Posts Tagged ‘Israel’

1,550 Palestinians on hunger strike

JERUSALEM- At least 1,550 Palestinians in Israeli jails are now taking part in a mass hunger strike, Israel’s Prison Service said on Wednesday, with two of them marking their 64th day without food. IPS spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP another 100 prisoners had begun refusing food in the past two days, swelling the number of those on hunger strike to 1,550 — or more than a third of …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Japan urges Israel ‘patience’ on Iran curbs

JERUSALEM  – Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba has urged Israel to exercise “patience” on Iran’s nuclear programme and give sanctions a chance to work, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
Gemba, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday, met PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and on Wednesday held talks with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Iran slams US pastor’s burning of Quran

Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who himself risks incarceration for defending the pastor and a dissident in another case, told AFP that his client “must be released,” based on religious edicts from prominent Iranian clerics.The lawyer declined to comment on the Quran burning protest for Nadarkhani in the United States. — Reuters 

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday slammed a US pastor’s burning of a Quran, calling it provocative and demanding US authorities take action to prevent any recurrence.

Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency that it “strongly condemns this ridiculous, insulting and provoking act by a so-called American priest in overt contempt of the holy Quran.”

The condemnation was in reaction to a Saturday ceremony in which Florida pastor Terry Jones set fire to the Muslim holy book and a depiction of the prophet Mohammed to protest Iran’s imprisonment of an Iranian Christian clergyman, Yousef Nadarkhani.

The act was broadcast online in a YouTube video that climaxed with Jones and a handful of followers repeating the US oath of allegiance as the Quran burned.

Jones, who rebuffed a US Defence Department request to desist out of fear for US troops’ safety abroad, was behind a March 2011 burning of the Quran by his assistant that triggered violence in northern Afghanistan in which at least 12 people were killed.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the latest burning was the result of “Islamophobia” in the West.

It said the world was “awaiting a quick, serious and frank response by the US government to this act so it is never repeated.”

The ministry said the Quran burning “undoubtedly creates religious hatred and will provoke Muslim anger worldwide.”

The act by Jones came as US and Iranian officials prepared for important talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme that are to be held in Baghdad on May 23.

While Iran is expressing optimism over those talks, any failure could stoke tensions between the Islamic republic and the West and strengthen the possibility of military action by the United States or Israel.

Nadarkhani, the Christian evangelical pastor in prison in Iran, was arrested in 2009 and condemned to death for converting to Christianity when he was 19.

Iran’s supreme court overturned the death sentence in July 2011 and a retrial took place in September 2011, but no verdict was made public.

Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who himself risks incarceration for defending the pastor and a dissident in another case, told AFP that his client “must be released,” based on religious edicts from prominent Iranian clerics.

The lawyer declined to comment on the Quran burning protest for Nadarkhani in the United States.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Saudi closes embassy in Egypt following protests

,,

In this Tuesday, April 24, 2012 file photo, Egyptian protesters demonstrate in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo, Egypt to demand the release of an Egyptian human rights lawyer detained in Saudi Arabia for allegedly insulting the kingdom’s monarch. -AP Photo

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia closed its Cairo embassy and recalled its ambassador following protests over a detained Egyptian human rights lawyer.

The unexpected escalation followed days of protests by hundreds of Egyptians outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo and consulates in other cities to demand the release of Ahmed el-Gezawi. Relatives and human rights groups say he was detained for allegedly insulting the kingdom’s monarch.

Saudi authorities denied that and said he was arrested for trying to smuggle anti-anxiety drugs into the oil-rich kingdom.

It was worst diplomatic tiff between the two regional powerhouses since Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries broke off diplomatic ties with Egypt after it signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Diplomatic relations were restored in 1987.

El-Gezawi’s case has revived long-standing resentment over the treatment of Egyptians working in Saudi, which is a destination for more than a million Egyptians searching for better jobs.

The lawyer flew to Jiddah on his way to perform a minor pilgrimage, called umrah, to Islam’s holy shrines in the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, said his sister Shereen el-Gezawi. The fact that he was arrested on his way to perform a religious rite further enflamed Egyptian sentiment.

His family said he had been convicted in absentia and sentenced to a year in prison and 20 lashes by a Saudi court for insulting the king. However he was not notified of the court’s ruling ahead of his Saudi trip. El-Gezawi had earlier filed a lawsuit in Egypt against King Abdullah over the alleged arbitrary detention of hundreds of Egyptians.

Outside the Cairo embassy earlier this week, protesters chanted, ”Down, down with Al-Saud!” referring to the Saudi royal family and ”Screw you, your majesty!” in reference to King Abdullah, the aging Saudi monarch.

The demonstrators called for the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador in Cairo, and some raised their shoes alongside a picture of Abdullah, a sign of deep contempt in the Arab world. Others climbed over the walls of the embassy in Cairo. In the consulate in the port city of Suez, protesters blocked staff from leaving Thursday, prompting the military to evacuate them.

The Saudi news agency, quoting a foreign ministry official, said the protests were ”unjustified” and attempts to storm the missions threatened the safety of diplomatic staff, in a violation of international conventions. The protests, the official statement said, were a violation of the ”sanctity and sovereignty of diplomatic missions.” The agency also said the ambassador was recalled for ”consultation.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry had no immediate official reaction. Egyptian protesters also were resentful of their government’s reaction to the case, raising questions about whether it does enough to protect its citizens.

Many activists also claim Egypt curbs its criticism so as not to alienate the wealthy kingdom or endanger Egyptian jobs there. Egyptians also held rallies outside the Foreign Ministry in Cairo, demanding the Egyptian ambassador in Saudi Arabia be questioned over his handling of el-Gezawi’s case.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Israeli ex-intel chief slams PM’s Iran stance

,,

In this May 15, 2005 file photo, Yuval Diskin arrives for a meeting at the President’s residence in Jerusalem. -AP Photo

JERUSALEM: The former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has accused the country’s political leaders of exaggerating the effectiveness of a possible military strike against Iran, in a striking indication of Israel’s turmoil over how to deal with the Iranian nuclear program.

Yuval Diskin said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who have been saber-rattling for months, have their judgment clouded by ”messianic feelings” and should not be trusted to lead policy on Iran. Diskin, who headed Shin Bet until last year, said a strike might actually accelerate the Iranian program.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel, like the West, believes that Tehran is developing weapons technology, but there is intense debate over whether international economic sanctions accompanying the current round of negotiations might prevent Iran from developing a bomb, or whether at some point a military strike should be launched.

Diskin’s comments deepened the sense that a rift is growing between the hawkish Netanyahu government and the security establishment over the question of a strike.

In Israel, security figures carry clout well into retirement. Although they frequently pursue political careers, Diskin had been seen as relatively apolitical, perhaps lending his words even greater weight.

”I don’t have faith in the current leadership of Israel to lead us to an event of this magnitude, of war with Iran,” Diskin said at a public meeting Friday, video of which was posted on the Internet the next day and quickly became the lead news item in Israel.

”I do not believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on Messianic feelings,” he continued. ”I have seen them up close. They are not messiahs, these two, and they are not the people that I personally trust to lead Israel into an event.”

Diskin said it was possible that ”one of the results of an Israel attack on Iran could be a dramatic acceleration of the Iran program … They will have legitimacy to do it more quickly and in a shorter timeframe.”

Spokesmen for Netanyahu and Barak both refused comment on the issue.

Further complicating the picture is the widely held belief that Israel’s threats are actually a bluff of historic proportion and that indeed they have been effective in compelling the world to boycott Iranian oil and isolate its central bank.

From that perspective, criticism such as Diskin’s, based on a literal approach, could be presented as simplistic and damaging.

Israeli security officials have taken issue with the political leadership on several issues: whether sanctions will make a strike unnecessary, whether a strike will be militarily effective, and whether Israel should strike unilaterally if it cannot gain American approval.

Diskin’s speech came days after the country’s current top military commander, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, also seemed to disagree with the country’s leadership on the likelihood that Iran will pursue a nuclear weapon.

Gantz told The Associated Press this week that Iran is seeking to develop its ”military nuclear capability,” but that the Islamic Republic would ultimately bow to international pressure and decide against building a weapon. The key to that pressure, he said, were sanctions and the threat of a military strike.

One of the first criticisms voiced by a security figure came last summer from Israel’s recently retired spy chief Meir Dagan.

He called a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program ”stupid.” Dagan, who headed the Mossad spy agency, said an effective attack on Iran would be difficult because Iranian nuclear facilities are scattered and mobile, and warned it could trigger war.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Israelis being fooled on Iran: ex-security chief

JERUSALEM  – Israel’s former security chief Yuval Diskin on Saturday accused top ministers of misleading the public about the chances any pre-emptive military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities succeeding.
Diskin singled out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak for criticism over their increasingly bellicose comments in the standoff with Iran …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

UN finds cluster bombs in Sri Lanka

A cluster bomb unit. – File Photo by AP

NEW DELHI: A report from a UN mine removal expert says unexploded cluster munitions have been found in northern Sri Lanka, appearing to confirm, for the first time, that the weapons were used in that country’s long civil war.

The revelation is likely to increase calls for an international investigation into possible war crimes stemming from the bloody final months of fighting in the quarter-century civil war that ended in May 2009. The government has repeatedly denied reports it used cluster munitions during the final months of fighting.

Cluster munitions are packed with small ”bomblets” that scatter indiscriminately and often harm civilians. Those that fail to detonate often kill civilians long after fighting ends.

They are banned under an international treaty adopted by more than 60 nations that took effect in August 2010, after the Sri Lankan war. The nations that haven’t adopted the treaty include Sri Lanka, China, Russia, India, Pakistan and the US, which says the bombs are a valid weapon of war when used properly.

The Associated Press obtained a copy Thursday of an email written by a UN land mine expert that said unexploded cluster bomblets were discovered in the Puthukudiyiruppu area of northern Sri Lanka, where a boy was killed last month and his sister injured as they tried to pry apart an explosive device they had found to sell for scrap metal.

The email was written by Allan Poston, the technical adviser for the UN Development Program’s mine action group in Sri Lanka.

”After reviewing additional photographs from the investigation teams, I have determined that there are cluster sub-munitions in the area where the children were collecting scrap metal and in the house where the accident occurred. This is the first time that there has been confirmed unexploded sub-munitions found in Sri Lanka,” the email said.

During the final weeks of the war, tens of thousands of civilians and Tamil Tiger rebel fighters were trapped in a tiny section of Puthukudiyiruppu as attacking government forces closed in on them.

Lakshman Hulugalla, a Sri Lankan government spokesman on security matters, said the military had not used cluster munitions in the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

”We are denying that information,” he said.

The UN did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment.

Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka project director for the International Crisis Group, said the revelation ”makes more clear than ever the need for a thorough and independent investigation of alleged violations of the laws of war by both the government and the LTTE, which only an international body can provide.”

Poston’s email, dated Tuesday, said mine clearers in Sri Lanka had not been prepared to deal with the bomblets, and are now relying on the experience of deminers who had worked in Lebanon, where Israel used cluster munitions in its 2006 war.

One deminer with experience in Lebanon was asked to clear the area and train other teams in how to handle the bomblets, according to the email. The local mine clearing office is adopting the Lebanon standards, and Unicef was informed of the need to educate the local population about the dangers of the unexploded munitions, it said.

The army’s demining unit also was informed of the discovery, the email said.

”Cluster sub-munitions are extremely dangerous items of (unexploded ordnance) and can explode with the slightest movement or touch,” the email warned.

UN officials first reported the use of cluster munitions in the conflict zone in February 2009, saying they appeared to hit in an area around a hospital that was pounded by artillery fire for more than 16 hours. The government denied possessing the weapons and the UN said it accepted that denial.

A report last year by a UN panel of experts found credible allegations of war crimes by both Sri Lankan government forces and the rebels. The experts said there were unconfirmed reports the army had used cluster bombs against civilians in a No Fire Zone the government had set up.

Witnesses reported hearing large explosions followed by multiple small explosions that would be consistent with such munitions. The expert panel said some injuries were also consistent with cluster munitions, and called for further investigation of the issue.

A New York-based human rights group said it would have been disastrous to use such weapons among the hundreds of thousands of civilians crowded into the Sri Lankan war zone.

”If there is evidence that cluster weapons were used, it would show yet again, the government’s constant attempts at deception and underscore our demand that there should be an independent international investigation into all allegations of laws-of-war violations,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

UNSC must hold Israel accountable: Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS – A senior Pakistani diplomat said Monday the UN Security Council’s failure to hold Israel accountable for denying the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination carried the risk of a conflict in the Middle East.
“The Security Council continues to evade its responsibility of maintaining international peace and security at peril to its credibility,” Ambassador Raza Bashir …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Israeli opposition chief fears binational state

,,

In this March 27, 2012 file photo Israel’s Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz waves as his wife Orit walks with him to a polling station in Kfar Saba, Israel. Mofaz said Tuesday, April 24, 2012, that the biggest danger facing the country is being replaced by a binational Jewish-Arab state if it fails to separate from the Palestinians. -AP Photo

JERUSALEM: Israel’s new parliamentary opposition leader said Tuesday that the Jewish state faces the danger of being replaced by a binational Jewish-Arab entity if it fails to separate itself from the Palestinians. Former military chief Shaul Mofaz won leadership of the centrist Kadima Party last month.

”The threat of us losing the Jewish majority and Israel becoming a binational state is the biggest threat to Israel, and time is working against us,” he told Israel Radio. ”The threat of a binational state that we are bequeathing to our children really keeps me awake at night.”

The Iranian-born Mofaz, in one of his first interviews since winning the Kadima primary last month, said Israel must resume negotiations with the Palestinians.

Talks are stalled after the failure of repeated efforts over the past two decades to reach a deal on carving out a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Mofaz’s comments came a day after former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia struck a similar theme from the other side of the Mideast equation, saying the Palestinians might abandon the ”two-state solution” strategy and aim for a single state consisting of Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza, in which all ethnic and religious groups had equal status.

In an Associated Press interview Monday, Qureia condemned the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continuing to settle the occupied West Bank with Jews and blocking Palestinian access to their hoped-for capital in Jerusalem.

”If this is the policy, I think it is a big lie to talk about the two-state solution,” said Qureia. ”They are killing the opportunity of two-state solution. If it dies … there are other choices. … One state is one of the choices.”

The 12 million people who live in Israel plus the Palestinian areas are roughly equally divided between Arabs and Jews, and the Arab birthrate is higher. In Israel itself, Jews account for about four-fifths of its almost 8 million people.

Dovish Israelis have cited the demographic threat for years in backing an Israeli pullout from Palestinian areas. Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza in 2005, partly because of that issue. However, two Israeli offers in the last decade for a Palestinian state in Gaza, most of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem failed to produce an accord.

Netanyahu has also recently mentioned the emerging binational reality as a reason to pursue peace talks. But his views on the terms of a deal fall far short of meeting the Palestinian demands for a near-total pullout from the occupied areas.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Pakistan asks UNSC to hold Israel accountable for defying peace bids

The United Nations Security Council.—Reuters (File Photo)

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to hold Israel accountable for its continued defiance of international efforts to bring about a just settlement of the Middle East dispute.

“Flying in the face of the international community’s will, Israel continues to implement policies in defiance of international law, and work towards undermining the basis of the two-state solution,” Ambassador Raza Bashir Tarar, acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the Security Council.

“Its (Israel’s) efforts to redraw the map of Palestine through continuation of illegal settlement activity, continued persecution of Palestinians and reluctance to accept the 1967 borders as the basis for negotiations, is taking the region to a state akin to a powder keg,” he said in a debate on the Middle East situation.

“We reiterate that continued inaction by the international community is not an option.”

The Pakistani envoy supported Palestinians’ right to self-determination, as well as the creation of an independent fact-finding mission in the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’, including East Jerusalem.

He noted that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s February visit to the region was a “timely initiative” that would help re-focus international attention on the festering dispute.

Tarar strongly condemned the April 4 announcement of new tenders for over 1,100 Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.

These actions represent major roadblocks to peace, he said.

The Middle East diplomatic quartet – comprising the UN, European Union (EU), Russia and the United States – had reaffirmed its commitment to all elements of its road map, but he said it was disconcerting that its statement focused more on the financial viability of the Palestinian Authority than on settlements as a basis for starting negotiations.

For its part, the Security Council should help create the conditions for restarting the peace process, the Pakistani envoy said and hold Israel accountable for its defiance.

Tarar pointed out that more than 4,700 Palestinians languished in Israeli prisons and the international community should force the occupying Power to amend its ways.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza was diminishing the economic prospects of that area. Still Palestine had proved it was ready to take its place among the community of nations, he said.

“The region is in turmoil, and the Arab Spring cannot and would not bloom fully without fulfillment of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people,” the Pakistani envoy said. “Benign neglect, inaction, complicity with oppression or apathy will only discredit the advocates of peace and strengthen the narrative of extremists.”

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Ready to strike Iran if ordered, says Israeli chief of staff

JERUSALEM  - Israeli forces are carrying out more special operations beyond the country’s borders and will be ready to attack Iran’s nuclear sites if ordered, the chief-of-staff said in an interview on Sunday.In an extract from an interview with the top-selling Yediot Aharanot daily, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said that 2012 would be a critical year in efforts to halt what …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Israelis told to leave Sinai over attacks fears

Protest in Cairo, Egypt. — Photo by AP

JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities warned citizens on Saturday to leave Egypt’s Sinai peninsula immediately because of a “critical and immediate threat” of a terrorist attack.

“All Iraelis in the Sinai are called upon to leave the region and return to Israel,” said a statement from the anti-terrorist bureau.

“Based on information in our possession, terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip are continuing to work energetically to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets on Sinai’s beaches in the immediate term,” it said.

Resorts dotted along the Red Sea in the Sinai are a popular holiday destination for Israelis seeking a relatively cheap break in the sun.

But since the start of the uprising in Egypt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak last year, security in the peninsula has deteriorated significantly, with Egypt sending troops into the area to try to bring it back under control.

Last August, gunmen infiltrated southern Israel from Sinai and launched a coordinated series of ambushes on vehicles on a border road north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat. Eight Israelis were killed and more than 25 wounded.

Israel’s military intelligence chief, Aviv Koshavi, recently said the Jewish state had foiled more than 10 attempted attacks in the past two months.

The border area is also a paradise for Bedouin smugglers, with the Israeli authorities often seizing drugs, cigarettes and telecommunications equipment as well as weapons and explosives heading for the Gaza Strip.

Israel is building a giant steel security barrier along the 240 kilometre frontier, which is due to be completed by the end of this year.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Blast kills 10 security forces in Syria: state TV

A powerful blast killed 10 security force personnel in the southern Syrian region of Quneitra on Friday, state television reported, blaming the explosion on “terrorists”. “An armed terrorist group detonated a 100-kilogramme (220-pound) bomb in Sahm al-Jolan in the region of Quneitra, killing 10 members of the security forces,” the television said. Quneitra is located near the border with Israel, …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Barak says Israel never ruled out attacking Iran

,,

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. -AFP Photo

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday his country has never promised the United States it would hold off from attacking Iran while nuclear talks were taking place.

The comments, in which Barak said that a diplomatic push to reach a compromise with Iran was a waste of ”precious time,” further exposed a rift between Israel and the US over how to deal with Iran and its nuclear program.

”We are not committing to anything,” Barak told Israel’s Army Radio. ”The dialogue with the Americans is both direct and open.”

Israel, arguing that a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat, has said it will not allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. It cites Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, Iran’s support for Arab militant groups and its development of missiles capable of striking the Jewish state.

Fearing that Iran is moving quickly toward nuclear capability, Israel has repeatedly hinted at an attack if Iran’s uranium enrichment program continues to advance. Enrichment is a key process in developing weapons, and Israel says Iran is closely approaching a point where it can no longer be stopped.

The US favors diplomacy and economic sanctions and has said military action on Iran’s nuclear facilities should only be a last resort if all else fails.

Officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met with Iran in Istanbul last weekend to discuss the country’s nuclear program. The talks were described as positive, and they agreed to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.

Barak told Israel’s Army Radio he did not believe the talks would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. ”We regret the time being lost. This is precious time,” he said.

Barak said the talks needed to yield quick results.

”It requires a few direct meetings where all the demands are put on the table. There you can see if the other side is playing for time, drawing it out through the year, or if indeed the other side is genuinely striving to find a solution,” he said. ”In this light, any ‘time-outs,’ especially when they are this long, do not serve our interests,” he said.

”Unfortunately, we maintain the view that this will probably not have an impact or bring the Iranians to cease their nuclear program. Of course we will be happy to be proven wrong,” he added.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran got a ”freebie” from the international community, saying the May meeting gave the Iranians an additional five weeks to continue uranium enrichment without any restrictions. He said Iran should be forced to stop this immediately.

Netanyahu was publicly rebuked by President Barack Obama, who said the US had not ”given anything away” in the talks.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and says it does not seek a bomb. The US and its allies doubt the sincerity of that.

The Obama administration has urgently sought to hold off Israeli military action, which would likely result in the US being pulled into a conflict.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

India to test new intercontinental missile this week

The test of the indigenously developed Agni-V will be carried out from a coastal range in the eastern state of Orissa.—AP Photo

NEW DELHI: India hopes this week to join a select group of countries with intercontinental missiles by holding the first test flight of a new long-range nuclear-capable rocket, officials said Monday.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said it plans the maiden launch of the Agni-V missile, which has a range of more than 5,000 kilometres, between Wednesday and Friday.

The exact launch date has not yet been set “because this is our longest-range missile and there are many logistics issues and hence we don’t plan for one (particular) day,” DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta told AFP.

In the latest display of India’s growing military might, the test of the indigenously developed Agni-V will be carried out from a coastal range in the eastern state of Orissa.

“Agni-V is a 5,000-plus kilometre range missile and it is to meet our present-day threat perceptions, which are determined by our defence forces and other agencies,” Gupta said from the test site.

The Agni-V would in theory be able to strike targets across Asia and some parts of Europe. Only China, Russia, France, the United States, Great Britain and Israel are thought to have such long-distance missiles.

The weapons system was not developed to threaten any particular country, said DRDO spokesman Gupta.

“This is a deterrent to avoid wars and it is not country-specific,” he said. “Besides, India has a no-first-use policy,” he said, calling the country’s missile development programme “purely defensive.”The planned test flight comes after India launched last November the Agni-IV missile that can travel 3,500 kilometres and is capable of carrying a one-tonne nuclear warhead deep inside China.

India is among the world’s top 10 military spenders, with Jane’s Defence Weekly forecasting its total purchases between 2011 and 2015 will top $100 billion.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan since independence in 1947, but China is now viewed as the main focus of India’s military concerns.

The border between India and China has been the subject of inconclusive diplomatic talks since the 1980s after the two nations fought a brief, bloody war in 1962.

Indian military analyst Afsir Karim said since the country already has potential to strike China with the Agni-IV, the utility of the latest missile was unclear.

“I do not see any strategic value in developing this system except for upgrading India’s military prestige,” Karim, a retired army lieutenant-general, told AFP.

India staged a string of atomic detonations in 1998 and declared itself a nuclear-weapons state but it refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The country’s test plan has not attracted the international criticism aimed at reclusive North Korea, which last week carried out a rocket test that ended in failure.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Palestinian inmates plan mass hunger strike

RAMALLAH, April 15: Some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are due to begin a mass hunger strike on Tuesday to protest their conditions, a Palestinian minister said.

“There are 1,600 Palestinian prisoners who will start a hunger strike on Tuesday in order to improve their conditions inside the occupation prisons and we have set up a national programme to demonstrate solidarity with them,” prisoners minister Sisal Area said on Sunday.

The expected hunger strike will coincide with Prisoners’ Day, an annual event during which people hold demonstrations and rallies of solidarity with the estimated 4,700 Palestinian inmates being held by Israel.

There are currently 10 Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, four of whom have been transferred to prison hospitals due to the fragile state of their heath, the Palestinian Prisoners Club says.

All 10 are being held under administrative detention orders, which allow a court to order an individual to be detained without charge for periods of up to six months at a time, which can then be extended.

Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weitzman put the figure of detainees on hunger strike at six.

Two of them, 27-year-old Bill Dab and 34-year-old Thayer Shalala, have both been refusing food for 48 days, with medics expressing concern for their deteriorating health.Although prisoners have been known to stage hunger strikes in the past, the practice of refusing food has becoming an increasingly popular form of protest since a landmark protest by another prisoner who went more than nine weeks without eating to protest his being held without charge.—AFP

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

Good morning Tehran! Israel reaches out across the airwaves

,,

Kami Yitzhakyan, who was born in Iran and moved to Israel 25 years ago, hosts a radio show at the “Radisin” radio station in Holon, south of Tel Aviv.—AFP Photo

TEL AVIV: From a tiny studio in a rundown district of southern Tel Aviv, a group of Iranian-Israelis beam non-stop music and news in a bid to reach out to their former fellow countrymen.

As the war of words between the leaders of the Jewish state and the Islamic Republic heats up over Iran’s contested nuclear programme, Farsi-language web broadcaster, Radio RadisIn, is trying to set a different agenda.

Based in a small shopping centre in Tel Aviv’s outskirts, RadisIn was set up three years ago to encourage a sense of unity among the estimated 300,000 Israelis of Iranian descent.

But it also has another, perhaps more important raison d’etre: to send news and views from Israel directly to Iranians living in the Islamic Republic and around the world.

“Our goal is for Iranians to really know what is happening here in Israel, and also at home,” broadcaster Kami Itzhakyan told AFP.

“The Tehran regime hides the truth from them.”

Born in Iran, Itzhakyan emigrated to Israel 25 years ago and today is one of the station’s 35 presenters and journalists, who provide a 24-hour diet of popular and classical Iranian music, cultural programmes, and political news and analysis.

“In Iran, all of the news which is broadcast is a lie. There is no truth in it,” he says. “I want our listeners in Iran to know the real truth.”

RadisIn, a contraction of “radio” and “Iran,” broadcasts on the Internet mainly because the Iranian regime is not able to interfere with the US-owned Intelsat Galaxy 15 satellite through which its programmes are transmitted.

The programmes are also rebroadcast by several free cable and satellite stations, the station says.

The result? A growing audience. Although they have no idea of how many people they reach, they have callers ringing in from around the globe, most of them from the United States, France, Germany and of course, Israel.

And from time-to-time, a listener may dare to ring in “from somewhere in Iran”.

The morning’s lineup features an hour-long news programme looking at the political scene in Israel and across the world, with a strong focus on Iran.

This is followed by a three-hour slot devoted to Iranian history, politics, culture and the arts, which is frequently punctuated by popular Iranian music.

– People fear that war is close –

One of the most popular programmes is a cookery show featuring rare Iranian recipes, which is presented by 73-year-old Vida Leevim, one of the station’s favourite broadcasters.

“The things you hear on RadisIn are things you don’t hear on Iranian radio or in the Iranian media which is full of clerics, religious broadcasting and prayers,” she told AFP.

“The young people there don’t like that, so what do they do? They go to RadisIn.”

Inside the tiny studio, which is kitted out with a battery of microphones and computers, sits Amir Shai, the 42-year-old founder of RadisIn.

He says the Iranian people couldn’t be more different from their bellicose leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is known for muttering murderous threats towards Israel and threatening to wipe the Jewish state off the map.

“I was brought up in Iran. I know the Iranian people very well. I know they are a peace-loving people who know how to welcome guests. The Iranian government expresses the exact opposite of the Iranian people,” he told AFP.

As the global standoff over Iran’s disputed nuclear drive intensifies, life in the Islamic Republic has become increasingly hard for its citizens, who are suffering from the effects of a battery of hard-hitting international sanctions, Shai said.

“The people of Iran are tired and hungry, they are collapsing under the dictatorship. In today’s Iran, eating a chicken or a piece of meat is luxury — whole families cannot afford even one chicken per month,” he said.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes, but for the people, the issue of nuclear energy was “complete nonsense,” he said.

“The Iranians want democracy and freedom,” he said.

“They know the price they are paying for nuclear energy is not worth it.”

Both Israel and Washington have threatened a military strike if Tehran does not scale back its nuclear programme, and many in Iran are preparing for the inevitability of war, says Itzhakyan, who like many others at RadisIn, stays in touch with friends back home.

“There’s a sense of war in Iran, people fear that war is very, very close.

Some people are going to the supermarkets and stocking up on supplies which they are keeping at home in case of war,” he says.

In the meantime, as speculation grows that Israel is poised to mount a lightening strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, RadisIn is sticking to business as usual, despite attempts by the Iranian regime to shut them down.

“They tried to block us, and got into our website and damaged it,” says Shai.

“The regime knows that a station like RadisIn, which was set up by people in Israel, is much more dangerous to it than if it were set up by a government body.

“They don’t want my voice — along with another 35 or so other broadcasters who speak heart-to-heart with the Iranian people — to be heard,” he said.

“But it’s important for the Iranian people that it is.”

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com