US warns Israel not to request funds
05.16.2006
 The United States has informed Israel not to ask for funding for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's unilateral West Bank withdrawal plan during the premier's upcoming visit to Washington, officials said Monday.
This message was conveyed to the prime minister by the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, in a Sunday night meeting with the premier.
The Israeli government had not planned on asking the Americans for economic assistance for the proposed pullout plan during Olmert's first official visit to Washington since taking office this month, but the American Administration, it appears, wanted to make sure that this was the case.
"There is a common understanding about the purpose of the visit, which is meant for the prime minister and the president to establish relations...and to strengthen the bonds on both sides," Hoenlein told The Jerusalem Post Monday.
Olmert's convergence plan, whereby Israel would unilaterally withdraw from scores of isolated West Bank settlements while strengthening the major settlement blocs, is expected to cost as much as $10 billion.
Olmert spokesman Assi Shariv said last week that Olmert did not plan on asking the US administration for any economic support for the future West Bank pullout plan on this trip.
The United States and Israel are still discussing a reduced aid package that would help fund economic development in the Negev and Galilee after Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year.
The funding, which has been put on hold in the wake of the devastating damage caused by a hurricane that struck the US Gulf Coast last year, was originally slated to be $2 billion, and was intended to cover part of the cost of the disengagement, but has since been reduced to $1.2 billion, with the money geared exclusively for the development of the Negev and the Galilee.
The prime minister's four-day US trip includes a get-acquainted meeting with Bush at the White House on May 23, an address before a special joint session of the Congress the next day, and meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Olmert has repeatedly said that if it proves impossible to restart negotiations with the
Palestinians, he will work to unilaterally redraw the country's borders in the coming years.
Weapons-grade uranium found in Iran
05.13.2006
 UN inspectors have found traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian research center linked to the military, diplomats said Friday, which could strengthen US arguments that Tehran wants to develop nuclear arms.
The diplomats - who demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging the confidential information - cautioned that confirmation still had to come through other laboratory tests. But they said the density of enrichment appeared to be close to or above the level used to make nuclear warheads.
Still, they said, further analysis could show that the find matches others established to have come from abroad. The International Atomic Energy Agency determined earlier traces of weapons-grade uranium were imported on equipment from Pakistan that Iran bought on the black market during nearly two decades of clandestine activity discovered just over three years ago.
Even then, however, the find would be significant.
Because Iran has previously denied conducting enrichment-related activities at the site, the mere fact that the traces came from there bolsters arguments that it has hidden parts of a program that can create the fissile material used in nuclear warheads. Additionally, the site's connection to the military weakens Iranian arguments that their nuclear program is purely civilian.
The development was still unlikely to result in an immediate American push for strong UN Security Council action against Tehran.
The Americans recently agreed to put such efforts on hold and give new European-led attempts to find a negotiated solution to the Iran crisis a chance in the face of fierce Russian and Chinese opposition to US-led calls for a strong signal from the council.
Specifically, Moscow and Beijing have balked at British, French and US efforts to put the Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Such a move would declare Iran a threat to international peace and security and set the stage for further measures if Tehran refuses to suspend its uranium enrichment operations. Those measures could range from breaking diplomatic relations to economic sanctions and military action.
Meanwhile, French President Jacques Chirac said Friday that a proposed UN Security Council resolution on the standoff over Iran's nuclear program "does not automatically entail" use of force.
Chirac said France was not against a tough resolution aimed at pushing Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program, but stressed it should not lead to the automatic use of military force or sanctions if Iran refuses.
"Our objective is to have a resolution that may be obeyed," Chirac told reporters on the margins of an EU-Latin America leaders summit.
Chirac's comments appeared aimed at reassuring China and Russia, which object to attempts by Britain, France and the United States to draft the Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would make it enforceable by sanctions - or if necessary - military action.
"Our objective ... is that we be in a position to impose decisions taken by the Security Council," Chirac said when asked if the draft resolution was in contradiction to France's position on the Iran standoff.
Jerusalem Post
Article List
|
