Italia y su fracasada diplomacia en Oriente Medio, en una noticia de Haaretz

Italian senator says Italy missed opportunity to free IDF soldiers
 
By Jack Khourie, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
 
Italy's intelligence agency was set to secure the release of the two Israel Defense Forces abducted by Hezbollah last year on Israel's northern border, but missed the opportunity at the last minute, according to an Italian senator.

Senator Sergio De Gregorio told the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" that Nicolo Pollari, who headed Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) under former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, told him that SISMI was close to securing the release of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

"The matter was almost completed, but didn't come through because the Italian government didn't act as it was supposed to," De Gregorio said in the interview.

He did not elaborate on how the Italians were planning on securing the release of the soldiers.

Hezbollah gunmen abducted Regev and Goldwasser in a cross-border raid that touched off the Second Lebanon War last July. There has been no sign of life from them since.

Italy has been acting as a mediator on the fate of the soldiers. De Gregorio was quoted last year saying that the Iran, which supplies extensive financial and military support to the Lebanese militant group, had said it would tell Hezbollah that Italy was the only mediator it could hold talks with regarding the abductees. The senator said then that he was told that Golwasser and Regev were alive but their condition was "not great."

Italian PM Prodi demands Hamas free abducted IDF Cpl. Shalit
Italy's visiting prime minister urged Gaza's Hamas rulers on Monday to release abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, while reaffirming his country's support for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Premier Romano Prodi is on a three-day trip to Israel and the West Bank to discuss ways to promote Mideast peacemaking.

At a news conference with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Prodi demanded immediate freedom for Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was seized more than a year ago near Gaza by three groups linked to Hamas.

An audio tape that Hamas issued on the June 25 anniversary of his capture has been the only sign of life from him since.

"I call on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit without further delay," Prodi said in remarks translated from Italian. "He has been in captivity for too long."

Asked about Israeli media reports that Italy is helping to mediate the release of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Lebanese guerrillas last year, Prodi said Rome "had made several requests for information on their whereabouts, condition and possible terms for freeing them but, we never received specific information that could secure their release." He did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, the families of all three abducted soldiers met in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said Monday he would use all the power at his disposal to return the three servicemen home safely.

Sarkozy spoke in depth on the matter of Gilad Shalit who holds joint Israeli and French citizenship, saying he considers the IDF Corporal kidnapped by Hamas over a year ago to be a fully fledged French national.

"He promised us that he's doing all the efforts he can in this matter," Gilad Shalit's father, Noam Shalit, said in English after the meeting.

Addressing the issue of Regev and Goldwasser, Sarkozy said he considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization.

The French President said his estimation of Hezbollah has not changed despite his government's issuing of permission of members of the group to visit France for talks with rival Lebanese factions on the future of the Middle Eastern country.

He pledged to the families to raise the issue of the abducted soldiers with Lebanese representatives when they next met.

At the Jerusalem news conference, Prodi reaffirmed Italy's support for Abbas and the emergency government he set up in the West Bank following Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza a month ago. At the same time, he said, a humanitarian crisis in Gaza must be avoided at all costs.

Crossings into Gaza from Israel and Egypt were snapped shut after Hamas seized control of the coastal strip. Crossings with Israel have opened for humanitarian aid.

Olmert said that despite the events in Gaza, Israel and Italy continue to see the territory and the West Bank as parts of a single Palestinian entity.

"We both think that Gaza is an integral part of the Palestinian Authority but it is clear that we cannot accept the violent aggression of the Hamas terror organization which is controlling Gaza and we hope that this situation will change," he said. "We discussed the efforts that need to be made to strengthen the moderate forces within the Palestinian Authority."

Prodi and Olmert both spoke of the need to block Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

"We can never accept a country sworn to Israel's destruction becoming a nuclear power," Olmert said.

"We agree without reservation…Iran must not develop a military nuclear capability," said Prodi.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. Tehran says its nuclear program is intended to produce energy, not weapons, but Israel and the West do not believe it.
 
 
 
 

comnetar 9 Julio 2007

Merkel muestra su lado mas proturco, aseguran en Ankara

Merkel regrets Greek Cyprus' EU membership

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her uneasiness over the membership of Greek Cyprus in the European Union, complaining that a "problematic country” should not have been let in, reported daily Hürriyet Friday. 

Merkel's remarks came at a commission meeting of the German Federal Parliament where the chancellor responded to questions posed by Professor Hakkı Keskin, Turkish-born German parliamentarian, with respect to the dispute between Turkey and Cyprus.

“Unfortunately, both the Greek Cypriots and Turkey have stood on their own lines,” Merkel was quoted as saying. “But these negotiations have clearly taught us that none of the countries unable to solve their own problems should be let in the EU, otherwise as is seen in the case of Cyprus member countries (who join the EU though they are unable to solve their problems) could block progress for a settlement of disputes.”  

Rehn warns France not to sink Turkish candidacy

  In an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland published on Friday, European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warned France not to seek to block Turkey's EU accession bid. 

  "If a member country or a group of countries want to change the chosen course, they must bear responsibility for the consequences," Rehn told the newspaper.

  He was apparently referring to a call by French President Nicolas Sarkozy — a vehement opponent of Turkish membership in the EU — for a wide debate on the bloc's borders and its enlargement plans at the EU summit in Portugal in December.

  Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year, has rejected the proposal.

  Rehn warned that hostility toward Turkey's candidacy was likely to be exploited by right-wing radicals within the predominantly Muslim nation.

  "The accession process is an anchor for stability and secularism," he said.

  The issue of Turkey's candidacy is a politically sensitive one within the 27-nation EU and Sarkozy has repeatedly opposed granting the country membership. But Rehn said that having opened talks with Ankara, the bloc would do best to stay on course.

  "If not, we will lose our credibility," he said.

  Turkey began its often-troubled EU membership talks in October 2005. The process will take at least a decade and Ankara has been given no guarantee that it will even be allowed to join at the end.
 
 
 

comnetar 9 Julio 2007