The New Nation - Internet Edition

Islamic body demands war crime trial for Israel :Abbas accuses Tel Aviv of ethnic cleansing

Reuters, Dakar

The head of the world's biggest Muslim body, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called on Thursday for Israelis to be tried by an international war crimes court for "heinous" attacks against Palestinians.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-nation body told an OIC summit in Senegal that Israel was repeatedly seeking to undermine foreign-brokered peace plans.

"The situation in Palestine remains deplorable due to the successive crises fabricated by Israel to stall the peace process and to thwart the many peace plans and initiatives proposed by the international community," he said.

"It has become indispensable that these aggressions and heinous crimes be officially documented and their perpetrators be brought before international justice designed for these kind of acts t such as the International Criminal Court."

Israel's five-day offensive in Gaza last week killed more than 125 Palestinians.

An Israeli spokesman dismissed Ihsanoglu's remarks, saying the source of the problem was rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israeli towns.

"These comments are baseless and we reject them outright," foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the summit that Israel's "disproportionate and excessive use of force" had killed and injured many civilians including children and called for the violence to stop.

"I condemn these actions and call on Israel to cease such acts. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise utmost restraint," Ban told the summit.

"At the same time I also condemn the rocket attacks directed against Israel and call for the immediate cessation of such acts. They serve no purpose, endanger Israeli civilians and bring misery to the Palestinian people."

Renewed violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, following a week of relative calm, have threatened prospects for an Egyptian-brokered truce.

Islamic Jihad fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.

No one was injured by the salvo against the border town of Sderot, the first such attack by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction, since March 5.

Israel, which had not struck in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in a week, attacked from the air a rocket launcher in the town of Beit Hanoun after Sderot was hit. No one was hurt.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Jerusalem by banning the building of Palestinian homes and cutting the city off from the rest of the occupied West Bank.

"Our people in the city are facing an ethnic cleansing campaign through a set of Israeli decisions such as imposing heavy taxes, banning construction and closing Palestinian institutions in addition to separating the city from the West Bank by the racist separation wall," Abbas told the OIC summit.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mark Regev, condemned Abbas's "inflammatory" comments.

Iranians vote, ruling party tipped to win

Reuters, Tehran

Iranians voted on Friday in an election likely to keep conservatives firmly in control of parliament after unelected state bodies disqualified many reformist foes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the race.

But the next parliament may not give Ahmadinejad an easy ride even if conservatives win. They include not just his allies, but critics of his economic policies and politicians looking beyond this election to next year's presidential poll.

Reformists favoring more political and social freedom had hoped to capitalize on public discontent about inflation, now at 19 percent. But the vetting process and a government crackdown on dissent have muted their challenge. They may struggle to keep the 40 or so seats they held in the outgoing 290-seat assembly.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has effectively endorsed Ahmadinejad and his government, cast his ballot early and urged his compatriots to do the same.

"For our country and our nation it is a sensitive day and a sensitive moment that will determine the (nation's) fate," he said, voting soon after polls opened at 8 a.m. (12:30 a.m. EDT). Khamenei, not Ahmadinejad or parliament, has the last word on major policy issues such as the dispute over a nuclear program which the West suspects has a military goal and is not just for civilian power generation as Tehran says.

23 more rebels killed in Lanka

AFP, Colombo

Heavy fighting between security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka has left at least 23 guerrillas dead and five government soldiers wounded, the defence ministry said Friday.

Clashes erupted in the Wanni region as well as the Jaffna peninsula, along the de facto border of the mini-state of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Thursday, the ministry said.

According to ministry figures, government troops have killed at least 2,066 rebels while 123 soldiers have died since the beginning of the year.

US veterans urge soldiers to speak out against Iraq war

AFP, Washington

US veterans and active-duty soldiers on Thursday kicked off an event in Washington to protest the war in Iraq, urging other members of the military to join them in speaking out against the conflict. "There's an upswell of disgust and disapproval for the Iraq war in the military," intelligence sergeant Selena Coppa told AFP at the launch of the four-day "Winter Soldier" event.

"The difficulty is letting them realize they are legally entitled to speak out about it, other than to service members," added Coppa, who is still on active duty in the US army. Camilo Mejia, the first conscientious objector to the Iraq war, went a step further.

"I want our servicemen and women to know that standing up to an immoral occupation is not only their right but also their duty to their country and humanity," he told reporters.

"My first mission in Iraq was to run a prisoner of war camp where we used sensory and sleep deprivation techniques prior to interrogation," he recounted at the opening news conference, which was heavy with foreign correspondents but light on US media.

Chad, Sudan presidents sign non-aggression pact

AFP, Dakar

The presidents of Sudan and Chad on Thursday signed a non-aggression pact -- the sixth deal in five years aiming to halt hostilities between the African rivals. Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir and Chad counterpart Idriss Deby signed the accord and shook hands at the Senegalese presidential palace in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the host country's President Abdoulaye Wade. It came after more than 24 dramatic hours of attempts by Wade to bring the two arch-rivals together in Dakar. Beshir and Deby accuse each other of backing rebels seeking to overthrow their governments and there have been several clashes between their armies. The text of the deal, released by Senegal's Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane, said "we solemnly engage to prohibit all activity by armed groups and to stop the use of our respective territories for the destabilisation of one or other of our states."

Pak court stops last graft charge against Zardari

AP, Islamabad

A court on Friday quashed the last outstanding graft charge in Pakistan against the husband of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a lawyer said. The move could ease tensions between U.S.-backed President Pervez Musharraf and Bhutto's party, which is now led by her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and won last month's parliamentary elections. An anti-corruption court acquitted Zardari on Friday in the so-called "BMW case" relating to the import of a German limousine. The court had already dismissed six other graft cases against Zardari under an order passed by Musharraf last year that was supposed to foster political reconciliation. "After a struggle of 11 years, the state has failed to prove any case against Mr. Zardari," said his attorney, Farooq Naek. "After a long darkness in the tunnel, the light has come," he told reporters outside the anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi, a city that neighbords the capital Islamabad.

Bush says if younger, he would work in Afghanistan

Reuters, Washington

US President George W. Bush got an earful on Thursday about problems and progress in Afghanistan where a war has dragged on for more than six years but been largely eclipsed by Iraq. In a videoconference, Bush heard from U.S. military and civilian personnel about the challenges ranging from fighting local government and police corruption to persuading farmers to abandon a lucrative poppy drug trade for other crops. Bush heard tales of all-night tea drinking sessions to coax local residents into cooperating, and of tribesmen crossing mountains to attend government meetings seen as building blocks for the country's democracy-in-the-making. "I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."

Vatican wants dialogue with China

AP, Vatican City

The Vatican and its high-ranking clergy in China want to have a "respectful and constructive" dialogue with Beijing authorities over the role of the Catholic church there, the Vatican said Thursday. The call came this week during a meeting of a special commission on China created by Pope Benedict XVI. Among the participants at the meeting was Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, an outspoken champion of religious freedom who at times has drawn the ire of Beijing authorities. The Vatican said in a statement that participants focused on issues concerning the life of the Catholic Church in China. The pope, who has made improving relations with China a priority, is keen to restore diplomatic relations with Beijing. Beijing broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 after the communists took power in China.

Millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations that are loyal to the pope and risk harassment. The pope sent a letter to Catholics in China last year, praising the underground church but also urging reconciliation with the official church.

US sees no breakthrough in NKorea nuclear talks

AFP, Geneva

North Korean and US negotiators failed to reach any breakthrough in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme and do not plan to resume negotiations Friday, the chief US negotiator said. "It was good consultations but we are not there yet," Christopher Hill told journalists late Thursday outside the US mission in Geneva after meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan. "We are going to report to our capitals," he said, adding there were no plans to continue the talks on Friday. Earlier in the day, Hill had hinted the talks might be extended, but by late evening he simply said: "We had a long day of discussions, (and) we are in a better position now than when we arrived." The two sides talked about a host of sensitive issues including uranium enrichment and humanitarian assistance, he added. North Korea last year signed a landmark deal to abandon all its nuclear weapons in exchange for badly needed energy and economic aid and major security and diplomatic benefits. But the process -- involving China, Japan, both Koreas, Russia and the United States -- has been stalled since the Stalinist state missed an end-2007 deadline to declare all its nuclear programmes and disable its plutonium plant.