Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' steadfast refusal on Wednesday to have any dealings with Hamas, despite pressure for a compromise solution to resolve the border crisis, has left the radical movement scrambling for some other way to maintain its influence on the frontier.
Abbas was in Cairo at the invitation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in effort to solve the week-old crisis at the border where Hamas militants had punched holes in the border in effort to end the long blockade of the Gaza Strip and force the region to recognize its importance.
Despite pressure from Egypt to work with the militant organization in which he is in engaged in a deadly rivalry, Abbas categorically refused unless Hamas recognized the 2005 international border agreement and repudiated the summer coup that brought it to power in Gaza.
"There will be no talks with Hamas unless they comply with the conditions we have put forward to back off their coup, to recognize international legitimacy and to accept new early elections," he said after the meeting.
Abbas left Cairo shortly afterward, making it clear he had no intention of meeting the Hamas officials who were also in town to talk with the Egyptians.
"Since Hamas cannot adapt to the regional and international reality, it cannot be in charge of the crossing," said Hassan Asfour, a former Palestinian minister, now a political analyst in Cairo. "It is simple, all parties, the Palestinians, the Arabs, the Europeans and the Americans ... everybody is against that."
Meanwhile, Israeli newspapers forecast Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's survival yesterday after a report criticized the army and his government's conduct during a 2006 war in Lebanon but offered him a political reprieve.
"The exoneration and the failure" was how mass circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth described the outcome of the final report in a banner headline, with one columnist saying that Olmert could "breathe a sigh of relief."
The government-appointed Winograd Commission said political and army leaders had committed "serious failings" during the war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. But it did not blame Olmert personally and endorsed key decisions he made.
Olmert's rivals had positioned themselves for a resignation that could have triggered an election.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS