"U.S. and Western intelligence agencies assess that Pharaouh is terminally ill, and the Obama administration is closely watching the expected transition of power in a nation that for decades has been an anchor of stability in the volatile Middle East and a key U.S. ally."
"Pharaouh is thought by most Western intelligence agencies to be dying from terminal cancer affecting his stomach and pancreas."
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Rezka: Guarantees cover for direct negotiations[ 19/07/2010 - 05:13 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Yousef Rezka, the political advisor to Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya, said that the Arab talk about written guarantees as a precondition for direct negotiations with the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) is a scanty Arab cover for such talks.
The Arab League secretary general Amr Mousa had said that written guarantees were a precondition for direct negotiations between the PA in Ramallah and the IOA. 
Tony Blair, the international quartet committee's envoy was quick to respond saying that the world community was ready to offer real guarantees and called for reactivating the crossings agreements signed in 2005.Rezka in a press release on Monday that the guarantees were a mere propaganda paving the way for returning to direct negotiations, recalling that the IOA did not abide by previous treaties with the Palestinians.
Former PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab League do not have any other alternative to the "futile" negotiations, Rezka underlined.
The advisor also stressed that Haneyya's government refuses a return to the 2005 agreement on crossings, describing it as a dead agreement that legally expired.
18/07/2010 The Israeli and Palestinian leaders met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak separately on Sunday, after Mubarak conferred with US Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell on a push for direct talks between the two men.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who are holding US-brokered indirect talks, did not make any statements after the meetings.
The official MENA news agency said Mubarak affirmed to Netanyahu the "necessity of preparing the right conditions to achieve the vision of a two state solution on the ground."
Mubarak, who publicly supports Palestinian conditions for resuming direct talks with Israel that were suspended 18 months ago, first hosted Mitchell, who met with Netanyahu in occupied Jerusalem earlier in the day.
Netanyahu told reporters before flying to Cairo that he would discuss the prospects for direct talks with Mubarak.
Abbas agreed to the indirect talks in May after face-to-face negotiations broke off in December 2008 following a devastating Israeli military offensive against Gaza.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said on Sunday that Palestinians could not move to from indirect to direct talks with Israel without written guarantees. "We cannot automatically move from one negotiation to another without written guarantees," said Mussa, whose 22-member pan-Arab organization backed indirect talks between Israel and Palestinians in May, after meeting Mitchell.
Mussa, who met with Abbas on Saturday, said he thought the Palestinian leader was committed to Arab League conditions for resuming direct talks, which include an end to settlement building in occupied Palestinian lands.
"I felt the Palestinian president was committed to the decisions of the ministerial council that the automatic transition from indirect to direct negotiations is not feasible," he said.
Senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo called for greater clarity from Washington about its position on new negotiations, insisting that the Palestinians wanted to address the core issues of the Middle East conflict. "Until now there is no clarity in the (US) position on a number of issues, especially those related to moving into final status talks," Abed Rabbo told reporters.
"The three-hour meeting between Abbas and Mitchell was important but there are several issues, most important among them the settlements and the situation in Jerusalem, that need more clarity," Abed Rabbo said.
The Palestinians have long demanded a complete freeze on Israeli settlement expansion ahead of direct talks and have accused Israel of undermining the process by approving new settler homes in occupied east Jerusalem.
As on previous visits, Mitchell himself declined to discuss the details of his talks, saying only that it was a "very productive" meeting and that US President Barack Obama remained committed to a two-state peace deal.
Rezqa downplays outcome of Mubarak meetings with settlement parties
[ 18/07/2010 - 07:39 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Political advisor to the Palestinian PM, Dr. Yousef Rezqa, has downplayed the potential outcome of a scheduled meeting between Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and parties to the peace process.
The Egyptian president is scheduled to meet on Sunday with former PA president Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell.
Rezqa said in press statements that “negotiations between the Fatah authority and (Israel) did not yield any positive results for the Palestinian people, especially in light of Palestinian and Arab weakness and U.S. bias towards Israel.”
He added that any negotiations with Israel are a waste of time and provide Israel an opportunity to Judaize holy sites and continue in its settlement activities under the guise of negotiations.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government discussed during its weekly meeting on Sunday ways to expedite action in erecting a security fence on its borders with Egypt to reduce the daily average of thirty Africans who illegally migrate to Israel by way of Egypt, Hebrew radio said.
The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs had ratified a bill about a week ago to establish a security fence on the Egypt-Israel border, noting that there are about 26,000 African migrants in Israel.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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