|
White House, September 10, 2009
Obama to chair UN Security Council session on nuclear nonproliferation
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)--Following are Middle East related excerpts from a press briefing conducted on Thursday by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:
MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Before we get started, let me just run through real quickly, just for your planning purposes, some events that the President will be doing in and around the meeting later this month at the United Nations General Assembly. We'll have more detail on this for you then, but I just wanted to give you just a quick sketch.
The President of course will deliver his first address to the U.N. General Assembly. Secondly, he will attend and deliver remarks at Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's climate change summit.
Q Can you give us some dates?
MR. GIBBS: That would be good if I had them. I don't at the moment.
Third, the President will attend the Secretary General's luncheon for heads of state and host the traditional American reception for other heads of state. The President will also host a lunch for heads of states and governments from sub-Sahara Africa to discuss building a 21st century partnership to increase economic and social development.
Here's one date I do have. On September 24th, the President will chair a summit-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the topic of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. This is only the fifth time in the history of the U.N. that a head of state-level Security Council summit has been convened, and the first time ever that a U.S. President will chair a U.N. Security Council summit.
Q Did you ask for it?
MR. GIBBS: We did ask for it, and are heading it. And then lastly, the President will host a meeting with countries that contribute the largest numbers of troops and police to U.N. peacekeeping operations. Again, more detail on this as we get a little closer to U.N., but wanted to walk --
Q Can you repeat that last one?
MR. GIBBS: Yes. Host a meeting with countries that contribute the largest number of troops and police to U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Q Are all the heads of state invited to the reception?
MR. GIBBS: I don't have a list of who's RSVP'd.
Q Will President Ahmadinejad be invited?
MR. GIBBS: I doubt it.
**
Q Speaking of Iran, yesterday you said the administration wanted to see progress from Iran in the proposals that it submitted yesterday. Now that you've had a chance to look at them, did you see what you wanted? Also, Iran is saying that the proposals did not deal directly with its nuclear activities. Is that the case? And finally, Russia came out a little bit ago and said the U.N. Security Council would not support oil sanctions. Does this administration agree?
MR. GIBBS: I have not seen the Russian comments. Let me speak more broadly about Iran and -- obviously this week's discussion at the IAEA makes further clear the concern that the international community has and the gravity that we have about Iran's illicit nuclear program. Iran has failed to address past violations, failed to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions to suspend its nuclear activity. The offer is still being evaluated by the P5-plus-1. I would say Iran's proposals have time and again failed to live up to its international obligations. And we've discussed that Iran obviously has two paths that they can choose. One of those paths leads to increased international isolation if they don't take concrete steps to end their program.
As we get closer to the U.N. and the G20, obviously there will be a period of discussion and evaluation as to where we are as we move forward together with the international community.
**
Q Robert, can you elaborate beyond the one sentence in your written readout on what the President said to Prime Minister Brown about the release of the Pan Am 103 bomber?
MR. GIBBS: Look, the President restated to Prime Minister Brown our opposition that was conveyed to the Scottish government prior to their decision, and the President relayed during this conversation the disappointment in the decision that had been made. He thought this was a mistake. He continues to think it was a mistake. Obviously nearly 200 Americans lost their lives in that terrorist tragedy. The President and the administration had communicated clearly to the Scottish government that we believed any release would be a mistake and that this individual should serve the remainder of their term in Scotland.
**
Q Is the President satisfied with what Brown responded?
MR. GIBBS: He is satisfied, but again underscores his opposition to and disappointment at the decision that was made.
Q Did Prime Minister Brown respond differently to what he has said publicly?
MR. GIBBS: I would -- we sort of have a practice not to read out what other governments have said, and I would ask you to speak with the Brits on that.
**
Q Just to follow up on that release situation. Later this month in New York the President is going to host a reception for the world leaders after the U.N. opening. Will Ghadafi be invited to that reception?
MR. GIBBS: We will get a list of who is and who won't be invited to the party.
Q Because usually all the world leaders are.
MR. GIBBS: Let me -- having not been here for an administration's effort at the U.N. General Assembly, let me get NSC to weigh in on that.
State Department, September 10, 2009
U.S. hopes to coordinate global response to Iran's declaration that nuclear discussion is closed
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)—Following are Middle excerpts from the press briefing conducted on Thursday, September 10, by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley:
MR. CROWLEY: Good afternoon and welcome to the Department of State. I have several announcements before we take your questions. This afternoon, Secretary Clinton will have a bilateral discussion with Home Minister Chidambaram of India. They will discuss the importance of expanded cooperation on counterterrorism following the Mumbai attack last November and of building a strong relationship among our senior national security officials. This is his first visit to the United States as home minister and is an important element of our expanded strategic dialogue launched by the Secretary and External Affairs Minister Krishna during the Secretary’s visit to India in July. And I think the home minister has or will meet with a wide range of U.S. officials while here, including officials at the Justice Department, FBI, and at the White House. Secondly, George Mitchell, our ambassador for Middle East Peace, will depart the United States tomorrow night, will be in discussion with officials from Israel and the Palestinian Authority Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Some of that schedule is still being worked. He will have other stops in the region following his stops to talk with Israeli officials and Palestinian officials, and we’ll announce those sometime once they’re firmly established. Special Envoy Gration – Scott Gration is in Juba, Southern Sudan today, where he was involved in discussions with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the National Congress Party as part of our significant action to try to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. And later today, he will hold a roundtable discussion with members of the Sudanese diaspora who have returned to the country to contribute their skills and knowledge to progress in Sudan. I’ll anticipate one question. Assistant Secretary Jeff Feltman is in Libya today for a wide-ranging bilateral discussion with his counterparts and looking at ways to promote peace and stability in the region. They will be discussing a wide range of bilateral issues.
And finally, we certainly are very pleased with the way that the AeroMexico 576 hijacking was resolved without loss of life or injury, and we applaud the Government of Mexico and AeroMexico authorities for their decisive and competent handling of the incident. We greatly appreciate the personal involvement of senior Mexican officials in coordinating directly with our Embassy to ensure the safety of American citizens on board. There were 17 American citizens among the passengers, and our consular officials from our Embassy were at the airport to meet with and offer assistance to those American citizens who were on board that flight.
With that, I’ll take your questions.
QUESTION: What’s your take on the Iranian proposal that was submitted yesterday?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, we – obviously, the Swiss ambassador, among other ambassadors, received the Iran proposal yesterday. It is not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is obviously Iran’s nuclear program. We are consulting with our other P-5+1 colleagues. There will be a conference call tomorrow involving the political officers to talk about next steps.
As our ambassador in – to the IAEA, Glyn Davies, said very compellingly yesterday, he reiterated, as we continue to, that we are willing to engage Iran in direct diplomacy based on mutual respect and mutual interests, and we seek a willing partner. But I think that as we consult with our P-5+1 colleagues, we’ll be looking to see how ready Iran is to actually engage, and we will be testing that willingness to engage in the next few weeks.
QUESTION: P.J., on the --
QUESTION: When you say not – it’s not really responsive, what does that mean?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, obviously, we have a wide range of interests, common interests, and concerns about Iran. And I should emphasize it’s not just the concerns of the United States. It is the concerns of the international community. Iran is not in compliance with its NPT, IAEA, or UN obligations. And so we have offered through Javier Solana to have Iran join the P-5+1 in discussions about, in particular, our nuclear issues, but we have other issues of concern in terms of Iran’s role and behavior in the region, its support of terrorism over many, many years. We would like to see Iran choose a different path. So there are a number of ways in which we have offered to and remain willing to engage Iran --
QUESTION: You said it’s not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is --
MR. CROWLEY: Well, the – I think in --
QUESTION: So what does that mean? That they’re not --
MR. CROWLEY: -- in the package yesterday, Iran reiterated its view that, as far as it is concerned, its nuclear file is closed. And as Ambassador Glyn Davies said very clearly yesterday, that is certainly not the case. There are many outstanding issues. Iran has failed to meet its obligations, has failed to cooperate sufficiently with the IAEA. So we remain open to direct dialogue with Iran. If we can get to that point, we would expect to engage on the full range of issues, including our concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
And we – as Ambassador Davies reiterated yesterday, Iran has an opportunity here, and we hope that it will seize the opportunity, answer the questions that the international community has on its nuclear program, and move assertively to become a nation in good standing once again with the IAEA. And then there is room to explore how Iran can exercise the rights that it feels it has under the NPT. But as we emphasized yesterday and again, with rights comes responsibilities, and Iran is failing to live up to its responsibilities. But we would expect that should Iran indicate that it is, in fact, willing to engage the United States, other countries, that we would obviously want to talk about the nuclear issue among many others.
QUESTION: The Russian foreign minister said today there was something that – he looked at the paper that the Iranians submitted and said there was something in there that they could work with. So it sounds like you disagree with that statement.
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think that that’s why we’re going to have a close consultation with all of our P-5+1 partners, including Russia. We expect that follow-on call to happen tomorrow. And then from there, we would think that we’d have a common approach on how to respond to the Iranian proposal. And I think we remain willing to engage Iran, if it chooses to do so.
**
QUESTION: So didn’t yesterday’s teleconference happen?
MR. CROWLEY: There was a teleconference yesterday, and the next one will occur tomorrow.
QUESTION: Do you have a readout? Any readout from that you can give us?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think we were touching base and – but we will – we obviously – we have a consistent position with our P-5+1 partners and want to make sure that we have a common strategy going forward. And we hope to kind of craft that common approach beginning tomorrow, and then I would think that we’ll have a – find a way to respond formally to the Iranian proposal.
Lebanon.
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. CROWLEY: I mean, obviously, Lebanon is in the process of carrying out, in accordance with their political process, putting together a new government. That process continues, and we continue to look forward to working with the next Lebanese Government and hope it will stay on a path towards building a sovereign and stable Lebanon that is committed to peace, including full implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions. And we hope that both sides will resolve the impasse quickly and respect the process that’s outlined in the Lebanese constitution, put together a government that will serve the interests of its people.
QUESTION: Are you concerned about stability in the country because of this delay in forming a government?
MR. CROWLEY: I mean, obviously, our hope is that this will continue according to the processes laid out in the Lebanese constitution. We would like to see a government put in place sooner rather than later. I don’t think we have any immediate concerns, but we certainly hope that all the parties in Lebanon will engage peacefully and appropriately, and because it’s important that they put a government in place and that government take action in the interests of its people.
**
QUESTION: Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has said today he intends to recognize the two breakaway Georgian regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Any response to that reaction?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, we continue to believe, as do the vast majority of countries around the world, that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgia, and that the solution is not recognizing their independence, but first stabilize the situation and then facilitating their reintegration into recognized Georgia. That Russia has found one country plus the Nicaraguan legislature to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia underscores how isolated that view is.
QUESTION: I think they also have Hamas.
MR. CROWLEY: Doesn’t change what I just said.
QUESTION: And is it not just – it’s not – it’s only the legislature in Nicaragua? It’s --
MR. CROWLEY: I believe so.
**
QUESTION: You mentioned that George Mitchell is going back to the Middle East?
MR. CROWLEY: Will tomorrow. He’ll leave tomorrow – in Israel and the Palestinian Authorities on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
QUESTION: Any more details on who he’ll be meeting? And you mentioned he’d be going to some other foreign country.
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think that – the who he will be meeting with and what order, that is still kind of being worked out. But we would expect meetings to begin probably on Sunday, but certainly on Monday and Tuesday. I certainly think he will meet with the usual high-level leaders, as he has in the past. He’ll make other stops in the region after that. They’re still – the order of those are still being worked out.
State Department, September 9, 2009
Is Venezuela doing an end run around U.S. sanctions for Iran?
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) —Following are Middle East excerpts from a press conference conducted on Wednesday, September 9, by U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly:
QUESTION: Middle East. Is there anything set yet on Mitchell’s trip, and what is your reaction to the new – the announcement by the Israelis of these new housing units in East Jerusalem?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. First of all, on Mitchell’s trip, no, we have no itinerary to announce. We still expect him to leave probably – I think we said the end of the week, so I think it’s probably Friday. I think there will be several stops, but we don’t have any specific information on the trip itself.
Regarding Iran, let me just say, first of all –
QUESTION: No, no.
QUESTION: Sorry?
QUESTION: Iran. No.
MR. KELLY: No.
QUESTION: Not yet.
MR. KELLY: What was the other one?
QUESTION: You’ll get a question about Iran, but --
MR. KELLY: Okay.
QUESTION: But about the new housing units that have been announced for East Jerusalem.
MR. KELLY: Oh, the new housing, I don’t have anything to add to what the White House said on Friday.
QUESTION: Well, that was – that was about the West Bank. This is new housing units in East Jerusalem.
MR. KELLY: We – our position is clear. We do not – we believe that Israel has an obligation to cease all settlement activity in East Jerusalem or the West Bank or wherever it may be over the 1967 border.
Yes.
QUESTION: I have a question on the settlements. There are reports that Americans who hold dual Israeli citizenship have been helping to finance certain settlements in East Jerusalem in areas that are heavily populated with Muslim communities, which would be in contradiction to your policy. Is it concerning that there are American citizens who are doing this, and is it counter-productive to your objectives?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, first of all, these are private American citizens. I’m not going to pronounce on investment decisions that are not contrary to U.S. law that are made by private American citizens. Again, you know what our policy is, that we need to get to the point where
we have the proper atmosphere for the two sides to sit down and come up with a solution to this longstanding conflict. We need to remove all the obstacles in the way of getting to that point of being able to start talks.
QUESTION: Would that be one of the obstacles?
MR. KELLY: And this would – we see the settlements as one of the obstacles to these talks.
**
QUESTION: ...Can we go back to Mitchell?
MR. KELLY: Sure.
QUESTION: You said there were going to be several stops. Are there going to be stops other than in Israel and the Palestinian territories?
MR. KELLY: I believe so. He’ll go to other places in the region, but we just haven’t – we haven’t nailed down all the details. So we want to refrain from announcing the trip till we have the whole thing put together.
QUESTION: Will he be meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu?
MR. KELLY: That – I don’t know. It’s quite possible.
**
QUESTION: Okay, thank you. I have two questions I’ve submitted in advance, so I hope that they reached you. A Middle Eastern nuclear scientist has been arrested in Indiana. His name is Amir H. Sanjari. He’s in the Elkhart County Corrections Center. No one seems to know why he’s been arrested.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: And I’m asking, does the State Department know why he has been arrested?
MR. KELLY: I think the short answer to that, unfortunately, is no. And I’m not sure that we would have a comment on it necessarily because it’s a – that sounds to me to be a judicial or a law enforcement issue. But we did get your question by email, and if we do have a comment, we’ll be happy to get back to you.
QUESTION: Okay. Second question: The Kingdom Assembly of Iran has taken responsibility for an attack in southern Iran where civilians were killed. They’re saying in a link in their website that they received money from the United States. What is the official stand from the United States on this organization?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, I mean, you’ve asked several questions there, and I think that we would need to look at the event itself. I mean, obviously, if it was an event that – where innocent people were killed, we would deplore that. We deplore all acts of terrorism. And regarding their funding, I don’t know that we would have a comment on that. But if you want to send us the link, we can see if we can get something for you.
QUESTION: On Iran, has the United States received this new proposal from Motaki via the Swiss Ambassador?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. This is the question I tried to answer earlier. I was – I have to admit I was all locked and loaded for it.
Well, first of all, let me say that the Administration has made it clear to Iran and the whole international community that we have a new approach to Iran. And we’ve made it clear to Iran that the choice really is theirs to make. They have a stark choice: They can continue down this path of isolation from the international community, or they can choose to reintegrate with the international community. And that choice is out there for them, and we look forward to learning their choice.
We have received a proposal. We are literally in the last few minutes. We’re now reviewing it seriously and carefully. We plan to confer with our partners in the P-5+1 group. And I expect that we’ll have more to say about it in the coming days.
I think what we’ll be looking for in these proposals, or in this proposal, is, first of all, if they’ve responded to our longstanding offer to engage with us in the P-5+1 process. And second of all, we’ll look to see how in this proposal they address these longstanding concerns of the international community about Iran’s failure to comply with its nonproliferation treaty, IAEA, and Security Council obligations. So those are a few of the things that we’ll be looking for.
QUESTION: What --
MR. KELLY: I don’t have any comment on it now, obviously, because we just got it, literally, right before I --
QUESTION: So was it the Swiss ambassador --
MR. KELLY: -- came down here and then --
QUESTION: -- who received it on behalf –
MR. KELLY: I understand – yeah, I understand from press reports that all six of the representatives received it from the foreign minister.
QUESTION: Was there a separate letter specifically for the U.S.?
MR. KELLY: That I am not aware of. I mean, normally in these kinds of diplomatic communications, there is a cover note. But I have not --
QUESTION: It went through the --
MR. KELLY: -- physically seen the --
QUESTION: But it went through the Swiss, so we can say the U.S. letter went through --
MR. KELLY: That’s my understanding, yeah.
QUESTION: In Tehran or in Geneva?
MR. KELLY: In Tehran.
QUESTION: Ian, did you – you said that you expected to confer in the coming days and then have more to say about this. Is that going to be a conference call among the political directors or is that going to be some other vehicle?
MR. KELLY: I expect, because we want to do this in a very serious and – in a serious fashion and we want to do it with dispatch, I assume it will be by conference call.
QUESTION: And among the political directors, not the foreign ministers?
MR. KELLY: Among the political directors, yeah.
QUESTION: Okay, thank you.
QUESTION: Ian, if it doesn’t contain what you’re looking for, these two items that you mentioned, are you going to go ahead and try to engage or are you going to move on to the next set of sanctions?
MR. KELLY: Again, we have to look at it carefully. We have to see how serious it is. And just as importantly, we want to make sure that we confer with our partners.
**
QUESTION: Specifically on this, just – is not the fact that they gave this proposal enough for you to say, yes, they are taking your engagement offer seriously and that they’re trying to engage because they’re offering this?
MR. KELLY: Well, I think it has been concerning to us that we’ve been waiting since April – we, not just the U.S. but the other members of the P-5+1 and then Javier Solana and his office – we’ve been waiting all this time for a response that – what we thought was a very serious offer to sit down and engage. So, in the sense that we have finally some kind of official response, I mean, that, at least, is something that we can respond to ourselves. So, in that sense, I mean, this is something that we will take very seriously and look at very carefully.
Yeah. Jill.
QUESTION: Iran.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Venezuela.
MR. KELLY: Iran/Venezuela. Okay.
QUESTION: Yes. Morgenthau yesterday had this speech at Brookings in which he goes into great detail talking about efforts by Iran to use U.S. banks to subvert or go around UN sanctions, talking about pervasive system of deceitful and fraudulent practices --
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- employed by Iran to move money all over the world. And then there are other aspects to that. What does the State Department know, what does the U.S. know, about these efforts by Iran through Venezuela to undermine those sanctions?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, first of all, we take any allegation of proliferation very seriously, particularly if it involves proliferation within this hemisphere. We are following the situation very closely. We are following any kind of links between Venezuela and Iran very seriously. And we would expect Venezuela, as any other UN member, to fulfill their obligations under the decisions of the UN Security Council to call upon Iran to meet its obligations under various Security Council resolutions relating to Iran.
QUESTION: Do you have doubts at this point that they are doing that?
MR. KELLY: I don’t have any specific information. As I say, Mr. Morgenthau raised some serious allegations, and we’ll look into them.
QUESTION: Are you talking to the Venezuelans or any --
MR. KELLY: I’m sure we are. We have – I mean, we have an embassy in Caracas. I’m sure we are talking to them about it.
QUESTION: If I can just go back to Iran’s nuclear issue, can I just ask about to what extent will the U.S. be coordinating a response with Iran’s neighbors in the region, both Arab nations as well as Israel?
MR. KELLY: Regarding the nuclear issue, you mean?
QUESTION: Yes.
MR. KELLY: We engage with Iran’s neighbors on a regular basis. I think, first and foremost, when we have concerns about proliferation, we’re concerned about the region and our friends and partners in that region. And so we consult with them often. They – of course, they have insights into Iran that we find – that we appreciate very much. And we listen to their concerns.
QUESTION: Defense Secretary Gates has even expressed those concerns, even urging Arab countries in the region to buy weapons to counter the Iranian threat. Are you concerned that more weapons in the region will lead to more instability?
MR. KELLY: I think that one of our main – we have a number of reasons why we’re concerned about the possibility of Iran developing ballistic missile technology and developing nuclear weapons, but one of the main reasons is that we’re concerned about destabilizing the region around Iran. We’re particularly concerned about the possibility of an arms race in the region,
Go to the top of right column
|
|
and this is why we’re – one of the reasons we’re encouraging Iran to take the route of integration, cooperation, and don’t take this route of going down the path of isolation.
QUESTION: Ian?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Matt.
QUESTION: Tripoli, Libya. The Libyans brought a group of about, I think, 150 members of the Pan African Parliament to see al-Megrahi in the hospital. Some of those parliamentarians congratulated him on his release. Do you have any comment about this?
MR. KELLY: I haven’t seen that report. And we’ll look into it. I mean, what we’ve been saying consistently is that we all have to be sensitive to the feelings of the families of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster. And of course, we have --
QUESTION: Well, is this --
MR. KELLY: We have urged Libya to – not to give Mr. Megrahi a kind of public profile that would be distressing to these families.
QUESTION: Right. Well, does this – does it appear that this is showing sensitivity to --
MR. KELLY: Well, again, I haven’t seen the report, so we’d have to look into it.
World Jewish Congress urges UN delegates to boycott Ahmadinejad
NEW YORK (Press Release)--Following is the text of a petition the World Jewish Congress is urging people to send to U.N. delegates:
"The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, intends to attend the UN General Assembly in New York later this month. As you know very well, Iran still defies several rounds of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council and refuses to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"Iran is aggressively pursuing its nuclear program and may soon be capable of building a nuclear weapon.
"Human rights are being abused in Iran. People are imprisoned for their political beliefs, women and religious minorities are being oppressed, and people are persecuted because of their sexual orientation.
"Ahmedinejad denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the map.
"Iran supports radical terrorist groups by providing them with funding, training and weaponry and is spreading its extremist ideology to every corner of the world.
"Should Ahmedinejad use his speech to unleash the same hateful rhetoric as on previous occasions I urge you to walk out in protest at this attempt to undermine UN values and goals. "
Iran reportedly supplying Hezbollah with chemical weapons
HERZLIYA, Israel (WJC) —Hezbollah is in possession of chemical weapons since December 2008 which were provided by Iran and are stored in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, Hezbollah's heartland, and in the south near the Lebanese border with Israel, a report published by Kuwait's ‘Al-Seyasseh’ report claims quoting unnamed Western intelligence sources. According to the same sources, the suspected Hezbollah arms dump in the southern village of Khirbet Selim, which exploded blew on 14 July 2009, contained chemical arms.
At least three Hezbollah members died from chemical contamination caused by the explosion, the sources were quoted as saying. ‘Al-Seyasseh’ reports that UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon found traces of chemical residue in soil samples taken from the site. The UN force has so far made no comment.
Meanwhile, Lebanese media report that Tehran also offered to provide the official Lebanese military with a range of weapons, including anti-aircraft missile systems.
Amos Gilad, a senior advisor to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said that Syria was losing influence over Hezbollah, and Iran’s influence on Hezbollah was now greater than that of Damascus. This had consequences for negotiations between Israel and Syria, Gilad said at a seminar in Herzliya.
Morgenthau says Iran-Venezuela alliance threatens U.S. security
NEW YORK (Press Release)—District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has called the growing presence of Iran in Latin America a threat to US national security and demanded greater scrutiny and action by the United States and other Latin American countries. At a briefing of academics, civil society groups, Congressional staff, and journalists, Morgenthau discussed how the "blossoming relationship" between Iran and Venezuela presented opportunities for Iran to circumvent international economic sanctions designed to prevent them from developing long-range missile capacity and nuclear technology for military purposes.
Morgenthau cited "scores of Memoranda of Understanding" between the two nations with respect to joint technology development, military cooperation, banking and finance, and cooperation with oil and gas exploration as evidence of increasing cooperation between the two states and noted that "there is speculation that Venezuela could be mining uranium for Iran." Morgenthau also noted that the emergence of Iranian-owned and controlled factories in remote and undeveloped parts of Venezuela could present "ideal geographic locations for the illicit production of weapons."
He said two investigations of his office had pointed to Iranian efforts to procure weapons material and to bypass economic sanctions. "Our efforts uncovered a pervasive system of deceitful and fraudulent practices employed by Iranian entities to move money all over the world, without detection, including through banks located in the jurisdiction I am responsible for protecting - Manhattan," said Morgenthau. "Why did Iran go to these lengths? I believe the answer is simple: in order to pay for materials necessary to develop nuclear weapons, long-range missiles, and road-side bombs."
Nazi hunter Klarsfeld backs Hosni for UNESCO director-general
PARIS (WJC) The French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, 73, has publicly expressed support for the candidacy of Egypt's Farouk Hosni to become the new director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), despite allegations of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel stances leveled at Hosni. The Egyptian culture minister had apologized for remarks seen by some as anti-Semitic and had taken a strong stance against the Holocaust.
"Naming Mr. Farouk Hosni head of UNESCO would be entirely positive. I support him because of his public position on the Shoah and his openly expressed repentance," Klarsfeld said in a statement. “He is also to be welcomed because Egypt is home to one of the oldest and most remarkable civilizations and today plays an important role."
In 2008, Hosni told the Egyptian parliament that he would "personally burn" any Israeli books in the country's libraries. He has since expressed "solemn regret" but was criticized as unsuited for the UNESCO post by Jewish leaders, including from the European Jewish Congress, and many commentators, notably in France. Recently, Hosni unveiled restoration work at Cairo’s Maimonides Synagogue, a project he denied was meant to assuage Jewish anger.
Representatives from the 58 nations that make up UNESCO's executive council are meeting in Paris the week ahead of a first round of voting on 17 September to elect a successor to Japan's Koichiro Matsuura.
Moderna Museet, Deutsch heirs settle dispute over Nolde painting
 NEW YORK and STOCKHOLM, Sept. 9 (Press Release)—The heirs of Otto Nathan Deutsch and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden have settled a dispute regarding the fate of the painting Blumengarten (Utenwarf) from 1917 by the German expressionist artist Emil Nolde.
The artwork disappeared in 1939, following Otto Nathan Deutsch´s flight from Germany to the Netherlands due to Nazi persecution. It resurfaced in the early 1960´s and was acquired in 1967 by then museum director Pontus Hultén on behalf of the Moderna Museet from Galerie Roman Norbert Ketterer in Lugano, Switzerland. In 1961, the German Government paid a compensation to the Deutsch family for the lost artwork which will now be returned by the family.
Blumengarten (Utenwarf) is being purchased by a private European collector who will loan the painting to the Moderna Museet for up to five years, after which other seminal expressionist paintings from the early 20th century will be lent to the museum for another five years. Both the Deutsch heirs and the Moderna Museet are satisfied with
the outcome of the matter, which was settled under the principles of the 1998 Washington Conference, which calls for a fair and just solution taking all relevant circumstances into consideration.
The Deutsch heirs continue to search for other artworks which were lost due to Nazi persecution. A list can be found at the German Government website www.lostart.de .
According to an agreement between the parties concerned no
further comment will be made about the settlement.
Bulgarian protection of Jews against Nazis praised at rite
SOFIA, Bulgaria (WJC)—Festivities took place in this European capital on the 100th anniversary of the opening of the city’s main synagogue, which is the third largest in Europe. Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov and European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor were among the guest speakers at the ceremony. Kantor praised Bulgarians’ tolerance during and after World War II vis-à-vis the Jews and their courage in helping them from being deported to the Nazi death camps.
“It is especially symbolic for me to be in Bulgaria at this time, a country that, against all odds and against history itself, managed to save almost 50,000 Jewish Bulgarians from deportation and certain death,” Kantor said at a dinner in honor of President Parvanov. “For this the Jewish people are extremely grateful to those Bulgarians, including parliamentarians, the intelligentsia, orthodox priests and ordinary citizens who took a stand against tyranny and refused to sacrifice their fellow Bulgarians. Of course, we must not forget the fate of the Jews in Thrace and Macedonia, as well as elsewhere, who perished under the Nazis. They must not and will never be forgotten.”
American POW who hid his Jewish identity from Nazi captors relates his story in You Tube interviews
EL CAJON, California —Sy Brenner, a Jewish American soldier who was captured by the Germans during World War II, is telling his remarkable story in a series of interviews on You Tube.
Brenner, who now lives in a retirement home with his wife Risa, was knocked unconscious by a blast from a German tank. Members of his unit who saw his body fly up in the air mistakenly reported him as killed in action. However, another soldier who realized that Brenner was still alive broke off the bottom half of Brenner's dogtags, which included the letter "H" for "Hebrew"--the way Jews used to be designated by the military. Brenner believes that the actions of that man--whose identity he does not know--saved his life.
When he recovered from his wounds, Brenner was put in charge of a clinic for fellow prisonerson the basis of his being a medic. The assignment was far beyond Brenner's level of training, but his German captors were not interested in his protestations that he was unqualified.
Running the clinic, Brenner was put in touch with Allied soldiers from several nations, and became a contact person for members of the Underground Resistance.
The octogenarian, with the help of UCSD Professor "Abe Schragge, recently completed a book about his war experiences, which he hopes to soon publish. Shragge also serves as the curator of the Veterans Memorial Museum in San Diego.—Donald H. Harrison
Shoah survivors of U.S. laud Harvard Crimson for turning away Holocaust denier Bradley Smith
NEW YORK (Press Release)—The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants, the largest and oldest umbrella group of Holocaust Survivors and their descendants in North America, applauds the editors of the Harvard Crimson for pulling the ad placed in their publication by Holocaust denier, Bradley Smith. In it, Smith, founder of the "Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust," challenged people to prove the identity a single person murdered in Auschwitz.
According to an article in the Crimson, the ad, which was supposed to run for a protracted period of time, was pulled after one printing, as students and other campus groups protested. According to the editors, the ad was inadvertently placed due to miscommunication and lack of oversight. The editors stressed that this was a logistical failure and not one of philosophy.
In a statement issued on September 9, the Gathering's executive committee said, "At a time when people tend to play fast and loose with facts, The American Gathering commends the staff of the Harvard Crimson for taking responsibility and pulling a cynical ad that challenged the veracity of the Holocaust. In that way, they helped us to ensure that the Holocaust, the most documented event in history, will not be denied."
Peres Peace Center tells its activities to promote Israeli-Palestinian cooperation
TEL AVIV (Press Release)—Following is a report by the Peres Center for Peace on its activities in August promoting cooperation and good will between Israelis and Palestinians:
Over 100 underprivileged Palestinian and Israeli children came together for the second annual Football Village of Hope camp, which fosters mutual understanding, builds lasting friendships, and creates a new generation of youth advocates for peace. The camp is run jointly by the Peres Center Sport Department and the Palestinian organization, the Al-Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue. The children played, learned, and lived together, enjoying football, swimming and other sports, educational and cultural activities, and peace education workshops. In addition to their Israeli and Palestinian coaches, the children were joined by professionals from the Football Association of Ireland. They visited the training ground of Israel’s Premier League champions Maccabi Haifa, and met the players. Football Village of Hope is organized with the help of Milo Corcoran, former President of the Football Association of Ireland and current Chairman of the FAI's International Committee and by Ophir Zardok, former manager of Drogheda United FC.
The camp is generously funded by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Irish Aid program and is supported by Minister Michéal Martin and his predecessor, Minister Dermot Ahern. A reflection from Anwar, the head Palestinian Coach: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids to meet ‘the other side’ and to work together on the common goal of a better future.”
*
Sixteen Palestinian handicrafts companies presented their products in Israel’s leading house ware gifts exhibition Giftec, providing them invaluable exposure and access to the Israeli market, with a potential for generating millions of shekels in new sales. The Palestinian exhibition, called Artesana – Authentic Handicrafts, is a joint initiative of the Peres Center for Peace and PalTrade, and is part of the Business to Business series that brings together Arab and Israeli businesspeople from parallel sectors with a view to introducing them to the market on the "other side" as well as to potential business partners, thereby encouraging business relations, and ultimately, strengthening cross-border trade. Artesana is generously supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Israel and the Norwegian Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority.
Norway’s Ambassador to Israel, Jakken Biorn Lian, said: “It is of the highest importance to develop economic relations between Palestinians and Israelis and this exhibition is a perfect example of how such cooperation can be developed. It needs to be very concrete, involving people and companies that excel in their trade.”
*
A two day training seminar focusing on best practices for fertilizers and pesticides was held for 17 regional supervisors from the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in the West Bank. The course was conducted by the Agriculture, Water and Environment Department of the Peres Center, in cooperation with the extension services of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, as part of the Peres Center’s agricultural training and capacity building program, which implements knowledge sharing through a unique “Training the Trainers” structure. The seminar was generously funded by the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust.
*
A pre-season Coach’s Training Seminar was held for 50 Palestinian and Israeli coaches from the Twinned Peace Sport Schools (TPSS) project. The seminar enhanced the coaches’ skills and better equipped them to guide the youth participants. A new Peace and Sport manual was circulated and a new bilingual website was launched that will enable the coaches to keep in touch with each other. In light of the fact that the standard of education in any field is ultimately influenced by the ability of the educators, continuous training is imperative for the coaches, who teach over 1,500 TPSS youngsters annually.
*
A roundtable discussion of senior Israeli and Palestinian economists entitled, "Economic Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian Relations," was hosted by the Peres Center’s Business and Economics Department in partnership with PalTrade. The dialogue addressed bilateral economic relations with consideration of the current political situation and the concept of 'economic peace' that was recently declared by Prime Minister Netanyahu. The participants included the former Palestinian minister of national economy, the former director general of the Israeli Ministry of Finance, the former Palestinian deputy minister, senior academics, and representatives from the private sector, among others. This successful event will be the basis for a position paper that further investigates the conclusions of the discussion.
*
The model farms for the Strawberry Fields for Peace project have been selected throughout the Qalqilia region of the West Bank, and the first training workshop for the strawberry farmers was held. These farms will serve as centers for research and development, where best practice methods of strawberry growth and production are carried out. Strawberry Fields for Peace is the Peres Center’s cross-border, peace building project that provides capacity building support and advanced training to Palestinian and Israeli agriculturalists in order to enhance local strawberry production and international export. The project is implemented in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and is supported by the Flemish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
*
As part of the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) program, the Agriculture, Water and Environment Department organized a professional research visit to Jericho and Auja for representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian Ministries of Agriculture. The tour was initiated in response to several reported outbreaks of the Red Palm Weevil, one of the most damaging pests to the date palm in the Middle East. It was concluded that joint Israeli-Palestinian cooperation is essential in implementing an immediate plan of action for eliminating this regional pest. The Peres Center launched the ICM program to promote a comprehensive regional approach to crop management and pest control.
Modest love goddess figure adds
spice to Israeli archaelogical dig
HAIFA (Press Release)—An ancient treasure comprising three figurines of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which was buried underground for over 1,500 years, was uncovered during the tenth season of excavations that are carried out by researchers of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, headed by Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg.
"It is possible that during the fourth century A.D., when Christianity was gradually becoming the governing religion in the Roman Empire, there were still a number of inhabitants in Sussita who remained loyal to the goddess of love and therefore wished to hide and preserve these items," suggests Prof. Segal.
The hidden figurines were discovered when the researchers exposed a shop in the southeastern corner of the forum district of Sussita, which is the central area of the Roman city that was built in the second century B.C., existed through the Roman and Byzantine periods and destroyed in the great earthquake of 749 A.D.
According to the researchers, it was clear that the followers had wished to hide the figurines, as they were found complete. The clay pieces are 23 cm tall and represent the common model of the goddess of love known to the experts as Venus pudica, "the modest Venus." This name was given to the form due to its upright stature and the figure's covering her private parts with the palm of her hand – perhaps another reason for concealing them from the new religion that presided over the empire.
The tenth excavation season at Sussita, which is located on the mountaintop at an altitude of 350 m. above Lake Kinneret and in the area of Israel's Sussita National Park, yielded many spectacular findings. Besides the University of Haifa researchers, also participating in the excavations were teams from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and from Concordia University of Minnesota, USA. The project was carried out with significant support from the Israel Nature and Natural Parks Protection Authority.
Another fascinating finding was an odeion – a small, roofed theater-like structure, the first of its kind to be exposed in Israel. According to the researchers, structures such as these were quite common in the Roman era and were intended for poetry-reading performances and musical recitals for an elect audience. While the average theater of those times had some 4,000 seats, the odeion had no more than 600 sitting places. The exposure of this structure holds within it an intriguing story. In the 1960s, when it served as a military post, this area of the city was still entirely covered with refuse three meters high as a protective military measure. When the archaeologists began digging down in 2008, all that could be seen above ground were three hewn stones. The researchers then proposed a theory that these stones hid beneath them an odeion structure, of the type that had not been found before in Israel. To their surprise, this theory proved correct. The excavation is still in its early stages, but the researchers have already been able to expose the entire perimeter of the odeion, which forms a rectangular area, at one end of which is a semi-circle. According to the researchers, the construction is of high quality and it seems that it can be dated back to the first century B.C. or A.D.
Also found in the excavations was a basilica, a roofed structure that would have been used as a substitute location for public gatherings in rainy weather. This is the second basilica to be exposed in Israel, the first being the Roman basilica of Samaria. The conservation and restoration team working alongside the archaeologists have succeeded in restoring one of the basilica's columns. "Just the look of the restored columns is enough to get an impression of the beauty and tremendousness of Roman architecture during that period," Prof. Segal exclaimed.
The American delegation exposed a living quarter, most likely dating back to the fourth century A.D., which gives a rare glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the inhabitants of Sussita during the last three centuries of the city's existence. All of the houses that were exposed surround a stone-paved courtyard. The researchers assume that this style of planning is evidence of everyday household activity taking place in the courtyard, including the cooking.
"At the close of the tenth season of excavations, we have revealed a abundance of public structures in the city, most likely associated with the reign of Herod in the first century B.C. Until now we have assumed that the wave of construction that took place during Herod's reign was primarily in Jewish cities, but the findings at Sussita are evidence of the king's influence on pagan cities under his rule too," the researchers concluded.
| |
|
|
|
