EU foreign ministers to visit Gaza
Monday, July 5, 2010
By: ICEJ News

News in brief...

The foreign ministers of Spain, Italy and France will visit the Gaza Strip later this month to monitor Israel's easing of its arms blockade, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Monday. The announcement came after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently encouraged Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to lead an EU delegation to Gaza, marking an abrupt change in Israeli policy aimed at not legitimizing Hamas rule of Gaza. According to Zapatero, Frattini will travel to Gaza in July with his French and Spanish counterparts, Bernard Kouchner and Miguel Angel Moratinos, though no exact date has been set for the visit. EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Catherine Ashton said Thursday in Paris that EU representatives were considering Lieberman's invitation. Ashton added that the EU representatives would accept the invitation if a clear purpose to the visit was laid out beforehand, and they would be able to come at a time when they could obtain the most information regarding the situation in Gaza. Ashton also said that the representatives would come as long as they would be permitted to bring aid into the Gaza Strip.

Israel 'black-lists' chemicals and weapons-making tools from Gaza
Israel on Monday published its new "black list" of goods it will not allow into the Gaza Strip, under a new policy whereby its four-year-old siege of the coastal territory will now be defined by a list of goods to be kept out, rather than by listing only those allowed in. The banned products include arms and munitions and items which could be used to develop, produce or enhance the military capabilities of Hamas and other Gaza terror militias, the Foreign Ministry said. Also forbidden are "materials and equipment liable to be used for terror attacks and technology that could be used by terrorists." Such material includes chemicals – such as certain fertilizers which could be used in the manufacture of explosives - ball bearings, hunting knives and machetes, certain navigation aides, parachutes, gliders, flares and fireworks and missile-related technology. Certain building materials - cements, ready concrete, steel elements, which militants could also use for military purposes - will be allowed into the enclave only to facilitate construction projects in Gaza which have been authorized by the Palestinian Authority and are implemented and monitored by the international community.

Schalit ‘freedom march’ clogs Tel Aviv traffic
The 11-day “Freedom March” for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit continued to wind its through Israel over the weekend, causing heavy traffic jams and road closings in the Tel Aviv area on Monday as thousands gathered with the Schalit family in Rabin Square and outside the nearby home of Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Schalit’s parents are next expected to lead the march to the Gaza border near the Kerem Shalom crossing where Gilad was abducted four years ago, before starting the journey up to Jerusalem to apply pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure their son’s release in a deal with his  Hamas captors. Netanyahu assured on Sunday that he is willing to “pay a heavy price [for Schalit]. We will free 1,000 security prisoners, including terrorists, but we won’t agree to the suggestion that they enter the area of Judea and Samaria,” where they can more easily launch terror attacks inside Israel. Meantime, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal threatened that “if one soldier isn’t enough to release our prisoners, we will do everything to capture more soldiers.” In an unusual move, Hamas leaders are coming under public pressure in Gaza to do a deal as well, as families of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails plan to hold their own march demanding their return.

Israel miffed at UN chief’s flawed report on tensions with Lebanon
Israeli officials were dismayed by a report submitted on Friday by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon which suggested Israel was to blame for recent tensions with Lebanon that could have led to a devastating new regional conflict. In a report to the UN Security Council, Ban accused both sides of violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the Second Lebanon War in summer 2006, but he blamed the recent build-up of border tensions largely on Israeli claims that Syria had transferred Scud-D missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Ban added that Syria and Lebanon denied the claims while acknowledging that the UN did not have the ability to verify these reports. Senior Israeli officials said in response that the report "ignored reality." Israel's disappointment was compounded by the fact that Ban's report did not mention Hizbullah's involvement in a series of attempts by Lebanese villagers in the south to interfere with UNIFIL patrols over the past month. Some Lebanese even stole equipment belonging to the soldiers. In his report, Ban insisted UNIFIL enjoys "freedom of movement" in all of southern Lebanon, but he did note five recent incidents in which UNIFIL troops were injured and a UN vehicle was stolen. The head of Israeli military intelligence had flown to New York last week to brief diplomats from Security Council member states, especially on the recent assaults on UNIFIL troops in south Lebanon. Jerusalem is convinced they were orchestrated by Hizbullah on Iran’s orders, to conceal “suspicious military activity” in the area. Meanwhile, Shi’ite Muslims in Lebanon are grieving the loss of their top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a founder of Hizbullah, who died Sunday after a long illness at the age of 75.

Ahmadinejad dismisses new US sanctions as ‘pathetic bullying’
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday dismissed new US sanctions signed into law by President Barack Obama last Thursday as a “pathetic acts” by “arrogant, corrupt and bullying powers.” Ahmadinejad insisted: “They know that there is a sleeping lion in Iran which is waking up and if she wakes up all the relationships in the world will change… Their pathetic acts show they know what a great human power is hidden in Iran. Iran is much greater than what they can perceive it in their small minds. We know that if this Iranian civilization awakes then there would be no more room for arrogant, corrupt and bullying powers.” The new sanctions were enacted in hopes of curbing Iran’s renegade nuclear program and will take aim at Iran’s energy, finance, insurance and shipping sectors. Meantime, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates all denied reports on Monday that they had refused fuel to Iranian jets landing at their airports. An Iranian Airlines official had claimed earlier today that the three countries refused fuel to Iranian planes on their runways.

Israel objecting to Saudi deal with US for more F-15’s
Israel has expressed strong objections to the US over plans by Saudi Arabia to buy scores of the latest F-15 fighter aircraft from American defense giant Boeing. The deal is worth billions of dollars and would also involve Boeing upgrading almost 150 F-15’s already in the arsenal of the Saudi air force. The issue is expected to come up in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meetings in Washington on Tuesday. The plan is in line with the Obama administration’s policy of building up the military power of its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf region as a way to balance the rising power of Iran, but Israeli officials worry that Israel may stand to lose it qualitative edge over any array of potential foes. "Today these planes are against Iran, tomorrow they might turn against us," one Israeli official said. "The administration is conducting open and completely transparent talks with Israel on the matter, and we are updating Israel on any planned deal to hear its reservations," a White House official responded. "We believe that there are many cases in which the Iranian threat commits us to strengthen the ability of states in the region to defend themselves."

Abbas eulogizes PLO mastermind of Munich Olympics massacre
Mohammed Oudeh, 73, the mastermind behind the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes who were taken hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics, died Saturday in Damascus, according to WAFA, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority. In a condolence letter to Oudeh's family, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas wrote: "He is missed. He was one of the leading figures of Fatah and spent his life in resistance and sincere work as well as physical sacrifice for his people's just causes."

IDF widens urban warfare training program
The IDF has significantly increased the number of urban combat training centers in anticipation that future wars with Hizbullah and Hamas will be fought in densely built up urban areas with large numbers of civilians. Seven new bases are being built or planned to join the 15 already in operation, the largest of which is located near the Tze’elim Base in the Negev. Two of the planned centers will include subterranean sections to simulate combat in tunnels such as those being used to smuggle weapons and other contraband into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The Ground Forces Command has decided that 25% of an infantry soldier’s training is to be in urban warfare centers.