Renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are opening in Egypt, amid concern over the imminent expiry of Israel’s partial ban on West Bank settlement-building. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas will each meet Hillary Clinton in Sharm el-Sheikh before a three-way meeting.
Posts Tagged ‘mahmoud abbas’
Will he jump?
November 12th, 2009 |
No Comments
Whether or not Mahmoud Abbas goes, the Palestinians look both divided and leaderless
AFTER five hapless years as the Palestinians’ president, Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) suddenly declared on November 5th that he would not seek re-election in January, when the Palestinian territories are due to hold general and presidential polls. On the face of it, his decision was a blow to the cause of peace. Even before he succeeded Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, Mr Abbas stood out as a man of peace who preferred negotiation to violence, whereas Mr Arafat, at least in most Israeli eyes, had always juggled the two. After Mr Abbas steps down, who will take over? And in which direction might the new man go?
But within hours of Mr Abbas’s declaration confusion had set in. For a start, it soon became unclear whether Mr Abbas really would step down. He has often threatened to resign. Angered by a recent decision of the American administration to rescind its previous vaunted insistence that Israel’s government should completely stop building and expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the core of a would-be Palestinian state, Mr Abbas may have been seeking to win concessions as his price for staying in office—and for returning to the negotiating table. …
Fatah extends stormy conference
August 6th, 2009 |
No Comments
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction’s first party congress for 20 years has been extended amid rows between rival camps.
The meeting, which was originally scheduled to last three days, will go on for at least an extra day.
Participants are divided over the process for voting in new members of its powerful central committee.
Younger members want to wrest more control from older leaders seen as corrupt and ineffective.
Nabil Amr, a spokesman for the conference, told local media the second day, Wednesday, was "stormy".
Proceedings have been hindered by a row over the treatment of the votes of about 400 Gaza-based delegates who been prevented from travelling to the congress in the West Bank town of Bethlehem by Fatah’s rival faction Hamas.
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and refused to allow the delegates to leave unless Fatah released some 900 Hamas prisoners the Islamist movement says are being held in the West Bank.
"The Palestinians of course are committed to a peaceful solution, however, we maintain the right for armed struggle when it is necessary and as an option"
Mahmoud Abbas
Can Fatah reinvent itself Profile: Fatah movementOne proposal is to allow the Gaza delegates to vote via telephone or email, another to allocate a specific number of seats on the committee for the Gaza wing of the faction.
The second option is controversial as it is thought likely to benefit former Gaza security head Mohammad Dahlan, a younger but divisive figure widely believed to be corrupt.
Delegates seeking to modernise Fatah have also accused the "old guard" of packing the conference with sympathisers to squeeze out younger members.
They accused those who control the Central Committee of adding hundreds of extra delegates to the original list of 1,550.
"They illegally keep adding new members. No one knows the actual numbers," Fatah member Mansuor al-Sadi told Reuters news agency, accusing the committe of "trying to hijack the congress".
A row also broke out when another delegate, Hossam Khader, who has been critical of corruption among Fatah leaders, challenged Mr Abbas to provide a detailed report about the Central Committee’s activities in the 20 years since the last conference.
Mr Abbas reportedly told him his lengthy opening speech on Tuesday should suffice and ordered him to sit down.
Charter debate
International interest in the conference has so far centred on whether Fatah will alter its charter, which calls for armed struggle to end the existence of Israel.
This dates back to Fatah’s formation in the 1950s by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
But by backing the Oslo peace process in the early 1990s, Fatah effectively renounced violence and recognised Israel.
On Tuesday Mr Abbas said Fatah was committed to peace, but maintained armed struggle as an option.
Correspondents say that without major reform Fatah will struggle to restore its image among Palestinians, which will be particularly important if elections scheduled for January 2010 go ahead.
Nonetheless, opinion polls suggest that Fatah is currently more popular than its main rival, Hamas.
It lost Palestinian parliamentary elections to Hamas in 2006.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
U.S. peace envoys continue Middle East tour
July 28th, 2009 |
No Comments
U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell has continued his whistle-stop tour of the Middle East with a visit to Ramallah to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mitchell made no mention of the contentious issue of settlements but did say that all those involved must make efforts in the drive for peace.
West Bank lifts ban on al-Jazeera
July 19th, 2009 |
No Comments
Arabic satellite news TV al-Jazeera has been allowed to resume operations in the West Bank after a ban on it was lifted by the Palestinian Authority.
Last week’s ban came after a guest on the station accused Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of collaborating with Israel to have Yasser Arafat killed.
The PA had accused the broadcaster of spreading lies and inciting viewers against the West Bank authorities.
Al-Jazeera has been told it still faces legal action over the accusations. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Al-Jazeera closed in West Bank
July 15th, 2009 |
No Comments
<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46063000/jpg/_46063391_007652659-1.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”The Al Jazeera offices in Ramallah” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>
The Palestinian Authority has closed down the West Bank offices of Arabic satellite news channel Al Jazeera.
The self-rule body said al-Jazeera promoted a negative view of its work and that the coverage is biased.
The move comes a day after a guest on the station accused Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of being involved in the death of Yasser Arafat.
The channel – based in Doha – said it was "stunned" by the Palestinian Authority’s decision.
The al-Jazeera bureau chief in Ramallah, Walid al-Omary, said the station firmly rejected the accusations of bias.
"We regret this decision, which harms the freedom of expression and the press in this country," Mr Omary said.
In the Ramallah office, al-Jazeera employees were seen removing equipment before Palestinian security officials arrived to close it, Associated Press reported.
Allegations
The BBC’s Katya Adler, in Jerusalem, says relations between al-Jazeera and the Palestinian Authority – dominated by political party Fatah – soured some time ago.
The Authority has long accused the satellite news channel of siding with Fatah’s bitter rival, Hamas, she says.
In a statement announcing the decision, the information ministry said the station’s coverage was "unbalanced".
"Despite our repeated calls to remain neutral when it covers the Palestinian issue and to be balanced when it comes to the internal Palestinian situation, the channel continues to incite against the PLO and the PA," the statement said.
It said it was taking the satellite channel to court and its operations would be suspended while this process was under way.
In a letter to the channel it said al-Jazeera had broadcast "false news" on Tuesday night.
The accusation appeared to relate to a programme in which Farouk Kaddoumi – one of Fatah’s founding members – alleged that Mr Abbas had collaborated with Israel to kill Mr Arafat.
Mr Kaddoumi has released what he says were the minutes of a meeting between former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mr Abbas as evidence.
Other Fatah officials have denounced the document as a forgery, saying Mr Kaddoumi’s behaviour was an attempt to split Fatah, the oldest political organisation among the Palestinians which was, until the emergence of Hamas, the dominant force.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Netanyahu Invites Abbas To Talk Peace
July 12th, 2009 |
1 Comment
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday invited the Palestinians to sit down immediately to talk peace, but the Palestinian leader maintained his demand that first Israel must halt all West Bank settlement constru…