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White House says Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands 'must end'

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In striking choice of words, Obama’s chief of staff elevates public rhetoric against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told the lobby group J Street that the US would never support unilateral Israeli annexation of the West Bank. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told the lobby group J Street that the US would never support unilateral Israeli annexation of the West Bank. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

President Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough on Monday made a striking announcement on behalf of the administration by telling a crowd of Jewish-American political activists that Israel’s military “occupation” of the West Bank must end as he pushed back against comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both before and after his recent reelection victory.

“An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end,” said McDonough at the annual J Street conference in Washington, DC. “Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely.”

J Street is billed as the more liberal, pro-Israel lobby group which in recent years has tried to offset the more hawkish American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC.

Though Israel’s domination of the West Bank and its continued building of settlements on captured Palestinian lands has long been considered a violation of international law and is the basis for some much of the ongoing conflict, the U.S. government—including the Obama administration—has widely supported Israel’s activities, defended it from international sanctions at the United Nations, provided the Israeli military with a constant flow of aid, and rarely, if ever, employed the term “occupation” despite its commonplace use elsewhere in the world when describing the situation.

McDonough’s stronger use of language was widely seen as a public declaration of continued frustration by the administration regarding statements made by Netanyahu ahead of Israel elections that took place last week. Not only did the Prime Minister foreswear publicly his support for the two-state solution—a commitment to the so-called “peace process” that has been the basis for international efforts to end the conflict—but he also employed racially-charged language against Israeli-Arabs during the elections as he used fear-mongering to warn Jewish voters in Israel that their Arab neighbors were “voting in droves” to destroy Israel. Though Netanyahu has made efforts to walk back both comments, McDonough expressed the White House’s reluctance to accept these new assurances.

“We cannot simply pretend that those comments were never made, or that they don’t raise questions about the prime minister’s commitment to achieving peace through direct negotiations,” McDonough told the crowd.

Reasserting the White House commitment to the two-state solution, he added, “Palestinian children deserve the same right to be free in their own land as Israeli children in their land. A two-state solution will finally bring Israelis the security and normalcy to which they are entitled, and Palestinians the sovereignty and dignity they deserve.”

In response, speaking with the Palestinian News Network, PLO central committee member, Wassel Abu Yousef, indicated McDonough’s statements may be an improvement in rhetoric but said they were “late” in terms of serving the right of the Palestinian people. According to Yousef, words from the Obama administration “should be joint to actions to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, in order to give the Palestinian people their right to self-determination.”

Ali Abunimah, author and Palestinian rights activist, was even more dismissive of McDonough’s comments, declaring on Twitter: “Don’t be impressed by Obama chief of staff’s empty words on Israeli ‘occupation,'”adding that it is an “Occupation paid for by U.S..”

As Jessica Schulberg at the Huffington Post noted:

Despite his harsher-than-usual words for the Israeli leadership, McDonough stressed that the U.S. will continue to ensure that Israel has a stronger military than any of its neighbors. He reminded his audience that the U.S. delivered immediate emergency funding of $225 million for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system during last summer’s Gaza War, in addition to nearly $1 billion in funding already in place for the system.

Next year, McDonough added, Israel will receive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, making it the only country in the Middle East that will be armed with the highly advanced aircraft.

Yemen's Houthis advance towards Aden

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Senior officials dispute claims that President Hadi has fled and his military leaders are under arrest in southern city.

A TV station says Houthi fighters have seized an airbase from where US troops used to run anti-al-Qaeda campaign. Anadolu/Mohammed Hamoud.

A TV station says Houthi fighters have seized an airbase from where US troops used to run anti-al-Qaeda campaign. Anadolu/Mohammed Hamoud.

by Al Jazeera

Reports from Yemen say President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his top military commander are on the run while other military leaders, including the defence minister, are under arrest after Shia Houthi fighters entered the southern city of Aden.

However, two senior Yemeni officials including the head of national security have told Reuters news agency that Hadi remains in Aden and has no plans to leave.

Asked on Wednesday if Hadi was in Aden, Major-General Ali al-Ahmadi, chief of national security, told Reuters: “He’s here, he’s here, he’s here. I am now with him in the palace. He is in Aden.”

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the reports.

The developments came just hours after a television station said Houthi fighters and their allies had seized an airbase where US troops and Europeans helped the country in its fight against al-Qaeda.

The Al-Masirah TV station reported that the Houthis had “secured” the al-Annad airbase near the town of Lahij, and claimed the base had been looted by both al-Qaeda fighters and troops loyal to Hadi.

That airbase is only 60km  away from Aden, the port city where President Abd- Rabbu Mansour Hadi had established a temporary capital.

Witnesses said they saw a convoy of presidential vehicles leaving Hadi’s palace, located at the top of a hill in Aden overlooking the Arabian Sea, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The advance of the Houthis threatens to plunge the Arab world’s poorest country into a civil war that could draw in its Gulf neighbours. Already, Hadi has asked the UN to authorise a foreign military intervention in the country.

Saud Al Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, had previously warned that his country would take “necessary measures” if the Houthis did not resolve the crisis peacefully, without elaborating further.

Diplomatic missions of Hadi’s Arab Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait, have evacuated their diplomatic staff from Aden over the past few days, officials said.

They earlier evacuated from Sanaa and relocated to Aden to support Hadi.

US to delay troop pullout from Afghanistan

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President Barack Obama decides to maintain force of 9,800 through end of 2015 and stick to 2017 exit plan.

Obama said the US force would be kept at its current strength to train and assist Afghan forces [AP]

Obama said the US force would be kept at its current strength to train and assist Afghan forces [AP]

by Al Jazeera

US President Barack Obama has granted Afghan requests to slow the withdrawal of US troops from the country and said he would maintain a force of 9,800 through the end of 2015 while sticking to a 2017 exit plan.

“It was my assessment as commander in chief that it made sense for us to provide a few extra months for us to be able to help on things like logistics,” Obama said on Tuesday during a joint news conference with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani at the White House.

“The date for us to have completed our drawdown will not change,” he said. “Providing this additional timeframe during this fighting season for us to be able to help the Afghan security forces succeed is well worth it.”

Obama said that the US force would be kept at its current strength to train and assist Afghan forces, who took over responsibility for the fight against Taliban and other rebels at the start of the year.

The US president said that the pace of the US troop reduction in 2016 would be established later this year and the goal remained to consolidate US forces in the country in a presence at the Kabul embassy at the end of 2016.

Under a previous plan US forces were to have been cut to about half of the current level of just under 10,000 by the end of 2015, but US officials said improved relations with Afghan leaders contributed to a revision of the plan.

Plan welcomed

Since arriving on Sunday, Ghani has been feted by the Obama administration and is due to address Congress on Wednesday.

The welcome contrasts sharply with frosty relations that developed between Washington and Ghani’s predecessor Hamid Karzai.

Some US lawmakers had also called for a slower pullout of troop levels. US Representative Mac Thornberry, a Republican who leads the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said the decision announced on Tuesday was “appropriate.”

“Iraq has shown us the consequences of leaving a fragile ally too early,” he said in a statement. “The bottom line is that our own security is at stake.”

Ghani and Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah met at the presidential retreat at Camp David on Monday with top US officials including Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, who said Washington would fund Afghan security forces at least into 2017.

CCTV footage at D K Ravi's residence have been deleted by CID sleuths, alleges Ravi's father-in-law

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hanumantharayappa

Bengaluru: A day after IAS officer D K Ravi death case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation by the State Government his father-in-law Hanumantharayappa has accused the Criminal Investigation Department of deleting some footages from the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) of  Close Circuit Television (CCTV) which was taken from D K Ravi’s flat in Nagarbhavi by CID sleuths when they were investigating the case.

On March 16, Ravi was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

According to a State television channel Hanumanthrayappa is said to have stated that the CID officials had taken away the DVR without seeking permission from him.

On Monday, March 23, when the DVR was returned the footages recorded after 10.30 a.m  on March 16 has been deleted, alleged Hanumantharayappa.

When I questioned about the same to CID SP Narayanaswamy he gave me unsatisfactory answer stating that as they were unable to open the DVR they had returned it and that they had not deleted anything.

However, Hanumantharayappa who was not convinced with Narayanswamy’s reply stated that normally backup of footages of 20 days will be available in the DVR.

The DVR returned by the CID has footages of only few days. Infact the DVR which was handed over to the CID has captured the videos of  D K Ravi going to his office, returning from his office and also  talking over his phone after he got down from his car. All these are missing from the DVR which was given back to us, which has led me to believe that the CID sleuths have either deleted those footages or copied them, he alleged.

Though the Government and Police Department claimed that the D K Ravi had committed suicide, his parents, fans and the opposition members stated that he was murdered by few influential people. The death case probe which was first handed over to CID was later handed over to the CBI by the government.

(Agencies)

US to oppose plea to declare RSS a terror group

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

New York: The US has told a court here that it intends to move for dismissal of a lawsuit for declaring India’s RSS as a “terror group” while seeking time till April 14 to do so.

In a motion filed Tuesday before judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York, US attorney Preet Bharara said the “government requires additional time to finalize its motion and supporting papers”.

The US based rights group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has filed a lawsuit in the US court to label the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a foreign terrorist organization, according to SFJ attorney Gurpatwant S Pannun. It has sought such a declaration for RSS for allegedly “believing in and practicing a fascist ideology and for running a passionate, vicious and violent campaign to turn India into a ‘Hindu’ nation with a homogeneous religious and cultural identity”.

In its response filed on behalf of Secretary of State John Kerry, Bharara’s office acknowledged that the government’s deadline to respond to the complaint was Tuesday.

But “in lieu of an answer, the Government intends to move to dismiss the complaint, and requires additional time to finalise its motion and supporting papers,” it said.

“In the event this request is granted, the Government would consent to any reasonable deadline for the filing of opposition papers that plaintiff’s counsel would propose,” it added.

(IANS)

Survivors, families of 1987 massacre seek justice

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Hashimpura Massacre

New Delhi: Survivors and families of the 42 Muslim men massacred in 1987 at Hashimpura in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday voiced anguish after a court freed all the accused, calling it a “massacre of justice”.

On March 21, a Delhi court acquitted 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel of the charges of murder, attempt to murder and more over lack of evidence.

“This decision is like a massacre of justice. We are against such a verdict where all the accused are acquitted after 28 years. We cannot accept it and will move the higher court for justice,” said Zulfiqar Nasir, one of the five men who miraculously survived the massacre.

Nasir and others spoke at a panel discussion on “Justice for Hashimpura” where they expressed unhappiness over the judgement and narrated their anguish.

“As many as 42 people never returned. They were killed by the PAC and thrown into the canal. My brother Kamaruddien, who was 21 then, was among the 42,” said an emotional Riyajuddin.

Narrating his tale of woe, Nasir, who still lives in Hashimpura locality in Meerut, recalled how lucky he was to survive.

“I was in Class 10 then and at home when the army ordered us to open the doors. They then went to the rooftop and rounded up people on the roads,” he said.

“After that they shortlisted the healthy and young men from among women, children and the elderly. We were then handed over to the PAC.”

The PAC took them in a truck to a canal at Muradnagar.

“They shot a man, Yasin, and threw him into the canal. They did this to everyone in the truck. I was lucky to survive even after a gunshot hit me below my right armpit,” he said.

Nasir managed to reach a ‘dhaba’ and got help.

Another survivor, Babudeen, said they suffered for no fault of theirs and still justice had been denied to them.

“We want justice. How can a court let the criminals go scot free citing lack of evidence? People were killed… Evidence is there but it has been overlooked,” added a tearful Mohammad Naeem, another survivor.

The victims’ lawyer, Vrinda Grover, said: “At each stage a fair, rigorous and impartial investigation was systematically thwarted. The material pieces of evidence were either not collected or destroyed.”

According to Rajinder Sachar, the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties conducted an inquiry but the government didn’t take it seriously.

“The report was submitted to then Uttar Pradesh chief minister but it was not acknowledged,” said Sachar, adding the victims should appeal to the higher court for justice.

“Human right violation has certainly taken place. The victims and their family members should be given compensation,” he added.

(Agencies)

Queen, Haider win big at 62nd National Film Awards

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Queen-Kangana-Ranaut

New Delhi: Kangana Ranaut won the best actress award for her powerful performance in “Queen” at the 62nd National Film Awards where Bollywood movies “Haider” and “Mary Kom” bagged key honours while Chaitanya Tamhane’s “Court” was named the best feature film.

Ranaut, 28, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, got a belated present by winning her career’s second National award in the movie about a girl who goes on a foreign honeymoon alone after being ditched by her fiance just before marriage. She had won her first National award, as best supporting actress, for “Fashion” in 2010.

The Vikas Bahl-directed coming-of-age film was also named the best Hindi feature film.

Vijay was declared the best actor for his poignant portrayal of a woman trapped in a man’s body in Kannada film “Nanu Avanalla Avalu” (I am not a he, but she).

“Court”, which focuses on the flaws in the Indian judicial system, has been winning critical acclaim nationally and internationally. The award is expected to give a major boost to the movie ahead of its theatrical release on April 17.

Shahid Kapoor-starrer “Haider”, a Kashmir-set modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, won five honours. Its helmer Vishal Bhardwaj was named the best music director but lost out the best director award to Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji (‘Chotushkone’).

Bhardwaj was also named for best dialogues in the movie while Sukhwinder Singh clinched the best male playback singer for the song “Bismil”. Its other two wins were in the categories of choreography and costume design.

“Chotushkone”, a film about four directors’ attempt to make four short stories, won two more awards — best cinematography and screenplay (original).

Priyanka Chopra-led biopic “Mary Kom” was named the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.

Four held in Navi Mumbai church attack case

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Navi Mumbai church attack

Navi Mumbai: Three days after the attack on a church here, police today claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of four persons.

“Four persons have been arrested in connection with the attack on the Saint George Catholic church,” Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner K L Prasad told PTI.

The IPS officer, however, refused to share further details at the moment.

Under fire from the opposition, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday had set a 48 hour deadline to police to nab the culprits.

The Opposition members had yesterday walked out of the Assembly in protest against the incident.

Police had announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the accused.

Fadnavis is likely to make a statement in the House later today.

According to Khandeshwar police, the attack was carried out by two masked persons, who were riding pillion on a motorcycle at around 1.30 AM on Saturday when they hurled stones at the Saint George Catholic church located near a bridge in New Panvel.

In the incident, the covering glass outside the statue of Saint George got damaged.

The trio, comprising the biker and the two pillion riders, were covering their faces, a police official said.

An offence has been registered against the unidentified men under sections 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 427 (mischief) of the IPC, police said.

The church was built in 2007 and can accommodate over 800 people for prayer.

(PTI)

Amitav Ghosh among 10 finalists for International Booker prize

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Amitav Ghosh

London: Amitav Ghosh today emerged as the only Indian author among 10 finalists for this year’s Man Booker International Prize for his contribution to the English language writing.

Kolkata-born, 58-year-old Ghosh had narrowly missed out on the Booker Prize back in 2008 when he was shortlisted for his work ‘Sea of Poppies’.

The international version of the popular literary prize, to be held in London on May 19, is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there are no submissions from publishers.

“This is a most interesting and enlightening list of finalists,” said Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation.

“For the first time authors included in the list are from 10 countries with six new nationalities,” said Taylor.

The finalists were announced at the University of Cape Town in South Africa by writer and academic Professor Marina Warner, chair of the five-person judging panel.

They are from Libya, Mozambique, Guadeloupe, Hungary, South Africa and Congo and the proportion of writers translated into English is greater than ever before at 80 per cent.

It brings attention to writers from far and wide, so many of whom are in translation.

The others on the list include from Argentina, Lebanon, Guadeloupe, Mozambique, the United States of America, Libya, Hungary, Republic of Congo and South Africa.

“The judges have had an exhilarating experience reading for this prize we have ranged across the world and entered the vision of writers who offer an extraordinary variety of experiences,” said Prof Marina Warner, chair of the judging panel.

The awards comes with a 60,000 pounds cheque and can be won only once in an author’s lifetime.

In addition, there is a separate award for translation and, if applicable and in accordance with the rules of the separate prize for translation, the winner may choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of 15,000 pounds.

(PTI)

Israel spied on Iran talks, gave intel to US lawmakers to kill deal: Report

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US officials angered, reports Wall Street Journal, that Israelis used captured information from high-level negotiations to thwart chances of nuclear agreement

U.S. President Barack Obama listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2014. (Photo by AFP)

U.S. President Barack Obama listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2014. (Photo by AFP)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

The Israeli government secretly spied on high-level talks between the U.S., Iran, and other countries and attempted to sabotage the ongoing nuclear negotiations by serving captured information back to U.S. lawmakers opposed to a deal, the Wall Street Journal is reporting on Tuesday.

According to the WSJ:

Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks.

The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.

The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program, current and former officials said.

“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on the matter.

Israeli officials on Tuesday quickly denied specific aspects of the reporting. “These allegations are utterly false,” a senior official in the Israeli Prime Minister’s office told CNN. “The state of Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel’s other allies.”

Officials made similar claims to the WSJ, but the newspaper stood by its reporting which it said was based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. and Israeli diplomats, intelligence officials, policy makers, and lawmakers.

That the U.S. and Israel routinely spy on one another is no secret. As theWSJ notes, citing remarks from U.S. officials, the “U.S. expends more counterintelligence resources fending off Israeli spy operations than any other close ally.”

But in this case, as noted, it was the act of supplying U.S. lawmakers with Israeli captured intelligence on the talks that appears to have most irked the White House and other officials.

According to the WSJ, “Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer met with U.S. lawmakers and shared details on the Iran negotiations to warn about the terms of the deal” as a way to undermine the talks.

Mr. Dermer started lobbying U.S. lawmakers just before the U.S. and other powers signed an interim agreement with Iran in November 2013. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Dermer went to Congress after seeing they had little influence on the White House.

Before the interim deal was made public, Mr. Dermer gave lawmakers Israel’s analysis: The U.S. offer would dramatically undermine economic sanctions on Iran, according to congressional officials who took part.

After learning about the briefings, the White House dispatched senior officials to counter Mr. Dermer. The officials told lawmakers that Israel’s analysis exaggerated the sanctions relief by as much as 10 times, meeting participants said.

Despite repeated attempts by the Israeli government and their allies in the U.S. Congress to derail nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 nations, those talks continue to make progress as foreign ministers remain under active negotiations in Switzerland this week.

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