Gains by Syrian govt make peace talks harder: Hague
William Hague
He said it was “worrying and depressing” that the so-called Geneva talks were not taking place this month, and repeated his warning that the world must do more to help the people of Syria.
“The regime has gained ground on the ground, again at the cost of huge loss of life and the indiscriminate use of violence against the civilian population,” Hague told BBC television.
“That makes the Geneva conference harder to bring about and to make a success. It makes it less likely that the regime will make enough concessions in such negotiations, and it makes it harder to get the opposition to come to the negotiations.
“The way the position on the ground is changing in Syria at the moment isn’t helping us bring about a political and diplomatic (solution).”
Asked if he believed the Geneva talks would happen at all, Hague said: “We’re working on that. We’re in intensive discussions with the US and of course with Russia and the UN about this.
“But they’re not coming together in the next couple of weeks and I find that worrying and depressing.”
Hague repeated that Britain had not yet taken a decision on arming the rebels in Syria but confirmed for the first time that there would be a vote in parliament before it did so.
Several MPs had expressed concerns the weapons could fall into the wrong hands.
“There would be a vote one way or the other. There isn’t an established procedure for it, but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be before any such decision was implemented,” Hague said.
He added: “People have understandable concerns about the idea of sending arms to anybody in Syria.
“We’d all be very reluctant to do that. On the other hand at the moment people are being killed in huge numbers while the world denies them the means to defend themselves.” — AFP
Prayers for Mandela after second night in hospital
Members
of the congregation at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a flashpoint
during the anti-apartheid struggle, pray on Sunday for Nelson Mandela
during Sunday Mass. Afp Photo
Mandela’s latest health scare was splashed across the front pages of local newspapers but government officials have released no updates since announcing he was hospitalised in Pretoria early Saturday in a “serious but stable” condition.
The congregation at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a flashpoint during the anti-apartheid struggle, prayed for the 94-year-year-old national hero.
“I am coming to church today with Madiba in my thoughts. I want him to get well,” churchgoer Nokuthula Tshibasa, 38, told AFP, using Mandela’s clan name.
It is the fourth hospital stay since December for the Nobel peace prize laureate, who turns 95 next month, after he was discharged in April following treatment for pneumonia.
South Africans are beginning to come to terms with the mortality of their first black president who is revered as the father of the “Rainbow Nation” multi-race democracy.
“I mean Tata is 94. At 94 what do you expect?” said church goer Sannie Shezi, 36, using an affectionate term meaning father.
“He lived his life, he worked for us. All we can say is God help him. If things happen they will happen, but we still love him.”
The Sunday Times newspaper carried a front-page picture of the elder statesman smiling and waving under the headline: “It’s time to let him go”.
“We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him,” long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87, told the newspaper.
The former apartheid era prisoner who was jailed for life alongside Mandela in 1964 said it was clear he was not well and it was possible he “might not be well again”.
“Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too.”
Mandela’s third wife Graca Machel has been at his hospital bedside after calling off a trip to London.
Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, who also served time with Mandela in Robben Island, said Saturday he was in a “serious” condition, in an unusually sombre description of his state of health.
But he told AFP that Mandela was breathing on his own.
“The truth of the matter is a simple one. Madiba is a fighter and at his age as long as he is fighting, he’ll be fine,” he said.
Mandela is revered as a global symbol of forgiveness after embracing his former jailers following his release from 27 years in prison and his latest hospitalisation triggered outpourings of concern across the globe.
“No one lasts forever. But I really wish there was an exception for #Mandela,” said one post on Twitter. — AFP Please Read thisOnly in Palestine. According to the recent statiscs, almost 12% of the imprisoned children are under the age of 16. Israeli occupation entity has been targeting arresting children to ask parents for thousands of shekels as a price for their children's freedom, which is just another ugly face of ransom. Palestinian kids face this act of racism on a daily basis, on their way to school, home, and while they are trespassing the Israeli racist checkpoints near each city.
Netanyahu reiterates pledge to Palestinian state
Speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu—who in 2009 declared his support of a two-state solution—said he and US Secretary of State John Kerry will together “try to make progress to find the opening for negotiations with the Palestinians, with the goal of reaching an agreement.”
“This agreement will be based on a demilitarised Palestinian state that recognises the Jewish state, and on firm security arrangements based on the IDF (Israel Defence Forces),” he said.
His remarks were made just days after Deputy Defence Minister Danny Danon, a member of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, rejected the notion that the government was serious about reaching a peace agreement that would lead to the formation of a Palestinian state.
“There was never a government discussion, resolution or vote about the two-state solution,” Danon said in an interview with The Times of Israel news website on Thursday.
If it were put to a vote, “the majority of Likud ministers, along with Jewish Home will be against it,” he said, referring to a far-right nationalist faction within the government.
“Today, we are not fighting it, but if there will be a move to promote a two-state solution, you will see forces blocking it within the party and the government,” he said.
“Today there is no partner, no negotiations, so it’s a discussion. It’s more of an academic discussion,” he said, adding that Netanyahu “knows that in the near future it’s not possible” to create a Palestinian state.
Although Netanyahu made no direct mention of Danon’s remarks, which made headlines across the press on Sunday, he stressed the need for unity within his cabinet.
“In order to face these challenges and many others, the government has to function as one unit,” he said, his remarks distributed in a statement.
Kerry, who last week warned time was running out on a possible peace deal, is due in the region this week for his fifth visit since taking office in February in a bid to revive direct peace talks after a nearly three-year hiatus.
Palestinians say they will only return to negotiations if Israel stops building on land it wants for a future state and if the Jewish state agrees to negotiate on the basis of the pre-1967 lines.
Israel demands talks “without preconditions” and refuses publicly to freeze settlement building. — AFP
New clashes raise pressure on Turkish PM
A
Turkish demostrator burns flares with a Guy Fawkes mask on Sunday
during a demonstration on Gundogdu Square in Izmir. Afp Photo
The new clashes raised pressure on Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted conservative government after he ordered an end to the protests, which have thrown up the fiercest challenge to his decade of rule.
Tens of thousands poured into the streets in Istanbul, cradle of the 10 days of unrest, as well as in the capital Ankara, the major western city of Izmir and the city of Adana in the south.
“Tayyip, resign!” they yelled, in mostly peaceful protests. Local media said numerous people were injured in Ankara when police dispersed a crowd of about 10,000, sending them scrambling and tripping over each other with jets of water and gas.
Fresh clashes also erupted in Istanbul’s western Gazi neighbourhood, a working class district largely peopled by Alevis, a Muslim minority opposed to Erdogan, where rioters hurled incendiary devices and taunted police.
The government insisted on Saturday that the protests were “under control”, but within hours some of the largest crowds yet packed Istanbul’s Taksim Square, where the unrest erupted on May 31 with a police crackdown on a campaign to save the adjacent Gezi Park from demolition.
The trouble spiralled into nationwide protests against Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), seen as increasingly authoritarian. — AFP
Baghdad suicide car bomb kills six
BAGHDAD: A suicide car bomb targeting a Baghdad police station
killed six people on Sunday, the latest in a string of bombings and
attacks that have revived fears of all-out sectarian war in Iraq.The blast, which struck during morning rush hour in the mostly-Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah, went off near a branch of the Istikbarat, a department of the police responsible for intelligence, according to security and medical officials.
Six people were killed, including three of the branch’s guards, and 22 others were wounded, the officials said.
Kadhimiyah is home to a shrine to Imam Musa Kadhim, a revered figure in Shia Islam, and last week was the site of massive commemorations for his 799 AD death.
Sunni militants, including those linked to Al-Qaeda, view Shiites as apostates and often target them for attacks. However, no group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombing. Violence in Iraq has risen sharply, with May being the deadliest month since 2008, as persistent political disputes have given fuel and room for militants to increase their activities. —Dawn.com
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