KUWAIT CITY: An Arab ministerial committee charged with monitoring the Middle East peace process blamed Israel for the impasse in negotiations with the Palestinians after a meeting in Kuwait. “Israel is responsible for the deep crisis in negotiations because of its intensifying of settlements (construction), repeated attacks against the sacred Al Aqsa mosque (in Jerusalem), seizing of Palestinian lands, and strengthening the blockade against Gaza,” it said in a statement.
The committee, which is chaired by Qatar and includes 13 Arab countries, met in Kuwait on the sidelines of the Arab-African summit in the presence of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
The latest peace talks, launched at Washington’s urging in July, have shown little sign of progress, with the Palestinians objecting to repeated Israeli announcements of new settlement construction on occupied territory.
A major spike in settlement announcements last week prompted the resignation of the entire Palestinian negotiating team. But on Sunday Abbas told AFP that peace talks with Israel would continue for the full nine months agreed with Washington — “regardless of what happens on the ground.”
Shabaab commandos kill
16 in police station attack
MOGADISHU: At least 16 people were killed when Somalia’s Shabaab insurgents attacked a police station yesterday, with a suicide car bomber blasting open the compound before commandos entered spraying gunfire, an army officer said.
Witnesses reported bodies strewn around the blast site, the latest in a string of bombs and shootings in the central Somali town of Beledweyne claimed by the Al Qaeda-linked Shabaab.
“We have confirmed 16 people dead including soldiers and civilians, while others were injured, some seriously,” senior Somali army officer Abdi Mohamed Ali said, adding that four Shabaab gunmen had also been killed. Beledweyne’s police commissioner Issac Ali said those killed were “mainly civilians”.
The Shabaab boasted of killing 20 soldiers, including Somali forces and Djiboutian troops with the African Union (AU) force and Ethiopian soldiers based at the police compound.
AFP
