UN renews calls for Middle East two-state solution for peace

Times

UN Security Council statement comes a week before President Obama due to hold first meeting with new Israeli Prime Minister

James Bone in New York and James Hider in Jerusalem

The UN Security Council called yesterday for diplomatic action to achieve a two-state solution in the Middle East after King Abdullah of Jordan warned in The Times of a possible war within 18 months.

UN report condemns over Gaza war

Times

James Bone in New York

A United Nations investigation yesterday accused Israel of “reckless disregard” for human life in using white phosphorus munitions that killed and injured Palestinians sheltering in a UN school during the Gaza war.

Analysis: UN racism conference – disaster born from disaster

Times

Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent

There has only ever been one United Nations conference on racism before and it ended in disaster. The second begins in it.

The boycott, begun by the United States and Israel, has snowballed so far across the Western world that any official international consensus on dealing with racism and xenophobia now looks near pointless.

Australia, New Zealand and Canada declined some weeks ago to attend the so-called Durban II in Geneva, with Italy and the Netherlands joining them. Now Germany and Poland have followed them in staying away after up to the wire negotiations by Britain and France for Europe to attend on a united front.

Lieberman’s paradoxical strength

HA’ARETZ

The era of panic has begun: Avigdor Lieberman is foreign minister. All the flaws, failures, successes and the peace the Netanyahu government might forge hinge on that obstacle named Lieberman. His coarse pinky will set the universe in motion, shatter hopes and inflict a catastrophe. Alas, the finger resting on the red button belongs to Ivan the Terrible. Tomorrow the attack on the Aswan Dam will commence, and the day after Iran. And the world? It will look on with terror and amazement when faced with the new Genghis Khan.

“Israele non vincolato ad Annapolis”

LA REPUBBLICA

GERUSALEMME - Israele non si ritiene vincolata all’accordo siglato ad Annapolis con i palestinesi. Lo ha detto Avigdor Lieberman, l’espatriato russo e leader del partito di ultradestra Yisrael Beitenu, divenuto ministro degli Esteri del governo israeliano presieduto dal leader del Likud Benjamin Netanyahu.

Secondo un portavoce governativo, Lieberman ha anche detto che Israele si ritiene tenuto a onorare l’itinerario di pace tracciato dal Quartetto. Ma “il governo di Israele non ha mai ratificato Annapolis, né lo ha fatto il Parlamento”, ha aggiunto. Lieberman ha fatto queste affermazioni nel corso di una cerimonia al ministero degli Esteri per il passaggio delle consegne dal suo predecessore, la signora Tzipi Livni.

Le président israélien tente de rassurer les Européens sur le gouvernement Nétanyahou

LE MONDE

Le président israélien Shimon Pérès a cherché dimanche à rassurer l’Union européenne et la communauté internationale en affirmant que le prochain gouvernement dirigé par Benjamin Nétanyahou poursuivrait le processus de paix avec les Palestiniens. “Le nouveau gouvernement est lié par les décisions du précédent gouvernement. Il y aura une continuité et la poursuite des négociations pour le processus de paix”, a affirmé M. Pérès à la veille d’une visite en République Tchèque, qui assure la présidence tournante de l’Union Européenne (UE).

Ce voyage intervient alors que le prochain gouvernement de M. Nétanyahou, auquel s’est rallié le chef du parti travailliste Ehoud Barak, le ministre de la défense sortant, doit en principe être présenté au parlement mardi, selon une porte-parole de M. Pérès. Le séjour du chef de l’Etat israélien a dû être écourté en raison de la “traditionnelle photo de tous les ministres prévue en principe mercredi chez le président”, a précisé cette porte-parole.

Netanyahu faces test as cabinet takes office

THE NATIONAL

TEL AVIV // As Benjamin Netanyahu presents to Israel’s parliament today a new government dominated by opponents to Palestinian statehood, he will be challenged with trying to avert a diplomatic crisis amid international concerns that his cabinet would hinder progress on a two-state solution.

Mr Netanyahu, the head of the right-wing Likud party who served as prime minister from 1996-1999, will preside over a coalition of mostly nationalist and religious parties that altogether include 69 members of Israel’s 120-member parliament.
Mr Netanyahu’s second chance at the premiership is bound to be anything but easy.

Netanyahu and the Future of the Peace Process

Ramzy Baroud,  The Palestine Chronicle

It seems that the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is in serious jeopardy. This is the immediate impression one gleans from media reports from Israel. Unlike Israel’s Kadima and Labour party “moderates” prime minister-designate Benyamin Netanyahu is widely seen as an obstacle to negotiations aimed at facilitating a two-state solution. The media stories, however, are riddled with misconceptions and dotted with false assumptions.

Palestinians ‘to hold new talks’

BBC NEWS

24 March 2009

Reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah will resume in Egypt on 1 April, a senior Fatah official has said.

Nabil Shaath, a key aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said both sides would try very hard to agree on forming a national unity government.

The first round of talks ended without any deal last week.

They foundered on disagreements over how Hamas and Fatah would share power and how they would deal with Israel.

The largely secular Fatah runs Palestinian affairs in the West Bank while Hamas, an Islamist organisation, seized the Gaza Strip nearly two years ago.

Hamas official Ayman Taha said the group was determined to ensure the talks succeeded but he rejected Fatah demands for it to abide by existing peace agreements with Israel.

“Abiding by peace agreements means the recognition of Israel and that is completely rejected,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

The US, EU and UN will not deal with Hamas unless it rejects violence and recognises Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7961787.stm

Netanyahu’s Party Tries to Enlist Labor

NEW YORK TIMES

23 March 2009

By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM — Israel’s conservative Likud Party opened coalition talks with the center-left Labor Party on Monday, as the prime minister-designate and Likud leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, continued efforts to form a broad government and to avoid leading a narrow right-wing coalition.

But the Labor leader, Ehud Barak, the current defense minister, is facing strong opposition within his party to the idea of sitting in a government led by Mr. Netanyahu. Some Labor opponents have warned of a split; the party is expected to vote on whether to join the new government at a special convention on Tuesday.

As efforts to form a coalition proceeded, Israeli and international organizations continued to focus on allegations of Israeli Army misconduct during the recent military offensive in Gaza. Two reports presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva were highly critical of Israel, while an Israeli human rights group pointed to what it said were violations of Israel’s own medical ethics code.

Mr. Barak said last month that he would heed the will of the people and head into the opposition after his party’s dismal showing in the Feb. 10 elections. Interested in keeping his job as defense minister in the next government, he has since changed his mind.

Once dominant in Israeli politics, Labor won only 13 seats in the 120-seat Parliament.