IRAQ : 60 PEOPLE SEIZEDAccording to the Gulf-Times, 60 people were abducted yesterday by some insurgents and threatened to killed them unless Shias left the area.
The Gulf-Times
Il Romanaccio at 1:09 PM
LEBANON : THE NEW PRIME MINISTERNajib Miqati is the Newly apppointed Lebanon's Prime Minister, a former Public Works Minister and a pro-Syrian lawmaker. Umar Karami, the former Prime Minister resignated from his job two days ago, as a result, Lebanon's President Emile Lahud had to choose another Minister.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 1:00 PM
IRAQ : DONALD RUMSFELD NOTICES DEMOCRACY IMPROVEMENTSUS Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld payed an announced visit in Iraq on Tuesday, noticing improvements in the country.
CNN
Il Romanaccio at 12:46 PM
TURKEY : 21 KURDS DIED IN CLASHES WITH POLICEAccording to the semi-official Anatolia News Agency, 21 members of the PKK(Kurdistan Workers PArty) were killed, on Thursday, in clashes with the local police. Three Turkish soldier died as well.
CNN
Il Romanaccio at 12:40 PM
ISRAEL : FATAH MEMBER CAPTURED BY ISRAELI ARMYA 21 year-old lone attacker, came from the Syrian border to seize an Israeli soldier and take him back to Syria was instead seized by Israeli troops, in the Golan Heights. The man was indentified as a member of the Fatah Palestinian faction.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:35 PM
ISRAEL : ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS CONDAMNED BY UN GROUPA resolution was approved by the UN Human Rights Commission that condamned the illegal settlements Israel has in the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip. The resolution calls for an immediate change of policy about the occupied territories.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:30 PM
IRAQ : THREE BOMBS, ONE DEATH 8 WOUNDEDOne civillian was killed in Baghdad and 8 others wounded as three different bombs exploded today.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:27 PM
IRAQ : ANNAN BLAMES OIL-FOR-FOODUN secretary General Kofi Annan said that the USA And Great Britain should be ashamed for what happened under their watch.
He said, "..the fact that the bulk of the money that Saddam Hussein made came out of smuggling outside the oil-for-food programme, and it was on the American and British watch".
"Possibly they were the ones who knew exactly what was going on, and that the countries themselves decided to close their eyes to smuggling to Turkey and Jordan because they were allies," he also added.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:20 PM
LEBANON : KARAMI QUITS AGAINAs the process to form a new government failed again, Prime Minister Umar Karami decided to quit the government and presented his resignation to President Emile Lahud.
"We have once again reached a dead end," said Karami to the press.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:21 AM
SYRIA : SHARON SAYS ISRAEL HAS NO PLAN TO ATTACK IRANThere is no plan to attack Iran in order to stop the developing of a nuclear bomb on the Ariel Sharon's desk.
"Israel is not leading the struggle. Of course we exchange intelligence, we exchange views, we discuss issues, but it's not that we are planning any military attack on Iran," Israelian Prime Minister told CNN.
In a separate interview with Fox News, he also said, "Of course we take all precautions and all the steps to defend ourselves. But it's not that Israel should give the answer to the international problem."
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:14 AM
IRAQ : BOMB KILLS 11 AND WOUNDS 20Two car bombs exploded in the central al-Jadiriyah neighbourhood on Thursday morning, killing 11 people and woinding 20. According to al-Jazeera, most of the victims were police officers.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:07 AM
TURKEY : TURKISH PRESIDENT VISITS SYRIAAhmet Necdet Sezer is visiting Syria for a two-day long trip. This meeting between Syriuan president al-Asad and Sezer comes right after the United States asked Turkey for a help in convincing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
"I hope that [the visit] will help further develop relations between Syria and Turkey, contribute to peace and stability in the region and strengthen the ties between the two peoples," Sezer said.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 2:30 PM
IRAQ : 12 IRAQI GUARDS DIEDTwelve Iraqi National Guards were killed by an explosion while dismantling a road-side bomb as another bomb exploded nearby.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 2:27 PM
IRAQ : US ATTACKS 22 IRAQIS DEATHThe al-Rummana village, was attacked by US helicopters and heavy artillery on Monday night. Twenty two Iraqis were killed and at least another twenty were wounded, many children, women and old people are among the victims.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:52 AM
LEBANON : STALL FOR THE NEW GOVERNMENTLebanese politicians did not decide about the new government after a long meeting held yesterday.
"There are points that still need to be resolved. They mostly centre on political demands linked to cabinet portfolios and power share, with the electoral law being part of all the issue," said an official.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:46 AM
PALESTINE : BUSH SAYS NO TO ISRAELI EXPANSIONPresident Gerorge W.Bush is negative about an Israeli expansion project in the West Bank. In the meeting held in his ranch in Texas yesterday with Ariel Sharon, he repeated to that the housing project is not admittable.
..."Therefore, Israel should remove unauthorised outposts and meet its road map obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank," said the American President.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:36 AM
PALESTINE : SHARON IN TEXAS BUSHESMonday April 11 2005- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is landing in Texas today to meet President Bush in his ranch in Crawford, TX. This is the eleventh time the two leaders meet together since they both came to power in 2001. This meeting will be, however, a bit different from the others both because of the less-official location and because of the different diplomatic strategy the United States has been pursuing since Yassir Arafat died and Abbas replaced him.
George W.Bush built the “road map” plan to peace between Palestine and Israel along with the United Nations, Russia and the European Union in order to estabilish a peaceful situation among the two countries. Things started to go better since Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazin as he is known by Palestinians, began a serious talk with the resistance fighters and their organizations in the West Bank. Recent events made the entire world think about the corruption and obscure ways of the Arafat political team. The Abbas government has made so much progress in the last months that it’s clear the previous cabinet did not have a “sincere” inclination towards peace.
Today’s meeting between Sharon and Bush will be focused on the road map plan. There is an expansion project that Israel is preparing which involves the creation of a new “corridor” toward Jerusalem that Sharon wants to build. A new Jewish settlement of about 3,500 houses in the area of Maale Adumim.
This project is not of course welcomed by the rest of the politicians involved in this International Relations affair. President Bush himself recently “suggested” to Sharon to "adhere to those roadmap obligations".
These obligations are roughly the following: Israel must dismantle its illegal settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip while freezing every military activity to retire completely from the occupied territories within the next year. Palestine on its side must make every effort to begin talks with organized resistance movements to prevent any form of violence towards the Jewish settlements in these areas.
Sharon is having problems within his own Likud Party and between Israeli people for the decision he made to dismantle 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank this summer. Israeli police had to clash with Ultra-Nationalist protesters in Jerusalem as they were opposing the decision made by Sharon to quit from the Gaza Strip. But from Sharon’s point of view, the creation of a new “corridor” to link Jerusalem with Israel is a political reward both for his people and for his cabinet.
Recent violent episodes that erupted between Palestine and Israel were a serious threat to the road map itself. Three Palestinian teenagers were shot dead while trying to retrieve a football in the southern Gaza Rafah Refugee camp on Saturday. Israeli military claimed in a statement that they were instead “smuggling weapons” from the Syrian border.
On the other side, mortar shells were fired by Palestinian fighters toward Jewish towns in Israel.
"The firing [of the mortars] was a flagrant violation of the understanding achieved at Sharm al-Shaikh and it will be a central issue to be raised in my talks with President Bush," is the comment that Sharon made regarding the rockets launched by the Palestinian fighters over the week-end. (al-Jazeera)
Some Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that "They [Palestinian Fighters] are pointing a gun to [Abbas'] head," and "Abbas is weak. He needs assistance, but you can only help someone who helps himself,"
These two episodes were cerntainly the main reason why Bush and Sharon are now in discussions at the Crawford ranch. They also were the first serious violent clashes since the meeting at Sharm al-Shaikh in February, when Arab World leaders met to discuss common policy.
Ariel Sharon also met with US Secretary of State Condooleza Rice and according to al-Jazeera, Israeli officials expect Bush to reiterate the concept of a full adherence to the road map, implying no possibilities for the Maale Adumim’s project.
Shimon Peres, Israeli Vice-Premier, told the press, "until the end of the Gaza process, I think we should not be making more problems."
As Saib Uraiqat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator, said to al-Jazeera ; "With no doubt, Sharon's visit to the United States is very important." The Israeli Prime Minister will try to convince Bush of the fact that Abbas did not do what he was expected to do, and that he was not able to control the Palestinian Resistance Movement to stop its violent activity. Sharon will also probably point out that fact that the Maale Adumim settlement will be vital for the Israeli people.
Uraquait is also afraid that "Sharon intends to cancel the issues of Jerusalem, the refugees and the borders. This will put us in a new transitional stage by considering a state with temporary borders," because, as he says this "This will lead to an endless crisis."
The pull-out of the Israeli army from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip scheduled for this summer will have a high cost that the United States is likely to pay, according to the BBC. To withdraw 8,000 Jewish people and the troops that are defending them from the Gaza Strip, plus another 4 settlements from the West Bank will be expensive. Israel needs economic help from the United States and that will probably be ensured by the Bush administration.
According to CNN, an Indiana Republican, Mr.Lugar, said that the US’ support to dismantle these settlements is undeniable but at the same time they must "affirm our need to proceed on the road map," and he also declared, "Our involvement there with the president tomorrow is extremely important," as well as "I hope there's follow-through now of really very successful, intensive United States diplomacy to help both parties."
Former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told CNN, "I don't think he [Sharon] profoundly believes in a two-state solution, but he understands in the current situation he cannot have both the West Bank and Gaza."
CNN al-JazeeraBBCALSO IN BLOGGERNEWS:NET
Il Romanaccio at 3:40 PM
PALESTINE : SHIN BETH LEADER ANNOUNCES A NEW INTIFADAAvi Ditcher, the leader of the domestic Palestinian security agency Shin Beth, announced that when Israel will finish to build the separation wall a new Intifada is likely to happen. He explained the prediction saying that, once the wall will be finished Palestinian will feel "besieged".
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 1:24 PM
PALESTINE : ISRAELI ARMY ATTACKS NABLUSIsraeli army raided the city of Nablus in the West Bank on Monday morning. They were apparently searching for Palestinian activists. There were up to twenty military vehicles and helicopters baking the troops, they warned the population to get out of the houses. Clashes and began later in the centre of the city.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 1:17 PM
PALESTINE : THREE TEENAGERS KILLED BY ISRAELI ARMYThree Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by some Israeli troops while apparently playing soccer in the Rafah Refugee camp on Saturday.
Israeli army does not denies the fact, saying that the soldiers shot fired warning shots first. The three were approaching the military outpost that controls the camp.
Two of the kids were fifteen year-old and the other was sixteen.
CNN
Il Romanaccio at 1:06 PM
IRAQ : PAKISTANI DIPLOMAT KIDNAPPED IN THE CAPITALMalik Mohamed Javed, a Pakistani official, is missing since the end of the evening prayers on Saturday. He was in the western zone of Amariya when disappeared.
The Pakistani foreign minister announced that, "Persons claiming to be members of Umar bin Khattab group have apparently kidnapped the official."
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:58 PM
PALESTINE : THOUSANDS OF DEMONSTRATORS TO DEFEND A MOSQUEThousands of people are praying inside the al-Aqsa mosque to defend the "al-Haram al-Sharif" also known as The Noble Sanctuary, which israeli army treatened to occupy.
Shaikh Hasan Yusuf is a political leader of Hamas, Palestinian resistance movement who joined the protesters despite an Israeli ban to enter in the occupied east Jerusalem.
"We call on Arab and Islamic nations and all people to immediately move to save the blessed al-Aqsa mosque," he said.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:47 PM
