologized.
"I tell (the United States) that all those people who voted and all the Iranian nation will stand against them," the Iranian president, who was elected for a second four-year term, said in response to Obama`s comments.
Before the poll, Obama, aiming to change the policy of George W. Bush toward Iran, had hoped to persuade Tehran to drop what Washington suspects are plans to develop nuclear bombs, while seeking cooperation in Afghanistan and Iraq.
MOUSAVI UNDER PRESSURE
In what appeared to be further evidence of the government`s determination to crush resistance, 70 professors were detained after meeting Mousavi and his campaign manager was arrested, his website said on Thursday. The semi-official Fars News Agency said that the professors were later released.
Mousavi said he was under pressure to stop challenging the election result and also complained about the closure of his Kalameh-ye Sabz daily newspaper and arrest of its staff.
Iran has jailed around 40 journalists and media workers in the post-election crackdown, New York-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday.
The row over the election has exposed an unprecedented public rift within Iran`s ruling elite.  Continued...
Original article

NATO to start offensive soon in south Afghanistan

By Andrew Gray
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, boosted by a big influx of U.S. troops, will step up operations in Helmand province and the city of Kandahar soon, the top regional commander said on Thursday.
"We are entering a new stage in the operation," Dutch Army Major General Mart de Kruif told reporters at the Pentagon in a conference call from NATO`s base at Kandahar Air Field.
The United States has been pouring thousands of troops this year into southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban movement and scene of the heaviest fighting, to prepare for an effort to regain the initiative from the insurgents.
De Kruif said security incidents had decreased in two provinces in his region -- Uruzgan and Zabul.
"The insurgency is more or less is forced to concentrate its efforts in Helmand and in Kandahar," he said.
"In a very short time ... we will start significant operations ... to secure central and southern Helmand and stabilize Kandahar," de Kruif said.
"We will have the operational initiative on our side and maintain it," he said.
De Kruif said the new offensive by NATO forces would lead to a spike in violence but the prime objective would be to protect the population from insurgents rather than hunt down and kill Taliban fighters.
The Obama administration has declared Afghanistan its top military priority and the United States is more than doubling its military presence in the country to around 68,000 troops, from 32,000 at the end of last year.
The United States now has 57,000 troops in Afghanistan and other nations, mainly NATO allies, have some 32,000 there.
De Kruif estimated there were between 10,000 and 18,000 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.
They could be broadly divided into three groups, he said -- religious hardliners linked to the Taliban leadership in the Pakistani city of Quetta, fighters linked to the narcotics trade and so-called "$10-a-day Taliban" motivated by money.
De Kruif said NATO and Afghan forces could succeed in establishing security in southern Afghanistan "in a couple of years" and also significantly improve conditions before the country`s presidential election on August 20 this year.
"At the end of the day, it`s good governance and reconstruction and development that will bring lasting success," he added.
He said the best indicators of success he had found were the number of shops open in the bazaars and the number of schools open in the villages -- signs that commerce could flourish and people could live freely.
(Editing by Jackie Frank)
Original article

Hamas leader rejects "freak" Israel offer of state

Hamas leader rejects freak Israel offer of stateBy Khaled Yacoub Oweis
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal denounced on Thursday an Israeli offer of a demilitarized Palestinian state as a "big prison" and said only armed struggle could restore Palestinian rights.
In a speech this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the U.S. goal of a Palestinian state but said it should be demilitarized and the Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish nation.
"The state that Netanyahu talked about, with control on it by land, sea and air, is a freak entity and a big prison, not a country fit for a great people," Meshaal said in a speech in the Syrian capital to supporters of Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in 2006.
Meshaal said the notion of an exclusive Jewish nation was anathema to the Palestinians because it means giving up what he described as the right of six million Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland in what is now Israel.
"We warn against any Arab leniency on this issue. The calls by the leaders of the enemy for the Jewishness of Israel are racist, not different to Italian Fascism and Hitler`s Nazism," said Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria.
OBAMA SPEECH
His speech also aimed to reply to the June 4 speech by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Muslim world in which he re-affirmed the U.S. objective of a Palestinian state alongside Israel on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.
Obama also wants a halt to all Israeli settlement building, a point of disagreement between him and Netanyahu.
Meshaal said Hamas appreciated what he termed Obama`s new language, which could be the start of an "unconditional dialogue" between Washington and the Palestinian Islamist group.
"Dealing with Hamas and Palestinian resistance movements must be based on respecting the will of the Palestinian people and its democratic choice, not through putting conditions, such as those of the quartet," he said.
He was referring to the demands of the United States, Russia the United Nations and the European Union for Hamas to renounce armed struggle, as well as accept past peace agreements.
Hamas, which took control of the Gaza strip in 2007 after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has repeatedly rejected these conditions.
Meshaal also repeated the Hamas line of calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.
"The minimum we accept is a Palestinian state with (East) Jerusalem as its capital, full sovereignty, removal of settlements and the refugees` right of return," he said.
He said Hamas, which is mainly supported by Syria and Iran, sees no alternative but to continue armed struggle to liberate Palestinian land after decades of Israel flouting international resolutions to withdraw.  Continued...
Original article

Zimbabwe`s Mugabe attacks West on sanctions, aid

Zimbabwe`s Mugabe attacks West on sanctions, aidBy MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe attacked Western countries Thursday for refusing to lift sanctions because he was still in power, but said his country would get aid from friends who would not impose conditions.
Mugabe and arch-foe Morgan Tsvangirai, now Prime Minister, formed a unity government in February in a bid to end a decade of heightened political hostility and an economic crisis.
For the past three weeks Tsvangirai has been on a tour of the United States and Europe to raise cash from donors. He has little money to show for it but has come under more pressure to persuade his partner to bolster democracy and human rights.
The southern African country says it needs $10 billion to rebuild dilapidated infrastructure and ease unemployment.
"Everywhere they were saying `no`, they will not remove sanctions. Why, why, because ... they wanted ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe to be defeated," Mugabe was quoted by state TV telling a meeting of his ZANU-PF party in Harare late Thursday.
"Sir (Tsvangirai) you have seen them, these that you call your friends. Imperialists can never be friends of those countries and people that desire for freedom."
The 85-year-old leader said Zimbabwe would get aid from friends who would not impose conditions.
He did not name the countries but in the past five years Mugabe has been trying to strengthen ties with Asian countries especially China, and with Muslim nations like Iran, sometimes promising them the country`s vast mineral deposits.
"We will get friends who will assist us, friends who will not demand conditions, we have those friends and we will show the West that we also have friends," Mugabe said.
Tsvangirai has been telling Western leaders that although democratic reforms have been slow, they were irreversible and that he had a good working relationship with Mugabe.
Zimbabwe has started hearings on a new constitution that many hope will strengthen the role of parliament, whittle down the president`s powers and guarantee civil liberties and political and media reforms.
But Mugabe appeared headed for a clash with Tsvangirai`s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when he said ZANU-PF wanted the hearings to focus on a draft charter, named "Kariba Draft," penned by his party and the MDC in 2007.
The charter, which until Wednesday had not been made public, is a "hybrid" draft between one rejected in a 2000 referendum and another written by civic society groups the same year.
"Which country have you seen where a constitution is written by the grassroots? You don`t do that," Mugabe said.
"Our party has to be very careful and not to be derailed away from the Kariba Draft."
(Editing by Michael Roddy)
Original article
 

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