French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on Monday for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank while also proclaiming staunch support for Israel in an address to its parliament.
“There can be no peace without stopping settlement,” Sarkozy told members of parliament and invited guests.
Israeli authorities have announced the construction of hundreds of new homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank in recent months, infuriating the Palestinians and drawing criticism from the international community, which regards all settlements on occupied land as illegal.
PHOTO: AFP
Sarkozy also called for an easing of travel restrictions in the West Bank, where the army operates hundreds of roadblocks which the World Bank says are a major obstacle to economic growth but which Israel insists are vital to its security.
He said the Palestinians also had to do more in order to achieve peace: “There can be no peace if Palestinians themselves do not combat terrorism.”
Sarkozy stressed that France was strongly committed to Israel’s security.
“France will always be by Israel’s side when its security, its existence are threatened,” he said, adding that France would consider it “unacceptable” for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
“France is determined to pursue with its partners a policy ranging from ever-tighter sanctions to an opening should Tehran opt to respect its international obligations,” he said.
Sarkozy said a lasting peace required the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel with both sharing Jerusalem as their capital.
“There can be no peace without recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of two states and the guarantee of freedom of access to the holy places for all religions,” he said.
Israel occupied Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. It has since said the city is “indivisible.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Sarkozy’s speech, his spokesman said.
“The positions expressed by President Sarkozy reflect the French support for the Palestinian cause in seeking to reach a peaceful settlement in the region,” Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
Sarkozy later met with the parents of Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for the past two years and who also has French nationality.
“Gilad must be released,” Sarkozy told members of the French community after the meeting. “One does not build peace by holding hostages.”
INCIDENT
An Israeli soldier on the perimeter of a farewell airport ceremony for Sarkozy apparently shot himself yesterday in a incident that did not endanger the visiting leader, Israel Radio said. TV footage showed bodyguards hustling Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, into their airplane at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport while other security men surrounded Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and moved him quickly toward his car.
The plane departed without further incident.
Israel Radio said the soldier who was shot was stationed 100m to 200m away from the plane. Two women soldiers who witnessed the shooting fainted and were treated by medics.
Volunteer medical service Zaka said the soldier apparently committed suicide.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS