Excerpts: Jakarta Conference re Palestinian development. Rouhani: U.N.
finds no evidence Iran wants nuclear arms. Saudi women want end to
'absolute' male control.Hizbullah rejects any policy o.k. to Israel March
02, 2014

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 2 Mar.’14:”Mideast talks in focus at Jakarta
summit”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: JaKarta Conference re Palestinian development

QUOTE: “co-chairs Japan and Indonesia reiterating their support for a
two-state solution”o

FULL TEXT: JAKARTA – Representatives of 22 nations met in Jakarta on
Saturday[1 Mar.]Jakarta summit to discuss Palestinian development, with
co-chairs Japan and Indonesia reiterating their support for a two-state
solution.

The second Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for
Palestinian Development (CEAPAD) is aimed at boosting infrastructure and
supporting the private sector in the Palestinian Territories.

But a looming deadline for a full Middle East peace deal brokered by US
Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to feature prominently in talks.
“We still believe that the two-state vision can be envisaged and realised.
And here I must commend the... efforts of Mr John Kerry,” Palestinian prime
minister Rami Hamdallah said during the conference’s opening.

Kerry, who coaxed the two sides back to the negotiating table in late July
after a three-year hiatus, said Wednesday a full deal would likely slip past
the April 29 deadline.

The document has not yet been made public, but Hamdallah said on Friday[28
Feb.] “all issues actually have been (put) on the table.”

The document is understood to include a non-binding proposal laying out
guidelines for negotiating the central issues of the conflict, including
such as borders, security, Jerusalem, the settlements and the right of
return for Palestinian refugees.

Hamdallah expressed gratitude to donor nations, but said Israeli settlements
were “severely” hampering development.

“Sixty-two percent of all our land is still controlled by the Israeli
authorities. This impedes any access we have to natural resources, and
severely restricts our development,” he said.

“The people of Palestine have been struggling to achieve this dream for more
than five decades,” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at
the opening.

“Providing them with capacity-building programme is critical.” Yudhoyono
said that Indonesia envisaged a Middle East “at peace with itself and the
rest of the world” and that peace would also depend on a treaty on nuclear
weapons and weapons of mass destruction.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said that security in the Middle
East was “by no means someone else’s problem in a distant region” for Asian
nations.

“I firmly believe participating countries share the common determination to
assist in a Palestinian state-building that promises to bring about regional
peace and stability,” he said in Japanese, according to a statement.

“Such assistance will help achieve a ‘two-state solution’, which would see
Palestine and Israel in peaceful coexistence and co-prosperity,” he said.
The CEAPAD is jointly chaired by Indonesia, the Palestinian Authority and
Japan.

Among attending nations are South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Brunei and
Vietnam, while China’s special envoy on the Middle East issue Wu Sike
attended.

The conference was initiated by Japan, a major donor to the Palestinian
Territories, with the first event held in Tokyo last year. — AFP

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 2 Mar.’14:”Iran Pres. Rouhani Says U.N. Finds
No Evidence Iran Seeks Nuclear Arms”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT Rouhani: U.N.finds no evidence Iran wants nuclear arms

FULL TEXT:President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday[2 Mar.] that despite
"thousands of hours" of inspection, the U.N.'s atomic watchdog has found no
evidence of military objectives in Iran's nuclear drive.

His remarks came on the eve of an International Atomic Energy Agency board
of governors meeting in Vienna, on the sidelines of which Iran will hold
expert-level talks with world powers.

Western powers "all know that nuclear science in Iran follows a peaceful
path", Rouhani said in a speech broadcast on state television.

"The agency has conducted thousands of hours of inspection, and announced it
has not found any diversion from the peaceful use (of nuclear technology) to
military purposes."

In its latest report on Iran in late February, the IAEA said Iran was
sticking to a nuclear freeze it agreed under a November interim deal with
world powers.

The watchdog's report came a month after the deal came into force.

Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of world powers are seeking to reach a
lasting accord that would allay Western suspicions that Tehran's nuclear
activities mask military objectives.

As part of such a comprehensive deal, the six seek to pressure Iran over its
ballistic missile program, which could theoretically provide Tehran with a
device to deliver a nuclear warhead, should it choose to build one.

Rouhani on Sunday[2 Mar.] defended the program, saying it has "always been
defensive in nature, and will always remain so".

On Saturday[1 Mar..], Rouhani had called for calm amid provocative rhetoric
from Iranian hardliners.

"Sometime one does not seek war but talks as if one does, and this is seen
as a threat to other parties. This is an unnecessary provocation," he told
military personnel and defense ministry officials.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign policy is based on detente and
building trust," he added.

Since taking office in August, Rouhani has vowed to rebuild strained
relations with the West.

SourceAgence France Presse




+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)2 Mar.’14:”Saudi Women Activists Demand End to
‘Absolute’ Male Control”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Saudi women activists demand end to ‘absolute’ male control

FULL TEXT:Saudi women activists have petitioned the country's consultative
council to back a demand to curb the "absolute authority" of male guardians
over women in the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom, a signatory said.

Saudi Arabia imposes a strict interpretation of Islamic law, forbidding
women to work or travel without the authorization of their male guardians.

It is also the only country in the world that bans women from driving, and a
woman cannot obtain an identification card without the consent of her
guardian.

Activist Aziza Youssef told Agence France Presse that "rights activists have
petitioned the Shura (consultative) Council on the occasion of the
International Women's Day (on March 8) demanding an end to the absolute
authority of men over women."

They demanded "measures to protect (women's) rights," in their petition to
the Shura Council, she said.

Laws in the kingdom enforcing such restrictions on women "are not based on
religious" teachings, said Youssef.

The petition, signed by 10 female activists, also calls for allowing women
to drive.

Women in Saudi must obtain permission from a male guardian to perform
"certain surgeries" and to "leave the university campus during study hours,"
she added.

She cited a recent case in which a pregnant student had to give birth on
campus after a women-only university in Riyadh denied access to paramedics.

And a university student died in February after paramedics were prevented
from entering her campus because they were not accompanied by a male
guardian, a must according to the strict segregation rules in the Muslim
kingdom.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia suspended a notification program that had
been running since 2012, which alerted male guardians once women under their
custody left the country, even if they were traveling together.

Three female members of the Shura Council presented a recommendation that
women be given the right to drive in October, but the male-dominated
150-member assembly blocked the proposal.

The Shura Council is appointed by the king and advises the monarch on
policy, but cannot legislate.

SourceAgence France Presse



+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 2 Mar.’14:”Hizbullah’s Qaouq: We Reject Any
Policy Statement that Satisfies Israel”
SUBJECT: Hizbullah will reject any policy statement that satisfies Israel
FULL TEXT:QUOTE:”Hizbullah: ‘We reject any ministerial policy that would
satisfy Israel because we don’t want to give up the reason behind Lebanon’s
strength, which is the resistance’ “
Deputy head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq on Sunday[2
Mar.] stressed that the party will “reject any ministerial policy statement
that would satisfy Israel.”

“We reject any ministerial policy statement that would satisfy Israel
because we don't want to give up the reason behind Lebanon's strength, which
is the resistance,” Qaouq said during a memorial service in the southern
town of Houla.

“We are ready to bear all forms of insults and incitement because the issue
is not related to a certain party, movement, region or sect, but rather to
the country's dignity,” he added.

“We will not impose dignity on those who don't want it, but we won't allow
that Lebanon's strength be given up in the face of Israeli threats,” the top
Hizbullah official said.

He noted that “the resistance's strength, its growing capabilities and its
decision's courage are what deterring Israel from taking advantage of the
Syrian crisis to carry out an aggression against Lebanon, not the statements
of the March 14 camp.”

“The only thing that has humiliated and insulted the Israeli army since 1948
until today is the resistance and not anything else, as who can guarantee
Israel's intentions against Lebanon should we give up Lebanon's strength and
the resistance?” Qaouq added.

He pointed out that the resistance did not ask the government for “any
political cover for its role in Syria, but rather for a strong national
stance in the face of Israel.”

“The policy statement must represent a message of strength, invincibility,
potency and pride for the country against all takfiri and Israeli threats
and must not represent a message of reassurance to Israel,” Qaouq
underlined.

“Our stance is clear following the provocations, statements and media and
political tensions that happened. Those who support the resistance will gain
more dignity, pride and honor and those who don't want to support it will
only gain further repentance while those who want to target it will only
gain further disappointment,” he emphasized.

“We are not people who would give up a single iota of the resistance's
dignity or who would allow an attack on any of its letters,” Qaouq pledged.

On Saturday, Hizbullah and President Michel Suleiman were at loggerheads
over the president's recent statement concerning the cabinet's policy
statement.

Suleiman said Friday that the land, people and common values formed the
country's “permanent equation,” describing the people-army-resistance
equation as “wooden” or outdated.

Hizbullah was quick to hit back at Suleiman, accusing him on Saturday of not
being able to differentiate between “what's golden and what's wooden.”

On Friday, the committee drafting the ministerial policy statement failed
anew to reach an agreement on the clause related to resisting Israel as the
March 14 forces insisted on “the state's authority over everything.”

The committee's meeting was the seventh since Prime Minister Tammam Salam's
cabinet was formed around two weeks ago.

The panel will hold a new session at the Grand Serail on Monday[3 Mar.].

Salam has announced that his government's mission is combating terrorism and
preparing for the upcoming presidential election.

LebanonPolitics
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA