EU-DIGEST

Labels: Britain, EU, Hamas, Israel, Mossad

Gaza War May Be Over, but So Is Israeli Political Unity - by Larry Derfner

With Israeli elections coming up February 10, right-wing Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu remains the favorite, with centrists Tzipi Livni of Kadima and Ehud Barak of Labor battling for second. Netanyahu, being dogged by parties to his right, is playing the nationalist card.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Turkish PM given hero's welcome on his return following his remarks to Peres about Gaza atrocities

Turkey's PM has received a hero's welcome on his return to Istanbul after he stormed out of a debate about Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Recep Tayyip Erdogan had reacted angrily when he was refused the chance to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres' defense of the operation. Thousands of people turned out in the city to greet Mr. Erdogan's plane. He told them Mr Peres' language and tone had been unacceptable, so he acted to stand up for Turkish honor. "I only know that I have to protect the honor of Turkey and Turkish people," said Mr Erdogan. "I am not a chief of a tribe. I am the prime minister of Turkey. I have to do what I have to do."

Note EU-Digest: It is obvious to most people that the daily Hamas barrage of rocket fire towards Israel would eventually lead to Israeli retaliation. Mr. Erdogan has also reserved that right of retaliation when Turkey attacked Kurdish terrorists strongholds in Iraq. What is not acceptable is that Israel retaliated with excessive force, leading to incredible destruction and human suffering. All respect for Mr. Erdogan, who had the courage to tell Mr.Peres, who represented Israel (an ally of Turkey) at Davos, what most of their other allies and friends should have told them. There is no way this kind of barbaric warfare conducted by the Israeli's in Gaza can be justified, in particular because of their own experience with these kinds of atrocities in the the past.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Turkey, US

EU and Turkey eye troops, solutions for Gaza border - by Angela Carlton

French troops, Turkish monitors, British ships, German tunnel detectors, European radar equipment — officials say all these options are being weighed as they try to cement the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The key to a solution is finding a way to choke off smuggling through tunnels under the slender border between Gaza and Egypt while opening the aboveground crossings to travel and trade. The eight-mile frontier is at the heart of secretive diplomacy across Europe and the Middle East this week. Dozens of European monitors and experts are ready to deploy immediately, but not until Egypt — and preferably someone on Hamas' side of the border — agree.Beyond the EU, a special Turkish peacekeeping unit outside Ankara is ready to deploy to the border if needed, Turkish officials have said. But Turkey is officially insisting it is only talking for now about sending monitors, not armed peacekeepers. Turkey enjoys, to some extent, the trust of both Israel and Hamas. It has also offered to mediate between Hamas and the moderate Palestinian movement Fatah led by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas. A Turkish official said there is an "implicit agreement" that the corridors must be reopened for trade and travel for the cease-fire to hold. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Turkey's discussions.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Turkey

Hamas to Europe: time to talk

The exiled chief of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said on Wednesday the time has come to lift a ban on contacts with his democratically elected Palestinian government, in a speech aired on Arab satellite televisions. "I tell European nations...It is time for you to deal with Hamas, which has gained legitimacy through struggle," Meshaal said. "For the past three years, they (Israelis) have been trying to get rid of Hamas," he said. "Now it is time to start to talk to Hamas," whose popularity had been further boosted recently due to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Note EU-Digest: Khaled Meshaal also seems to know the quote: "If you don't tickle yourself, nobody else will."

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza

Commenting on the announcement of a halt to Israeli military operations, the British Foreign Secretary said: "There will be huge relief at the announcement by Prime Minister Olmert of the end of Israeli military operations in Gaza. As the Prime Minister said today, too many lives have already been lost. The deaths of over one thousand people stand testament to the scale and duration of the conflict. The voice of the international community has been loud and unequivocal in calling for an immediate, permanent and fully respected ceasefire. It is now imperative that Hamas stops the rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will travel to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday 18 January for an emergency summit on the Gaza crisis. The summit will be hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with world leaders such as United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expected to attend. Note EU-Digest: It seems that Hamas, the democratically elected government of Gaza will not be part of the summit at Sharm el Sheikh. If that is the case, the dialog will be one-sided and the chances of a lasting peace nil.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Europe - Empathy for sale - by David Burchell

Medieval Europeans were titillated by reports of dog-headed men and other far-off monstrosities, but chiefly because they provoked interesting thought experiments (what's human and what's not?). Medieval Muslims were so incurious about the Europeans, they called them all Franks, or Frenchmen, and distinguished them by body smell.Global empathy is one of those illegitimate children of the imperial experience whose origins we like to forget. In the days of the British Empire, Australians greeted reports of distant massacres of British soldiery with a new urgency, as if we too were witness to the Indian Mutiny or overrun by African tribesmen at Mafeking. Even today, the same impulse appears to unite the sympathy of pious Muslims everywhere -- towards suffering peoples of their own kind. After the catastrophe of World WarI, however, a new generation of critical intellectuals turned the tables on imperial sympathising, rerouting all that emotional energy towards the victims of European colonialism.

The same complicated moral logic was on evidence in The Netherlands last week when two high-profile Dutch political figures assumed leadership of a demonstration against Israel's invasion of Gaza. Harry van Bommel, a former schoolteacher, serves as Socialist Opposition spokesman on international affairs. Gretta Duisenberg, once a flamboyant socialite, is the socially conscious wife of the former Dutch central bank chief. Each has spoken at great length about the Palestinians' plight. (According to Duisenberg, Israeli rule in Gaza is worse than wartime Nazi rule in Holland.) And each looked thoroughly comfortable in their skins as they led the crowd in chants of that old party tune, "Intifada, intifada, Palestinian state!" Even as, in the background, their fellow demonstrators could clearly be heard singing the more uninhibited political ditty: "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas!" And so here they were together: the warm heart of the global conscience and the icy blood of Hamas, united within the same pulsing breast.

Labels: EU, Hamas, Israel

France urging European observers to monitor Gaza

The French foreign minister said Monday that European military observers should be sent to Gaza to monitor any eventual cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. "There need to be European observers," Bernard Kouchner said on Europe-1 radio, adding that the group could be expanded to include monitors from other regions. He said they should include military observers, "to testify to the maintained cease-fire." Israel has said any truce should be accompanied by international supervision, and Germany's foreign minister suggested Sunday night that Egypt and Israel were favorable to having international experts deployed at the Gaza-Egyptian frontier to stop arms smuggling.

Labels: EU, France, Gaza, Hamas

France halts Hamas broadcasts to Europe

The Palestinian militant group Hamas`s television channel was taken off the air in Europe less than 24 hours after it was added to a satellite network, industry officials said Friday. Hamas announced on Monday that Europeans would be able to see its Al-Aqsa service -- best known in the Middle East for its virulent anti-Israeli content -- via the French firm Eutelsat`s satellites. Al-Aqsa is Hamas` official mouthpiece, and became notorious outside the Palestinian territories for a show in which a man-sized pink rabbit named Assud urged children to embrace martyrdom and threatened to eat Jews. Alerted by industry sources, the French broadcasting regulator CSA this week wrote to Eutelsat and warned that much of Hamas` programming contravenes laws against inciting hatred and violence, the government body said.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Turkish Leader’s Criticism of Israel Raises Eyebrows - by Sabrina Tavernise

When Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey excoriated Israel last week, calling its military campaign in Gaza “a dark stain on human history,” on one level it was not altogether surprising. After all, Turkish society is strongly opposed to the military operation, and Mr. Erdogan was reflecting its views. But as a leader who has been trying to raise his profile as an international mediator, it was hardly a stellar performance, especially considering his country is a member of NATO and the United Nations Security Council, not to mention an applicant to the European Union. His comments raised eyebrows among political analysts here and in Europe.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Turkey

Finger Pointing Over Israel and Gaza

Hamas took over in Gaza not in response to Israeli military actions but after Israel unilaterally left Gaza in 2005, a moment that offered hope for a new life for Palestinians. Rather than being taken as a building block to peace, the Palestinians backed a group committed to Israel’s destruction. In other words, Israeli concessions led to greater Hamas extremism.

Note EU-Digest: The pictures coming out of Gaza are terrible and shocking, but most of the blame for this unfortunately goes to Hamas. Only a fanatic self destructive Government would provoke a larger and far better militarily equipped country with a daily barrage of rocket attacks and expect them to sit back and do nothing about it. Just imagine if Canada would be doing this to the US, or Cuba, or Mexico. They would have ceased to exist. Yes, of course something must be done to stop this bloodshed, but it takes two to Tango and Hamas will have to Tango with Israel, otherwise it will prove what many people already believe - that they are a "legitimate" terrorist organization.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

A survey conducted by the Dutch AD Newspaper shows that support in the Netherlands for the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip is crumbling. Twenty-five percent of those interviewed support Israel, while 17 percent side with the Palestinians. A majority of 51 percent agrees that Israel is using disproportionate means in the fight against the Hamas movement, but 62 percent say that the Palestinians would be better off without Hamas. Six in ten of those surveyed refused to take sides, either because they consider the issue too complex, blame both parties for the violence, or reject any form of violence whatsoever. These figures present a clear contrast with the Dutch cabinet's approval - albeit with some reservations - of Israel's action in Gaza.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is the only European government leader not to criticize the level of violence: "After many rocket attacks by Hamas, the time had come where Israel had to say: We are going to react". In a letter to parliament, Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen held Hamas responsible for the large number of civilian casualties because of the presence of Hamas fighters in residential areas.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, The Netherlands

Chavez Expels Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza Conflict, Labeling It "Genocide"

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday expelled Israel's ambassador to the country as he accused the Jewish nation of "genocide" against the Palestinian people. He described the Israeli army as "cowards." This as United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon slammed Israel's shelling of schools run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Gaza that killed 30 people and injured dozens more as he repeated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the region. In a statement released by the U.N. office in Manila, Philippines, Ban said, "These attacks by Israeli military forces which endanger U.N. facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable and must not be repeated. Equally unacceptable are any actions by militants which endanger the Palestinian civilian population."

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Venezuela

Israel Gaza Invasion - Backlash felt in Europe

Concerns grew Tuesday that the conflict in Gaza would spill over in an increasingly violent way into Europe, where attacks were reported in several countries against Jews, synagogues and related targets. In southwestern France, assailants on Monday night rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, but no one was injured. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, was also attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," a police spokesman said. On Sunday, slogans, including "murderers. ... You broke the cease-fire," were daubed on Israel's Embassy in Stockholm.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Basketball game between Turkey, Israel suspended after protests over Gaza

European Basketball Cup (Group D) game between Turk Telekom and Bnei Hasharon of Israel in Ankara was suspended Tuesday due to protests in the arena against the Israeli offensive on Gaza, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. About 30 minutes before the time the game was scheduled to start, Turkish spectators in the stadium started chanting slogans against Israel, said the report, adding that some started throwing rubbish into the basketball field. The police intervened in the uproar and forced the protestors outside of the arena, it said. Because of the chaos, Hasharon players and technical squad went to the changing room and did not return. The referees finally suspended the game and it was not clear when it will be held.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Turkey

50K Palestinians, Jews Marched In Tel Aviv Against Gaza War

While the IDF land forces entered into the Gaza strip and killedat least 30 people, in Tel Aviv over 50 thousand Israeli Jews and Palestinians marched to protest against the war from Rabin Square to the cinemateque.

Note EU-Digest: For anyone who has the capability to watch the Al Jazeera International TV network we recommend this station for anyone who wants to view authentic reports on the shameful massacres that are taking place in Gaza. The Al Jazeera TV network is presently the only TV network presently operating directly out of Gaza.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Iran urges Arabs to act on Gaza

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, has told the Arab League it should take action "quickly" to end the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Speaking on Wednesday as Arab ministers met in Cairo, Ahmadinejad warned that setting up committees and making speeches would not be an adequate response to the offensive that has killed nearly 400 Palestinians. "If the Arab League does not want to do anything today, when does it want to act?" he told a rally in Zahedan in southeast Iran, the Reuters news agency reported.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Israel accused of downplaying food crisis - by Tim Butcher

The director of the World Food Programme operation said she was "furious'' when she learned Israel was claiming warehouses were full of supplies. Christine van Nieuwenhuyse said WPF stocks in Gaza showed a 30 per cent shortfall of dry goods such as flour and a much greater shortfall of 'ready-to-eat' goods which are in dire need in Gaza because of the acute shortage of power and gas for cooking.
Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, speaking during a visit to Paris denied the 1.5 million-strong population of Gaza was suffering a humanitarian crisis. She was responding to calls led by France but supported by the European Union for a ceasefire in Gaza to allow a surge in humanitarian supplies.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

France condemns Israel land offensive in Gaza

France condemned Israel's move to send ground forces into the Gaza Strip on Saturday as well as continued Hamas rocket attacks and urged both Israel and the Palestinian group to accept cease-fire proposals. "France condemns the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza as it condemns the continuation of rocket firing," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This dangerous military escalation complicates efforts by the international community and in particular the European Union and France, the members of the Quartet and the states in the region to end the fighting, bring immediate aid to civilians and reach a permanent cease-fire," the statement said.

Labels: France, Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Iran's security chief meets Hamas, Jihad leaders in Damascus over Gaza

Saeed Jalily, Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, met here Saturday with exiled Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Meshaal and Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad Ramadan Abdullah Shallah over the situation in the Gaza Strip. They discussed "the serious situations in Gaza Strip due to the continuing Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people, and the Arab and Islamic movements needed to stop this aggression and liftthe siege," said Syria's official SANA news agency. According to SANA, Jalily told reporters after the meeting that his visit to Syria is for discussing the serious situations in Gaza and ways to reach an effective Arab and Islamic stance to support the Palestinian people.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Gaza: Israel launches ground assault into Gaza - by Richard Boudreaux

Israeli troops and tanks crossed into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip this evening, widening a week-old assault aimed at halting the militant Palestinian group's rocket fire into Israel.The ground offensive, launched after a week of punishing airstrikes, is designed to take control of Hamas' rocket-launching areas, the military announced. It said tank, artillery, special operations and intelligence units were taking part.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel

EU President Sarkozy Heading to Jerusalem to mediate between Israel and Hamas - by by Aimee Kligman

How lame is the US duck? Lame enough that we are witnessing a first. The President of Europe and France, together with his Foreign Affairs Minister, Bernard Kouchner, are heading to Jerusalem to mediate between the warring factions. This feels uneasy, though I am elated to see that at least one head of state stands behind his words. Everyone who has a voice around the world has been busy pontificating over what should be done, why and where. But the only man willing to put his money where his mouth is - is Nicolas Sarkozy.

Have we arrived at a world where the U.S. is no longer the peace maker, the relations promoter, the center stage power? Will France edge itself closer to Israel and its politics? Let us remember that Sarkozy has very deep Sephardic Jewish roots. Though this has not been emphasized in the English speaking press, it has been a very big deal in French speaking media. Remember that after the U.S., France has the largest size Jewish community.

Labels: EU, Hamas, Israel, Sarkozy

European Commission urges Hamas, Israel to immediately stop attacks

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), on Tuesday urged Israel and the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas to immediately halt all military attacks affecting the civilian population. The commission also asked Israel to open up border crossings for humanitarian assistance. "The European Commission is deeply concerned by the situation in Gaza. The lack of access for humanitarian goods and relief workers creates a dramatic situation for thousands of civilians," the Commission said in a statement, adding that it was "extremely concerned" about the plight of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Editorial Note EU-Digest: Instead of issuing warnings the most effective method would be to force ( not ask) Israel and other Middle Eastern regional powers to meet under the auspices of the UN to discuss all issues at hand, including the nuclear disarmament of Iran and Israel. It should also be made clear to everyone, that negotiating parties who obstruct the UN established guidelines for the meeting will face the possibility of a total boycott and blockade enforced by the US, the EU, China and Russia. To be more precise: belligerent parties who do not agree to the principles of a UN comprehensive peace accord covering the whole Middle Eastern Region will cease to exist as a credible nation. All this will take is for the US, the EU, China and Russia to put aside national political motives in favor of world peace. Anything else is just empty rhetoric.

Labels: China, EU, Hamas, Israel, Russia, US

Neocons alive and well-- Using Present Middle East Conflict To Push For War Against Iran - by Ellen

“Fair and balanced” FOX News offered (chicken)hawk John Bolton as its sole guest to discuss the latest Israeli conflict on last night's (12/29/08) Hannity & Colmes. As Jane Hamsher pointed out in an interesting post, the knee-jerk, pro-Israel American media response is beginning to change. But not on FOX News. In nearly three hours of prime time (I tuned out after On The Record began rehashing the white gal overboard story also discussed on H&C), only Alan Colmes cast doubt on Israel's tactics, though he was more skeptical than critical. Nobody else even went that far. But Bolton didn't just support Israel. As he has whenever the subject of the Middle East comes up, he used it as a rationale for ratcheted up militarism and a strike against Iran.

Bolton said, “every problem in the region that we have now gets worse once Iran gets nuclear weapons. And I'm afraid we are ever closer to that point... I don't think there's anything at this point standing between Iran and nuclear weapons other than the possibility of the use of military force, possibly by the United States, possibly by Israel. I don't see the Bush administration doing it. So it could well come down to Israel.”

Labels: Hamas, Iran, Israel, US

Iranian students signing up to fight Israel

Some 7,000 Iranian students in the city of Isfahan have volunteered to fight for Palestine against Israel while more students are signing up in Tehran, the Fars news agency said on Tuesday. On Sunday, Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a religious decree calling for a jihad against Israel for its air strikes on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip that started on Saturday leaving around 360 Palestinians dead and over 1,500 wounded. "In response to the supreme leader's orders for a jihad (holy war), students from the bassij militia are going to register . . . to go to fight in the occupied Palestinian territories," Fars cited Alireza Zahedi as saying on Monday.In response to Israeli air strikes, Palestinian militants launched over 80 rockets and mortar shells on southern Israel killing three people with over 35 others injured, some of them seriously.Iran does not officially recognize the state of Israel and finances the militant political faction Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Iran, Israel

EU foreign ministers to meet on Gaza crisis

European Union foreign ministers were set to hold an urgent meeting on Tuesday in Paris on the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip, the French foreign ministry announced. "The ministers will look into how the European Union can help ease the current crisis, along with the efforts of the international community, especially the secretary general of the United Nations," the ministry's statement said. The meeting was set to take place at 1730 GMT Tuesday and be chaired by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Javier Solana, the EU's high representative for foreign policy and members of the European Commission were also expected to attend. It was likely to be the last major ministerial meeting before France passes on the rotating six-month EU presidency to the Czech Republic on Thursday.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Israeli Tanks ready to roll into Gaza

For the complete report from the guardian.co.uk click on this link

In the face of Israel's latest onslaught against Hamas in Gaza- Tariq Ali

The assault on Gaza, planned over six months and executed with perfect timing, was designed largely, as Neve Gordon has rightly observed, to help the incumbent parties triumph in the forthcoming Israeli elections. The dead Palestinians are little more than election fodder in a cynical contest between the right and the far right in Israel. Washington and its EU allies, perfectly aware that Gaza was about to be assaulted, as in the case of Lebanon in 2006, sit back and watch. Washington, as is its wont, blames the pro-Hamas Palestinians, with Obama and Bush singing from the same AIPAC hymn sheet. The EU politicians, having observed the build-up, the siege, the collective punishment inflicted on Gaza, the targeting of civilians etc (for all the gory detail, see Harvard scholar Sara Roy's chilling essay in the London Review of Books) were convinced that it was the rocket attacks that had "provoked" Israel but called on both sides to end the violence, with nil effect.

Western enthusiasm for democracy stops when those opposed to its policies are elected to office. The west and Israel tried everything to secure a Fatah victory: Palestinian voters rebuffed the concerted threats and bribes of the "international community" in a campaign that saw Hamas members and other oppositionists routinely detained or assaulted by the IDF, their posters confiscated or destroyed, US and EU funds channelled into the Fatah campaign, and US congressmen announcing that Hamas should not be allowed to run.

Note EU-Digest: A lot of the above might be true, but Hamas certainly is not blameless. It has never recognized Israel as a State, never respected any ceasefire and incessantly fired rockets into Israel.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel

Iran hardliners register volunteers to fight Israel

A group of Iranian hard-line clerics is signing up volunteers to fight in the Gaza Strip in response to Israel's air strikes that have killed at least 300 Palestinians, a news agency reported on Monday. "From Monday the Combatant Clergy Society has activated its website www.rohaniatmobarez.com for a week to register volunteers to fight against the Zionist regime (Israel) in either the military, financial or propaganda fields," the semi-official Fars news agency said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attacks "in any way possible." A religious decree is an official statement by a high-ranking religious leader that commands Muslims to carry out its message. While there is no religious and legal force behind it, Khamenei is respected by many Iranian and non-Iranian Shi'ites.

Labels: Hamas, Iran, Israel

EU Condemns 'Unacceptable' Palestinian Deaths

The European Union's top foreign-policy official on Saturday condemned as "unacceptable" the death of Palestinian civilians in Israeli air-strikes and called for an end to violence. The death toll is now over 270. "The current Israeli strikes are inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians and will only worsen the humanitarian crisis as well as complicate the search for a peaceful solution," EU High Representative Javier Solana said in a statement. "I call for an immediate cessation of military actions on both sides. The EU has repeatedly condemned rocket attacks against Israel," the statement said.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East

Yearender: Marked changes in world's political, economic landscape - by Sun Ruijun and Bao Erwen

The world has undergone remarkable changes this year, but international security situation on the whole remained stable with "peace" and "development" prevailing as the themes of the times. In 2008, the world has continued moving toward multi-polarization, resulting in a distinctive shift of international forces. Globalization is developing in depth and regional cooperation is gathering momentum.The world has been confronted with one hotspot issue after another and non-traditional threats are increasing. The world economic growth took a turn for the worse due to the outbreak of the global financial crisis.

The United States has been acting as the world's only superpower in 2008, but the financial turmoil, which broke out in Wall Street in September, showed its vulnerability.Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) continued to enhance its independence and influence in international affairs. In March, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said their countries share a vision of a "global Europe."

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East

Iran, Arab world react to Gaza bombardment - by Borzou Daragahi

Iran's highest political and religious authority made a provocative religious appeal today to Muslims worldwide, saying "true believers" were "duty-bound to defend" Palestinians suffering under two days of Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip. But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's message fell short of a call to arms amid speculation about how Tehran and other allies of Hamas would respond to the ongoing attack on the militant group's facilities in the densely packed coastal enclave. It also did not meet the definition of a fatwa, a religiously binding legal ruling. "All true believers in the world of Islam and Palestinian fighters are duty-bound to defend the defenseless women and children in Gaza Strip and those giving their lives in carrying out such a divine duty are 'martyrs,' " Khamenei said in a statement, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East

Anti-Israeli protests across Europe

Protesters turned out across Europe Sunday to demonstrate against Israel's air assault on the Gaza Strip, while European leaders called on Israel and Hamas to end the bloodshed. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said this was a "dangerous moment" and called for an immediate cease-fire by both Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza. About 700 protesters descended on the Israeli embassy in London's Kensington neighborhood a day after the airstrikes on Gaza began. More than 280 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East

European Union criticizes Israel for using disproportionate force against Hamas

The European Union criticized Israel for using disproportionate force against Hamas and called for an immediate end to hostilities. The EU also called upon Israel to reopen borders into the Gaza Strip to fuel and food shipments, which have been disrupted since an economic and military blockade began in 2007. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko called on Israel to end its 'combat activities which have already led to great loss and suffering among the peaceful Palestinian population.'

Labels: EU, Hamas, Israel, Middle East

Former US President Carter meets Hamas leader again

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with the exiled leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for the second time this year. Sunday's meeting in Damascus is part of Carter's regional discussions on Middle East conflicts. Hamas officials kept reporters away from the venue and no news conference was scheduled. Hamas issued a statement but provided no details about what they talked about.

Note EU-Digest: President elect Barack Obama must have given his agreement for this meeting, although his staff said they were not involved.Whatever is said, this is the way diplomacy needs to be carried out.

Labels: Hamas, Syria, US

France confirms contacts with Hamas - by Steven Erlanger

France confirmed Monday that it has had contacts with the leaders of Hamas for several months to try to better understand the positions of the Islamist group that is running Gaza. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner emphasized that there were no negotiations with Hamas, labeled a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union. "These are not relations, they are contacts," Kouchner said on Europe1 radio. "We are not the only ones to have them," he said. "We must be able to talk if we want to play a role."

Labels: EU, France, Hamas

The bear is back: Russia's return to the Middle East - by Robert Freedman

"The recent visit to Moscow of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. There he aligned Russia with the Arab consensus supporting the Saudi-mediated Mecca Agreement between the Palestinian factions, called for the lifting of sanctions against the new Palestinian unity government, discussed energy cooperation and sought both to increase Russian arms exports to the Arab world and to attract Arab investment for the non-energy sector of the Russian economy. These moves have underscored the resurgence of Russian interest in the Middle East.

Under Putin, Russia has sought to achieve three major goals in the region. The first is to demonstrate its renewed power and influence in an area where American influence is on the decline. The second is to increase trade with the nations of the region so as to buttress the Russian economy, especially its non-energy sectors. The third goal is to minimize Arab, Turkish and Iranian support for the Chechen rebellion against Russian control, which the rebels are carrying out in the name of Islam."

Labels: Hamas, Middle East, Russia