Egyptian army justifies Israel visit

The Egyptian Army spokesman said Saturday that the recent visit by Egyptian army officials to Israel aimed at discussing border security based on the peace agreement, and that it did not address any issued related to military cooperation as some media outlets suggested.

The statement came days after Israeli media reported that an Egyptian army delegation visited Israel last week to take part in joint meetings.

Israeli newspapers linked the visit to Israel’s attempts to convince the US not to cancel the sale of 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt to enhance its anti-terrorism efforts in Sinai.

Egyptian army spokesman Ahmed Ali said in the Facebook statement that the meeting came within the framework of regular coordination between the Israeli and Egyptian sides, and that its purpose was to discuss border security efforts based on the 1979 peace treaty.

He pointed out that Egypt and Israel have been holding three meetings a year since 1982. One of the meetings is held in Cairo, another in Tel Aviv, and a third in Roma at the end of the year, since Roma is the headquarters of the multinational forces that oversee the implementation of the peace agreement.

He also stressed that the photo used by some media outlets, also used by Middle East Monitor, is old and has not been taken at last week’s meeting

UK institute joins boycott of Israel

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has joined an international campaign to boycott Israel over its quote aggressive policies against Palestinians.

RIBA has passed a motion calling on the International Union of Architects to boycott the Israeli Association of United Architects. The motion was passed by 23 votes to 16 with 10 abstentions.

RIBA says it is against expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Angela Brady, the former head of RIBA, told members of the institute that failure to back the motion “would send a clear message to the world that we as an institution turn a blind eye or by inaction support what’s going on – land grabs, forced removals, killing the… human rights, and reinforcement of apartheid.”

The vote follows a similar motion earlier in the week by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

Earlier this month, Students of the National University of Ireland passed a motion supporting the anti-Israel boycott.

The motion says “NUI Galway Students’ Union actively supports the campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” against Israel.

More than 120 Irish academics have also signed a pledge to join a boycott of Israeli institutions.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland became the first educational union in Europe to adopt a boycott of Israeli academia in April 2013.

On March 4, students at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, also passed a resolution supporting the campaign.

Amid international outcry, Israel is reportedly pushing ahead with plans for more than 2,000 new illegal settler units in six settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s settlement activities remain the main obstacle to the peace in the region.

DB/HSN/HRB

Egyptian forces beats am oldman to death

Egyptian security forces have beaten to death a father of three detainees as the army-installed interim government continues its brutal crackdown on dissents.

The incident took place in the canal city of Suez when Sabry Mohamed reportedly got into an argument with the security forces tasked with detaining his three sons on suspicion of involvement in anti-government protests.

The old man had been trying to persuade the security forces not to detain his sons because of mere suspicion when he was fatally hit by the officers.

In recent weeks, many people have been put on trial in what has been described as show trials of opponents of the military-backed interim government.

Egypt is set to hold the largest trial in its history by prosecuting more than 1,200 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

According to a report released by the Associated Press earlier this month, Egypt’s military-backed government has jailed nearly 16,000 people since Morsi’s removal in July 2013.

Among those who have been put behind bars are about 3,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been leading pro-Morsi protests.

According to judicial sources, the defendants are charged with assaulting security forces and vandalizing public property during the violence that erupted after a bloody crackdown on Morsi’s supporters in Cairo last August.

On August 14, 2013, hundreds of people were reportedly killed and thousands of others wounded in the clashes that erupted when security forces moved in to disperse Morsi’s supporters from two protest camps – one near the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City and a smaller one in Nahda Square in Giza.

The bloodshed sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.

MRS/MAM/AS

US spied on Chinese politicians, firms: Report

Classified documents show that the US government has conducted a major spying offensive against Chinese officials and firms, with a major target being the telecommunications giant Huawei.

Documents provided by American whistleblower Edward Snowden and viewed by the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel show the US National Security Agency put considerable efforts into spying on former Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Chinese Trade Ministry, banks, and telecommunications companies.

A major target of the NSA’s spying operation has been Huawei, which is the world’s second largest network equipment supplier.

The US spy agency infiltrated servers in the headquarters of the Chinese company in Shenzhen, China’s industrial heart, showed the 2010 document which was also obtained by the New York Times.

The NSA gathered information about Huawei’s routers and complex digital switches and spied on communications of the company’s top executives.

“We currently have good access and so much data that we don’t know what to do with it,” one internal document reads, according to Der Spiegel.

As justification for targeting the Chinese company, the NSA document states that one of the goals of the agency’s operation, which was code-named “Shotgiant,” was to find any ties between Huawei and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

The NSA also sought to exploit Huawei’s technology and aimed to expand its spying activities across the globe by using computer and telephone networks the Chinese company sold to other nations.

“If it is true, the irony is that exactly what they are doing to us is what they have always charged that the Chinese are doing through us,” said Huawei spokesman Bill Plummer in a statement.

ISH/ISH

Spain condemns Israel’s construction of new settlements

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Israel’s announcement regarding the construction of 200 new settlements in east Jerusalem and 2000 units in different settlements in the West Bank.

In a statement issued by the MFA on Friday, Spain expressed its rejection of any unilateral move that would negatively affect peace negotiations which are “currently passing through a critical phase.”

“Spain reiterates that all settlement activities are illegitimate, violate international law and constitute an obstacle to reaching a final peace agreement based on the two-state solution,” the statement added

Source: MEMO

Italians slam Israel over stealing water

Italian activists have gathered in Rome to demonstrate against what they call Israel’s stealing water from Palestinians.

Some Palestinian nationals also attended the event on Saturday, which marked the World Water Day.

The activists say Israel continues to steal water reserves from Palestinian lands in order to attract more migrants and expand agricultural fields.

They called on the Italian government to scrap an accord that Rome’s water company ACEA signed last December with the Israeli water company Mekorot.

Last month, a group of Italian activists launched an online petition to raise awareness against the accord.

The petition launched by the Italian movements for public water, pro-Palestine groups and associations promoting peace and inter-religious dialog, complains that Israel’s water apartheid runs counter to international law.

The petitioners argued in a message sent to Rome’s mayor that Mekorot is nurturing water apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories, thus breaching international law and human rights.

Amnesty International says Mekorot sells water at highly subsidized prices to Israeli settlers in the illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, while about 40 percent of the water supplied to Palestinians in the same area is distributed at much higher, unsubsidized prices.

Israel has been under fire for its policies against Palestinians.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the Israeli regime is swiftly gaining momentum all across the globe.

The movement aims to highlight the rights of the Palestinians and the Israeli occupation, with academics and non-governmental organizations worldwide enticed to cut their relations with Israel.

The European Union has issued a new directive urging its 28 member states not to cooperate with Israeli entities that are based or even partly operate in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem (al-Quds) and the Golan Heights.

DB/HSN

Russian officials inspect US nuclear arsenal amid crisis

As Washington imposed sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis, a group of Russian officials arrived in the United States to inspect the US strategic nuclear arsenal.

The surprise inspection earlier this week of the nuclear arsenal in San Francisco was agreed to under the 2010 New START arms control treaty, The Washington Post reports.

Under the treaty, Russia and the United States each agreed to reduce their nuclear warheads to 1,550 by 2018.

Russia strongly objects to US missile plans in Eastern Europe and has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the treaty which, among other things, allows 18 surprise inspections by both sides each year.

The latest inspection came as the dispute over Crimea intensified and the White House worried that Russia might move to annex more of Ukraine.

Russia’s seizure of the Black Sea peninsula, home to one of its largest naval bases at Sevastopol, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

The US and Russian presidents subsequently imposed sanctions on each other’s top aides, but officials on both sides emphasize they would like to keep it that way and continue with bilateral cooperation in other areas.

President Barack Obama announced additional sanctions against 20 Russian political and business leaders Thursday and issued a new executive order to authorize penalties against “key sectors of the Russian economy” if necessary.

On Saturday, Russian troops used armored vehicles and automatic gunfire to seize a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea, a day after President Vladimir Putin signed laws completing the annexation of the peninsula.

The White House says intelligence from the field indicates that Moscow might engage in military incursions into more of Ukraine in coming days, CNN reported.

HRJ/HRJ

Israel discovers new tunnel connecting Gaza to Israeli cities

The Israeli army said Friday it “uncovered a new tunnel” stretching from Gaza into Israeli territories.

According to the spokesman of the Israeli army Lt Col Peter Lerner, the tunnel runs hundreds of meters inside Israel. Lerner said that investigations are underway to find out the purpose of the tunnel. He added, however, that the Israeli army “assumes, based on scientific evidence, that Hamas or other terrorist organisations build tunnels in order to prepare for attacks against Israel and its citizens.”

In 2013, Israel said it discovered three tunnels along the security barrier separating Israel and Gaza. The last tunnel discovered on October 7, 2013, was 18 meters deep, and 1.7 km long. It was later blown up by the Israeli army in November 2013.

Tunnels have been reportedly used to launch attacks against Israeli territories. In one of these attacks, Palestinian militants captured the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was later released in exchange for 1027 prisoners, mainly Palestinians.

Egypt and Israel have imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas’s victory in legislative elections in 2007.

The Egyptian military-installed authorities have destroyed a large number of tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt after it accused Hamas of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, labelled by the post-coup authorities as a “terrorist” group