Qatar Daily News

Troubled relations with Israel hit a new low when an Israeli protest against a Turkish television series crossed the boundaries of diplomatic civility and turned into an insult against Ambassador Oğuz Çelikkol, in a scene that appeared to be the design of hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Turkish-Israeli relations have been strained since Israel’s deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, which left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including many civilians, and brought heavy international criticism upon Israel, including accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a United Nations investigation. Since the offensive, Turkish-Israeli bilateral relations have seen exchanges of harsh remarks between Israeli and Turkish officials and crisis incidents despite efforts to tone town the crisis atmosphere.
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At least 55 people have been injured in clashes between Egyptian police and pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to deliver aid into the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses say.

Some 520 activists broke down the gate at the port in El-Arish late on Tuesday in protest against an Egyptian decision to ship some of the goods through Israel, medical workers and protesters said.

The protests were sparked by an Egyptian decision to allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, about 45km from the port in al-Arish, but requiring a remaining 59 vehicles to pass via Israel.

Around 40 members of the convoy had minor injuries while over a dozen policemen were hurt in the clashes with protesters, who also blocked the two entrances to the Sinai port with vehicles, medical workers said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was due to travel to Qatar on Wednesday at the start of a foreign trip that will also take him to several European countries, his spokesman said.

From Qatar the Palestinian leader is due to travel to the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, and to Norway and Sweden, Nabil Abu Rudeina said without giving the exact dates of the visit.

Abbas goes to Qatar following acerbic criticism of the emirate by Palestinian Authority officials that he heads for its support of rival Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip.
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Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani told Erdogan that his country desired to organize an international conference on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the coming days, and asked for Turkey’s support for such an initiative, the Anatolian Agency reported.

Al-Thani also said Qatar highly appreciated Turkey’s sensitivity regarding regional peace and the Gaza issue during his meeting with Erdogan at the Prime Ministry building in Ankara.

Erdogan told his Qatari counterpart that Turkey would carry on with its efforts to establish regional peace, adding that the conference planned by Qatar is a positive development.

Egypt is to host an international conference in coordination with Abbas’s Palestinian Authority on March 2 on Gaza reconstruction, which was devastated during the Israeli onslaught. Gaza’s cost has been estimated at $2 billion. Saudi Arabia has said it would donate $1 billion.

Last week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit urged Europe to help with fast aid for the Gaza Strip, saying the reconstruction meeting would require damage assesments and the support of the European Union, the United Nations and others.

Israel plans to make it harder for Al-Jazeera to operate on its territory after Qatar, which owns the pan-Arab satellite channel, decided to suspend ties with the Jewish state, an Israeli official said yesterday.

“Qatar itself has set up obstacles by breaking relations with Israel. There is no reason to help clear the problems this emirate which controls Al-Jazeera created for itself,” the official said, asking not to be named.

He said it would now be more difficult for Al-Jazeera employees in Qatar to obtain a permit to work in Israel or the West Bank.

On Jan. 18, Qatar ordered the closure of the Israeli trade office in Doha in protest at Israel’s 22-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip since December 27 that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.

Doha does not have full diplomatic relations with Israel but the trade mission was run by two Israeli diplomats, and representatives from both countries would meet regularly.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday met Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, seeking to boost prospects for reviving Israeli-Arab peace talks.

Sarkozy, who with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak helped broker a Gaza ceasefire last month, later held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris, the first stop of his European tour.
The French president has sought to carve out a greater role for Europe in the search for peace in the Middle East after the 22-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that left 1,330 dead.

After meeting with Sarkozy, HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said he supported a national union government for the Palestinians and that Arab countries should unite to support a Palestinian solution.
“Arab countries cannot support one Palestinian faction against another,” said the prime minister.
“These disagreements complicate Palestinian efforts to succeed in forming a government,” he told reporters.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, who also met French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, stressed the need for the speedy reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, warning that the Israeli blockade would further agitate the situation there.
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Paris, France: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Qatar’s Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani are meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Sarkozy had taken an active role in helping broker a ceasefire for Israel’s recent offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Qatar has also emerged as a regional mediator after it helped resolve a long-standing political crisis in Lebanon last year.

US envoy George Mitchell will also hold talks on Monday with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Last week, Washington’ Mideast point man met with Palestinian officials, including Abbas.

Egypt aired its grievances against Iran, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, saying they worked together in the fighting over Gaza to provoke conflict in the Middle East.

“(They tried) to turn the region to confrontation in the interest of Iran, which is trying to use its cards to escape Western pressure … on the nuclear file,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview with Orbit satellite channel broadcast Wednesday.

Aboul Gheit also said that Egypt undermined Qatar’s attempts to arrange a formal Arab summit on Gaza earlier this month, arguing that it would have damaged “joint Arab action.”

“Egypt made the summit fail… This summit, if it had taken place as an Arab summit with a proper quorum, would have damaged joint Arab action. We can see what others do not see,” he said.
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