Tuesday, February 20, 2018
US Says Ready to Talk Mideast Peace; Abbas Calls for Conference
The United States is “ready to talk” Middle East peace with the Palestinians, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday in remarks directed at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, who are working on a new peace plan, sat behind Haley. Speaking after Abbas made a rare address to the 15-member council, she gave no details of the U.S. plan.
“Our negotiators are sitting right behind me, ready to talk. But we will not chase after you. The choice, Mr. President, is yours,” Haley said. Abbas did not stay in the council chamber to listen to her.
The Palestinians no longer view Washington as a neutral negotiator and Abbas on Tuesday called for an international Middle East peace conference to be convened later this year.
The Palestinians are furious over the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December and its decision to cut to U.S. funding for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
“It has become impossible today for one country or state alone to solve a regional or international conflict,” Abbas said. “It is essential to establish a multilateral international mechanism emanating from an international conference.”
Abbas, who shunned a visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to the region last month, said the conference should include the Palestinians, Israel, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - and the United Nations.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council that Abbas was part of the problem, not the solution, and that the “only way to move forward is direct negotiations” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Read More US Says Ready to Talk Mideast Peace; Abbas Calls for Conference : http://ift.tt/2GtSVkUSyrian Troops Retreat from Kurdish Enclave of Afrin
Syrian government troops enroute to Syria's Afrin region, a Kurdish area where Turkish troops have mounted a month-long offensive, retreated Tuesday after Turkish artillery fired warning shots, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
The Syrian Kurdish militia and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights founder Rami Abdul Rahman confirmed the Syrian government troops began entering the Kurdish enclave earlier Tuesday before the warning strikes.
Syria's state media televised a convoy of about 20 machine gun-armed vehicles entering Afrin from the village of Nubul.
There was no immediate word from Kurdish officials about the deployment, but on Monday state media reported pro-Syrian government forces would go to Afrin to "join the resistance against the Turkish aggression."
The deployment came one day after Turkey warned the Syrian government not to enter the area, saying it would retaliate if the troops tried to protect Kurdish fighters.
Turkey launched its offense on Jan. 20 to rid the area of Kurdish forces. Turkey considers Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their association with outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.
Read More Syrian Troops Retreat from Kurdish Enclave of Afrin : http://ift.tt/2sLphWsPolice Suspect Netanyahu Associate of Trying to Bribe Judge
Israeli police on Tuesday said they suspect a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of offering a sitting judge a top posting in exchange for dropping a corruption case against Netanyahu's wife.
The development marks the latest scandal to engulf the beleaguered Israeli leader's inner circle. Netanyahu already stands accused of bribery in two other cases.
Nir Hefetz, a former spokesman of the Netanyahu family, is suspected of suggesting to Judge Hila Gerstel that she could be appointed attorney general if she killed a pending case against Sara Netanyahu's excessive household spending.
The offer never materialized.
Earlier, police named Hefetz as one of two Netanyahu associates under arrest for their suspected role in a separate wide-ranging corruption probe.
Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and says the latest charges against him were merely a continuation of a wider media orchestrated witch hunt against him and his family.
"Nir Hefetz never presented this ludicrous offer to the prime minister and his wife, he was never asked by them to make such an offer and we can't imagine that Hefetz would even imagine such a thing," Netanyahu said.
Earlier Tuesday, with an initial gag order lifted, police identified Hefetz and Shlomo Filber, the former director of the communications ministry under Netanyahu, as the two suspects in promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel's Bezeq telecom company, in return for favorable coverage of Netanyahu in a highly popular subsidiary news site.
Netanyahu, who held the communications portfolio until last year, has not yet been named as a suspect in the case but is expected to be questioned.
Bezeq's controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch is also in custody, along with his wife, son and other top Bezeq executives. Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Netanyahu.
The new probe comes days after police announced there was sufficient evidence to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two separate cases.
Netanyahu is accused of receiving lavish gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. In return, police say Netanyahu had operated on Milchan's behalf on U.S. visa matters, legislated a tax break and connected him with an Indian businessman.
In the second case, Netanyahu is accused of offering a newspaper publisher legislation that would weaken his paper's main rival in return for more favorable coverage.
Netanyahu has long accused the Israeli press corps of being biased against him and has taken steps to counter it by promoting more sympathetic outlets to him.
Read More Police Suspect Netanyahu Associate of Trying to Bribe Judge : http://ift.tt/2EF5mxJTurkey Warns US, Syrian Government Against Supporting Kurds
The Turkish government has asked the U.S. to stop arming Kurds in Syria, and warned the Syrian government against involvement in Turkey's offensive against Kurds in Syria. Turkish officials spoke Monday in response to news reports that Damascus plans to send pro-government militias to Afrin in northern Syria to help the Kurds fight off a Turkish offensive. VOA's Zlatica Hoke has more.