Israel Rejects Vague U.S. Calls for Peace Talks
The Israeli government is rebuffing mild U.S. calls for peace talks with Palestinians towards reaching a two-state settlement. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians must recognize Israel as a “Jewish state” as a pre-condition for future talks. Palestinians have called the demand a non-starter because it would mean not just acknowledging but legitimizing Israel’s takeover of their land and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who used to live there. Netanyahu announced the demand after meeting U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Mitchell said the U.S. will insist on pursuing a two-state solution.
George Mitchell: “It is in the United State’s national interest that there will be a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, that should include settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a two-state solution involving a Palestinian state living side by side alongside the Jewish state of Israel in peace, and hopefully stability and prosperity. We are going to do all we can for the rest of this visit and over the coming weeks and months to move towards that objective.”
Report: U.S. Will Impose Two-State Settlement
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Achronoth is reporting meanwhile the Obama administration is prepared to force the Israeli government to accept a two-state peace deal. An unidentified Jewish leader quoted White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as saying: “In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn’t matter to us at all who is prime minister.” The Obama administration has yet to outline whether the two-state solution it favors would meet minimal Palestinian rights. Previous U.S.-backed proposals would have still left Israel in control of the large West Bank settlement blocs on Palestinian land.
Israel Rejects UN War Crimes Probe
The Israeli government has informed the UN it will refuse to cooperate with an investigation into whether it committed war crimes during its three-week assault on the Gaza Strip. Earlier this year the UN Human Rights Council named former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone to head the probe.
Israeli Air Strike Destroys Gaza Home
Meanwhile an Israeli air strike destroyed a home in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. It was the first Israeli air strike on Gaza in over a month.
Gazans, Journalists Mark 1-Year Anniversary of Israeli Killing of Cameraman, Youths
In other news from Gaza, journalists from around the world gathered in Gaza City to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of Reuters camera operator Fadel Shana. The twenty-four-year-old Shana died on April 16, 2008 after an Israeli tank shelled his vehicle that was clearly marked “press.” Shana’s final piece of footage shows the tank firing a shell before his camera goes black. The attack also killed eight Palestinian youths aged between twelve and twenty years old. Reuters bureau chief Alastair Macdonald was among those to speak at Shana’s memorial.
Alastair Macdonald: “The grief and anguish that greeted the killing of Fadel last April the 16th at the age of just 24, was a mark not only of the affection in which he was held by his family and friends but of the reputation he enjoyed as an independent journalist determined through his work with Reuters to inform the wider world about life in a conflict here in the Gaza Strip.”
No member of the Israeli military has been prosecuted for the attack that killed Shana and the eight Palestinian youths.
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