Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped direct peace talks can be resumed with Israel

PUTRAJAYA: Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped direct peace talks can be resumed with Israel if both sides manage to finalise two issues — borders and security arrangements, in their ongoing proximity peace talks.

Answering a question on the progress made so far in the proximity peace talks (indirect peace talks), the Palestinian leader said that since talks began early this month, both sides had completed two rounds of discussions with the focus being on border and security issues.

“I hope within four months…more or less we can finalise this two…if we do of course we can go to direct talks (with Israel),” he said at a joint press conference after talks with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the latter’s office here today, where among others Abbas briefed Najib on the latest progress concerning the proximity peace talks.

Abbas arrived here yesterday for a three-day working visit to further enhance the existing excellent relations between Malaysia and Palestine. This is his second visit, the first was in 2007.

The indirect Israel-Palestine peace talks which the United States is mediating started on May 9 and has a four-month deadline.

The indirect peace talks, approved by the Arab League, also cleared the way for the first negotiations in 18 months between Israel and Palestine and gave a boost to Washington’s peace diplomacy in the region.

Abbas said he would also discuss the border and security issue, when he visits the United States to meet US President Barack Obama, expected to be sometime next month.

“We will (also) talk about all other issues, which we call core issues like… Jerusalem and so on and we will see what will happen… anyhow we are making progress,” he said.

The Palestinian leader stressed that Palestine was commited to peace and the two-state solution through negotiations where both Israel and a sovereign Palestine state lived side by side peacefully.

About his discussions with Najib, Abbas said he had a very successful talk where he also reiterated Palestine and its people’s appreciation to the people and the Malaysian government for their continous support towards their just cause.

Abbas said the Palestinian people hoped that these talks would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestine state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Abbas also urged his rival faction Hamas, which controls Gaza, to sign an Egyptian-brokered document aimed at paving the way for legislative and presidential elections, which Fatah had already signed, for the sake of the Palestinian people.

He said that he had also told the Prime Minister about the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade and the neccessity for the immediate ending of the siege.

Describing the bilateral relations as always having been brotherly and excellent, Abbas said he saw his meeting with Najib as an opportunity to express his deep gratitude and thanks to the people of Malaysia and its leadership for
their support to the Palestinian struggle.

“We are confident that Malaysia will continue to support the Palestinian struggle for ending the occupation of our land, especially in Jerusalem … and hoping that all of us will be able to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque (Islam’s third holiest shrine after Mecca and Medina)… in the near future,” he said

Malaysia condemns Israeli raid on Gaza aid flotilla Read more: Malaysia condemns Israeli raid on Gaza aid flotilla

PUTRAJAYA — Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad condemned Israel’s interception of an aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip today.

“I feel very angry that the Israelis have used force against people totally unarmed. I am sure the Israelis will say that these people are carrying weapons. That is ridiculous,” he told a media conference here.

“We have made certain that they are all non-combatant and they come from many parts of the world including America and Europe.
“Their intention is to travel in boats to deliver the supply to Gaza. They know that the Israelis may try to stop them, but we don’t expect the Israelis to resort to such violence as to shoot with live bullets.

“The Israelis claim these people have sharp objects. I don’t know what is meant by sharp objects,” he said.

The flotilla, originally made up of nine ships, was organised by ro-Palestinian groups and a Turkish human rights organisation.
One of the ships, Mavi Marmara, was attacked by Israeli soldiers this morning, near Gaza, with two Malaysians — a journalist and a cameraman from Astro Awani — on board and their fate is still unknown.

However, six PGPO representatives who are in another ship, are safe.

Dr Mahathir said his order to the PGPO representatives was to go ahead and pull back if there is warning from the Israeli army.
Updating the location of the three PGPO ships, the former prime minister said they were still in the Mediterranean on the way to Gaza.

He said two ships broke down, thus making them a bit far behind to join the other six ships that gathered in Cyprus earlier.

“It will take at least three days for them (Malaysian ships) to reach Gaza,” he added.

Asked on his message to United States President Barack Obama following the incident, Dr Mahathir said: “He could make promises during the elections like in Malaysia too. Especially when you thought you were not going to win, you made more promises. When you have won, you find that you cannot fulfil the promises.

“I have said this before. I never thought Obama would be able to do anything against Israel because when addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (IPAC), a Jewish lobby group, he was reported to have expressed continued support for Israel,” he said.

Obama had previously said he was promoting a more stable and prosperous Middle East in the United States” long-term national security and economic interests.

Meanwhile, the Malay Consultative Council and 126 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will hold a peaceful demonstration and hand over a protest note against the Israeli aggression to the US embassy at 11am tomorrow.

At a press conference here today, Pertubuhan Peribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said they would also perform “hajat” prayers and hold a “tahlil” session at the Kampung Baru Mosque at 7.15 tomorrow where Dr Mahathir is also expected to attend.

Ibrahim said as Malaysia had no diplomatic relations with Israel, the rally organisers wanted the US ambassador here to pass on the protest note to the Israeli prime minister.

He said Israel had become arrogant and brutal because it was supported by the big powers, especially the US.

“I am urging all Malaysians who comdemn such brutality and join our peaceful demonstration tomorrow,” he said.

Among the NGOs involved are the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) and Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS).

Umno Youth also strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla, saying the killing of the volunteers was committed in international waters and was against international law, thus proving that the “Israel Zionist regime is a brutal regime that has no respect for the law.”

In a statement issued here today, the movement said the security reason given by Israel for the attack was totally unacceptable.

“How could these aid volunteers be regarded as a threat to Israel as they are on a humanitarian mission for the people of Gaza who have been suffering for long under Israel’’s economic sanctions,” it said.

Umno Youth is urging the Malaysian Foreign Ministry to demand that the United Nations Security Council take the sternest action against Israel, and calling on the international community to condemn the atrocity.

Malaysian for Peace chairman Datuk Ahmad Zaki Zahid in condemning the attack, said: “The action of the Zionist regime will cause untold harm beyond the attack and will incite anger and hatred across the globe among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”

Ahmad Zaki prays for the aid flotilla not to be further harmed and that the people of Gaza will ultimately receive the aid that these brave individuals try to send to them. –

M’sian, Irish volunteers sail on despite attack

KUALA Lumpur: MV Rachel Corrie, one of three ships bought by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) for the “Freedom Flotilla”, is now the sole ship moving towards Gaza.

Malaysians and Irish on board the ship issued a joint statement to the NST via SMS.

The full statement reads:
“MV Rachel Corrie is now the sole ship of the international freedom flotilla moving towards Gaza.

“The Malaysian and Irish peace and humanitarian activists aboard, share their deepest gried and sense of loss with the loved ones of those killed and injured in the illegal action undertaken by Israel on Monday 31st of May in the in ternational waters of the Medierranean.

“In the names of our friends, we are more determined than ever to continue into Gaza with out humanitarian cargo and our support for the blockaded and suffering of Gaza.
“We expect Israel to respond to the international con demnation of its violence by not impeding by any means the safe passage of the Rachel Corrie.

“We appeal to the international community and United Nations to continue to demand of Israel our safe passage into Gaza.”

On board the Rachel Corrie are Parit Member of Parliament Mohd Nizar Zakaria; PGPO representatives Matthias Chang, Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal and Ahmad Faizal Azumu; and TV3 reporter Halim Mohamed and cameraman Mohd Jufri Judin.

15 Palestinians hurt in Israeli airstrikes

GAZA: Israeli warplanes rocketed two targets at Tuesday midnight in Gaza Strip, leaving at least 15 people lightly wounded, witnesses and medical sources said.

Quoting the witnesses, China’s Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, that Israeli F-16s carried out four successive airstrikes on Gaza’s inoperative airport in the southern Gaza Strip, and two other airstrikes on a Hamas training camp in the northern part of the territory.

Medical sources in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamic Hamas movement, said that civilians and police officers were among those wounded in the airstrike on the training camp.
The sources said no injuries were reported when missiles were fired into Gaza Airport east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The airport has been inoperative since the beginning of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel in 2000.

Gaza Airport was built by the Palestinian Authority in 1998.

Residents of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun described two explosions in the area as a result of F-16 strikes on the training camp of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing.
The Israeli airstrikes were a response to earlier homemade rockets fired toward southern Israel. No injuries or damage were reported, where Israel vowed retaliation to the rockets attack

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