Monday, 16 May 2011
An Israeli navy vessel entering the southern Israeli port of Ashdod. (File photo)
Israeli naval forces fired warning shots at a Malaysian ship carrying aid to Gaza as it approached the shore, forcing it to withdraw to Egyptian waters, as Palestinian factions were scheduled to meet in Cairo to discuss the formation of a new government.
“The MV Finch, carrying sewage pipes to Gaza, had warning shots fired at it by Israeli forces in the Palestinian security zone this morning at 0654 Jordan time (0354 GMT),” Shamsul Azhar from the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, the organizer of the trip, told Agence-France Presse.
“Currently the ship has been forced to anchor in Egyptian waters, 30 nautical miles from Gaza,” he told AFP.
“The MV Finch, carrying sewage pipes to Gaza, had warning shots fired at it by Israeli forces in the Palestinian security zone this morning at 0654 Jordan time (0354 GMT),” Shamsul Azhar from the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, the organizer of the trip, told Agence-France Presse.
“Currently the ship has been forced to anchor in Egyptian waters, 30 nautical miles from Gaza,” he told AFP.
The Perdana Foundation is helmed by former premier Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia, an 85-year-old firebrand who was a strident critic of the West and Israel over the Palestinian issue during his two decades in power.
The organization was also involved in the first “Freedom Flotilla,” a 2010 attempt to break the Israeli embargo on Gaza which ended in disaster when naval commandos raided the aid ships, killing nine Turks on board one of them.
Israel has earlier authorized the resumption of the transfer of Palestinian funds that had been frozen after a new unity deal between Fatah and Hamas, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon said on radio Monday.
“We have unblocked the funds because we have established that the agreement between Fatah and Hamas has had no effect, the security cooperation (between Israel and the Palestinian Authority) continues on the ground,” Yaalon told public radio.
Israel had announced a delay of the transfer of 60 million euros ($86 million) to the Palestinian Authority.
The announcement came just days after President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended a four-year feud at a reconciliation ceremony in Cairo earlier this month, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel termed “a tremendous blow to peace.”
Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, meanwhile, are scheduled to meet in Cairo later Monday to discuss the formation of a new government under a May 3 unity deal, a senior Egyptian official said.
Fatah’s delegation will be headed by Azzam al-Ahmad, while Mussa Abu Marzuk will lead the Islamist Hamas delegation, the official told Egypt’s MENA news agency.
The two factions are to “put in place a mechanism for immediate reconciliation, in particular the formation of a government of independent Palestinians,” he said.
“Egypt will help the two sides come to an agreement,” over the choice of prime minister and the composition of the cabinet, the unnamed official said.
The reconciliation accord, inked by the two rivals among 13 factions, aims to put a stop to the animosity which has split the Palestinian territories into rival camps since 2007.
The agreement envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are unaffiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year.
A senior Israeli defense ministry official, meanwhile, arrived Sunday in Cairo on the first visit by a top official from the Jewish state since a popular uprising forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down in February.
“Amos Gilad will hold talks with several Egyptian officials to discuss the latest developments in the region, in light of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement,” MENA reported.
President Abbas said in an interview published on Saturday that he may step down this year if he achieves all his political goals, which include the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“When I was elected my program was: greater security, economic and social development, achieving (Palestinian) reconciliation, and then independence of our state,” he said, according to Reuters. “This year there is the possibility of achieving all this. Then I will go into retirement.”
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica ahead of a trip to Italy, Mr. Abbas restated that in the absence of progress in peace negotiations with Israel, which have been frozen for months, the Palestinians will unilaterally seek statehood recognition from the United Nations in September.
“If there is no progress in the talks, our second choice is going in front of the United Nations,” he said.
President Abbas was elected president in 2005 and has said he will not seek another term in a ballot already years overdue.
(Abeer Tayel, an editor at Al Arabiya English can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
The organization was also involved in the first “Freedom Flotilla,” a 2010 attempt to break the Israeli embargo on Gaza which ended in disaster when naval commandos raided the aid ships, killing nine Turks on board one of them.
Israel has earlier authorized the resumption of the transfer of Palestinian funds that had been frozen after a new unity deal between Fatah and Hamas, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon said on radio Monday.
“We have unblocked the funds because we have established that the agreement between Fatah and Hamas has had no effect, the security cooperation (between Israel and the Palestinian Authority) continues on the ground,” Yaalon told public radio.
Israel had announced a delay of the transfer of 60 million euros ($86 million) to the Palestinian Authority.
The announcement came just days after President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended a four-year feud at a reconciliation ceremony in Cairo earlier this month, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel termed “a tremendous blow to peace.”
Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, meanwhile, are scheduled to meet in Cairo later Monday to discuss the formation of a new government under a May 3 unity deal, a senior Egyptian official said.
Fatah’s delegation will be headed by Azzam al-Ahmad, while Mussa Abu Marzuk will lead the Islamist Hamas delegation, the official told Egypt’s MENA news agency.
The two factions are to “put in place a mechanism for immediate reconciliation, in particular the formation of a government of independent Palestinians,” he said.
“Egypt will help the two sides come to an agreement,” over the choice of prime minister and the composition of the cabinet, the unnamed official said.
The reconciliation accord, inked by the two rivals among 13 factions, aims to put a stop to the animosity which has split the Palestinian territories into rival camps since 2007.
The agreement envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are unaffiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year.
A senior Israeli defense ministry official, meanwhile, arrived Sunday in Cairo on the first visit by a top official from the Jewish state since a popular uprising forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down in February.
“Amos Gilad will hold talks with several Egyptian officials to discuss the latest developments in the region, in light of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement,” MENA reported.
President Abbas said in an interview published on Saturday that he may step down this year if he achieves all his political goals, which include the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“When I was elected my program was: greater security, economic and social development, achieving (Palestinian) reconciliation, and then independence of our state,” he said, according to Reuters. “This year there is the possibility of achieving all this. Then I will go into retirement.”
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica ahead of a trip to Italy, Mr. Abbas restated that in the absence of progress in peace negotiations with Israel, which have been frozen for months, the Palestinians will unilaterally seek statehood recognition from the United Nations in September.
“If there is no progress in the talks, our second choice is going in front of the United Nations,” he said.
President Abbas was elected president in 2005 and has said he will not seek another term in a ballot already years overdue.
(Abeer Tayel, an editor at Al Arabiya English can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
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