Gazette 080414

Monday August 4th 2014

Israeli Airstrike Kills Militant Leader Daniel Mansour In Gaza

An Israeli-declared temporary cease-fire and troop withdrawals slowed violence in the Gaza war Monday, though an attack on Israeli bus that killed one person in Jerusalem underscored the tensions still simmering in the region.

Several cease-fires have broken down during the 3½-week war — including Friday when an internationally negotiated truce collapsed amid violence and mutual recrimination between Israel and Hamas.

But with Hamas rocket fire tapering off over the last 24 hours and Israel's ground operation in Gaza winding down, violence in a war that officials say has killed more than 1,800 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis appeared — for the moment — to be waning.

The lull was broken by the Jerusalem assault, which saw a man ram the front end of a construction excavator into an Israeli bus. Police described the incident as a "terrorist attack," indicating Palestinian involvement.

The attack occurred on a main thoroughfare near Jerusalem's light-rail line. The area is located near the unofficial line between Jewish West Jerusalem and east Jerusalem, the section of the city captured by Israel in 1967 and which is home to most of the city's Arab population. Israeli media said the attacker came from an Arab area of the city.

Israel's Channel 10 TV showed cellphone video of what it said was the attack, with the yellow excavator slamming its large shovel into the bus. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a police officer in the area opened fire and killed the attacker. A pedestrian also was killed, said Jerusalem district police chief Yossi Piranti.

In the past, Palestinian attackers have gone on deadly rampages with bulldozers in Jerusalem traffic.

"Because of the quick reaction of the police an even graver incident was avoided," Piranti said.

Shortly after the excavator attack, Israeli media reported that a gunman on a motorcycle shot and seriously wounded an Israeli soldier. Rosenfeld said police were searching for the shooter in east Jerusalem.

Before the attacks, a seven-hour Israeli cease-fire in Gaza went into effect. And while Israel continued hitting at selected Palestinian targets, the level of the fighting was much lower than in previous days.

Israel's right to security doesn't justify 'carnage,' French official says

PARIS –  Israel's right to security does not justify the "massacre" of civilians, France's foreign minister said Monday in unusually harsh language against a close ally. The French president said Gaza was among the wars that called into question any ability to remain neutral.
"How many more deaths must there be to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza? The tradition of friendship between France and Israel is old and Israel's right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the massacre of civilians," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

The Gaza war, in its fourth week, has killed more than 1,800 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis.
Fabius said a cease-fire, followed by a two-state solution, is needed and "should be imposed by the international community because, despite numerous attempts, the two sides have shown themselves to be incapable of concluding negotiations."
In a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, French President Francois Hollande said wars raging near Europe's borders called neutrality into question. In a grim litany of violence, he cited Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and, finally, Gaza.
"How can we remain neutral, when in Gaza a deadly conflict endures for nearly a month?" Hollande said. "There is an obligation to act."

Egypt Begins Gaza Truce Talks With Palestinian Factions

Palestinian groups, including representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, held their first formal meeting in Cairo on Monday with Egyptian mediators hoping to pave the way towards a durable ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Talks focused on a list of demands agreed by the Palestinian factions on Sunday, including an appeal to Egypt to ease movement across its own border crossing with blockaded Gaza. It was not clear how far the talks would progress, however, after Israel declined to send its envoys as scheduled.

Palestinian demands include a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the lifting of the blockade on the area, the release of prisoners and the start of a reconstruction process, delegation members said on Sunday.

The talks began at noon (0900 GMT) under the auspices of Egypt's powerful intelligence service. Egyptian diplomatic sources said that while Cairo might contemplate easing the limited freedom of movement across its border with Gaza, it was unlikely to accept Palestinian calls to allow a normal flow of trade.

Egypt insists that any discussion over the Rafah border crossing take place bilaterally with the Palestinian Authority rather than as part of any overall deal between the Palestinians and Israel to ease the Israeli blockade, the sources say.

Like Israel, Egypt opposes Hamas and has long positioned itself as a mediator in successive conflicts in Gaza but has struggled to seal a deal in the latest fighting.

Egypt should consider military action in Libya, says senior statesman

Former foreign minister Amr Moussa's statement builds on fears that Libya's factional fighting could spill over the border

Egypt should consider the possibility of a military response to the unrest in neighbouring Libya, one of the country's elder statesmen has argued, prompting speculation in Egyptian media that Cairo is mulling an armed intervention.
Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister and former secretary-general of the Arab League, said in a statement on Sunday that the current upheaval in Libya, which lies on Egypt's western border, had major implications for Egyptian national security.
"The situation in Libya is a major concern for Egypt, Libya's neighbouring countries, and the Arab world at large," Moussa said.
"Statelets, sects and extremist factions in Libya directly threaten Egypt's national security. I call for a broad public debate to sensitise public opinion to the risks, and to build the necessary support in case we have to exercise our right to self-defence."
Moussa's prominence - and his closeness to Egypt's president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, for whom he has at times acted as an unofficial mouthpiece – has led to speculation that an Egyptian offensive in Libya is on the table.
"Libya burns, and Egypt approaches a military solution", read the front page of al-Masry al-Youm, one of the country's largest private broadsheets.
Not everyone, however, was convinced. "A seasoned politician should know the limits of state intervention in other countries, even if they represent a threat to us," the security analyst and former army officer Khaled Okasha told al-Watan newspaper.

Iraq offers air support to Kurdish fighters

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has ordered the air force to provide support to Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting Sunni militants in the north.

It comes after the Islamic State (formerly known as Isis) seized the town of Zumar and two nearby oilfields from Peshmerga forces on Saturday.
IS also took over the town of Sinjar near the Syrian border on Sunday.
Kurdish forces said they were planning a counter-offensive and reports on Monday said Zumar had been retaken.
Militants seized large parts of northern Iraq from government control in June.
In a statement on Monday, Iraqi army spokesman Qassem Atta said: "The commander in chief of the armed forces has issued orders to the leadership of the air force and the army's aviation units to provide air support to Peshmerga forces."
Kurdish leaders have not yet responded to the offer.
Earlier, a Kurdish official told Reuters news agency that Peshmerga forces had been overstretched but were now calling in large numbers of fighters to hit back.
"It is a very dangerous situation for the region. Something needs to be done soon," the official said.
The UN said tens of thousands of people from Iraq's minority Yazidi community had fled their homes after the Sunni militants captured Sinjar and Zumar at the weekend.
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said a "humanitarian tragedy" was unfolding.
Many of those who fled were said to be in exposed mountainous areas near the towns.

British warship evacuates 110 citizens from Libya as evacuations of foreigners continue

VALLETTA, Malta –  A British warship that evacuated 110 citizens from Libya has arrived in Malta, bringing the total of evacuees by ship in the last 48 hours to 361.
The HMS Enterprise arrived in Malta on Monday and the evacuated Britons included 30 children and four pregnant women. Libya is seeing its worst violence since the 2011 civil war, which toppled Moammar Gadhafi.

On Saturday, 226 South Koreans, Indians, Filipinos and Bangladeshis landed in Valletta on a vessel chartered by a car manufacturing company for its employees who wanted to leave Libya. With them were 25 Maltese nationals.
British High Commissioner Rob Luke said that some Britons still remained in Libya, and UK authorities are keeping all options open for their evacuation if it becomes necessary.

Russia holds huge military exercises near Ukraine border

War games begin as Ukrainian army advances on rebel-held Donetsk and Kiev accuses Russia of cross-border artillery fire

The war games on Monday came as the conflict intensified around Donetsk, a city of a million people held by the pro-Russian rebels who have been fighting Kiev government forces since April. Heavy artillery fire continued there on Sunday night, according to the city administration. Ukraine's national security council said on Monday that government troops had begun "liberating Donetsk from the north after encircling the city".
The headquarters of Kiev's "anti-terrorist operation" said rebels had intensified artillery fire at its positions overnight. Both sides have reportedly fired low-accuracy artillery such as Grad rockets in populated areas during the conflict, in which at least 500 civilians have been killed.
A map published by the national security council showed government forces had made significant gains, cutting the rebels in Donetsk off from those in Lugansk. Ukrainian troops had taken back three-quarters of the territory formerly controlled by the rebels, the council said.
Ukraine's defence minister, Valery Geletei, claimed on Monday that Kiev would "be victorious very soon". Andrei Lysenko, a national security council spokesman, said the rebels would be defeated before the onset of winter.
The council also said that artillery based in Russia had fired on Ukrainian soldiers and border guards overnight. It was the latest in a string of claims by Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of cross-border fire.
The Russian military exercises that began on Monday are scheduled to last until Friday and include Su-24, Su-27 and MiG-31 fighter jets, Mi-8, Mi-24 and Mi-28N helicopters, and the recently deployed Su-34 bomber. As part of the exercises, aircraft were to shoot at ground and air-based targets at newly opened testing grounds near Ukraine's south-east border, while air defence forces were to fire surface-to-air missiles near Astrakhan next to the Caspian Sea, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Fighter jets and bombers were also to practice mid-air refuelling from an Il-78 tanker plane above the Arctic Circle.
Related: More than 400 Ukrainian soldiers cross border into Russia

Spain arrests 2 alleged female jihadist militants

MADRID –  Spanish police say they have arrested two female Spaniards, one a minor, who planned to travel to Iraq or Syria to enlist in the Islamic State jihadist group.
An Interior Ministry statement says the pair was arrested Saturday in Spain's north African enclave city of Melilla as they prepared to enter neighboring Morocco.

Once there, police say the two women were to be sent imminently to an area between Iraq and Syria.
The elder woman was identified as Fauzia Allal Mohamed, 19. There were no details on the younger woman in Monday's statement.
Spain has arrested dozens of suspected jihadist militants and recruiters in recent years, especially in its two North African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla.

Ebola risk unheeded as Guinea's villagers keep on eating fruit bats

Health workers struggle to separate myth from reality of Ebola as residents say abandoning tradition is out of the question

 

Medical teams struggling to curb Ebola in west Africa have been discouraging bush meat consumption, believed to have caused the outbreak, but some rural communities dependent on the meat for protein are determined to continue their traditional hunting practices.
While meat from wild animals such as fruit bats, rodents and forest antelopes has largely disappeared from market stalls in main towns such as Guéckédou in southern Guinea – the epicentre of the disease, and the capital Conakry following campaigns to avoid contamination, it is still being eaten in remote villages despite the risks.
"Life is not easy here in the village. They [authorities and aid groups] want to ban our traditions that we have observed for generations. Animal husbandry is not widespread here because bush meat is easily available. Banning bush meat means a new way of life, which is unrealistic," said Sâa Fela Léno, who lives in Nongoha village in Guéckédou.
The disease, which erupted in Guinea's southern forest region and was diagnosed in March as Ebola, is west Africa's first outbreak, and the worst known to date globally with more than 700 deaths. Infections continue to spread in Guinea and neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Poor knowledge and superstition especially in rural communities, as well as cross-border movement, a poor public health infrastructure and other epidemiological causes have contributed to its spread.
The immediate concern is to halt human-to-human transmission. Discouraging bush meat consumption and introducing livestock as an alternative to hunting are part of long-term solutions against the risks of contracting Ebola from the wild, said Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome.
"We recognise the importance that bush meat has to quality nutrition that you may not get from only crop-based diets. We do not say that you should stop wild meat … but can we replace the need to go to the forest and hunt wildlife with having a source of livestock and livelihood that can be safer?" Lubroth said.
"Can we have a more development agenda where we could have poultry production, sheep, goats, pigs … so that there is no undue encroachment into the forest for hunting?"

Earthquake kills at least 398 in China, destroys 12,000 homes

BEIJING –  Rescuers dug through shattered homes Monday looking for survivors of a strong earthquake in southern China as the death toll rose to at least 398 people, with more than 1,800 injured. Rainstorms were expected to hinder rescue efforts over the coming days.
About 12,000 homes collapsed when the quake struck Sunday afternoon in impoverished Ludian county, around 230 miles northeast of Yunnan province's capital, Kunming, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said about 230,000 people had been evacuated.

Ma Yaoqi, an 18-year-old volunteer in the quake zone, said by phone that at least half of the buildings had collapsed on the road from the city center of Zhaotong to the hardest-hit town of Longtou. The rest of the buildings were damaged, she said.
"I saw dead bodies being wrapped in quilts and carried away," said Ma, who arrived with 20 other volunteers Monday. "Some were wrapped with small quilts. Those must be kids."
Overhead footage of the quake zone shot by state broadcaster CCTV showed older houses flattened but newer multistory buildings still standing.
The magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at a depth of 6 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. China's earthquake monitoring agency put the magnitude at 6.5.
The central government has allocated $97 million for rescue and relief work after the quake, the Finance Ministry said.
Dozens of trucks carrying paramilitary troops with banners declaring "Help is on the way" traveled along the four-lane highway from Kunming to Zhaotong on Monday evening.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms in the area were complicating efforts to bring tents, water, food and other relief supplies to survivors. Roads had caved in, and rescuers were forced to travel on foot.
The national meteorological center said the area near the center of the quake would suffer thundershowers over the next three days.
Repeated aftershocks also were making the rescue work dangerous. The USGS showed four aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 and higher hitting after the initial quake.
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African leaders gather for US summit

Delegates are gathering in Washington DC for the largest ever summit of African leaders in the US.

Nearly 50 heads of states are expected to attend the three-day event, which began on Monday.
US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has said about $900m (£535m) in business deals will be formally announced during the event.
But the presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone have cancelled their plans to attend amid an Ebola outbreak.
The disease has killed more than 700 people across West Africa.
US President Barack Obama promised to convene a summit during his three-country Africa tour last year, when he visited Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa.
The summit's focus is on trade and business with the continent, where the US lags behind China, says the BBC's African Service editor Solomon Mugera.
China has a trade volume with the continent of $200bn (£119bn), more than double the US, and it started the Africa summit trend in 2001. Japan, India and Europe have followed.

US reportedly dispatched Latin Americans to foment Cuba political change

WASHINGTON –  An Obama administration program secretly dispatched young Latin Americans to Cuba using the cover of health and civic programs to provoke political change, a clandestine operation that put those foreigners in danger even after a U.S. contractor was hauled away to a Cuban jail.
Beginning as early as October 2009, a project overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development sent Venezuelan, Costa Rican and Peruvian young people to Cuba in hopes of ginning up rebellion. The travelers worked undercover, often posing as tourists, and traveled around the island scouting for people they could turn into political activists.

In one case, the workers formed an HIV-prevention workshop that memos called "the perfect excuse" for the program's political goals -- a gambit that could undermine America's efforts to improve health globally.
But their efforts were fraught with incompetence and risk, an Associated Press investigation found: Cuban authorities questioned who was bankrolling the travelers. The young workers nearly blew their mission to "identify potential social-change actors." One said he got a paltry, 30-minute seminar on how to evade Cuban intelligence, and there appeared to be no safety net for the inexperienced workers if they were caught.
"Although there is never total certainty, trust that the authorities will not try to harm you physically, only frighten you," read a memo obtained by the AP. "Remember that the Cuban government prefers to avoid negative media reports abroad, so a beaten foreigner is not convenient for them."
In all, nearly a dozen Latin Americans served in the program in Cuba, for pay as low as $5.41 an hour.

Rick Perry: Record-High Arrests Of Migrants From Countries With 'Terrorist Ties'

WASHINGTON -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Sunday said that undocumented immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes a significant terrorist threat. Speaking on CNN's State of the Union, Perry said the United States is at "historic record highs with individuals being apprehended" from countries "that have substantial terrorist ties," such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria.
It's a line that Perry has used before. In June, the fact-checking service Politifact.com deemed the statement "not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim."
Perry rebuffed questions from CNN about whether his tough border stance and his focus on overseas threats was part of a strategy to position him for a second presidential run in 2016. Perry stressed that they were not, but used the question to pivot to the threat of terrorism.

"I'm the governor of the state of Texas," he said. "My citizens' safety is what is foremost here, and it hasn't got anything to do with anything other than those numbers of individuals who are coming across the border. And when you think about the idea that some of them are from countries that have substantial terrorist ties, whether it's Pakistan or Afghanistan or Syria, we are at historic record highs with individuals being apprehended from those countries."
More migrants in fact are arriving in the United States from countries other than Mexico than they have in years past. Still, Politifact determined in June that there is no evidence to support the idea that the U.S. is facing a surge in the number of individuals apprehended from countries considered by the U.S. State Department to be either state sponsors of terrorism or terrorist safe havens.
Rather, the surge in non-Mexican migrants apprehended on the border is being blamed on gang violence and poverty in Central America, which have destabilized El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Since October of last year, an estimated 57,500 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended trying to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. 

US: Spy plane flew over Swedish airspace to avoid Russian military

The U.S. military acknowledged Sunday that an Air Force spy plane slipped into Swedish airspace without permission last month to avoid a possible encounter with a Russian aircraft.
The statement by Navy Capt. Gregory Hicks confirms widespread published reports alleging the July 18 incident.

Hicks said the U.S. RC-135 aircraft was flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea when the incident occurred, and that “U.S. personnel” directed the plane’s commander to “vector” into Swedish airspace.
He said the plane exited the space after being told by Swedish air traffic controllers about the error and that the craft returned safely to its home station.
The incident occurred one day after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down by a missile over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. The craft, in which all 298 onboard were killed, was allegedly downed by Russian separatists in Ukraine who were supplied and trained by Moscow.
Hicks also said Sunday that the U.S. European Command, whose headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany, will “take active steps to ensure we have properly communicated with Swedish authorities in advance to prevent similar issues before they arise."
The maneuver by the U.S. plane was to avoid at least one fighter jet Russia sent to intercept the craft, U.S. officials told CNN on Saturday.

Perry slams Obama admin again, this time over Israel

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been blasting the Obama administration for what he called “second-guessing” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over recent clashes in Gaza.

“We need to be standing up with Israel, sending a strong message to those in the Middle East that would attack this democracy that we are their ally and they can count on us,” Perry told CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Despite recent public praise from Netanyahu for the United States, Perry insisted the Obama administration has sent mixed messages during efforts to create calm in the region.
“I think that there have been messages sent both publicly and privately that have not been strong in their support of Israel,” Perry said. “I don't understand why this administration would criticize Israel for trying to protect their citizens and their country from a group who have clearly stated that they will not be satisfied until Israel is wiped off the face of the Earth.”
Perry’s CNN interview dovetails neatly with his appearance last week at a unity rally for Israel and an op-ed in Politico on Friday entitled ”Stand with Israel.”
These high-profile foreign policy comments are yet another burst of activity that could stoke suspicion of Perry’s 2016 presidential intentions, especially given his party’s staunch support of Israel. A Pew Research survey released in July shows that only “6% of Republicans sympathize more with the Palestinians than Israel.”
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