Excerpts:Mursi is a ‘Zionist’ who shares security interests with Israel:
Egyptian cleric. U.S. seeks Egypt political consensus.Syrian shells hit
Israeli Golan. Iran says Assad 'legitimate president' til 2014. Oil in the
Golan. U.S. Sec,of State Kerry re Erdogan remarks on Zionism 2 March 2013

+++Mursi is a ‘Zionist’ who shares security interests with Israel: Egyptian
cleric
Friday, 01 March 2013
By Al Arabiya
An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood and supports a “civil
state” system in the post-revolutionary Egypt described Friday Islamist
President Mohammed Mursi as a “Zionist” who shares security interests with
Israel.
Speaking to protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah
Nasr, leader of the Front “Ozharyoun with civil state,” said U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry is coming to Egypt on March 2 to support “Mursi the
Zionist.”
“They are all relatives, the Brotherhood and the Jews are one; Israel's
security is part of the Brotherhood's security and the security of the
Brotherhood is part of Israel's security,” Sheikh Nasr said in a video
posted on the website of Adostor newspaper (www.dostor.org)
He described Kerry as a “Jew and the son of a Jew,” saying the American top
diplomat would be received with mobs hurling eggs and tomatoes at him upon
his arrival to Egypt.
“As for myself, I have a special gift for him and for anyone who supports
the regime of the Brotherhood’s regime,” Sheikh Nasr said, before removing
his shoe and raising it in front of the crowd.
Sheikh Nasr called for “continued struggle” until the establishment of a
civil state in Egypt. “Europe and American and Brotherhoods are conspiring
against the Egyptian Revolution to abort it because they know that if
Egyptians take the right path of civilization they will create
The cleric also criticized President Mursi over recent reports that his
government is considering a proposal to auction the exploitation of key
historical sites and monuments, including the pyramids, by foreign tourism
firms

+++SOURCE: BBC News via Egypt Daily News 2 Mar.’13:”John Kerry in Egypt to
urge for political consensus”
SUBJECT: U.S. seeks Egypt political consensus
QUOTE:”U.S. Sec. of State John Kerry has arrived in Egypt to urge the
government and the opposition to reach a political consensus”
FULL TEXT:John Kerry is also meeting Arab League Secretary General Nabil
Elaraby in Cairo

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Egypt to urge the government
and the opposition to reach a political consensus after months of protests.

Mr Kerry is expected to stress that a political deal is needed for Egypt to
secure international funds to overcome a crippling economic crisis.

His visit comes ahead of elections boycotted by the main opposition group.

The group says electoral laws favour allies of Islamist President Mohammed
Morsi - a charge he denies.

Mr Kerry is due to hold talks with Mr Morsi and other senior government
officials during his two-day visit to Egypt.

Meetings are also planned with opposition leaders, although some of them are
refusing to attend the talks.

They are angered by Washington's appeal to reconsider their boycott of the
general elections set for next month.

Egypt remains sharply divided between Islamists and their liberal and
secular opponents.

More than 70 people were killed in violence between security forces and
protesters following the second anniversary of the revolution which forced
Hosni Mubarak from power.

John Kerry's first overseas trip as secretary of state is taking him to 11
countries in Europe and the Middle East

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 2 Mar. ’13: Syrian Shells Hit Israeli Golan”,
Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Syrian shells hit Israeli Golan

QUOTE:”(no) damage or casualties”

FULL TEXT:Mortar rounds believed to be have been fired from Syria hit the
southern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday[2 Mar.] without causing
damage or casualties, the army said.

"Several shells landed and were found in an open area in the southern Golan
Heights, most likely due to the fighting in Syria," a spokesman told Agence
France Presse.

"No injuries or damages were caused. The incident was reported to the United
Nations forces, and Israeli soldiers continued searching the area," he said.

On Wednesday[27 Feb.], a mortar shell struck the central Golan Heights,
causing no injuries or damage, after nearly three months of no spillover
from the fighting in Syria.

The same day, six Syrians were discharged from an Israeli hospital and
returned to Syria, with a seventh staying behind for further treatment.

They were wounded in the fighting over the border and allowed on February 16
to cross into Israel, where they received treatment at Ziv hospital in the
northern Galilee town of Safed.

Such incidents have been sporadic but have increased over the past six
months as violence from the civil war in Syria seeped across the ceasefire
line.

In recent months, there have been several instances of gunfire or mortar
shells hitting the Israeli side of the plateau. In November, troops
responded with artillery in the first such instance of Israeli fire at the
Syrian military since the 1973 war.

Israel seized the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in
1981, in a move never recognized by the international community.

It is currently upgrading its security fence along its armistice line with
the work expected to be finished by the end of the year.

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 2 Mar.’13:”Iran: Syria’s Assad ‘Legitimate
President’ Til 2014”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Iran says Assad ‘Legitimate President’ til 2014

QUOTE:” ‘The official position of Iran is that … Assad will remain
legitimate president until the next election’ in 2014”

FULL TEXT:Close Damascus ally Iran expects Bashar Assad to remain Syria's
president until elections next year, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said
on Saturday[2 Mar.].

"The official position of Iran is that... Assad will remain legitimate
president until the next... election" in 2014, Salehi said at a news
conference with his visiting Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem.

Muallem arrived on Saturday[2 Mar.] for talks aimed at ending the nearly
two-year conflict in Syria that the United Nations says has killed at least
70,000 people and is tearing the country apart.

His visit comes after a week of intense international diplomacy aimed at
ending the bloodshed.

Salehi threw Iran's weight behind Damascus's call this week for dialogue
with the armed opposition, calling the initiative a "positive step," but
reiterated Assad's regime has "no choice" but to keep fighting rebels.

"We believe that the crisis has no military solution and only a Syrian
political one," said the Iranian minister.

"Iran firstly wants stop to the bloodshed but the Syrian government has no
choice but to fight against the terrorists and we cannot ask the Syrian
government not to do so and leave them alone," he added.

Muallem condemned the announcement by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on
Thursday[28 Feb.] that Washington would provide $60 million in "non-lethal"
assistance to support the Syrian political opposition.

"When the U.S. (says it has) allocated $60 million to the opposition and
this opposition is killing people, I don't understand this initiative... are
there any weapons that do not kill people? Who are you kidding?" Muallem
asked.

He repeated calls for pressure to be exerted on Turkey and Qatar, among the
main supporters of the rebels alongside Western countries.

While in Tehran, Muallem is also due to meet the secretary of the Supreme
National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, Mehr news agency reported

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 1 Mar.’13:”UK urged to oppose Israeli oil
exploration in Golan”
SUBJECT: Oil in the Golan
QUOTE:”The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) has called on the
British government to make clear its opposition to Israel granting a US
company a license to explore for oil and gas”

FULL TEXT:LONDON – The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) has
called on the British government to make clear its opposition to Israel
granting a US company a license to explore for oil and gas in the occupied
Golan Heights.

In a letter to Foreign Secretary William Hague, Caabu Director Chris Doyle,
said: “It is vital that a strong message is sent to the Israeli government
at the start of this consultation process before further facts are created
on the ground. The British government and other allies should make it
explicitly clear that that this is illegal and that any oil extracted from
the Golan Heights should be used for the exclusive benefit of Syrians.”

On Thursday[28 Feb.], Israel’s energy ministry confirmed that a license had
been granted to a local subsidiary of Genie Energy, a New York-listed
company that counts Rupert Murdoch and Jacob Rothschild among its
shareholders.

Former US vice president Dick Cheney is also an adviser. Genie Energy has
been granted licenses in a stretch of territory that covers half of the
Golan Heights, from the town of Katzrin in the north to Tzemach in the
south.

Any exploitation of mineral resources by Israel as the occupying power from
the Golan Heights is illegal under international law, specifically Articles
47 and 55 of the 1907 Hague regulations. Israel’s annexation of the Golan
Heights has not been recognised by the UN. In 1981, the UN Security Council
passed Resolution 497 demanding that Israel rescind its annexation of the
Golan.

Any revenue obtained from the exploitation of oil in the Golan Heights
should belong to Syria. Any oil revenues will be essential to rebuild Syria.
Doyle also added: “If oil is discovered, there will be global disgust if it
is extracted for Israeli benefit whilst Syrians, whose oil it would be,
languish in exile, homelessn

+++SOURCE: New York Times 1 Mar.’13:”U.S. Finds Erdogan Comments on Zionism
‘Offensive,’ Official Says”, REuters

· SUBJECT: U.S.Sec. of State Kerry re Erdogan remarks on Zionism

· QUOTE: Secretary of State John Kerry will upbraid Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday (1 March) for his description of Zionism
as a crime against humanity comments”

FULL TEXT: ANKARA (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry will upbraid
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday[1 Mar.] for his description
of Zionism as a crime against humanity, comments which could overshadow his
first trip to a Muslim nation since taking office.

Kerry is meeting Turkish leaders in talks meant to focus on Syria's civil
war and bilateral interests from energy security to counter-terrorism.

But Erdogan's comment at a U.N. meeting in Vienna this week, condemned by
his Israeli counterpart, the White House and U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, has clouded his trip.

"This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against
humanity ... It does have a corrosive effect (on relations)," a senior U.S.
official told reporters as Kerry flew to Ankara.

"I am sure the secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to
hear it," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

"To state the obvious, it complicates our ability to do all of the things
that we want to do together when we have such a profound disagreement about
such an important thing."

Washington needs all the allies it can get as it navigates the political
currents of the Middle East, and sees Turkey as the key player in supporting
Syria's opposition and planning for the era after President Bashar al-Assad.

But the collapse of its ties with Israel have undermined U.S. hopes that
Turkey could play a role as a broker in the broader region.

"The Turkey-Israel relationship is frozen," the U.S. official said. "We want
to see a normalization ... not just for the sake of the two countries but
for the sake of the region and, frankly, for the symbolism," he said.

"Not that long ago (you) had these two countries demonstrating that a
majority Muslim country could have very positive and strong relations with
the Jewish state and that was a sign for the region (of what was) possible."

Erdogan told the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Vienna on
Wednesday[27 Feb.]: "Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has
become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime against humanity."

The head of Europe's main rabbinical group condemned his words as a "hateful
attack" on Jews.

Ties between Israel and mostly Muslim Turkey have been frosty since 2010,
when Israeli marines killed nine Turks in fighting aboard a Palestinian aid
ship that tried to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks, there has been a run of reports in the Turkish and Israeli
media about efforts to repair relations, including a senior diplomatic
meeting last month in Rome and military equipment transfers.

The reports have not been confirmed by either government.

SUPPORT FOR SYRIAN OPPOSITION

Officials said Syria would top the agenda when Kerry meets Erdogan and
President Abdullah Gul, building on the discussions in Rome between 11
mostly European and Arab nations within the "Friends of Syria" group.

After the Rome meeting, Kerry said on Thursday[28 Feb.] the United States
would for the first time give non-lethal aid to the rebels and more than
double support to the civilian opposition, although Western powers stopped
short of pledging arms.

"We need to continue the discussion which took place in Rome ... in terms of
the main goals there is no daylight between us and the Americans," a senior
Turkish official said.

"A broad agreement was reached on supporting the opposition. Now our sides
need to sit down and really flesh out what we can do to support them in
order to change the balance on the ground," he said.

Turkey has been one of Assad's fiercest critics, hosting a NATO Patriot
missile defense system, including two U.S. batteries, to protect against a
spillover of violence and leading calls for international intervention.

It has spent more than $600 million sheltering refugees from the conflict
that began almost two years ago, housing some 180,000 in camps near the
border and tens of thousands more who are staying with relatives or in
private accommodation.

Washington has given $385 million in humanitarian aid for Syria but
President Barack Obama has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is
difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could
use them on Western targets.

Turkey, too, has been reluctant to provide weapons, fearing direct
intervention could cause the conflict to spill across its borders.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA