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Israel, Hamas near swap of prisoners for soldier
Israel and Hamas are close to a deal to swap 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held for more than three years by the Islamic militant group, a Palestinian familiar with the talks said Monday.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, who met with Egypt's president in Cairo Sunday, confirmed progress in the negotiations to free captured soldier Sgt. Gilad Schalit, but Israeli officials refused to comment further. Hamas' deputy political leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, also said "there is progress" in the talks.
Neither Peres nor Abu Marzouk gave details on the timing of a possible deal.
The Palestinian close to the talks said Palestinian prisoners would be released in two stages. The initial batch is expected to include many serving lengthy sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis. Among them would be Marwan Barghouti, a popular leader of Hamas rival Fatah, who is serving multiple life sentences for involvement in deadly attacks. Barghouti is seen as a top contender for the next Palestinian president.
While negotiations have been dragging on for years, conditions appear to be ripening for a deal. Though no official statements have been made, it appears that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prepared to release more hard-core Palestinian militants than his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, fulfilling a key Hamas demand.
Hamas also has shown flexibility on some important issues, particularly Israel's insistence that some prisoners be deported after their release.
Such a deal would give Netanyahu an important diplomatic victory at a time when he is under heavy international pressure to make progress with the Palestinians. Hamas also appears eager to reach a deal. The group, which rules the Gaza Strip, faces deep international isolation and a painful Israeli economic blockade and the swap is expected to pave the way for lifting the embargo.
But the deal could weaken Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if Barghouti, his main challenger, is indeed released.
A senior Hamas delegation led by strongman Mahmoud Zahar and two top members of the group's armed wing crossed into Egypt from Gaza Monday as Israeli military helicopters hovered overhead. Despite witness accounts on the helicopters, the Israeli military said it had no aircraft in the area at the time.
The Palestinian close to the talks says Egyptian and German mediators hope to complete the deal by the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which begins this weekend. While the key details of the names and number of Palestinian prisoners to be freed are set, smaller details on timing and logistics must still be worked out, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.
He said the deal is expected to see Israel release some 450 prisoners in the first stage as Schalit is handed over to the Egyptians. They include top Hamas militants and leaders of other Palestinian factions. The remainder would be released weeks, or even months later.
At Israel's insistence, some 150 prisoners are expected to be deported to countries elsewhere in the Middle East or Europe.
Hamas-allied militants captured Schalit during a cross-border raid in June 2006 and took him to Gaza. Last month, Hamas released a short video of Schalit, the first concrete sign that he is alive and healthy.
Egyptian mediators have been trying to broker a deal since the capture. But talks have repeatedly broken down. More recently, German mediators joined the efforts.
Netanyahu appears to have agreed to free some militants that his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, refused to consider. The Palestinian said Netanyahu also has agreed to include some Arab citizens of Israel in the deal. The addition of the German mediators also appears to have improved the negotiating climate.
Toward that end, Hamas announced over the weekend that it had secured agreement from all militant factions in Gaza to halt rocket attacks on Israel.
An agreement would also give Hamas a lift in its bitter rivalry with Abbas. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces in 2007.
Abbas, meanwhile, has been weakened by a deadlock in peace efforts with Israel. An emboldened Hamas, along with the return of Barghouti to the political scene, could likely spell further trouble for the embattled Palestinian leader.
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Iran bans paper for running photo of Baha'i temple
Iranians authorities say they are banning the country's largest-circulation newspaper for publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple.
The Shiite cleric-led regime views the Baha'i religion as heretical and has banned it since the 1979 revolution.
The official IRNA news agency says the daily Hamshahri has been ordered closed for publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple that encourages tourists to visit the shrine.
But director of the daily, Ali Reza Mahak, says he has received no order to stop publication and is preparing to publish Hamshahri's Tuesday edition.
Authorities have launched periodic crackdowns against Baha'i followers, and state-run media often run articles denouncing the religion, founded in the 1860s by a Persian nobleman.
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Amended Iraq election law still angers Sunnis
Iraq's parliament on Monday amended the country's vetoed election law with a new version that doesn't address the concerns of the country's aggrieved Sunnis, prompting predictions of further vetoes and delayed elections.
The dispute highlights the ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraq, which, while more secure than in past years of war, has yet to attain the political reconciliation vital to long-term stability.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, vetoed the law because he wanted more seats for Iraqis living abroad, most of whom are Sunnis. The minority, dominant under Saddam Hussein, has seen its privileged status evaporate since the ouster of the dictator and the election of a government led by the Shiite majority.
After days of intense negotiations by political blocs, lawmakers voted to change the basis of distributing seats to an earlier census, most likely giving more seats to the powerful Kurdish bloc rather than the Sunnis.
The number of seats in parliament will be expanded from 275 to around 320 under the amended law to reflect population growth.
The pre-vote dealmaking appeared to focus mostly on Shiite-led efforts to address complaints about the electoral system from the Kurds, prompting dozens of Sunni lawmakers to walk out.
"What has happened today represents a setback to the policy of political accordance that the parliament has adopted," said Salim Abdullah, spokesman for the Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni bloc in the parliament.
Al-Hashemi is likely to veto the amended law now that it returns to the three-member presidential council, but parliament can override a second veto with a three-fifths majority.
"We will wait for the answer from the presidential council before deciding future moves," said Faraj al-Haidari, chief of the election commission. "I think that it is very difficult to hold the elections in January. Most probably, it might be moved to February."
The amendment reshuffles the distribution of seats among Iraq's provinces, basing it on 2005 Trade Ministry statistics plus 2.8 percent annual population growth, instead of the 2009 Trade Ministry figures.
This solution would likely give Kurds more seats in the next parliament. The Kurds have threatened to boycott the elections if the three provinces they control in northern Iraq are not allocated more seats.
The amendment also says Iraqis living abroad will have their vote counted toward their home province, rather than allocating seats for voters outside Iraq, as al-Hashemi had requested.
Sunni lawmaker Osama al-Nujeifi said the amendment was a "grave constitutional violation" and would transfer seats from northern provinces where Sunnis have a strong presence to semi-autonomous provinces controlled by Kurds.
"It is a way to steal seats from Mosul and Salahuddin provinces and give them to Kurdistan provinces in an illegitimate way," he said.
Fouad Massoum, a senior Kurdish lawmaker, said the amendment was fair.
The U.N. has estimated that there were around 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring Jordan and Syria, and some 2.6 million people displaced within Iraq. The total population is at least 27 million.
The United States has linked the pace of its military drawdown to the elections, but the top U.S. commander in Iraq says the schedule is on track for now. U.S. combat troops are supposed to be out of Iraq by August, and the rest of the forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.
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Israel prime minister warns about Iran on navy tour
Underscoring Israel's military might, Israel's prime minister warned about the dangers of a nuclear Iran Tuesday after visiting a submarine believed capable of carrying nuclear-tipped missiles and a ship used to seize weapons Israel says were being sent to Lebanese foes by Iran.
"The threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East and the whole world," Netanyahu said aboard the missile ship INS Eilat.
"Without any doubt, we are the first target, but not the last," he said.
Iran denies its nuclear program is designed to build bombs, but Israel and the West suspect that it is.
Israeli leaders fear their country could be a target for an Iranian nuclear weapon and have not ruled out a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly has made references to Israel's destruction.
The presence of Iranian proxies on Israel's northern and southern borders — Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip — have only expanded the threat from Tehran.
Last month, the INS Eilat led a raid on a cargo vessel that Israel says was bound for Hezbollah with missiles, anti-tank weapons, grenades and ammunition. Hezbollah denied the arms were meant for them.
The submarine that Netanyahu visited was one of three German-built, Dolphin-class vessels that foreign media reports have said can carry missiles with nuclear warheads. Israel has ordered two more such subs.
Israel has never confirmed its submarines have nuclear capabilities, just as it never has confirmed media reports that it possesses a stockpile of nuclear bombs.
After complimenting the sailors for their hard work, Netanyahu got off the INS Eilat and stepped onto a dinghy to visit the navy base whose elite commandos captured the Francop arms vessel off the Cyprus coast earlier this month.
The waters were choppy and Netanyahu briefly wobbled, a pained look crossing his face. Aides rushed to help and a bodyguard placed his arms around the Israeli leader to help keep him steady.
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Iraq's Kurds threaten to boycott elections
Kurdish political leaders threatened Tuesday to boycott January's national elections unless Kurdish areas receive more seats in parliament, throwing into doubt the vote which could determine how quickly U.S. troops can go home.
Just a week ago, legislators were celebrating the passage of a key election law needed to carry out the national polls. But the new Kurdish demands coupled with a veto threat earlier in the week by the country's Sunni vice president could derail the vote.
The Kurds had originally voted in favor of the law last week when it passed parliament, but they say it was only over the weekend that they found out their provinces were allocated less of parliament's 323 seats than expected.
The office of Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani said the way seats are distributed after the election law's passage is unfair to Kurds.
"Unless this seat allocation formula is reconsidered in a just manner, the people of (the) Kurdistan Region will be compelled to boycott the election," a statement posted on Barzani's Web site said.
The statement also said the current division of seats is "an attempt to reduce the number of Kurdistan Region representatives in the next Iraqi parliament and diminish their achievements."
Three northern provinces make up the Kurdish autonomous region, and are represented by their own parliament as well as president.
While Kurds have fought bitter political battles among themselves in their autonomous region in northern Iraq, they have generally presented a strongly united front on the national political scene.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of Iraq's national parliament, echoed Barzani's demands and boycott threat.
"The main point is the allocation of seats," Othman told The Associated Press. "If no changes are made on this matter then we will not participate in the elections."
The Kurdish demands follow Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi's threat on Sunday to veto the election bill unless voters outside Iraq are guaranteed more seats. Most Iraqis living abroad are believed to be Sunni.
The boycott and veto threats come after lawmakers haggled for weeks over the election legislation before passing it on Nov. 8, much to the relief of the United States and many Iraqi political leaders.
Washington has tied its withdrawal of all combat troops to the national vote. U.S. military officials have said they will begin to draw down forces about 60 days after the election, hoping for assurances by then that Iraq is on stable footing.
Under a plan by President Barack Obama, all U.S. combat personnel must be out of Iraq by the end of August 2010. The rest of the troops, such as trainers and support personnel, must leave by the end of 2011.
Lawmakers and members of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission were meeting Tuesday with parliamentary leaders to try to hash out a solution to the vice president's demands, commission member Qassim al-Aboudi said.
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Iran says UN watchdog has cleared nuclear program
Iran's nuclear envoy denied Tuesday that the U.N. inspectors' tour of its recently revealed uranium enrichment site has turned up any evidence that the Islamic republic is seeking nuclear weapons.
While the International Atomic Energy Agency report offered no estimate of the facility's capacity, analysts familiar with the agency's work said it appeared to be capable of producing enough material for a warhead but too little for a civilian reactor.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, however, said Tuesday that the IAEA's report proved the country's program was peaceful and that Iran was cooperating with the agency's inspectors.
"The report by the agency showed that there was no deviation in Iran's peaceful nuclear program," he said on Iranian television.
The agency's report said that the facility was in an advanced state of construction with high tech equipment in place ahead of its 2011 startup.
The revelation of the existence of the plant known as Fordo, near Qom, has heightened concerns of other possible undeclared Iranian facilities not subject to IAEA oversight and could be used for military purposes.
Uranium is enriched to a low level to create nuclear fuel, but if it is further refined, it can become weapons-grade material.
The U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are seeking to persuade Iran to accept an uranium enrichment freeze under a plan of exporting Iran's uranium abroad in exchange for fuel.
"That offer has been comprehensively rejected," warned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown late Monday. "So it is now not only right but necessary for the world to apply concerted pressure to the Iranian regime."
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said in China there would be consequences if Iran would not demonstrate that its nuclear program was "peaceful and transparent" and has called for an answer to the U.N. deal by the end of the year.
Soltanieh shot back saying that Obama's remarks would weaken the U.N. watchdog by casting doubt on its findings.
The agency had stated that Iran had fully cooperated with it and inspections would continue, he said.
"In the report it is clearly said that no centrifuge machine has been installed in the site and no nuclear fissile has been used there," he said, describing the report as repeating previous IAEA assertions that Iran's nuclear activities were for peaceful purposes.
Iran is enriching uranium to less than 5 percent, enough to produce fuel but not for making arms.
Under the U.N. plan, after further enrichment in Russia, France would convert the uranium into fuel rods to be returned to Iran for use in a reactor that produces medical isotopes. Fuel rods cannot be readily turned into weapons-grade material.
Soltanieh said, however, that Iran would continue its uranium enrichment, "even if there are threats of attacks on its nuclear facilities."
One of the country's most concerned about the Iranian program is Israel and on Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the world about Iran while riding in a submarine capable of firing nuclear-tipped missiles.
"The threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East and the whole world," Netanyahu said aboard the ship INS Eilat. "Without any doubt, we are the first target, but not the last."
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13 bullet-riddled bodies found west of Baghdad
Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms abducted and killed at least 13 people in a village west of Baghdad, in what some described as revenge against Sunnis who helped fight al-Qaida, Iraqi officials said Monday.
The exact motive for the attack was unclear, but it could be a case of insurgents killing locals allied to the central government or an internal struggle among the region's fractious tribes ahead January's elections.
The victims included a member of the country's main Sunni political party and several of his relatives, said party official Mohammed Iqbal, suggesting a political motive to the attack.
While members of the Iraqi military have been accused in the past of taking part in extra-judicial killings, such uniforms are also widely available on the open market and have been used by insurgents in the past to conceal their identities.
Violence has dropped dramatically in the predominantly Sunni regions of western Iraq after local tribes, many of whom had been involved in the anti-U.S. insurgency, banded together in so-called Awakening Councils and turned on their former allies, the militant group al-Qaida in Iraq.
The mayor of Abu Ghraib, Shakir al-Zubaie, told The Associated Press that none of the people killed in the nearby village of al-Saadan were members of the local Awakening Council, but said some had fought against al-Qaida for a short time in early 2008.
The Iraqi Islamic Party condemned the killings, describing the deaths as a revenge attack against people who had helped stabilize the area.
"The IIP condemns this ugly crime and it is a worrisome indication that the situation might be deteriorating and it represents a revenge against the people who had helped stabilize the area," the statement read. "This heinous crime reminds us of the crimes committed during the past years of insecurity. The people behind this crime are aiming at seeding insecurity and turmoil in the area."
All 13 had been shot in the head, possibly execution-style, as well as elsewhere in their bodies, said Waleed al-Zubaie of the police.
All the local officials confirmed the gunmen were wearing military uniforms.
A Defense Ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, head of Baghdad's Operations Command, said in a statement that officials are looking into the 13 deaths and suspect it may have been a tribal dispute.
Speaking to the AP later, he said officials are looking for 10 suspects believed to be involved in the incident, who live in the area.
At least seven bullet-riddled bodies were admitted to the Abu Ghraib hospital, said Mohammed Sadoun, an official there.
A witness who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said he went to the cemetery where the bodies were dumped and saw at least 12 bodies, ranging in age from 25 to 50 years old.
Meanwhile, in the northern city of Kirkuk a parked car bomb exploded in a market, killing five people and wounding seven others, said Kirkuk Police spokesman Col. Sarhat Qadir.
The violence comes amid increasing confusion over national polls planned for January after Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi threatened on Sunday to veto a crucial election law that paves the way for the vote unless more seats are guaranteed for Iraqis living abroad, most of whom are Sunni Arabs like al-Hashemi.
He gave lawmakers until midday Tuesday to make the necessary changes to the law.
The head of Iraq's electoral commission, Faraj al-Haidari, met with al-Hashemi Monday to discuss the vice president's reservations with the bill.
Al-Haidari told The Associated Press that he warned the vice president that if he vetoes the legislation, elections will not be held as planned.
According to the Iraqi constitution, the vote must take place before the end of January, 2010, and any delay to the elections could plunge Iraq into a constitutional crisis. The election date has not yet be set.
Al-Haidari said the electoral commission and parliamentary leaders would meet to try to hash out possible solutions to al-Hashemi's demands on Tuesday.
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