Middle East

US envoy says Obama gives "priority" to serious Mideast peace talks

Amman, JordanAmman - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell conferred Saturday with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir and said that the administration of US President Barack Obama would give "priority" to the Middle East peace process, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

"The US envoy asserted that the US administration is giving priority to the Middle East and to a serious effort towards the resumption of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis in the run-up for the two-state solution," the statement said.

France urges measures to enforce humanitarian law in conflict

FranceNew York  - France urged the UN Security Council on Thursday to enforce international humanitarian law, which it said was being violated by parties in the Gaza Strip conflict.

France, which holds the 15-nation council's presidency for January, said in a concept paper that the UN cannot continue to ignore humanitarian violations.

"We cannot let this trend go on," said the paper, which council members debated behind closed doors with the participation of major UN relief organizations.

Olmert offered Abbas East Jerusalem, to evacuate 60,000 settlers

Olmert offered Abbas East Jerusalem, to evacuate 60,000 settlers Tel Aviv  - Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to transfer the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty and evacuate some 60,000 Jewish settlers from the West Bank, an Israeli newspaper reported Thursday.

Yediot Ahronot said Olmert detailed the concessions he offered to Abbas to US President Barack Obama's newly appointed envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.

Militant rocket fire brings Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza

Militant rocket fire brings Israeli airstrike in southern GazaGaza City  - Israeli aircraft bombed two targets in southern Gaza, shortly after Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Israel for the first time since the start of a ceasefire on January 18, witnesses said early Thursday.

Israeli F-16s struck around midnight Wednesday near Gaza's Rafah border with Egypt. No injuries were reported.

One bomb struck the border area, where hundreds of tunnels are used for smuggling supplies and arms into Gaza, with a second airstrike against a Palestinian metal workshop.

First rocket hits Israel since withdrawal from Gaza

First rocket hits Israel since withdrawal from Gaza Tel Aviv  - Palestinian militants fired a rocket at southern Israel Wednesday night, the first since Israeli troops withdrew from the strip last week, the military said.

A military spokesman in Tel Aviv said the rocket was launched from the central Gaza Strip, near the refugee camp of el-Bureij, and landed at the kibbutz (agricultural commune) of Re'im, in the southern Israeli Eshkol region.

EU ready to revive observer mission at Gaza border, Solana says

Javier SolanaJerusalem  - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday Europe is ready to send back its team of observers to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt "at any moment."

He said however that an agreement was first needed between warring Palestinian factions, Egypt and Israel that would allow their return and the reopening of the crossing.

The EU Border Assistance Mission in Rafah (EUBAM) was established shortly after Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. It suspended its operations in June
2007 due to Hamas' Gaza take-over.

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