Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti has tabled his own political
manifesto, but his comeback plans are unclear as he remains reluctant to
join any political force ahead of the February elections.Over the Christmas period, Monti seemed to have entered campaigning mode. He posted a
and wrote on his Twitter page: "Together, we saved Italy from disaster.
Now we have to renew politics. Complaining won't help anything. Rolling
up sleeves will. Let's rise to politics!"The "Monti agenda" contains all the arguments for his comeback as
prime minister without explicitly saying it. It mentions Italy taking a
more prominent role in European negotiations; the need for structural
reforms; cutting back the country's crushing debt; taking on the mafia;
tax evasion and promoting women to top management positions.Centrist politicians from smaller parties and civic movements, such
as Pier Ferdinando Casini from the Catholic UDC and former foreign
minister Franco Frattini, have already endorsed his manifesto, possibly
setting the ground for a centrist coalition running on his behalf in the
early elections due in February.Monti last weekend said he would "weigh the option" were a coalition
of parties to adhere to his agenda and propose him for the top job. But
he made no clear commitment prompting Italian commentators to nickname
him the "hesitant candidate."The risk for Monti is that once he is clearly affiliated with a
political camp, he will only get a fraction of the vote and not enough
to form a majority in the parliament.His political foe, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, has
resumed attacks on Monti saying it would be "immoral" for him to stand
for election after having served as an unelected premier.Members of Berlusconi's party, the People of Freedom, have also attacked Monti's manifesto, calling it "pure propaganda.""Monti did not save Italy, he merely reaped the merits of four year
of work by Berlusconi", said Gianfranco Rotondi, a PDL deputy.As for the Pope, who resides in the state of Vatican within the
Italian capital, his Christmas message was as close as it could get to a
political endorsement for Monti.He urged people to "reflect, favour the spirit of cooperation for the
common good and lead to a reflection on the hierarchy of values when
making the most important of choices."Monti does not need to run in the elections to become a prime
minister again, as he has a life-long parliamentary appointment as
senator.But the fact that the former EU commissioner never stood for office
posed a legitimacy problem when he took over from Berlusconi late in
2011.A possible pact with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), poised to
win the elections, may lead to Monti coming back. But only if the
radical left allies are not part of the coalition, the Financial Times
reports.PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the Democrats, has so far
given a cautious response to Monti's manifesto, saying there was
“nothing surprising, with some things we agree, others a bit less, and
others we can discuss."
Orestiadas, Greece - A chief of police
in a border town in northeastern Greece says irregular migrants are no
longer crossing into the country from its land border with Turkey.Barbed-wire fences, landmines, thermal night vision cameras and
regular patrols are among the tools used to stop a phenomenon the Greek
state considers a national security threat.Some 55,000 people were detected attempting to wade across the Evros River into Greece from Turkey in the region in 2011.The figures have now dropped to near zero, says Pashalis Syritoudis,
director of police in the run-down Greek border village of Orestiadas."In July 2012 we had 6,500 illegal migrants who passed the border. In
August, we had only 1,800. In September, only 71 illegal immigrants, in
October only 26 and now there are none," he told EUobserver on 22
November.
Orestiadas is six kilometres west of the Evros river on the Greek-Turkish border.It is home to a large number of Greek police officers, military
personnel and staff from the EU's Warsaw-based border control agency,
Frontex.From his modest office at the police headquarters, Syritoudis
oversees border operations in a jurisdiction that covers an 80-km-long
stretch of the Evros river as well as the 12.5-km-long land border with
Turkey.He says the trend stopped since Greece launched Operation Xenious Zeus in early August.
Migrants are now targeting the more treacherous sea crossings near Lesvos, Sumos, Symi and the Farmkonis islands instead."We have given a very clear message to the facilitators [migrant
smugglers] and their source countries in North Africa and other
countries that Evros is no longer an easy passage to enter Europe,"
Syritoudis noted.Further south in a three-star hotel in Didymoteicho, Greek border guards take a rest from their shifts on patrol.One officer, who did not want to give his name, told this website
that his unit apprehended a young man from Pakistan in the winter whose
hand had frozen solid."We had to cut off his hand. He told us to send him back, that he was
now useless to his family. We felt sorry for him, not because he lost
his hand, but because he was no longer a value to his family," he said.He said he had also seen pregnant women and young girls trying to
cross the river. In one case, a Pakistani woman had a baby on the road
just 10 days before crossing the river."You begin to understand that things must be terrible for them to
take such risks and I really feel for them but at the same time we feel
unnerved, unsettled by their presence and numbers. We are terrified by
this invasion," the officer said.
Land mines lurk in Greek village
Further south still, outside Syritoudis' jurisdiction, the remnants
of a decades-old conflict remain buried beneath the soil of rural
villages.A skull and crossbones marks the entrance to a tiny road that leads
to Gemisti, a small Greek village just a few metres away from the
Egnatia A2 motorway where lorries queue to enter Turkey.Behind the sign, buried in the thick brush, are anti-vehicle mines.They are a legacy from the second world war and the 1946–1949
conflict in the Western Macedonia and Epirus regions in northern Greece.But they also killed over 100 people trying to get through the strip between 1998 and 2008, says Geneva-based Landmine Monitor.Greece signed a convention in 2005 that prohibits the use,
stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines as well as obliging
signatories to uproot and destroy any mines left in their domain.But the land in the Gemisti region is still deadly."They [migrant smugglers] would lead the migrants through the fields
to clear a way. They would lie to them and say it was safe," an elderly
lady - who runs one of the two village cafes and who declined to give
her name - told this website.The same story was repeated in Peplos, another village a few kilometres from Gemisti."Many times the Turks would tell the migrants to walk through the
mines and some stepped on them ... When we found them, we would call the
military to come pick up the bodies,” Michalis, an elderly farmer,
said.The Greek military did uproot almost 30,000 antipersonnel mines in 57
sites along the Turkish border in 2009, but left behind ones which are
designed to be detonated by heavy vehicles such as tanks."The majority of casualties occurred at the border between Greece and
Turkey [102], two at the border with Bulgaria, and the location of four
remains unknown," the NGO, the research arm of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines, told this website in an email.
Who were they?
Most of the dead people were Iraqis. But the nationalities of almost half were never properly identified.
Greece has not recorded any casualties since 2008, but Landmine
Monitor said "there is a fair possibility that the data collection is
not complete."
Meanwhile, a 2012 report declassified in April by the Greek ministry
of defence notes that barbed wire has been added to keep people out of
almost all the minefields in the border region.
But it added that migrants become victims because they are led by
smugglers to the border along the River Evros at night and then
instructed to ignore mine fences and markings.
"Sometimes they are even aided in cutting the wire and led into minefields," the report said.
MUSLIM NATIONS
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
MATTHEW 25:32-34,40-41
32 And before him (JESUS) shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand,(ISRAEL SUPPORTERS) but the goats on the left.(ISRAEL HATERS)
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,(ISRAELIS) ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,(ISRAEL HATERS) Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
EZEKIEL 12:25
25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-18
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)
EZEKIEL 35:3-6,11-15
3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir,(ARABS) I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred,(AGAINST ISRAEL) and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:
6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.
12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.
13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
14 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.(ARAB,MUSLIMS)
15 As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir,(ARABS) and all Idumea,(ARAB,MUSLIMS) even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
ISAIAH 17:1,12-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS-MUSLIMS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them,(BEFORE THE NUKE GOES OFF) and behind them a desolate wilderness;(AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB GOES OFF) yea, and nothing shall escape them.(EVERYTHING NUKED)
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,(SIBERIAN DESERT) with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
JEREMIAH 8:7
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;(MIGRATION TIME) and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;(IN MIGRATION SEASON) but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.(WW3 MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISRAELS ENEMIES FLESH AND BLOOD)
Hinting at war crimes charges, UK minister attacks Israel for East Jerusalem construction plans
Alistair
Burt also calls for reversal of Ariel University upgrade; praises
Mahmoud Abbas for ‘measured response’ to Israel’s ‘profoundly
provocative actions’
A British minister on Thursday
harshly condemned Israel for its plans to expand construction in East
Jerusalem and for conferring university status on a college in the West
Bank city of Ariel, employing damning language rarely used by government
officials.While international outcries following Israeli
announcements of construction beyond the Green Line are a common
occurrence, UK Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt took the
unusual step of mentioning the Geneva Conventions, likely implying that
settlement expansion is considered a war crime under international law.The move is being seen by some as an
intensification of rhetoric in response to Israel’s increasingly
aggressive avowals to broaden its settlement enterprise.In his
statement,
Burt said he and Foreign Secretary William Hague last week expressed
“condemnation and deep disappointment” at the Jerusalem District
Planning and Building Committee’s approval of 1,500 housing units in
Ramat Shlomo. They also denounced recently announced plans for
additional construction in the Givat Hamatos and Gilo neighborhoods,
which are beyond the Green Line.“These are further profoundly provocative
actions that run contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Burt stated.
“By taking these steps, despite the international community repeatedly
raising our profound concerns, the Israeli government is damaging
Israel’s international reputation.”Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
states that an occupying power “shall not deport or transfer parts of
its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” This is the
basis for the position of international bodies, such as the United
Nations and the European Union, to consider Israeli settlements beyond
the Green Line illegal under international law.
Violations of the
1949 Geneva Convention are considered war crimes under international law. Israel is a party to the convention and therefore bound by its obligations.According to Israel advocate Irwin Cotler, a
former Canadian justice minister and expert on international law, Burt’s
evoking of the Geneva Convention marks a “gradual ratcheting up” of
criticism in light of Israel’s increasingly assertive settlement policy.
While international human right activists have in the past quoted the
convention to incriminate Israel, Western government officials have
lately refrained from mentioning it in relation to Israeli settlements.“At first the settlements were unhelpful, then
they became an obstacle to peace; from there they went to being
illegal, from there to being contrary to international law, and now they
are violating the Geneva Conventions,” Cotler told The Times of Israel.
“It seems that this signifies a calibrated indictment reciprocal to the
increasing affirmations of the Israeli government’s settlement policy.”Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor called the word choice “disappointing.”“The Palestinian interpretation of the
applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the West Bank and to
settlements therein is highly controversial and stands in contradiction
with a great number of legal opinions by leading experts,” Palmor said.
“It is therefore disappointing to see that a [Foreign Office] minister
should adopt the contested Palestinian position hook, line and sinker,
thus adding controversy where it is already in excess.”In trying to fend off such attacks, Israel
usually refers to a clause in the convention that says regulations only
apply to “High Contracting Parties” — in other words, signatory states.
Since the West Bank and East Jerusalem were not within the recognized
territory of any contracting party when Israel captured them, they are
to be considered disputed territories rather than occupied, Jerusalem
argues.In May, the EU foreign ministers released a
statement mentioning “the applicability of the fourth Geneva Convention
relative to the protection of civilians.” This passage seems to refer
mostly to Israel’s obligation to safeguard Palestinians living under
Israeli military control. On December 10, the EU issued a
harshly worded rebuke of Israel’s plans to expand settlements in the West Bank but failed to mention the convention.
British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt in Jerusalem, January 2012. (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Burt, a Conservative, also called on the Israeli government to “urgently” reverse
its decision
to upgrade the Ariel University Center to a full-fledged university.
“Ariel is beyond the Green Line in a settlement that is illegal
according to international law. This decision will deepen the presence
of the settlements in the Palestinian territories and will create
another obstacle to peace,” he said.The minister further said that the United
Kingdom appreciates the Palestinian leadership’s “measured response” to
Israel’s recent announcements and recommended Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas for
publicly rejecting recent “
inflammatory statements” by Hamas leaders.Having received nonmember state status at the
United Nations in late November, the Palestinians are said to be
considering turning to the International Criminal Court in The Hague
to denounce Israel for alleged war crimes.However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
other senior government ministers have repeatedly vowed to keep
building despite all pressure.
Syria envoy calls for political change to end conflict
By Dominic Evans and Erika Solomon | Reuters – 2 hrs 59 mins ago DEC 27,12
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The international envoy seeking a negotiated solution to Syria's 21-month-old conflict said on Thursday political change was needed to end the violence which has killed 44,000 people.
Speaking in Damascus at the end of a five-day trip during which he met President Bashar al-Assad, Lakhdar Brahimi called for a transitional government to rule until elections and said only substantial change would meet demands of ordinary Syrians.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
added to the envoy's call for a peaceful solution when he told a senior
Syrian diplomat that only a "broad inter-Syria dialogue and political
process" could end the crisis.Brahimi's push for a
transitional government suggested he was trying to build on an
international agreement in Geneva six months ago which said a
provisional body - which might include members of Assad's government as well as the opposition - should lead the country into a new election.
But the mainly
Sunni Muslim
Syrian rebels have seized the military initiative since the Geneva
meeting in June and the political opposition has ruled out any
transitional government in which Assad, from Syria's Alawite minority,
plays a role.Rebel fighters resumed attacks on Thursday against the
military base of Wadi Deif, which lies next to Syria's main north-south
highway linking Aleppo with Damascus.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a
British-based opposition group which monitors the violence, said rebels
also clashed with Assad's forces inside the Minakh air base in Aleppo
province after several days of fighting outside its perimeter, although
the army still controlled the base itself.Around the capital, Assad has used artillery and air
strikes for weeks to try to dislodge rebels from suburbs which ring the
east and south of the city."Certainly it was clear in Geneva, and it's even
clearer now that the change which is needed is not cosmetic or
superficial," Brahimi told a news conference in Damascus before leaving
Syria."I believe the Syrian people need, want and aspire to genuine change and everyone knows what this means," he said."A government must be created ... with all the powers
of the state," Brahimi added. He said it should hold power for a
transitional period until elections - either for a new president or a
new parliament - are held."This transitional process must not lead to the ...
collapse of state institutions. All Syrians, and those who support them,
must cooperate to preserve those institutions and strengthen them," he
said.Radwan Ziadeh of the opposition Syrian National Council
dismissed Brahimi's proposal as "unrealistic and fanciful" and said a
transitional government could not be built on the same "security and
intelligence structure as the existing regime".
TOO SOON FOR COMPLETE PLAN
Russia's Lavrov met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister
Faisal Makdad in Moscow on Thursday. Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov
as saying the chances of forging a solution based on the Geneva
agreement were decreasing, but it was necessary to keep seeking a
peaceful solution because the alternative is "bloody chaos"."The longer it continues, the broader its scale and the
worse (it will be) for everyone," it quoted Lavrov as saying.Syrian and Lebanese sources said Makdad had been sent
to Moscow to discuss details of a peace plan proposed by Brahimi.Brahimi is due in Moscow on Saturday and said he also
expected to have a third joint meeting with U.S. and Russian officials
soon following two rounds of talks earlier this month. But he denied the
existence of a U.S.-Russian plan to end the crisis and said it was too
soon to present a "complete plan"."What is preferred is that we don't present such a plan
until we feel that all sides have agreed to it. That way, implementing
it is easy. If that doesn't happen, the other solution could be to go to
the (United Nations) Security Council to issue a binding resolution for
everyone," he said.A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman also denied any joint initiative between Moscow and Washington.World powers remain divided over what has become an
increasingly sectarian struggle, with Sunni Muslim states such as Turkey
and the Gulf Arab countries supporting the rebels while Shi'ite Iran
and Hezbollah have backed Assad, whose Alawite community has its roots
in Shi'ite Islam.Syria's struggle "has taken a vicious form of sectarian
confrontation", Brahimi said. "Syrian officials foremost, as well as
the international community, must not let Syria slide down this very
dangerous path which threatens the future of Syria."Deep differences between Western powers opposed to
Assad - led by the United States - and Russia and China which have
supported his government, have left the U.N. Security Council paralyzed
and largely sidelined throughout the conflict.
The political stalemate has helped transform a
once-peaceful uprising into a civil war in which rebels have grown in
military strength and taken control of swathes of territory in the
north, leaving Assad increasingly reliant on air power to curb them.Activists in the central province of Hama, where rebels
launched an offensive last week to extend their control southwards
towards the capital, reported on Thursday that rebels shot down a MiG
fighter near the town of Morek.The Syrian Observatory said air force fighters launched
three raids on rebel forces around Wadi Deif. The British-based group
also reported fierce clashes in the area.The violence has been accompanied by an escalation in
apparently sectarian attacks between the Sunni Muslim majority and
minorities such as Assad's Alawite sect, which has largely supported the
president.
Activists in Hama uploaded a video of what appeared to
be Assad soldiers and shabbiha militia members stabbing the body of a
dead man and setting it on fire. The man looked as if he had been beaten
to death.
"This is a terrorist, a brother of a whore, one of
those trying to destroy the country," one of the men shouted. Two men in
camouflage uniforms and army helmets stood by watching. Samer
al-Hamawi, an activist from Hama, said rebels in his area found the
video on the phone of a soldier they captured this week.The video emerged a day after Islamist rebel units
released footage showing the bodies of dozens of Assad's fighters along a
highway near an Alawite town in Hama.(Additional reporting by Marwan Makdesi in Damascus and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Iran will open suspect military base if threats dropped: report
Reuters – 8 hrs ago DEC 27,12
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran would let U.N nuclear inspectors into a military base
they suspect was used for atomic weapons-related work, if threats
against the Islamic Republic are dropped, a government official was
quoted as saying.The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes Iran conducted explosives tests with possible nuclear applications at Parchin, a sprawling military base southeast of Tehran, and has repeatedly asked to inspect it.Western diplomats
say Iran has carried out extensive work at Parchin over the past year to
cleanse it of any evidence of illicit activities but IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said earlier this month a visit would still be "useful"."If the
trans-regional threats (against Iran) dissipate, then they will find it
possible to visit Parchin," Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was
quoted by the Iranian Labour News Agency as saying on Wednesday. The comments were also published on Thursday by online magazine Iran Diplomacy.Qashqavi was most
likely referring to Israel's threat of military strikes against Iran and
the possibility of further sanctions by the West.Israel has said it will resort to military action if diplomacy fails to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear work is entirely peaceful.Earlier this month, IAEA officials visited Iran to try
to negotiate access to Parchin to resolve outstanding issues related to
"possible military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear program.Iran has repeatedly
said that a wider agreement on the IAEA's inquiry must be reached
before opening the site to inspectors.(Reporting By Marcus George; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)