PFLP demands Abbas end negotiations with Israel

PFLP asks Abbas to freeze negotiations with IOA

[ 26/04/2009 - 07:52 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Abdul Rahim Mallouh, the deputy secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has asked Mahmoud Abbas, the ex-PA chief, to freeze negotiations with the Israeli occupation authority. Mallouh, in a memo to Abbas, said that the formation of the new Israeli far right government and the inconclusive national dialog in Cairo called for halting all political meetings with the IOA and concentrating on demanding the implementation of international resolutions regarding the Palestine cause. He said that all efforts should focus on confronting the Israeli practices especially the settlement drive, the wall, siege and judaization of Jerusalem. The PFLP leader stressed that international moves should be planned to rally support for the Palestinian people’s national rights and for providing international protection for that people. Mallouh said that confronting challenges, protecting national project and restoring national unity necessitate surpassing all differences and partisan calculations. He asked Abbas to call for a meeting for the higher national committee for national dialog that was formed in the Cairo meetings back in 2005 in order to prepare for presidential and legislative elections in January 2010 as a way out of the current internal deadlock.

Secretary of State Clinton calls Hamas an Iranian proxy

Missoula, March 5 (Al-Masakin)–U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in remarks made to the press en route to Belgium called the Palestinian resistance proxies for Iran.

Delivering her ubiquitousmessages of hope the Secretary evidently unmoved by the fact that Abu Mazen’s term as President of Palestine expired Jan. 9, 2009, once again called the Palestinian Authority “only legitimate government for the Palestinians and the only partner for any negotiations.” 

Although Deputy Department Spokesman Gordon Duguid said at the daily press briefing that Iran toward negotiations with the United States Iran still had a “clinched fist,” the Secretary went on to say that Iran was consulting with the American ambassador on a daily basis.

“Iran borders Afghanistan. In the early days of the military efforts by the United States and our allies to go after the Taliban and al-Qaida, Iran was consulting with our ambassador on a daily basis. Where it is appropriate and useful for the United States and others to see whether Iran can be constructive, that will be considered,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Evidently deaf to the yesterday’s remarks by Rabbi Aren Kohn in Tehran yesterday to the effect that the Zionists have stolen the Jewish identity and last evenings remarks by John Duke Anthony that American should open a dialogue with Hamas immediately, the Secretary of State continued calling Hezbollah and Hamas Iranian proxies.

“It is clear that Iran intends to interfere with the internal affairs of all of these people and try to continue their efforts to fund terrorism, whether it’s Hezbollah or Hamas or other proxies.”

EHC / EHC

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$600 of the $900 million aid pledged will go to West Bank not Gaza

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/02/18574620.php

$600 million of the $900 pledged by the United States to rebuild Gaza will go to the Palestinian Authority to West Bank development

sharm_el-sheik_2march09.pdf
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Missoula, March 2 (Al-Masakin)—Acting Deputy Department Spokesman for the U.S. State Department Gordon Duguid at today’s daily press briefing that the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Sharm el-Sheik met first with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

During the course of the day the Secretary of State, in addition to attending the plenary session of the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza, met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Bahraini King Hamad. There was an informal Quartet meeting on the sidelines.

The Secretary then met with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and finally Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal. The Secretary of State also met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, with frequent ‘pull-asides with

Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, and Libyan foreign ministers. The U.S. Secretary of State reportedly did not meet with her Syrian counterpart.

With respect to the $900 million pledged by the Secretary, Mr. Duguid said he was awaiting a USAID fact sheet which detailed how that aid would be distributed, but said nevertheless the aid would be distributed in three tranches of $300, $200, $400 million.

The first tranche of $300 million will be provided by USAID in coordination with the United Nations, USAID grantees, and through the Department of State for the UN agencies, the ICRC, and other humanitarian organizations

$200 million will be given to the Palestinian Authority to address the organizations expected $1.15 billion budget shortfall for 2009.

$400 million will be used to support the priorities identified in the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan and will help the Palestinian Authority solidify economic and institutional reforms in the West Bank, which will include support for private sector development, essential public infrastructure improvements in the West Bank, and security sector assistance coordinated by the U.S. Security Coordinator.

Q: So the only bit that’s going to Gaza is the – up to 300 million?

A: That is new money that is going to Gaza. That is correct. But there has been funding previously that has been earmarked for Gaza.

Q: How much of that 300 million is actually for reconstruction and – rather than for –

A: I don’t have that breakdown for you. That’s the breakdown that we’re hoping to get by (inaudible).

Q: Right. I think you’ll find that the answer is zero when you do get the answer. So –

A: Well, we’ll wait and see what answer we get from USAID.

The Spokesman was uncertain whether the proposed $200 million to address the Palestinian Authority’s expected budget shortfall was money already planned for distribution in fiscal year 2009 or whether the money was new money pledged in 2009.

He likewise could not give an estimate as to how much of the $300 million pledged to aid Gaza would actually be used for reconstruction and could not give a breakdown between aid pledged for food and medicine and aid pledged for reconstruction

Q: Okay. If you could find out, and if it does turn out that, in fact, the reconstruction part of the 300 million is zero, can you explain why that is?

A: We’ll always explain why, Matt.

In a similar fashion the Acting Deputy Spokesman could not comment on either the demolition of two homes in Jerusalem or an Israeli army radio report that West Bank settlements are set to double

“What we do have to say we have said many times from this podium, that we call on both sides not to do – take any actions that exacerbate tensions in the region. But I don’t have any particular information on this report that you mention,” Mr Duguid said this morning.

EHC / EHC
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Hamas: Abbas’ boycott of Doha summit proves he has renounced Palestine

Masri: Abbas renounced Palestinian affiliation when he boycotted the Arab summit

[ 17/01/2009 - 11:05 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)– MP Mushir Al-Masri, a prominent Hamas leader, on Friday said that ex-PA chief Mahmoud Abbas’s boycott of the emergency Arab summit on Gaza held in Doha is clear evidence that he renounced his Palestinian affiliation after he had previously abandoned the national ethics. In a press statement received by the PIC, MP Masri that the invitation to Palestinian resistance leaders to attend the Arab summit is proof that the resistance is respected by not only the Arab and Islamic peoples, but also by some governments which sided with the resistance project. He underlined that it was not so unfortunate to see some Arab countries boycott the summit, despite this was against the interests of their peoples, but it was most reprehensible for Abbas, who claims to be a representative of his people, to boycott a summit on Gaza. In the same context, Qatar refuted the allegations of Abbas’s advisors about his absence from the Doha Arab summit, affirming that he did not attend because of external pressures on him. Qatari premier Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani told a news conference held following the summit that Abbas said during a telephone call with him that “if he had attended the summit on Gaza, he would have slaughtered himself from vein to vein.” Nimer Hammad, an advisor to Abbas, had justified Abbas’s absence by saying that the summit would harm the Palestinian cause and contribute to the deepening of the Arab division.