Abbas, Olmert meet in bid to unblock peace talks

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders met on Thursday to try to jumpstart newly revived peace talks, which have stalled after just two sessions over the issue of Israeli settlements.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hosted Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at his Jerusalem residence for around two hours in their first meeting since they re-launched peace talks at a US conference in late November.
Abbas had been expected to again press Israel to stop all settlement activity on occupied Palestinian land, while Olmert is likely to insist the two sides focus on the goal of a comprehensive agreement rather than obstacles, officials said.
“The meeting will focus on the need to halt settlements in Palestinian territory,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP, adding that “up to now, negotiations have been stalled because of Israel

Israel troops killed 4 Palestinians in Gaza

The Israeli army killed four Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday in the latest military operation in the Hamas-run territory, Palestinian medics said.
"Four Palestinians were killed east of the Maghazi refugee camp, and after the ambulances removed the bodies the army opened fire on the ambulances," said Muawiya Abu Hassanein, director of emergency services in Gaza.
Three of those killed were reported to be militants from the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, and the other was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees.

Report blasts Israeli army

JERUSALEM: Ninety percent of the probes launched by the Israeli army since 2000 into suspected offences against Palestinians closed without any indictment, an Israeli human rights group said on Tuesday.
According to the Yesh Din report, the criminal offences include "illegal shooting causing the death and injury of civilians, violence and abuse, intentional damage to property, looting, taking bribes."
The number of investigations launched by the military police into the killing and wounding of civilians not involved in combat "is especially low considering the number of casualties," the report said. The 239 probes opened between September 2000 to September 2007 led to only 16 convictions, a rate of less than seven percent, the report said.
"The low number of investigations opened and the minute number of indictments served reveal the IDF's (Israeli Defence Force's) de facto derogation of its duty to protect the Palestinian population against offences committed by soldiers," Yesh Din legal advisor Michael Sfard said in a statement.
This "inevitably leads to a rise in the number and severity of the offenses committed by them," Sfard said. There was no immediate reaction from the army to the report.
A recent army-commissioned survey showed that one in four Israeli troops serving at the hundreds of checkpoints across the occupied West Bank has engaged in or witnessed abuse of Palestinians, including humilitations and gratuitous delays.

Israel mulls new east Jerusalem settlement

Israel said on Wednesday it was examining a plan to construct a new Jewish settlement in occupied east Jerusalem, weeks after sparking world criticism for expanding another neighbourhood in the city. “This is a preliminary examination of an initial construction plan. Such feasibility checks are done all year round on all areas with building potential in Jerusalem,” Housing Minister Zeev Boim said in a statement. “The Ministry has to offer a solution to the housing problem in Jerusalem.” The statement was issued in response to a report in the Haaretz daily that said Boim, a member of PM Ehud Olmert’s centrist Kadima party, had approved a construction plan in the neighbourhood of Atarot. According to the Haaretz, the plan being examined would see the construction of more than 10,000 apartments - making it the largest Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope to make the capital of their promised future state. Israel captured and annexed Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later declared the holy city its “eternal, undivided” capital - moves not recognised by the international community. The area of Atarot lies some five kilometres north of the Green Line between the Palestinian villages of Ram and Bir Nabala. Although it is within the Jerusalem municipal boundaries established by Israel, the Palestinians consider the area part of the occupied West Bank. Two weeks ago, Israel invited bids for more than 300 new housing units in another settlement of occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, known as Har Homa to Israelis and as Jebel Abu Ghneim to Palestinians. The expansion came a week after Israelis and Palestinians revived peace talks at a conference in the US city of Annapolis and sparked criticism from Palestinians, the United States and the European Union. At the conference, both Israel and Palestinians pledged to abide by the 2003 international roadmap peace blueprint, the first phase of which calls on Israel to halt settlement activity and on Palestinians to improve security. Israel does not consider construction in east Jerusalem as settlement activity because of its annexation of the city. However, the international community considers all settlements in occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank illegal. Prior to the Annapolis conference, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to freeze construction of new settlements in the West Bank and to dismantle outposts - settlements not authorised by the government. But he said so-called “natural growth” of existing settlements would go on. Palestinians have demanded that Israel halt all settlement activity.