Israel strikes Palestine after PLO, Hamas announce unity agreement

GAZA: Israel launched an air strike on Wednesday on the northern Gaza Strip, wounding four people, medical officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the attack, which came two days after militants in the Palestinian enclave launched rockets into southern Israel.

There was no immediate word on the identities of those wounded in the air strike, launched just after Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization announced a unity agreement in Gaza City.

Indian arrested in Israel

An Indian man has been arrested in Israel for allegedly trying to smuggle diamonds and gold worth hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in his underwear and luggage, a report said. The diamonds were recovered from him by Israeli customs officials on Sunday night after noticing the man’s clothing was causing him discomfort, Israel Hayom, a Hebrew daily reported.

The seizure was made during a routine inspection at the Jordan river border crossing area, an international border between Israel and Jordan.

Arab summit rejects call to consider Israel as 'Jewish state'

KUWAIT CITY: Arab leaders fully back a Palestinian refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, an Israeli demand that threatens to derail peace talks, a joint statement said on Wednesday.

"We express our total rejection of the call to consider Israel as a Jewish state," said the final declaration of the two-day Arab summit in Kuwait.oh-

 

Israel drone crashes in Gaza

An unmanned aircraft of the sort Israel uses for surveillance and missile strikes in Gaza crashed in the south of the territory early Tuesday, sources on both sides said.

“A Sky Rider drone crashed in the southern Gaza Strip due to a technical malfunction,” an Israeli army spokeswoman said. “An investigation is under way.”

A news agency, run by the territory’s Islamist rulers, Hamas, said the drone came down east of the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters had retrieved the drone.

The incident was followed by an Israeli air strike, also east of Khan Yunis, which killed three Islamic Jihad fighters, the militant group said.

It was unclear if the two incidents were related.

Israel PM demands Palestinians recognize Jewish state

WASHINGTON: Israel Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday directly urged Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and to "abandon the fantasy" of flooding Israel with refugees.
But his remarks sparked a furious reaction from the Palestinians who denounced his demand and said it had effectively put the final nail in the coffin of the US-led peace talks.
Addressing delegates at the annual policy conference of AIPAC, Netanyahu said he was prepared to make an "historic peace," but not without a Palestinian acceptance of the Jewish state.
"It's time the Palestinians stopped denying history," he said, returning to a major point of disagreement in peace talks, which have struggled to make headway ahead of a looming April deadline.
"President Abbas: recognize the Jewish state and in doing so, you would be telling your people to abandon the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees," he said.
"In recognizing the Jewish state you would make clear that you are truly prepared to end the conflict. No excuses, no delays, it's time."
But top Palestinian official Nabil Shaath told AFP that Netanyahu's demand for such recognition, and his insistence on keeping Israeli troops along the Jordan Valley in a future Palestinian state, were "totally rejected."
Speaking to AFP, he said Netanyahu's speech was tantamount to an "an official announcement of a unilateral end to negotiations."
Israel has repeatedly insisted there will be no peace deal without addressing the issue of recognition, but the Palestinians have rejected the demand, which they say will deny their historical narrative and compromise the right of return for their refugees.
Netanyahu also alluded to Israel's demand to retain a military presence along the Jordan Valley, which runs down the eastern flank of the West Bank, in any future deal saying he would not cede security to foreign peacekeepers.
"If we reach an agreement with the Palestinians, I don't delude myself. That peace will most certainly come under constant attack by Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda and others," he said
In an interview published Sunday, Obama warned that if peace talks were to fail and Israel continued building settlements, it would face an international backlash, referring to growing moves, particularly in Europe, to boycott the Jewish state.