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Pedro Gonçalves

French FM to meet Hezbollah officials in Lebanon_English_Xinhua - 0 views

news.xinhuanet.com/...content_11686788.htm

France Lebanon Hezbollah Bernard Kouchner

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 10 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he will meet Hezbollah officials during his two-day visit in Lebanon, As-Safier daily reported Friday.
  • "Why should I not meet with Hezbollah officials? This is a political party which participates in the Lebanese elections and in the Lebanese cabinet," Kouchner told reporters on his arrival in Beirut Thursday night.
  •     The Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, and was banned by European countries until recently in May when Britain announced it would carry out talks with Hezbollah political wing.
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  •     Kouchner, who will meet Lebanese officials and Leaders, said that the cabinet formation in Lebanon is "an internal issue for the Lebanese to do without the help of anyone."
Pedro Gonçalves

France24 - Sarkozy backs 'viable' Palestinian state - 0 views

www.france24.com/...borders-sarkozy-kouchner-abbas

France Palestine Sarkozy

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 23 Feb 10 - Cached
  • French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed the creation of a "viable" Palestinian state on Monday but was cautious about repeating his foreign minister's support for possible recognition of a state before its borders were set.
  • In a newspaper interview at the weekend, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that to break a stalemate in Middle East peacemaking, some countries might recognise a Palestinian state before its borders were fixed. "One can imagine a Palestinian state being rapidly declared and immediately recognised by the international community, even before negotiating its borders. I would be tempted by that," he told the Journal du Dimanche.
  • Sarkozy said that Kouchner was thinking of possible ways to bring momentum to the peace process but that France's goal remained a functioning Palestinian state in clearly set borders. "In Bernard's comments, there was the thought that if we don't manage that, then when the time comes, in accord with our Palestinian friends, we might underline the idea of this state politically, to lift it up a notch in a way," he said. "But the objective is the idea of a Palestinian state in the frontiers of 1967, with an exchange of territory, just as we have said all along."
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  • The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership said last year it would seek U.N. Security Council backing for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, referring to the West Bank and Gaza Strip borders as they were on the eve of the 1967 Middle East war. It said the initiative would not be a unilateral declaration of statehood but would aim to secure international support for the eventual creation of a state based on the 1967 borders.
  • Israel has sharply criticised the idea of any unilateral initiative and says only negotiations can produce results. But there has been growing speculation in Israel that the Palestinians are looking for ways around direct talks which have been suspended for over a year.
  • A think-tank close to the Israeli government says the Palestinians "have largely abandoned a negotiated settlement and instead are actively pursuing a unilateral approach to statehood" with serious implications for Israel. "Palestinian unilateralism is modeled after Kosovo's February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia," said a recent paper by Dan Diker of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs. The EU and the United States recognised the independence of Kosovo without the support of a Security Council resolution. Palestinian leaders now believe "geopolitical conditions are ripe" to follow that path, Diker said.
Pedro Gonçalves

France FM defends meeting with Hezbollah MP as 'natural' - Haaretz - Israel News - 0 views

www.haaretz.com/...1099301.html

Lebanon Hezbollah UE France UK Bernard Kouchner Javier Solana

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 11 Jul 09 - Cached
  • France's foreign minister held talks Friday with a Hezbollah legislator in the latest European outreach to the Iranian-backed militant group. The European Union and Britain have also sought to engage Lebanon's Hezbollah in recent months to encourage the group to abandon violence and play a constructive political role in the deeply divided country. The United States, however, shuns the group, which it considers a terrorist organization.
  • Kouchner defended his meeting with Hezbollah, which fought the 2006 Second Lebanon War with Israel and is armed and trained by Iran. "Hezbollah is part of the parties that participated in the recent parliamentary elections. It is natural to meet with its representatives," Kouchner told reporters.
  • Last month, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, held talks in Beirut with another Hezbollah legislator in the first meeting between a senior EU diplomat and an official of the militant group.
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  • On Thursday, visiting British lawmakers met with the head of Hezbollah's 12-member bloc in parliament, Mohammed Raad. Britain's Foreign Office announced in March that it has contacted Hezbollah's political wing in an attempt to reach out to its legislators. It said its ultimate aim is to encourage the militant group to turn away from violence and become a positive force in Lebanon's politics.
  • Britain's Foreign Office announced in March that it has contacted Hezbollah's political wing in an attempt to reach out to its legislators. It said its ultimate aim is to encourage the militant group to turn away from violence and become a positive force in Lebanon's politics.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinians dismiss Israel plan - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8099948.stm

Israel Palestine US Benjamin Netanyahu Saeb Erekat Yesha Israeli Settlements

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 15 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Palestinians have rejected the Israeli prime minister's conditions for a two-state solution, saying he has "paralysed" the peace process.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a major policy speech, accepted the creation of a Palestinian state but only if it was demilitarised. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman said his comments challenged Palestinian, Arab and US positions. But the US said Mr Netanyahu's stance was an "important step forward".
  • Mr Netanyahu said the Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state. He said a Palestinian state must have no army, no control of its air space and no way of smuggling in weapons.
  • Mr Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said: "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions," Reuters news agency reported. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the speech "closed the door to permanent status negotiations". "We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it. "He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain."
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  • But the White House called the policy outline an "important step forward", as did French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
  • In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri described the speech as "racist" and called on Arab nations to "form stronger opposition" towards Israel.
  • Mr Erekat added: "The peace process has been moving at the speed of a tortoise. Tonight, Netanyahu has flipped it over on its back."
  • A White House statement said Mr Obama "believes this solution can and must ensure both Israel's security and the fulfilment of the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations for a viable state, and he welcomes Prime Minister Netanyahu's endorsement of that goal".
  • In his own keynote Middle East speech in Cairo on 4 June, Mr Obama stressed that he wanted all settlement activity to stop. But Mr Netanyahu said settlers were not "enemies of peace" and did not move from his position of backing "natural growth" in existing settlements.
  • The settlers group Yesha condemned Mr Netanyahu's speech: "We deplore that the prime minister has agreed to the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state after he has said for years that such a state, even demilitarised, would be a threat to Israel."
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