08/05/2010 The following are quotes and translated bits from foreign and Israeli reports and articles. They do not reflect the views of Al-Manar.com.lb.
Israeli Media: Hamas Urges PA Not to Approve ‘Absurd” Proximity Talks (08-05-10)
A Hamas movement statement, posted on the Ma’an News Website, urged the Palestinian Authority not to approve the resumption of talks with Israel, saying that such a move would only legitimize Israel's occupation.
The statement rejected continued talks with Israel, saying that, what it calls the "absurd proximity talks" would only "give the Israeli occupation an umbrella to commit more crimes against the Palestinians."
"Hamas calls on the PLO to stop selling illusions to the Palestinian people and announce the failure of their gambling on absurd talks," Hamas said.
Real Gazette: Canada Unveils Proposal to Resolve “Conflict over Jerusalem” (08-05-10)
Canada has formally unveiled a proposal to resolve the conflict over occupied Jerusalem, the Montreal Gazette reported on Saturday.
The proposal, which was released after seven years of research and planning, calls for a "special regime" comprising Israeli and Palestinian officials headed by "an effective and empowered third-party" commissioner to oversee a 0.9-square-kilometer district that contains the city's contested Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites. The Gazette goes on to say that the proposal emphasizes the need for an alternative to the geographic division of Jerusalem or exclusive control by either Israel or the Palestinians, or the creation of a separate international authority to oversee the Old City.
Haaretz: Israel Gov’t Tells High Court: We'll Authorize Illegal West Bank Outpost (08-05-10)
Following Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request to delay the demolition date of illegal structures in the West Bank, “the state on Friday announced to the High Court of Justice that it may legalize the Givat Hayovel outpost in the West Bank, if the outpost in question resides on state-owned land,” the Israeli media reported Saturday. According to Haaretz, “the state announced on Friday that it intends to conduct a thorough investigation into the status of the land on which the structures stand – whether they are privately owned, or are indeed state lands. If it turns out the lands are privately owned, the houses will be demolished. If they are state-owned lands, the state will work to legalize the structures .”
Yedioth Aharonoth: US Photo Exhibit Shows Israel Stealing Water From Syria (08-05-10)
Israel is stealing water from Syria and is blocking Palestinian access to water resources, according to a National Geographic photo exhibit in Los Angeles.
The caption under one of the photos reads, "Israelis relax by the Sea of Galilee, a lake near the Golan Heights that is fed by the Jordan River and that supplies a third of Israel’s fresh water. Since 1967, Israel has blocked Syria’s access to the shoreline." Israeli Consul General in Los Angeles Jacob Dayan sent a complaint letter to the owners of the Annenberg Space for Photography, saying “the venue is being used as a political tool to spread lies about Israel's part in the global effort to provide clean and fresh drinking water.”
Associated Press Report: IAEA Set to Focus on Israel (08-05-10)
Israel's secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press. A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA's June 7 board meeting lists "Israeli nuclear capabilities" as the eighth item — the first time that that the agency's decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence. The 35-nation IAEA board is the agency's decision making body and can refer proliferation concerns to the UN Security Council.
Inclusion of the item appeared to be the result of a push by the 18-nation Arab group of IAEA member nations, which last year successfully lobbied another agency meeting — its annual conference — to pass a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program.
BBC: UK Parties to Consider Power Deals (08-05-10)
Libearal Democrats leader Nick Clegg said that "people deserve good, stable government. " He is meeting senior Lib. Dem. MPs to discuss a power-sharing offer from the Tories, after the UK election resulted in a hung parliament .
He said they would talk to other parties in a "constructive spirit" over the "coming hours and days ".
The Conservatives led by David Cameron won most seats but not enough to secure a majority and are looking to the third-biggest party for support to form a government .If it fails, Gordon Brown has invited the Lib Dems to talk to Labour .
Washington Post: Pentagon Asking Congress to Hold Back on Increases in Troop Pay (08-05-10)
The Pentagon, not usually known for its frugality, is pleading with Congress to stop spending so much money on the troops .
In the midst of two long-running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials are increasingly worried that the government's generosity is unsustainable and that it will leave them with less money to buy weapons and take care of equipment .
With Washington confronting record deficits, the Pentagon is bracing for an end to the huge increases in defense spending of the past decade.
But Congress -- including members opposed to the wars -- has made clear that it considers military pay and benefits sacrosanct, especially when service members and their families are struggling to cope with repeated deployments to faraway conflicts .
Christian Science Monitor: Hezbollah Says It's Ready for Fresh War with Israel – and Stronger Now (07-05-10)
Nicholas Blanford wrote that nearly four years after Hezbollah fought invading Israeli troops to a standstill in south Lebanon, the militant Shiite group says it's prepared for a fresh conflict and confident of victory . “We are ready for another war and we eagerly await it," says veteran Hezbollah fighter Abu Hadi on a drive through the Bekaa Valley. "We expect the next war to be short. The Israelis will not be able to endure what we will do to them ."
Hezbollah's leadership insists it does not seek a war and that its military preparations are a defense against potential Israeli aggression. Yet, the inconclusive outcome of the 2006 war has stoked a feeling here that another war is inevitable .
War drums have been beating faster in recent weeks amid allegations that Syria has supplied Hezbollah with Scud ballistic missiles.
Hezbollah's strongholds in the Bekaa Valley are likely to be one of several front lines during another war with Israel – a war that threatens to be far more destructive than the one in July 2006. Hezbollah says lessons learned from that conflict have been implemented, including new battlefield tactics and the acquisition of improved weapons systems, surface-to-surface rockets, and possibly advanced antiaircraft missiles .
Blanford suggests that the stakes for both sides are so great that the military preparations of Israel and Hezbollah to some extent serve as a mutual deterrent against rash action .
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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