Obama calls on Israel to stop building Jewish settlements

Source  :  Xinhua

JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama called on the Israeli government Thursday to stop building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying continued settlement activity is "counterproductive" to peace.

Obama, who is in Israel on a three-day visit, was delivering a keynote speech to Israeli students which was nationally televised.

In the emotional speech, Obama said an independent and viable Palestinian state is the only way to guarantee the peace and security of Israel and he believed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is a "true partner" for peace with Israel.

"Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable, that real borders will have to be drawn, " he said.

Obama also expressed his objection to unilateral steps in solving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, saying that "The U.S. will oppose unilateral steps that attempt to bypass negotiations in the UN (United Nations)." He was referring to the Palestinians' bid to win recognition of their state by the United Nations.

While calling on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Obama said the Palestinians has a right to self- determination.

"It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished... it is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands or restrict Palestinian students from moving around their lands or displacing Palestinian families from their homes; neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer; and just as Israel has built a state in their own land, the Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land," he said to the applauding audience.

The Israel-Palestinian conflict is one of the main topics on the agenda of Obama's first visit to Israel as president of the United States. He discussed the stalled peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting Wednesday and with Palestinian President Abbas Thursday in Ramallah, the West Bank.

The Israel-Palestinian peace talks have stalled since 2010 after the Israeli government led by then prime minister Netanyahu refused to extend a freeze on the settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians hope to build their own state.

To lower expectations for his ongoing tour, Obama Wednesday told reporters that he would not make any major announcement during his stay in Israel. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is accompanying Obama in the trip, will reportedly come to Israel to meet with Netanyahu on follow- up actions on the peace process after Obama leaves Jordan for home Saturday.

Man faces year in jail after Abbas Facebook joke

Source : Maan News Agency

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian court has sentenced a man from the Nablu area to a year in prison for insulting President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook officials said Thursday.

The Nablus magistrates court sentenced Anas Saad Awwad, 26, of Awart village, in absentia to a year in prison after convicting him on charges o criticizing the government, an official said.

Khalil Assaf, the director of the public freedoms committee within a unimplemented unity deal, called the sentence itself an insult to the presiden not the supposed crime of criticizing him.

Assaf called on the court to reverse the ruling.

The defendant had been detained previously on similar charges, but wa released after paying a fine, according to his father.

"My son only commented on Facebook. You know how young peop comment," he said. "He didn't mean to insult the president. I ask the presiden to intervene personally to cancel the court's decision."

Awwad's lawyer, Rima al-Sayyed, said her client has been accused of photo shopping of Abbas wearing a Real Madrid shirt with the caption: "A ne attacker."

She declined to comment on the sentence, saying it was not final.

Last year Palestinian security forces jailed at least three people accused separate incidents of criticizing the government on social networking websites

“Supporting Palestinian Nation Rights Iran’s Strategy”

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that supporting the rights of the Palestinian nation is a major strategy of Iran.

He made the remarks in Cairo in a meeting with the Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas which took place at the sideline of the 12th Summit of Organization of the Islamic Cooperation.

Praising the United Nations recognition of Palestine as a non-membe state, Ahmadinejad said the Zionist regime was already objecting to such recognition.

He said he was confident that nations are to meet a better destiny i they continue with resistance to the bullying powers, calling fo supporting Palestinian nation.

The Iranian President said enemies have been benefiting from disagreements within the Palestinian nation but there is high hope tha efforts underway to create unity among them will be fruitful.

Abbas, for his part, appreciated Iran’s supports for the Palestinian nation stating that Iranian brothers have always stood by the oppressed nation of Palestine.

Pointing to west’s pressures and the negative attitudes of a number o western and Arab governments towards membership of Palestine in the United Nations, he said Palestinians will safeguard their achievemen which he said is a big one.

Referring to his efforts to establish unity and reconciliation amon Palestinian groups, Abbas noted that the Palestinian youth are as befor seeking new ways to continue with resistance movement.

Egypt says Fatah, Hamas agree to enact unity deal

Source : Maan News Agency

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -- An Egyptian official said the leaders of Hamas and Fatah factions had agreed at talks in Cairo on Wednesday to implement a long-delayed reconciliation pact, although it was unclear if the deal would extend beyond holding more talks.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement based in the West Bank and Khaled Mashaal of the Hamas group that controls the Gaza Strip met face-to-face for the first time in over a year to discuss how to implement their 2011 deal.

The rivals fell out badly when Hamas seized control of Gaza from Fatah by force in 2007. But the have drawn closer since Israel's assault on Gaza in November, in which Hamas claimed victory, an a diplomatic win by Abbas the same month in which the United Nations voted to recogniz Palestine as a "non-member state".

"It was agreed that sides would begin immediately to implement the previously agreed mechanism of the agreement signed," a senior Egyptian official involved in the talks, who declined to b named, told Reuters by phone from Cairo.

Nabil Abu Rdaineh, a senior aide to Abbas, said the president had held a lengthy meeting wit Meshaal in a "positive atmosphere". He said there was an agreement to hold more meetings, bu declined to give details. No comment was immediately available from Hamas.

The two sides have signally failed to put into practice the deal they signed in Cairo in May 2011 t reunify the leadership of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

The Egyptian official said discussions to find ways to do so had been held in a "positive spirit", an that the rival factions would meet again in the first week of February to work out a timetable.

Egyptian mediators had hoped to coax Abbas and Mashaal into a meeting with Egyptian Presiden Muhammad Mursi, but in the event they met without Mursi. Abbas is reluctant to accept an format that would imply giving the Hamas leader a status equivalent to his own.

Abbas appoints Fatah leadership in Gaza

Source : Maan News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday appointed the new leadership of the Fatah committee in the Gaza Strip, its new chairman told Ma'an.

Ahmad Nasar, appointed head of the committee, said that the newly formed group will work to improve Fatah's organizational structure and increase its membership in Gaza.

Faisal Abu Shahla, Muhammad al-Nahal, and Ibrahim Abu al-Naja, and Sameh Nasser, all members of Fatah's revolutionary council, will be part of the committee, Nasar said.

Fatah officials say it is not logistically possible to hold elections for the leadership in Gaza.

The last chairman, Yazid al-Huweihi, resigned last June because he objected to a propose reshuffle of the committee leaders, which saw a number of new faces brought in to the body.

Fatah then postponed the reshuffle.

Fatah held its first major political event in the Gaza Strip on Friday, after Hamas was als permitted to hold West Bank rallies for its anniversary in December.

The parties split Palestine into separate West Bank and Gaza governments in 2007, amid violen infighting