Gaza Resist

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians have gathered in a Damascus square in a government-orchestrated ''march of anger'' against Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem.

The crowd at the central Youssel al-Azmi square waved Syrian and Palestinian flags and pictures of Hamas leaders as they shouted anti-Israel slogans Friday.

Senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal condemned what he called Israel's ''brutal aggression'' on holy sites.

The U.S. and Arab countries want Israel to stop building Jewish homes in east Jerusalem -- the section of the city that Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses, saying the entire holy city must remain Israel's eternal capital.

Israel will be allowed to replace the senior Mossad station chief being expelled from Britain if it offers assurances that forged UK passports will never be used again for clandestine operations, it was reported Thursday.

But such a declaration would be tantamount to an admission of Israel's guilt in the targeted assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January, according to the Independent newspaper.

The Israeli regime has shown no signs so far that it will acquiesce to the demand made by Foreign Secretary David Miliband to pledge that "the state of Israel would never be party to the misuse of British passports in such a way".

The Jewish Chronicle said that the Israeli diplomat being expelled is believed by the Foreign Office to be directly linked to the forgeries but reported an Israeli official confirming that a replacement would be sent to London in due time.

Australia, France, Germany and Ireland also conducting their own investigations into the forging of their passports used by the Mossad hit squad and have yet to announce any action against Israel.

Commander of the United States Military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) Gen. David Petraeus, whose widely-reported recent claim that Israeli intransigence was a problem for the US military in the Middle East and was fomenting conflict caused much concern within the Israeli security and political establishment, attempted on Wednesday to set the record straight, claiming that bloggers "spun" his words.

In the written testimony to the senate last week, Petraeus charged that the Arab-Israeli conflict hurts America’s ability to advance its interests in the Middle East, fomenting anti-American sentiment and limiting America’s strategic partnerships with Arab governments. He also called the conflict one of the “root causes of instability” and “obstacles tosecurity ” in the region – which aids al-Qaida – and argued that serious progress in the peace process could weaken Iran’s reach, as it uses the conflict to fuel support for its terror group proxies.

Earlier this month, a posting on the Foreign Policy website claimed that the general “sent a briefing team to the Pentagon with a stark warning: America's relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers.”

In addition, according to the dispatch, Petraeus requested that the West Bank and Gaza be shifted to his Central Command (from European Command) so that the US military could “be perceived by Arab leaders as engaged in the region's most troublesome conflict,” The American Spectator reported.

Speaking to TAS at a briefing prior to an appearance in Manchester, New Hampshire, Petraeus said he never requested to have the West Bank and Gaza added to his responsibilities as leader of the military’s Central Command.

In addition, he explained that the quote that bloggers attributed to his Senate testimony was actually plucked out of context from a report that Central Command had sent the Armed Services committee, TAS reported.

“There’s a 56-page document that we submitted that has a statement in it that describes various factors that influence the strategic context in which we operate and among those we listed the Mideast peace process,” he said. “We noted in there that there was a perception at times that America sides with Israel and so forth. And I mean, that is a perception. It is there. I don’t think that’s disputable. But I think people inferred from what that said and then repeated it a couple of times and bloggers picked it up and spun it. And I think that has been unhelpful, frankly.”

In an effort to tamp down the controversy, Petraeus told TAS, he spoke to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and reassured him that the reports were inaccurate.

When asked about the claim that the perception that the US is too reflexively pro-Israel puts American soldiers at risk, Petraeus said, “There is no mention of lives anywhere in there. I actually reread the statement. It doesn’t say that at all.”

JERUSALEM and the WEST BANK—Atop Mt. Zion sits the Cenacle, considered by historians the likely setting of the Last Supper. High tourist season in Jerusalem arrives a few weeks before Easter, so on a recent weekday the main floor (cena means dinner) was filled to capacity: Roman Catholics from the Philippines prayed and sang together in one corner; Italians listened to a tour guide in another; Russian Orthodox nearby studied the Armenian capitals that top columns in the Crusader-era vault; and a group of evangelicals from Alaska waited their turn outside in midday sun. From the Jewish school at the site came the sounds of male prayer chanting.

A synagogue was here long before the apostles reportedly established it as a place of worship following Jesus' death and resurrection. It was destroyed by Persians in 614, rebuilt, destroyed by Muslims in 1009, regained by Crusaders in 1099, who built the basilica that partially survives today. The Franciscans took it over until another Muslim invasion—when it was transformed into a mosque and closed to Christians until the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Since the Six Day War in 1967, the Diaspora Yeshiva has run the compound.

ISRAEL’S SENIOR ministers will convene this morning to decide how to respond to the demand from US president Barack Obama for Israeli actions designed at getting the Middle East peace process back on track.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu returned from Washington last night after failing to reach agreement with Mr Obama on a compromise over the American demands.

The White House didn’t reveal what exactly the president was seeking from the Israeli leader, but the demands reportedly included a call to curb construction in east Jerusalem, a commitment to extend the 10-month moratorium on West Bank settlement construction, an agreement on a two-year deadline for talks with the Palestinians, and details on the Israeli position on the core issues.

Members of Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party and right-wing coalition partners rallied around the prime minister yesterday, urging him to stand firm against American pressure. Eli Ishai, leader of the religious Shas party, vowed construction in Israel’s capital city will continue. “I thank God I have been given the opportunity to be the minister who approves the construction of thousands of housing units in Jerusalem,” he told an ultra-orthodox newspaper.

Vice prime minister Silvan Shalom from the Likud said there can be no conditions imposed on construction in Jerusalem. “How did we get to the point that building in Jerusalem has turned into a stumbling block? If we blink now, we will lose everything, and when that happens the government will collapse,” he told Israel radio.

Israeli officials had hailed the invitation from Mr Obama for a White House meeting with Mr Netanyahu as an indication that the recent tension in bilateral ties, prompted by Israel’s announcement of more building in east Jerusalem during the visit of vice-president Joe Biden, was now over.

But just before the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, news broke of another Israeli decision to build in east Jerusalem. Final permission was granted to construct 20 homes in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, at the site of the former Shepard hotel.

Israeli analysts described the Obama-Netanyahu meeting as a “well-planned White House ambush” that caught the Israeli leader totally off-guard.

What has been described as the worst crisis in US-Israel relations in decades, characterised by a clear lack of trust between the two leaders, is clearly far from over.

Mr Netanyahu may have been able to make promises to Mr Obama in private , even on contentious issues such as construction. But the American demand for public commitments to coax the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, created an impossible dilemma for Mr Netanyahu.

Today, the ministerial “forum of seven” will be asked to decide between two alternatives: agreeing to the far-reaching concessions demanded by Mr Obama and repairing Israel’s ties with its most important ally; or saying “no” and risking Israel being seen by the international community as the obstacle to Middle East peace.