Israel’s decision to approve new East Jerusalem houses effectively prevents any peace negotiations from taking place, the Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday, following an Interior Ministry statement released earlier authorizing 1,600 new housing units.

Earlier Tuesday, the Interior Ministry approved the building of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, with a ministry official saying the plan will expand the ultra-Orthodox East Jerusalem neighborhood to the east and to the south.

The statement, released by the Interior Ministry’s Jerusalem district planning committee, headed by Ruth Yosef, said that at least 30 percent of the units will be allocated to young couples.

Public facilities and spaces which were, the statement said, lacking in the existing parts of the neighborhood, are also to be added as part of the new plan, including a new central park.

Meir Margalit, Meretz’s representative to the Jerusalem city council, claimed that the statement was meant to disrupt a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, saying that he had “no doubt that the timing isn’t coincidental,” calling the announcement Interior Minister “Eli Yishai’s answer to Netanyahu’s willingness to renew indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.”

“The fact that Eli Yishai couldn’t restrain himself for another two-three days until Biden left Israel means his intention was to slap the U.S. administration in the face,” Margalit said, adding that the announcement was “a provocation to the U.S. and to the prime minister.”

Minister Yishai failed to comment at the statement, but is expected to respond to the Prime Minister’s office request and release an official statement explaining the new decision.

Meanwhile, sources in the Interior Ministry have said that the timing of the statement was purely coincidental and unrelated to Biden’s state visit.

Read more here.

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• Israel backs E Jerusalem building (news.bbc.co.uk)

The United States government has committed to playing a role in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and promised that if the talks were to fail, the U.S. will assign blame and take action, according to a document sent by the U.S. to the Palestinian Authority, which Haaretz obtained on Friday.

The U.S. government sent the document to the Palestinians responding to their inquires regarding the U.S. initiative to launch indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“We expect both parties to act seriously and in good faith. If one side, in our judgment, is not living up to our expectations, we will make our concerns clear and we will act accordingly to overcome that obstacle,” it was written.

This commitment by the U.S. was a determining factor in the Palestinians’ and the Arab League’s decision to agree to the U.S. proposal on indirect talks.

The document also reveals that U.S. involvement will include “sharing messages between the parties and offering our own ideas and bridging proposals.”

The U.S. also emphasized that their main concern is establishing a Palestinian state.

“Our core remains a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian State with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967,” the document read.

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In a move that appears to be a celebration of the 16th anniversary of the massacre of 29 worshippers by the terrorist Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli government has proclaimed that the Ibrahimi Mosque in Khalil (Hebron) and Masjid Bilal ibn Rabah (mosque) in Bethlehem are “Jewish Heritage sites”.

Goldstein, an American-born Israeli settler who served as a medic in the military, opened fire on worshippers at a mosque in Hebron on February 25, 1994, killing 29 and wounding more than 150, before being subdued and beaten to death.

The announcement by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, though not surprising, is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on Islamic historical and religious sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

It is consistent with the Israelis’ long-standing ambition to dispose of all non-Jewish religious symbols and presence in Palestine.

While the Israeli government was announcing the annexation of the Islamic sites, dozens of settlers attempted to storm into Jericho on the pretext that they were visiting an ancient synagogue.

Under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement of May 1994, Israel agreed to dissolve its civil administration and “transferred its powers and responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority”.

In his first reaction to the annexation of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Amr Moussa, the Secretary General of the Arab League, said: “This proves that Israel is not interested in peace and negotiations.”

The question is: when was Israel ever interested in such? When has it ever recognised the rights of the Palestinians? Israel’s founding fathers made no secret of the fact that they wanted all of historic Palestine, but without the Palestinians and all that is associated with their history.

Hence, David Ben Gurion recorded in his memoirs, The Revolt: “The partition of the Homeland [Israel] is illegal. It will never be recognised. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And forever.”

Everything that has happened in Palestine since 1948, and in Jerusalem and Hebron in particular over the past year, can be explained in the context of this statement.

Those who ignore it, not least the Arab and Muslim leadership, do so at their peril.

That having been said, the timing of these latest provocations against the Ibrahimi Mosque has not gone unnoticed.

The Israeli moves come at a time of huge embarrassment for the European patrons of the Zionist project, who saw their passports, among them diplomatic documents, being used illegally to carry out the murder of a Palestinian figure in Dubai, a “moderate” and thus by definition a friendly country.

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Dubai has identified 15 new suspects in the assassination last month of a Hamas official, and 10 of those suspects share the names of Israelis who hold dual citizenship, Haaretz has learned.

Dubai police said Wednesday the total number of people believed involved in the death stands at 26.

Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed last month in his hotel room in what Dubai police have said they are near certain was a hit by Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Police said the killers travelled to the Gulf Arab emirate using European passports.

Dubai authorities had earlier named 11 suspects, who they said travelled on fraudulent British, Irish, French and German passports to kill Mabhouh. Six were Britons living in Israel who deny involvement and say their identities were stolen.

“Dubai investigators are not ruling out the possibility of involvement of other people in the murder,” the statement said.

The suspected killers’ use of passports from countries including Britain and France has drawn criticism from the European Union that diplomats said was aimed at Israel. Some of governments involved have summoned their Israeli ambassadors.

“Friendly nations who have been assisting in this investigation have indicated to the police in Dubai that the passports were issued in an illegal and fraudulent manner,” the Dubai government statement said.

It said that pictures on the passports did not correspond to their original owners.

In a statement on Monday that European diplomats said was intended as a rebuke to Israel, EU foreign ministers said that the assassination was “profoundly disturbing.”

Read more here.

Wanted by Dubai Police? Image via Wikipedia

Interpol has issued red notices for the 11 suspects in the murder of the senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud al Mabhouh, on January 19, with Dubai’s police chief confirming that the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad was involved.

Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim told The National that Interpol issued the notices for the suspects, who have been identified as being behind the killing. “The red notices were issued with the names and features, based on evidence we provided, the notices were issued based on evidence we provided to the Interpol,”said Gen Tamim.

The suspects identified by Dubai Police were six British, three Irish, one German and one French. However, since the revealing of the identities the government of these countries had said that the passports are fake or bore fake identities.

Gen Tamim also confirmed for the first time that their investigations indicate that Mossad were behind al Mabhouh’s murder.

“Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of al Mabhouh. It is 99 per cent, if not 100 per cent that Mossad is standing behind the murder,” said Gen Tamim.

The evidence that Dubai Police have shows a clear link between the suspects and people with a close connection to Israel, according to Gen Tamim. However, he did not disclose what the evidences were.

Earlier Gen Tamim had said if it is proven that Mossad is responsible for the killing of al Mabhouh “Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will be the first to be wanted for justice as he would have been the one who signed the decision to kill [Mahmoud] al Mabhouh in Dubai’ and that an arrest warrant will be issued against him.

Read more here.

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• Dubai Police: Mossad Involved in Hamas Slaying (abcnews.go.com)
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• U.K. Demands Full Cooperation From Israel Over Dubai Killing (businessweek.com)

Nine of the 11 people wanted for the murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai last month used false passports, British and Irish officials said yesterday, reports The National.

A foreign office spokesman in London said: “We are aware that the holders of six British passports have been named in this case. We believe the passports used were fraudulent.”

In Dublin, a spokesman for the department of foreign affairs said: “We are unable to identify any of those three individuals as being genuine Irish citizens. Ireland has issued no passports in those names.”

One of the suspects was named by Dubai police on Monday as Melvyn Adam Mildiner. Yesterday Mr Mildiner, a British-born computer specialist who lives in Israel, said he had never been to Dubai and still had his passport. He added: “I’m looking into what I can do to try to sort things out and clear my name. I don’t know how this happened or who chose my name or why.”

Veteran Hamas leader Mahmoud al Mabhouh was killed in his Dubai hotel room on the evening of January 20. On Monday, naming the 11 suspects and showing video surveillance footage of them, Dubai police said the gang had all left Dubai within hours of the assassination.

The Dubai Police chief, Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, said yesterday that the forged documents probably meant that police were tracking the correct suspects. However, a leading intelligence analyst told The National that the chances of catching the killers were “zero to nil”.

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• Brit Linked To Dubai Hit Squad: ‘It Isn’t Me’ (news.sky.com)
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• Passports of ‘Hamas killers’ fake (news.bbc.co.uk)

Dubai will issue arrest warrants soon for 11 Europeans suspected in the killing of a senior Hamas official, and cannot rule out Israeli involvement, the police chief said on Monday.

“We do not rule out Mossad, but when we arrest those suspects we will know who masterminded it. [We have not] issued arrest warrants yet, but will do soon,” police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters.

He said police had arrested two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel last month.

Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters that the alleged assassination team comprised six British passport holders, three Irish and one each from France and Germany.

The mercenaries were apparently dressed in tennis gear and visited several hotels on the day of the assasination in order to remain inconspicuous.

He says forensic tests indicate al-Mabhouh died of suffocation, but lab
analyses are still under way.

Top Hamas figures have denied that al-Mabhouh was en route to Iran, a major Hamas backer.

Last week the a Paris-based journal dedicated to tracking intelligence activity worldwide, Intelligence Online, reported that ten agents, including three women, participated in the assassination in January.

The journal published what it termed “new details” about the operation, which has been widely attributed to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. It said that one of the female agents dressed herself in the uniform of a reception clerk at Al Bustan Rotana, the hotel where Mabhouh was staying, and then knocked on his door.

When he opened it her fellow operatives rushed him and stunned him with an electric device, the journal said, then they injected poison into his veins, in order to disguise the cause of death.

All 11 agents carried European passports, the journal said.

Previous reports spoke of seven agents, all carrying Irish passports.

Read the full story here.

Agents of Kidon, the department of Mossad that carries out assassinations, can spend decades waiting for the perfect moment to strike a target on their “wanted list”.

Mahmoud al Mabhouh was probably watched closely for months. His Damascus home would have been scouted out, phones tapped and the comings and goings of neighbours and visitors meticulously recorded. Although there is no certainty that Mossad was responsible for the killing, both Dubai Police and intelligence analysts say it fits their pattern, and the Israeli government hasn’t denied involvement.

The Hamas chief would have known that Israeli agents had him in their sights, patiently waiting for an opportunity, one that came on January 19.

It is unclear why al Mabhouh chose to travel without his bodyguards that day; there was no space on the plane for his security contingent but he took it anyway. A surveillance team would have tailed him to the airport but his assassins already had a tip-off as to where he was heading – the hit squad, which according to Dubai police was made up of seven operatives, was lying in wait in Dubai when al Mabhouh touched down on Emirates flight EK912 at 2.55pm.

“For such an operation you need very precise intelligence, and whoever did this had it,” said Yossi Melman, a journalist with Haaretz newspaper who has written two books on Israeli intelligence agencies. “They knew when he was coming, where he was staying, the room number, everything.”

That information may have come from a source inside Hamas. Israeli agents try hard to infiltrate enemy groups. Those based in Palestine are easier to compromise – members are more readily turned when threats can be made on their families.

Exact details of how al Mabhouh died are murky. He checked into Al Bustan Rotana Hotel that afternoon, reportedly using a false identity, and asked for a room with no balcony and sealed windows. He was given room 130, on the first floor, where he spent about an hour before leaving at about 5pm.

From the hotel he would have been tailed, with the surveillance team informing their colleagues on his return. According to Dubai Police, al Mabhouh let his assassins into his room.

The police have said they believe he was electrocuted with a stun gun before being strangled, but have not ruled out poisoning. The assassins had already left the country when al Mabhouh’s body was found the next day, a “Do not disturb” sign hanging from his door.

Read more here.

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• Ripples of Dubai killing spread (cnn.com)
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• Dubai to issue arrest warrant for Netanyahu if Mossad behind Hamas killing (telegraph.co.uk)

Dozens of Basiji militants, supporters of the Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have tried to assault the Italian embassy in Teheran shouting “Death to Italy, death to Silvio Berlusconi,” reports Corriere della Sera.

The militants, dressed as civilians tried to assault the embassy with stones and continued their aggressions against both the French and Dutch embassies.

The news was released by the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, during a Senate hearing. There were no reports about wounded staff, but the attack, he said, was ‘worrying’.  The cause of the Iran militants’ assault is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s criticisms of Ahmadinejad made during a visit to Israel. According to Iranian state television, Berlusconi and the Italian government were named as ’slaves of Israel.’

The Italian Foreign Minister Frattini then announced that he had given instructions to Italy’s ambassador in Tehran, Alberto Bradanini, to have no part in the ceremonies taking place on Thursday at the 31^st anniversary of the Iranian republic.

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Mustafa AKYOL for the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Dear friends,

I hope all is well in the Holy Land. Things are not too bad here in Turkey. Yet one thing that certainly does not look great is relations between our countries, which hit an ugly low this week.

In fact, since the beginning of your government’s “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza, which happened a year ago, a continual war of words has been going on between your leaders and ours.

But no war of words has ever helped anybody. So, as a humble commentator on Turkish affairs who would be happy to see better Israeli-Turkish relations, let me offer a few honest thoughts.

The New Turkish Republic

First, we all should see something: The Turkish Republic of today is more democratic and more Muslim-minded than it ever used to be. And these two things are not contradictory at all. In the last decade, the power of the democratically elected government has steadily increased vis-à-vis the secularist bureaucratic elite that had dominated the country since the late ’20s. As a result, the cultural sensibilities of the majority of Turkish society, in which Muslimhood plays a great role, have become more influential in policymaking.

The practical result of this is that Turkey is ruled by people such as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has a greater emotional connection with the Muslim Palestinians, and not by the ultra-secular generals who look at the Islamic world with distaste. (I know that some of you think Turkey was doing much better under those generals, but I strongly suggest consulting with our liberals or Kurds, who tasted torture in military prisons or who saw their friends assassinated by the gendarme.)

This is not to say that everything that comes out of this more democratic Turkey is sensible – no, not at all. Some of the harsh rhetoric against Israel that we see in our media is indeed fueled by anti-Semitism, which exists within various political camps. The recent TV series that depicted the Israeli military as a bunch of sadists were indeed childish and silly. Turks are a highly emotional people and their anger against the carnage in Gaza, which I share, can easily lead to the vilification of Israel, which I criticize.

However, what I or you would prefer to see does not matter much here. What matters is that this New Turkish Republic, as political analyst Graham Fuller wisely calls it, is here to stay.

Read the rest here