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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (6816)1/22/2005 12:20:37 PM
From: Crimson Ghost  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 22250
 
BTW the real reason Israel is so opposed to Iran nukes is not that they fear a nuclear attack. They worry it might impede their "freedom of action" to attack Muslim nations with impunity.



To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (6816)1/24/2005 4:26:47 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 22250
 
Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline: the [Judeofascist] wildcard

For both energy hungry India and its swiftly growing neighbor, Pakistan, the need for natural gas is more pressing than ever. Pakistan has one of the world’s fastest growing populations and its demand for gas will expand significantly over the next two decades. India’s gas demand will almost double by 2015 and due to the decline of its reserves it will be forced to import increasing amounts of gas. As the world’s second largest gas reserve, Iran is the most geographically convenient supplier of gas to both countries.

India considered three transport routes for gas from Iran: shipping it through the Arabian Sea on board tankers in the form of LNG, sending it through a deep sea pipeline, or alternatively transporting it on land via a 1700-mile pipeline from Iran’s South Pars field to India. The latter option means 475 miles of the pipeline will pass through Balochistan in southern Pakistan.

A land based pipeline would be four times cheaper than any other option, even after taking into account transit fee payments to Pakistan. But for a long time political tensions between India and Pakistan made it difficult for Delhi to accept an energy project that would create dependence on a neighbor with whom its relations are far from stable. Recent improvement in the relations between the two neighbors has bought India to finally consider joining forces with Pakistan for the mutually beneficial pipeline project, estimated to cost around $4 billion. A third of the gas would be delivered to Pakistan and the rest to India.

For Iran, India’s participation in the project is of paramount importance. In addition to a broader market for its gas Iran hopes to gain political support from India as it is facing strong international pressure to terminate its nuclear program. In return for India's agreement to buy large quantities of gas, Iran has awarded Indian gas companies major service contracts and also granted them participation in refining and other energy related projects to the tune of $40 billion. Iran’s relations with Pakistan are also strategically important. With American troops stationed in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran is trying to check U.S. influence in the region by strengthening its ties with Pakistan, one of America’s most needed allies in the war on terror. The Pakistanis, for their part, would like to see their territory used as a transit route to export natural gas to India. This would not only guarantee a source of income for them but also increase stability in the region. Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is "a win-win proposition for Iran, India, and Pakistan," that could serve as a durable confidence-building measure, creating strong economic links and business partnerships among the three countries.

But this win-win proposition seems to be threatened by...

iags.org

...the US war machine. Clearly, Judeofascism has now reached a point where it conflicts with just about everybody, every country apart from the US, Israel, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.



To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (6816)1/25/2005 6:11:14 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 22250
 
Tightening the screws on (East) Jerusalem:

Israel is said to back bill to seize property

By Greg Myre The New York Times

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

JERUSALEM
The Israeli government secretly approved a measure last summer that says the state may seize land in east Jerusalem that is owned by Palestinians who live elsewhere, an attorney for the Palestinians said Monday.

Many of the Palestinian landowners live in neighboring Bethlehem and historically have had access to property that is inside the Jerusalem boundaries that Israel unilaterally established after capturing the eastern part of Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.

However, many Palestinians have not been able to reach their property in the past two years due to Israel's West Bank separation barrier, which has gone up between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

But until recently, the Palestinians still believed they owned the property, most of it olive groves and grape orchards that have been in the families for generations.

"This is state theft, pure and simple," said Hanna Nasser, the mayor of Bethlehem.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government approved a measure in July stating that Israel may confiscate property in east Jerusalem if it belongs to Palestinians who live outside the city.

The move was taken as part of the Absentee Property Law, which has been on the books since 1950. Israel has invoked the law to seize thousands of homes and parcels of land that belonged to Palestinians who fled or were driven out during the 1948 war surrounding the founding of Israel.

The Israeli government did not announce the move when it was taken, but has acknowledged the new policy following a report last week in Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

"All the government decisions on this issue are made secretly. It is treated like a security issue, not a property issue," said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer representing many of the Palestinian landowners.

He estimated that the decision could apply to hundreds of Palestinian landowners with thousands of acres of land in southeastern or southern Jerusalem. Seidemann said he intends to file suit in Israel's High Court of Justice against the Israeli government unless it rescinds its decision.

Jerusalem's fate is one of the most complex and incendiary issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the latest development is certain to add to the friction.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, though its annexation of east Jerusalem in 1967, shortly after the war, has never been recognized internationally. The Palestinians seek the eastern sector for the capital of a future state.

In many cases, the Palestinian landowners in the Bethlehem area live only a short distance from their Jerusalem property, and in some cases are right next to it.

Johnny Atik, a Bethlehem resident, lives in a house next to his eight acres of olive groves. However, his house is in Bethlehem, while the olives groves are in land that is part of Jerusalem, according to Israel.

The Israeli separation barrier runs through Atik's backyard, separating him from his olive trees.

Over the past two years, Atik and other landowners have repeatedly requested permission from the Israeli military to tend to their land, but never received it.

In November, the military sent a letter telling Atik that his olive groves now belonged to the Custodian of Absentee Properties in Israel, according to Seidemann.

The absentee property law does not require Israel to pay compensation for land the state confiscates.

The Israeli government refused to comment, but the prime minister's office issued a brief statement Monday citing the action taken by the government's Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs.

The resolution said the Custodian of Absentee Property has the authority to sell, transfer or lease the property in east Jerusalem based on the Absentee Property Law of 1950.

In a related development, Israeli bulldozers resumed construction on one of the most controversial sections of the separation barrier, around the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Ariel is one of the larger settlements, with close to 20,000 Jewish settlers, and is deep inside the West Bank. Work on the barrier was halted last year when Palestinians appealed to the Israeli courts. However, work resumed on Monday, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Palestinian security officials.

Israel has said that it will build individual fences around Ariel and several other nearby settlements, and will decide later whether to connect them to the main barrier.

The Palestinians say that Israel is free to build a barrier along its 1967 borders, but adamantly oppose its presence in the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians want for a future state.

iht.com