SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2013 INTERNATIONAL Palestinians sit tight, count down to end of talks

RAMALLAH: Seeking to avoid taking the the prisoners,” he said in reference to 104 file complaints,” she said. The Palestinians envoy to UNESCO. During talks that signing on the dotted line.” But “there are fall for failed Middle East peace talks, the inmates, mostly jailed before the 1993 agreed, before starting the peace talks in brought about the 1993 Oslo accords, very few people on both sides who can Palestinians are simply sitting out the Oslo peace accords, 52 of whom Israel has July, not to go to international courts and Sanbar explained, “The Americans laid imagine success from the negotiations”. nine-month period of negotiations before freed as part of the US-brokered negotia- UN bodies over Israeli settlement con- down one rule - that whoever gets up and Once the Palestinians return to legal they can resume legal action against Israel. tions. struction inside the occupied West Bank. leaves the table will be held responsible. action, “the main arena will be the United Israel’s settlement building on land Other Palestinian officials have been Israel has during the peace talks The situation is similar today. The Nations and its many agencies and institu- Palestinians want for their future state has much more vocal about the “decision” they announced thousands of new settler Palestinians will have to grin and bear it tions”. The Palestinians cast their first UN in the past 10 days prompted Palestinian will pursue legal action against Israel’s set- homes in the West Bank, often coinciding for the full nine months.” vote on Nov 18, just under a year after negotiators to present their resignation, tlements. “Israel is defying even the with the release of prisoners, in moves After that period, legal action against gaining upgraded status as a non-member amid calls by officials to sue the Jewish Americans, whom it promised to slow set- designed to assuage the Israeli public and Israel through bodies like the International observer state. Most of the 193 members state over its illegal construction. tlement construction. Not only has it not hardline ministers who oppose the talks. Criminal Court will resume with gusto, of the General Assembly applauded Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told done that, but it’s actually stepped up set- The moves have angered the Palestinian according to Gershon Baskin, founder of Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour as AFP his side is committed to the full peri- tlement building. For this reason, we have negotiation team, which in November pre- the Israel Palestine Centre for Research he voted for a judge on the International od of talks agreed with Washington which to go to the UN,” said Palestine Liberation sented its resignation to Abbas. and Information. “Breakdowns, threats of Criminal Tribunal for the Former will end around April. Organisation executive committee mem- Abbas refused to accept the resigna- leaving the table, the resignation of nego- Yugoslavia. “This is an important step in “Regardless of what happens on the ber Hanan Ashrawi. “My opinion is that we tion, in a move commentators say is tiators these are all common tactics our march for freedom and independence ground... we are committed and we will go should have gone to the UN before US designed to avoid responsibility for the employed in negotiations, particularly and full membership of the United to the full nine months, and then we will Secretary of State John Kerry launched failure of talks. “There are many actions those with a set time to them,” Baskin Nations,” Mansour told the assembly. “I take the appropriate decision,” he said. talks. “We should have applied for mem- aimed at forcing us to shut the door, so wrote in the Jerusalem Post. “The last days, think that this is a very, very special Abbas hinted at what that “decision” might bership of these agencies and internation- (the Israelis) can say: the Palestinians do hours, even minutes on the ticking clock moment in the history of the struggle of be. “We agreed to freeze all action at the al treaties to guarantee our rights. We not want peace - now we’ll do what we are the best moment to squeeze addition- the Palestinian people at the United UN in exchange for Israel’s release of all should hurry up and do that, and at least want,” said Elias Sanbar, the Palestinian al concessions from your opponent before Nations,” he told reporters. — AFP Mauritania holds polls despite oppn boycott Elections may give Tewassoul a major boost NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritanians vot- ed yesterday in nationwide elec- tions overshadowed by a wide- spread boycott of opposition par- ties, with all eyes on the perform- ance of an Islamist party allowed to take part for the first time. The mainly-Muslim republic, a former French colony on the west coast of the Sahara desert, is seen by the West as strategically important in the fight against Al-Qaeda-linked groups within its own borders, as well in neighbouring Mali and across Africa’s Sahel region. “I think these elections today are a victory for democracy in my country,” President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said after visiting his local polling booth in Nouakchott. Around a third of Mauritania’s 3.4 million people are eligible to ARBIL, Iraq: Syrian-Kurdish refugees, 23-year-old Jvan Khaled and his 18-year-old vote in the first parliamentary and wife Shekha Khaled, originally from Qamishli, celebrate their wedding ceremony at local polls since 2006, a test of the Quru Gusik (Kawergosk) refugee camp on Friday. — AFP strength for Abdel Aziz five years after he came to power in a coup and four years after he won a widely contested presidential vote. NOUAKCHOTT: Residents queue up to vote outside the Ksar polling station yesterday. — AFP Govt airstrikes His Union for the Republic (UPR) is expected to retain power but hold more moderate beliefs than torate to heed its boycott call. the president said casting his bal- opinion is divided over whether the country’s jihadist fringe and Ahmed Ould Daddah, one of the lot. “I think, unfortunately for kill 29 in Syria the main Islamist party Tewassoul, draws support from female voters main leaders of the “radical” oppo- them, they missed an opportunity, only legalised in 2007, will give the and Mauritania’s young, urban sition, warned on Tuesday that the an important date, because they favourites a run and emerge great- BEIRUT: Syrian government airstrikes on clear if the field is operational. Before the middle-class - although it has just UPR was “about to commit fraud as find themselves in a situation ly strengthened by Saturday’s four seats in parliament. It it did in the 2009 presidential elec- where they will be absent from the rebel-held areas in the north killed at uprising began in early 2011, the oil rev- polls. describes its participation as a tion”. National Assembly and therefore least 29 people yesterday, activists said, enues provided around a quarter of the Some 1,500 candidates from 74 form of struggle against the “dicta- Following independence from the political debate.” as Al-Qaeda-linked rebels captured one government’s budget. In 2010, Syria pro- parties representing the adminis- torship” of Abdel Aziz. The UPR is France and the ensuing one-party The “moderate” opposition of the country’s oil field in the east. Rami duced about 380,000 barrels a day. Oil tration and the so-called “moder- the only party fielding candidates government of Moktar Ould includes the three-party Abdurrahman, the director of the Britain- exports have ground to nearly a stand- ate” opposition are registered to in every constituency, making it a Daddah, deposed in 1978, Coordination for a Peaceful based Syrian Observatory for Human still since. Assad’s government now vie for 147 seats in parliament and strong favourite over Tewassoul, its Mauritania had a series of military Alternative, a key player in Rights, said military warplanes targeted imports refined fuel supplies to keep up the leadership of 218 local coun- closest rival, and the People’s rulers until its first multi-party Mauritania’s nascent democratic rebel positions in an opposition-held dis- with demand amid shortages and rising cils dotted across the shifting Progressive Alliance of parliament election in 1992. Abdel Aziz seized process responsible for negotiat- trict of Aleppo. The attack missed the tar- prices. sands of the vast nation. But leader Messaoud Ould Boulkheir. power in a 2008 coup and was ing the establishment of an inde- get, sending bombs into a crowded veg- In late 2012, rebels began seizing Tewassoul is the only member of Observers in Nouakchott are elected a year later, but the COD pendent electoral commission. It etable market, killing 14 people, he said. fields in Deir el-Zour, one of two main the so-called “radical” opposition, split over whether the elections has never accepted his rule as was also behind a move to A separate airstrike on the town of Al- centers of oil production. In February, the 11-party Coordination of will give Tewassoul a major boost legitimate and demanded he increase the number of seats in Bab near Aleppo killed 15, he said. they captured the large Jbeysa oil field Democratic Opposition (COD), or stymie the nascent party. The make way for a neutral leader to the National Assembly from 95 to Air power has been Syrian President after three days of fighting. A year ago, contesting the polls after its coali- polls are also a test for the rest of administer the vote. “We made the the current 147 level and a change Bashar Assad’s greatest advantage in the rebels briefly captured al-Omar field only tion partners said they would the COD, which says election day necessary effort to ensure that in the law which outlawed coups civil war. Over the past year, his forces to lose it to government troops days lat- “boycott this electoral masquer- will “intensify the political crisis in everyone could participate in and punished slavery, which is ade”. The party, associated with the have exploited it in a wide-ranging er. Rebels largely have been unable to the country” and expects a “rela- these elections but, unfortunately, nevertheless still practised in Muslim Brotherhood, professes to offensive to push back rebel gains in the benefit from the oil fields. The country’s tively large” proportion of the elec- not all the parties were involved,” Mauritania. — AFP north and around the capital, Damascus. two refineries remain under government Syrian state television confirmed the control and the threat of airstrikes make fighter jets were in the north, but said working the fields difficult. Lebanon confirms ID of embassy bomber they targeted “gatherings of terrorists” in Also yesterday, a pro-government tel- Aleppo, killing a large number of them. evision station said gunmen fired at a BEIRUT: A suicide bomber who attacked Brigades. “The government’s commissioner to is a key ally of the Syrian regime as it battles a Syrian state media routinely refers to vehicle belonging to a Syrian Cabinet Iran’s embassy in Beirut has been identified the military court, Judge Saqr Saqr, con- 32-month uprising. Tehran is also the key rebels fighting to topple Assad’s govern- minister, killing his driver. Al-Ekhbariya through DNA tests on his father, a judge said firmed that the DNA test administered to sponsor of the Lebanese Shiite group ment as terrorists. said Minister Ali Haider was not in the car yesterday, after the man came forward when Adnan Abu Dahr corresponded with the Hezbollah, which has dispatched fighters to Another activist group, the Aleppo when it came under fire while traveling photos of suspects were published. The test human remains recovered from the scene of Syria to bolster the government in its fight. Media Network, confirmed yesterday’s on a highway that links the central city of on Adnan Abu Dahr showed that human the attack, belonging to (his son) Mouin Abu The Facebook page, which had been taken airstrikes and posted a video of what it Hama with Tartous on the Mediterranean remains at the scene belonged to his son, Dahr, one of the two suicide bombers,” the down by Saturday, expressed support for Al- says was the aftermath of the Al-Bab raid. coast. A government media office con- Mouin Abu Dahr, who was identified as one agency reported. Qaeda and Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed Assir, Plumes of smoke rose from twisted metal firmed the report. Syria’s civil war started of two attackers, the judge was quoted by For its part, the army said Mouin Abu Dahr, also from Sidon, who has been at large since and chunks of broken-up concrete as a peaceful uprising against Assad that the National News Agency as saying. A from Lebanon’s majority Sunni town of Sidon, this summer. strewn on the ground. The video deteriorated into all-out civil war after a Facebook page reportedly belonging to was one of the two suicide bombers. On Assir, well-known for his anti-Hezbollah appeared authentic and was consistent government forces violently cracked Mouin Abu Dahr expressed support for Al- Friday, the army released two pictures of men stance, is wanted in Lebanon for his role in with AP’s reporting of the airstrikes. down on protesters. The conflict has Qaeda and for a radical Sunni Muslim wanted for “dangerous crimes” - believed to clashes between his supporters and the army Meanwhile, fighters from Al-Qaeda- killed some 120,000 people, activists say. Lebanese cleric, who is a supporter of the be the suicide bombers. The second suspect that left 17 soldiers dead in Sidon. On the linked Jabhat Al-Nusra ousted govern- The United Nations said in July that Syrian rebellion. has yet to be officially identified, but the Facebook page, Abu Dahr pledged to ment troops from the Al-Omar field yes- 100,000 Syrians have been killed, and has The double suicide bombing outside the agency quoted Saqr as saying investigations “avenge” Assir, who frequently expressed terday during an overnight battle, not updated that figure since. Millions of embassy in a southern suburb of Beirut killed were ongoing. support for the Syrian uprising and encour- Abdurrahman said. Syrian state media Syrians have been uprooted from their 25 people, and was claimed by an Al-Qaeda- It was the first attack in Lebanon against aged Lebanese Sunnis to join the fight and officials did not mention it. It is not homes because of the fighting. — AP affiliated group called the Abdullah Azzam interests of predominantly Shiite Iran, which against the Syrian government. —AFP Obama praises Morocco king WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama region of Western Sahara, which Morocco praised the “leadership” of Morocco’s King annexed in 1975, with a human rights Mohammed VI on Friday after holding monitoring mandate. Morocco cancelled wide-ranging talks with the North African annual joint military exercises after angrily monarch for the first time at the White rejecting the US proposal, which was later House. In a joint statement released by the defeated following intense Moroccan lob- United States and Morocco following the bying. talks, Obama applauded the king for Earlier Friday, the United States said a “deepening democracy, promoting eco- Moroccan plan to grant greater autonomy nomic progress and human development” to Western Sahara was viable. “Morocco’s in the past decade. Obama also welcomed autonomy plan is serious, realistic and the king’s vow to end the practice of trying credible,” White House spokesman Jay civilians in military courts, the statement Carney said. “It represents a potential said. approach that can satisfy the aspirations of “The two leaders reaffirmed their com- the people in the Western Sahara to run mitment to the UN human rights system their own affairs in peace and dignity.” and its important role in protecting and The Algeria-backed Polisario Front promoting human rights and fundamental wants independence for the territory freedoms,” the statement said. The two through a self-determination referendum. nations also “reaffirmed their commitment A 2007 proposal from Rabat advocated to continue to deepen civilian and military aplan for a high degree of autonomy while cooperation in the areas of non-prolifera- retaining all “attributes of sovereignty, tion and counterterrorism,” it added. such as the flag, the national anthem and Ties between the United States and the currency.” Morocco remains a key Morocco have shown signs of tension this strategic ally of the United States, and has WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama meets King Mohammed VI of Morocco in year following a US proposal to task UN “non-NATO major ally” status, allowing it the Oval Office on Friday. —AFP peacekeeping forces in the disputed access to US arms sales. — AFP