Berlin-Konferenz

Die Bundesregierung plant für Anfang Juni eine Nahost-Konferenz in Berlin. Ziel sei es, die palästinensische Polizei und den Justizsektor zu stärken, sagte eine Sprecherin des Auswärtigen Amtes am Freitagabend in Berlin. Sie bestätigte damit einen Vorabbericht der "Süddeutschen Zeitung". Die Zeitung berichtete aus ihrer Samstagausgabe, an dem Treffen würden alle EU-Mitglieder, zahlreiche arabische Staaten, Israelis und Palästinenser sowie das Nahost-Quartett aus EU, Russland, USA und den UN teilnehmen. Ziel sei, die Palästinenser auf die Übernahme der Verantwortung in einem eigenen Staat vorzubereiten. Das Treffen solle den Friedensprozess begleiten und das Bemühen der Bundesregierung unterstreichen, sich für einen Frieden zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern einzusetzen. Diese hätten bereits ihre Teilnahme zugesagt, berichtete das Blatt unter Berufung auf Regierungskreise.

Nach dem gestrigen Beschuß Israels durch die al-Quds-Brigaden des Islamic Jahad dämmert der Freitag vor sich hin: Drei Projektile auf Sderot DFLP] und ein [außergewöhnlich] getroffener Recon-Hubschrauber der IAF über dem Gazastreifen. Der einzige der über die Verhandlungen in Ägypten spricht ist Mohammed al-Zahar, der die europäischen Grenzüberwacher ablehnt und ein Halt der israelischen Aktivitäten auch in der Westbank als Grundlage für einen Waffenstillstand ansieht.

Die Hezbollah kondolliert offiziell der Familie Shahade [mastermind Yeshiva attack] und sagt finanzielle Unterstützung zu. Die Hezbollah-Zeitung al-Akhbar schildert angebliche Details des Plans. Das auffällige Schweigen zum Attentat seitens der Ermittler bekommt ein Gesicht: Israel recently conveyed a warning to Syria through a third party that it would hold Damascus accountable for any Hezbollah attacks, Israeli and European sources said on Friday. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warning stemmed largely from Israeli concerns that Hezbollah would launch salvoes of cross-border rockets to coincide with any major Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The sources said the message was conveyed in February through at least one European intermediary following the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander and before this month's five-day Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip in which more than 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed. [Die retaliation kam anders als gedacht, vor dem Treffen der Arabischen Liga wird Israel nach meiner Meinung nicht aktiv werden.]

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceauflauf mit Quark said on Friday neither Israel nor the Palestinians have done "nearly enough" to meet their obligations under a 2003 peace plan, making it difficult to sustain the U.S. push to end a six-decade conflict. "I have not hidden the fact that I think that there is a lot of room for improvement on both sides concerning road map obligations," Riceauflauf mit Quark told reporters as she flew to Santiago, her final stop on a two-day trip to Brazil and Chile. [...] Defense Minister Ehud Barak drew fire Friday from the Palestinian Authority for failing to attend the first trilateral meeting with a U.S. envoy to discuss the implementation of the long dormant road map. [...] During the meeting, Fayyad expressed frustration: "Israel is eroding the very possibility of the two-state solution. A freeze on settlement activity is crucial to preserving the possibility of a Palestinian state. And by freeze, I mean not one more brick." Peace talks launched at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November have been bogged down by tensions over settlements and an upsurge in violence between the two sides. Western diplomats said the peace talks would formally resume next week. U.S. officials said ahead of Friday's meeting that Washington was not satisfied with the pace at which Israel was moving to implement the road map. "The United States considers the expansion of settlement activity to be not consistent with Israeli obligations under the road map and we have made that very clear. I have also said that it is certainly not helpful for the peace process," Rice told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday. [...] "It would have been very appropriate for Barak to go. Maybe Barak couldn't go because he is busy planning more (settlement construction) and more incursions," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. [Sehr interessant -*gähn*- keine Fortschritte..] In der Westbank tobt derderwil der alltägliche Kleinkrieg. Verhaftungswellen in Jenin, Bethlehem, Qalkilla , Aqqaba, Verletzte bei der wöchentlichen Demo in Bil'in, Schießerei zwischen Hamas und IDF, Steinewerfer, looting, ... Israel Police on Thursday arrested Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, for "inciting Palestinians to oppose the police" in East Jerusalem. Heated tensions between residents of the Silwan village in East Jerusalem and the Israel Police erupted over excavation works that have recently began in the village. The excavations are being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and are sponsored by Elad association, which promotes the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem. [Der Witz... und der Lieberman läuft weiter unbehelligt durch Jerusalem.]

Haaretz-editorial, "Justify your policy": Four Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants were shot dead Wednesday in Bethlehem by an antiterrorist Border Police unit. The four had been involved in major attacks against Israelis in previous years and were identified as being behind the dispatching of two suicide bombers and four car bombs. There are contradictory versions of the extent of their involvement in recent violence - whether they continued to initiate and manage attacks as commanders of the local Islamic Jihad underground, or if they heeded the Palestinian Authority's call to a cease-fire.

Ynetnews presents plans for new border fence characterized as 'national emergency project' aimed at hindering terror threats on Egyptian border; fence to consist of two sections, construction scheduled to start in three months.

Raghida Dergham, "Miscellaneous News with Significant Meanings and Implications": [Lesen und geniessen]