PA, writing to UN, calls Israeli construction plans ‘war crimes’
A letter sent to Ban from Ramallah said “Israel is acting belligerently and forcefully while trampling on all the principles and guidelines of international law, and responds with disdain and insult to the demands and will of the international community. All enlightened countries of the world must send a clear and tough message to the Israeli government saying that its illegitimate policies will result in severe consequences and a deepening of its political isolation, which it alone will be responsible for due to the obstacles it has placed in the path of peace.”
A statement by the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday said that in accordance with the new Palestinian status in the UN, PA leaders are in contact with UN Security Council officials with the goal of forcing Israel to cancel its decision to build in area E1. “The expansion of the settlements is tantamount to war crimes and we will not sit idly by,” the statement said.
UN chief warns Syria over Golan incursions
(JNS.org) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Syria of “serious violations” of the 1974 UN ceasefire resolution between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights, the Associated Press reported.
Syria forces in pursuit of rebels have recently fired several times into Israeli territory, drawing limited Israeli retaliation. The UN maintains more than 1,000 peacekeepers in the region known as UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
“I am concerned that the presence of armed members of the opposition and the ongoing military activities of the Syrian security forces have the potential to ignite a larger conflict between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic with grave consequences,” Ban said.
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Amid global concern over Iran nuclear program, UN focuses on Israel’s program
(JNS.org) Amid reports that the U.S. has intensified intelligence gathering at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant due to its possible use for advancing the country’s nuclear weapons program, the United Nations’ most recent energies in the nuclear arena are focused elsewhere.
On the heels of the UN’s vote on upgraded Palestinian status, the international body is again focusing on Israel, this time calling on the Jewish state to open its nuclear program to international inspectors.
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly, 174-6 with six abstentions, to pass a resolution that calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) “without further delay” and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Associated Press reported.
Among those voting “no” were the U.S. and Canada.
Arab and Iranian diplomats ironically spearheaded the resolution following the postponement of a mid-December nuclear conference on creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD-free zone) in the Middle East.
“The fact that the sponsors include in this anti-Israeli resolution language referring to the 2012 conference proves above all the ill-intent of the Arab states with regard to this conference,” Israeli diplomat Isi Yanouka said.
Yanouka also singled out Syria and Iran as the main threats of nuclear proliferation in the region.
Israel has long said there first must be a Mideast peace agreement before the establishment of a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction. The Jewish state maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity. Its program is speculated to have been developed during the 1960s, with the help of France.
At the time, former Prime Minister Levi Eshkol famously stated, “Israel will not be the first nation to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.”
According to a Nov. 16 quarterly report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog group, Iran’s work on the deep underground nuclear site—Fordo, near the holy city of Qom—is nearly complete. The site now has the full nuclear capacity of 2,784 centrifuges, an increase of 644 since the previous IAEA report in August.
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U.S. senators call on Cuba for immediate release of Alan Gross
(JNS.org) U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) have introduced a resolution calling on Cuba to immediately and unconditionally release Jewish-American contractor Alan Gross, who was sentenced to a 15-year prison term for bringing communications devices to the country’s Jewish community.
Gross, a Maryland native, was working for a U.S. firm called Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) to promote democracy, but Cuba convicted him of “crimes against the state.”
The resolution was introduced on the third Anniversary of Gross’s arrest and is co-sponsored by 29 of the senators’ colleagues. It also calls on the Cuban government to address Gross’s medical issues. Gross, 63, has lost more than 100 pounds while imprisoned and suffers from severe degenerative arthritis. Last week the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs released Gross’s medical records without his permission. The Cuban records release said that he does not have cancer, but independent physician Dr. Alan A. Cohen has said the released biopsy findings were inconclusive. Gross’s attorney, Jared Genser, hopes an American oncologist will be granted permission to visit and examine Gross.
If the resolution is passed, it will be the first time Congress officially condemns Gross’s arrest and calls for his release.
“Year after year, the Cuban Government continues to demonstrate why bilateral relations between our two countries remain frozen… Alan Gross should no longer be forced to suffer the consequences of political gamesmanship. Enough is enough. Alan should be immediately and unconditionally released so he can return home for medical treatment and to support his family. The health and humanitarian needs of he and his family are paramount,” said Sen. Cardin in a press conference held with Sens. Moran and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) as well as Gross’s wife Judy on Tuesday.
World leaders increasingly concerned over Syrian chemical weapons
(JNS.org) As the Syrian civil war drags on, world leaders are growing more concerned over Syria’s vast arsenal of chemical weapons following intelligence reports that the Syrian military began combining chemicals to make deadly sarin gas, CNN reported.
“The possible use of chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable for the whole international community,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
Those remarks followed a stern warning by U.S. President Barack Obama that using chemical weapons would cross a “redline” leading to military action.
“The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable and if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable,” Obama said.
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