SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday apologized in a personal phone call to Turkey’s prime minister for a deadly commando raid on a Turkish ship in 2010, in a sudden reconciliation between the two countries that was partly brokered by President Obama during his visit to Israel this week, according to Israeli, Turkish and American officials.

In the call, Mr. Netanyahu expressed regret for the raid, which took place as Israeli troops were enforcing an aid embargo on Gaza, and offered compensation, Turkish and Israeli officials said. And after years of holding out for a public apology for the deaths, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accepted Israel’s gesture in the phone call.

Afterward, officials from both countries said that diplomatic relations had been fully restored and that ambassadors would be reinstated.

In a statement, Mr. Obama welcomed the call, saying, “the United States deeply values our relationships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them, in order to advance regional peace and security.” At one point, Mr. Obama, just before leaving for Jordan, got on the phone with both leaders as they spoke, one senior American official said.

Israel and Turkey had cultivated close ties over many years, but the acrimony over the raid, which resulted in nine deaths, created a stubborn hurdle. Recently, Mr. Erdogan drew harsh criticism for saying that Zionism was a “crime against humanity.”

Discussing the phone call, a senior Turkish government officials said: “The Israeli prime minister, in a phone call that lasted 10 minutes, apologized to the Turkish nation for all operational mistakes, evident in an investigation, that led to human losses, and agreed to offer compensation.”

Addressing the Gaza embargo that led to the tensions, a statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office noted that Israel had also already removed a number of restrictions on the movement of people and goods to all the Palestinian territories, including Gaza, and that the openness would continue as long as quiet prevails. The two leaders agreed to continue to work to improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.

On Friday evening, Mr. Obama landed in Jordan, where he is likely to confront pressure to help that financially struggling country cope with a desperate tide of refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.

It is Mr. Obama’s first visit to an Arab state since the Middle East erupted in unrest two years ago, toppling leaders in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, and plunging Syria, Jordan’s neighbor, into civil war. He is scheduled to hold talks with King Abdullah of Jordan later on Friday.

Diplomacy aside, Mr. Obama spent his last day in Israel making pilgrimages to symbols of the Holocaust, modern Zionism, the Middle East peace process, and Christianity. In coming here, Mr. Obama has traded symbolism for a still-unfolding crisis in Syria.

About 3,000 refugees a day are fleeing into Jordan, swelling the ranks of Syrian refugees to 460,000, equivalent to 9 percent of the kingdom’s population. That has put a heavy strain on the Jordanian economy, which is only partly offset by aid from the United States.

Jordan is seeking increased aid from European and Persian Gulf states, which have lagged the United States in their support. Given a potential pool of three million or four million refugees in southern Syria, Jordanian officials fear the daily influx could swell to as much as 50,000.

Mr. Obama’s speech in Jerusalem, in which he appealed to younger Israelis to prod their leaders to pursue peace with the Palestinians, was warmly received in Jordan, where the king has been a steadfast, if somewhat despairing, advocate for the two-state solution.

As he wrapped up his visit to Israel Friday, Mr. Obama eschewed politics for more universal themes.

After rekindling the eternal flame and laying a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in the morning, a solemn Mr. Obama spoke of a collective “obligation not just to bear witness but to act” against racism “and especially anti-Semitism.”

“Our sons and daughters are not born to hate, they are taught to hate,” Mr. Obama said. “The state of Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust but in the survival of a strong Jewish state of Israel the Holocaust will never happen again.”

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) –US President Barack Obama has arrived in Tel Aviv as part of his visit to the Middle East as protests against his visit escalated in the occupied West Bank.

On Wednesday, Obama was welcomed at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv by his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, and the Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu. 
Upon his arrival, Obama reiterated Washington’s pledge of unwavering commitment to Israel. 
Israel’s prime minister also thanked Obama for standing by Israel. Netanyahu viewed an Iron Dome anti-missile battery system that was brought to the airport with Obama. The system is partially funded by the US, which provides Israel with military aid worth 3 billion US dollars per annum. 
Reports say no major breakthrough in the so-called peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians is expected during Obama's visit. 
Palestinian demonstrators had held protest rallies earlier on the day against Obama’s planned visit to the occupied West Bank, saying Obama is not doing enough to stop Israel’s settlement activities and the arbitrary arrest of Palestinians by Israeli troops. 
In December 2012, Israeli officials said they would go ahead with plans to build several thousands more of settler units on Palestinian territories, despite the opposition of the United Nations and the international community to the measure. 
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East. 
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967. 
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source:Press TV

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reached a deal for a governing coalition in which a new centrist party will serve as his main partner, a spokeswoman for his right-wing Likud party has said.

"There is a government," the spokeswoman, Noga Katz, said on Thursday.

She said Netanyahu's Likud-Beitenu list would be allied with centrist Yesh Atid led by political newcomer Yair Lapid and far-right Jewish Home, headed by high-tech millionaire Naftali Bennett.

It will include a smaller centrist faction led by former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and control at least 68 seats in the 120-member parliament.

"The next term will be one of the most challenging in the history of the state," Netanyahu told his Likud-Yisrael Beitenu parliamentary faction Thursday, shortly before the deal was to be signed. "We are facing great security and diplomatic challenges."

Coalition agreement signing ceremonies were expected later in the day, with a new government likely to take office next week before a visit by US President Barack Obama.

Israel held a general election in January in which centrists made surprising gains at the expense of Netanyahu's conservative Likud-Beitenu party.

Netanyahu's traditional coalition allies, ultra-Orthodox parties now at odds with Yesh Atid and Jewish Home over social benefits and military draft exemptions for religious Jews, will not be in the new coalition.

Netanyahu is likely to face many disgruntled members in his own Likud Party, which was forced to give up key Cabinet posts to appease Lapid.

Zeev Elkin, a Likud lawmaker, accused Lapid of "extortion."

"There is no other expression to describe it," he told Israel Radio.

Arieh Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, told Army radio that he will join a fighting opposition.

"Our first mission is to topple this government," he said.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) –Ihab Al-Ghussain, the Gaza government spokesman, has denounced Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu for desecrating the Buraq plaza at the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

Ghussain said in a press release on Tuesday that the “visit” by Netanyahu to the Buraq plaza was aimed at winning Israeli votes by provoking Arab and Muslim feelings and desecrating their holy shrines.

He said that Israeli leaders were wagering on more extremism against Palestinians in order to win more votes.

Ghussain championed a revolt in the West Bank against such repeated provocations, and asked the Arab and Islamic countries to bridle the Israeli occupation government.

Israeli general elections started on Tuesday to elect 120 new members to the Knesset or parliament.

Former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the Aqsa mosque in 2000 triggered the Aqsa intifada that went on for years.www.shfaqna.com/English

Source:PIC

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- President Obama's second term will be just hours old when he'll need to turn his attention to elections in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has campaigned largely on one issue: security. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has said no settlements in the occupied West Bank will be dismantled if he wins next week's general election.

In an interview with Israel’s Maariv newspaper published on Friday, Netanyahu was asked: "Can you promise that during the next four years, no settlement will be dismantled?"

"Yes," Netanyahu answered. "The days when bulldozers uprooted Jews are behind us, not in front of us. Our record proves it."

"We haven't uprooted any settlements, we have expanded them," he said, recalling that his government had established the first university in a settlement, in Ariel deep in the West Bank.

"Nobody has any lessons to give me about love for the Land of Israel or commitment to Zionism and the settlements."

Netanyahu was alluding to the strong opinion poll showing of the pro-settler Jewish Home party which has been championing accelerated settlement expansion and looks set to take seats from the prime minister's right-wing list in Tuesday's election.

Hanan Cristal, an Israeli public radio commentator, said Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud party, had "in the final stretch of the election campaign, steered to the right on the question of settlements to try to woo Likud supporters tempted to vote for Jewish Home".

Opinion polls on Friday, the last day they are allowed be published before the election, showed the Likud-Yisrael Beitenu list winning 32-35 seats in the 120-member Knesset, down from 42 in the outgoing parliament.

Jewish Home was credited with 13-14, and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party 11-12.

The centre-left Labour party would win 16-17 seats and the centrist Yesh Atid and HaTnuah, 10-13 and 7-8, respectively.

www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA(Shia International News Association)--Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has said no settlements in the occupied West Bank will be dismantled if he wins next week's general election.

In an interview with Israel’s Maariv newspaper published on Friday, Netanyahu was asked: "Can you promise that during the next four years, no settlement will be dismantled?"

"Yes," Netanyahu answered. "The days when bulldozers uprooted Jews are behind us, not in front of us. Our record proves it."

"We haven't uprooted any settlements, we have expanded them," he said, recalling that his government had established the first university in a settlement, in Ariel deep in the West Bank.

"Nobody has any lessons to give me about love for the Land of Israel or commitment to Zionism and the settlements."

Netanyahu was alluding to the strong opinion poll showing of the pro-settler Jewish Home party which has been championing accelerated settlement expansion and looks set to take seats from the prime minister's right-wing list in Tuesday's election.

Hanan Cristal, an Israeli public radio commentator, said Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud party, had "in the final stretch of the election campaign, steered to the right on the question of settlements to try to woo Likud supporters tempted to vote for Jewish Home".

Opinion polls on Friday, the last day they are allowed be published before the election, showed the Likud-Yisrael Beitenu list winning 32-35 seats in the 120-member Knesset, down from 42 in the outgoing parliament.

Jewish Home was credited with 13-14, and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party 11-12.

The centre-left Labour party would win 16-17 seats and the centrist Yesh Atid and HaTnuah, 10-13 and 7-8, respectively.

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source:AL jazeerea

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has pledged to move ahead with building a Jewish settlement in a strategic area of the West Bank, speaking just hours after Israeli troops dragged anti-settlement protesters from the site marked for construction.

The planned settlement, known as E1, would deepen East Jerusalem's separation from the West Bank, both war-won areas the Palestinians want for their own state.

Netanyahu told Israel army radio Sunday that planning for E1 is moving ahead and that "there will be construction".

In a meeting with his Cabinet, Netanyahu said: "As soon as I was updated on the Palestinian gathering, I ordered the evacuation and it was indeed carried out last night in the best possible manner."

About 200 Palestinian activists had set up the camp, named Bab al-Shams, which means Gate of the Sun in Arabic, on Friday in the controversial E1 area between Israel-annexed East Jerusalem and the illegal settlement of Maaleh Adumim.

"We will not allow anyone to harm the contiguity between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim.We will not allow anyone to harm the contiguity between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim," said Netanyahu.

The protesters had defied Israeli orders to leave until police moved in at around 2:30am (00:30 GMT) on Sunday.

"Hundreds of Israeli police came from all directions, surrounding all those who were in the tents and arresting them one by one," Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouthi said.

Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said that no arrests had been made.

"They were told they were trespassing and carefully escorted from the site one by one," he said. "Nobody was hurt on either side."

About 500 police took part in the operation, he added.

Activists injured

Protest organisers said that six people were hurt as they were carried away by police and vowed that the protest would not be the last of its kind.

"This is not the end of the popular struggle and it will continue in its full strength," the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said in a statement.

Al Jazeera’s Jane Ferguson, reporting from Jerusalem, said several activists were detained during the Sunday morning eviction, including Barghouthi.

Our correspondent also said the activists who were detained were driven to Qalandiya checkpoint and then released.

"We also heard from medical sources that four people were admitted to hospital in Ramallah with injuries, but none serious."

"The media has no more access to the site, so we are not sure if the Israeli police are in the process of dismantling the tents."

Netanyahu's office ordered the move after asking the Supreme Court to lift a stay of evacuation.

Palestinian activists erected tents on Friday, saying they wanted to "establish facts on the ground" to stop Israeli construction in the West Bank.

Borrowed tactic

The activists were borrowing a phrase and a tactic, usually associated with Jewish settlers, who believe establishing communities means the territory will remain Israeli.

Activists said they wanted to establish a village on the protest site.

Netanyahu's office said on Saturday night that the state was petitioning the Supreme Court to rescind an earlier injunction blocking the evacuation. In the meantime, he ordered the area declared a closed military zone and shut off access.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Palestinian outpost could remain for six days while the issue of its removal was being discussed.

Israel announced it was moving forward with the E1 settlement after the UN recognised a de facto state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in November.

Palestinians say E1 would be a major blow to their statehood aspirations as it blocks East Jerusalem from its West Bank hinterland. Palestinians are demanding these areas, along with Gaza, for their future state.

The construction plans drew unusually sharp criticism from some of Israel's staunchest allies including the US who strongly oppose the E1 project.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Days before Israel elects a new leader, a former security chief has again offered stinging criticism of the country’s prime minister.

Yuval Diskin, who led Israel’s internal security agency from 2005 to 2011 before retiring, told an Israeli newspaper that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unfit for office.

“Netanyahu is scared, fickle and shirking responsibility,” Diskin told Yediot Ahronoth in a sweeping interview published Friday.

“There is a crisis of leadership here, a crisis of values and total contempt for the public. Maybe people will think I'm exaggerating, but I’m telling you: From close up it looks even worse.”

He also had harsh words for Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and said the men lack necessary tools to make decisions about Iran or the Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu governs from “personal, opportunistic and current interests.”

The interview spanned 5,000 words in a leading publication, The New York Times reported.

Reaction was as expected, with the Israeli government brushing off Diskin’s comments as sour grapes because he was passed over to lead Mossad, the country’s spy agency.

Diskin’s criticism is “groundless,” “motivated by his personal frustration” and “recycled for political reasons,” an Israeli government statement in The Times said.

However, there are those that agree with Diskin, with one Israeli-Iranian blogger saying the leadership is “obsessing with the military option.”

“The avalanche of public criticism of their Iran narrative is getting bigger and gathering more momentum,” Middle East analyst Meir Javedanfar told The Times.

Last April, Diskin made many of the same comments.

He told a conference that Netanyahu and Barak are misguided if they believe a strike against Iran would derail its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“I don’t trust management that relies on messianic leadership,” he said then.

Israel goes to the polls on Jan. 22.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been holding tense talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as plans to build thousands of new settler homes on occupied Palestinian land strained ties with key allies.

On a visit that risks being overshadowed by the diplomatic storm, Netanyahu joined Merkel for a meeting on Thursday morning after they had a dinner late on Wednesday, together with most of their cabinet ministers.

The Israeli leader arrived from Prague where he had singled out the Czech Republic for its "friendship and courage" as the only European state to have opposed a Palestinian status upgrade at the United Nations last week.

Netanyahu's first European visit since the UN vote came amid mounting international calls for Israel to drop plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in a highly contentious strip of the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem.

He announced the move in reaction to the upgrading of Palestine to non-member observer state at the UN and has refused to go back on the decision despite strong international condemnation.

"Germany abstained from voting, which was seen as a slap in the face by many in Israel, and that's what Binyamin Netanyahu said he was disappointed about," said Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer, reporting from Berlin. "When they came and spoke to the press, they were very keen not to underline their differences."

'Disappointed'

German daily Die Welt on Thursday quoted Netanyahu as saying he was "disappointed" that Berlin had abstained from voting at the UN despite reported pleas by Israel to reject the Palestinian resolution.

"People are convinced that there is a special relationship between Germany and Israel," he said.

"I think Chancellor Merkel was of the opinion that this vote would in some way foster peace. In fact the opposite is the case: after the UN vote, the Palestinian Authority under president (Mahmoud) Abbas is making plans to join with the terrorists of Hamas."

France, Britain, Spain, the European Union, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Egypt have all summoned the Israeli ambassadors to protest the plans, which also drew criticism from Russia and Japan.

Germany, long considered Israel's closest ally in Europe with ties rooted in the country's bid for atonement over the Nazi holocaust, stopped short of such a move.

But Merkel sharply condemned the policy as potentially torpedoing hopes for peace and the viability of a Palestinian state.

"Israel is undermining faith in its willingness to negotiate and the geographic space for a future Palestinian state, which must be the basis for a two-state solution, is disappearing," her spokesman Steffen Seibert said this week.

The new tensions came just days after Merkel had offered Israel full support for its military action in Gaza in response to repeated rocket fire.

A Palestinian group said it would hold a demonstration outside the chancellery against "atrocities" committed by Israel during the Gaza campaign, as heavy snow fell over the German capital.

Growing isolation

Israel's settlements stance has also worried the United States, its staunchest ally, which asked it to reconsider the decision.

But Netanyahu, who is facing stiff opposition at home ahead of a snap election next month, has refused to go back on it.

During his stay in Prague, Netanyahu appeared to acknowledge his government's growing international isolation.

"Thank you for your country's opposition to the one-sided resolution by the United Nations, for your friendship, for your courage," Netanyahu told reporters following talks with his Czech counterpart Petr Necas.

"The Czech Republic stood with the US, Canada and a handful of other countries against the prevailing international current, but history has shown us time and again that what is right is not what is popular."

The Israel-German joint cabinet meeting, the fourth of its kind, was to focus on "innovation, education and sustainability".

While in Berlin, Netanyahu will visit with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle a holocaust memorial at a railway station from which the Nazis deported thousands of German Jews to the death camps during World War II.

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