Excerpts: Hamas wants dialogue, but not with Israel.: U.S helped
Abbas/Israel possible negotiaition talks.Afghan Pres. rebufed in
Saudi.Yemeni 'infiltrators/audi battles continue.Syrian Pres. Assad warned
February 04, 2010

+++SOURCE: EGYPTIAN GAZETTE 4 Feb.'10:"Hamas wants talks with US,
Europe",Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Hamas wants dialogue but not with Israel

EXCERPTS: "Hamas is ready to dialogue with the world, international
community, the US, the (Middle East) Quartet and the Europeans," Haniya said
Wednesday(3 Feb).
The Islamist movement, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip since
June 2007 after a week of vicious street battles with Fatah loyalists,
remains a pariah of the international community.
It is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the
European Union refuses to hold formal talks with the group.
One of the main obstacles to opening a dialogue is the Islamists' refusal
to recognise Israel's right to exist, a position inscribed in Hamas's
founding charter. The international community demands an explicit
recognition.. . .
Regarding "reconciliation, it is moving. It needs a strong push to reach
a signature" with Fatah, the rival movement headed by Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas.
A senior Fatah official, Nabil Shaath, made a rare visit to the Hamas-run
Gaza Strip on Wednesday(3 Feb) in a bid to encourage stalled reconciliation
efforts.
Shaath, a member of the central committee of the secular Fatah, met with
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior official from Hamas.

+++SOURCE:EGYPTIAN GAZETTE 4 Feb'10:"Israel envisages talks with
Palestinians"Reuters
QUOTE: "Abbas ...proximity talks could be a way to restart the negotiating
process
"
FULL TEXT:JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinians may resume indirect peace
deliberations soon, with a US mediator shuttling between negotiating teams,
an Israeli cabinet minister said on Thursday(4 Feb).

Echoing comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day
earlier, cabinet minister Gilad Erdan said: "Sometimes it takes more than
two to tango. And sometimes you need a third party to bring the positions
closer."
Asked on Israel Radio if the resumption of negotiations, stalled for more
than a year, would be in the format of proximity talks through US mediation,
Erdan said: "Yes, indeed."
Palestinian officials did not confirm Erdan's remarks, but pointed out
that US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has made more than a dozen visits
to the region to try to revive peace negotiations leading to the creation of
a Palestinian state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would return to the
negotiating table only after Israel stopped settlement building in the
occupied West Bank. He termed insufficient a limited construction freeze
announced by Netanyahu in November.
But Abbas told Britain's Guardian newspaper earlier this week that
proximity talks could be a way to restart the negotiating process.
Such shuttle diplomacy could allow Abbas to pursue a peace deal without
dropping his settlement freeze demand.
Netanyahu said in a speech on Wednesday he had reason to hope the
negotiations could resume within weeks and reiterated Israel was ready to
renew without preconditions the talks that have not convened since a Gaza
war erupted in December 2008.

+++SOURCE: SAUDI GAZETTE 4 Feb.'10:"Karzai cancels meeting with OIC(Org.of
Islamic Conference)"
SUBJECT: Afghan Pres. rebufed in Saudi
EXCERPTS: JEDDAH - Afghan President Hamid Karzai canceled Wednesday(3 Feb) a
meeting with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that was aimed at
pushing for dialogue to help reconciliation efforts with the Taliban.
The meeting was called off because Karzai had reservations over the agenda,
a senior OIC official said, without elaborating.
An Afghan diplomat told Reuters that the meeting with the OIC. . . was
canceled because the Afghan delegation wanted to visit Madina.
Karzai arrived in the Kingdom Tuesday(2 Feb) to seek the Riyadh's clout to
reconcile with the Taliban during talks with King Abdullah, Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques.
The canceled meeting would have addressed the OIC's role in containing
Afghan tensions and to follow up on an OIC bid to organize a conference for
Islamic scholars from different religious authorities on the Afghan issue,
the OIC said. "We understand that Saudi Arabia supports this drive by the
OIC for debate among Afghan religious leaders as a means to convince the
Taliban to openly abandon Al-Qaeda," the senior OIC official told Reuters.
. . .The OIC has sought under Ihsanoglu - and with the open support of King
Abdullah - to play a bigger role in solving Muslim world crises through
debate.. . . .
Karzai's visit follows his call at a London conference last week urging
Saudi Arabia to help bring peace to Afghanistan. Karzai, in remarks
published by Saudi newspapers, said any message from King Abdullah would
have a deep impact on the Taliban and other Islamist movements.
"His message is obeyed by everyone," Karzai said in remarks published in
Al-Madina newspaper.
Riyadh has said the Taliban must deny sanctuary to Al-Qaeda men before it
will agree to act as a mediator in any Afghan peace deal. -

+++SOURCE:SAUDI GAZETTE 4 Feb.'10:"Commander describes 'fierce battles' to
hold
Mt. Doud"By Abdulrahman Al-Khataresh,Okaz SG

SUBJECT: Yemeni 'infitrators'/Saudi battles continue.
EXCERPTS:SAUDI-YEMEN BORDER - The[Saudi] commander of the Paratroopers'
First Brigade . . . . said that his forces were subsequently attacked
seven times as infiltrators sought to regain the mountain.
"We fought battles in Al-Mukhath, Al-Kalah, Al-Khashem, Al-Kabsh and Gharib
Kaba'a, this last being one of the fiercest battles of them all, but our
brave soldiers were victorious in every confrontation, and we captured large
numbers of weapons and some of the aggressors," he said.-

+++SOURCE: NAHARNET 4 Feb.'10:"Lieberman Warns Assad will Lose Power if
Syria
Provokes Israel"Israeli Foreign
SUBJECT: Syrian Pres. Assad warned.

FULL TEXT:[Israeli] Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday(4 Feb) warned
that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would lose the war and his power if he
battled Israel. "When there is another war, you will not just lose it, but
you and your family will lose power," he told an audience at a business
conference at Bar-Ilan University.
The Israeli foreign minister's remarks come after Assad on Wednesday[3Feb]
said that Israel was pushing the Middle East to a new war.
"Our message should be that if Assad's father lost a war but remained in
power, the son should know that an attack will cost him his regime,"
Lieberman said.
"This is the message that must be conveyed to the Syrian leader by Israel,"
he told the conference.
The foreign minister went on to stress that he supports peace with Syria as
long as the Golan Heights remain in Israel's hands.
"Syria must understand that it has to let go of the demand for the Golan, in
the same way that it gave up on the Greater Syria dream," Lieberman said.
=========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA