Kerry in apartheid row as Mideast peace deadline arrives

JERUSALEM: Washington´s deadline for reaching a Mideast peace deal arrived Tuesday with no breakthrough and US Secretary of State John Kerry mired in a row over allegations that he said Israel risks becoming an "apartheid state".

After more than a year of intensive shuttle diplomacy by Kerry, with the initial aim of brokering a deal by April 29, Washington´s patience appeared to be growing thin as both Israel and the Palestinians moved to distance themselves from the crisis-hit talks. Kerry on Monday vehemently denied calling Israel an apartheid state, as a furore grew in the Jewish state over comments the top US diplomat reportedly made during a private meeting.

"I do not believe, not have I ever stated, publicly or privately that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one," Kerry said in a strong statement after calls for him to resign or at least apologise for the alleged comments, which appeared on US online news site The Daily Beast.

But Kerry, who has seen his dogged efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians collapse, did suggest that he had used a poor choice of words during his speech Friday to international political experts at the Trilateral Commission.

Kerry insisted that although the peace process was at a point of "confrontation and hiatus", it was not dead -- yet. But both the Palestinians and the Israelis appear to have drawn their own conclusions about the life expectancy of the US-led negotiations, which have made no visible progress since they began nine months ago.

Last week, Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip announced a surprise unity deal aimed at ending years of occasionally violent rivalry. Israel denounced the deal as a death blow to peace hopes and said it would not negotiate with any government backed by Hamas, the Islamist movement whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Washington called the deal "unhelpful".

Under the agreement, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas will work to establish a new unity government of political independents headed by president Mahmud Abbas, whose Fatah party dominates the PLO.

Abbas has said the new government will recognise Israel, as well as renouncing violence and abiding by existing agreements, in line with key principles set out by the Mideast peacemaking Quartet.

But Netanyahu has ruled out any negotiation with the new government unless Hamas gives up its vision of destroying Israel.

China frees Japan ship after $28 mn paid in 1930s row

SHANGHAI: China on Thursday released a seized Japanese ship after its owner paid $28 million in compensation, a court said, in a business dispute dating to the 1930s which underlines tensions between the countries.

The Shanghai Maritime Court announced Saturday it had impounded a large freight vessel owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in accordance with the law, as the Japanese company had failed to pay a Chinese firm.

But the case had political overtones given uneasy ties between the two Asian giants, which are locked in a territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

"The court has delivered a ruling at 8:30 am on April 24, 2014, to lift the detention of the Baosteel Emotion ship," the court said in a statement.

Mitsui had "fulfilled its obligations" by paying compensation and additional court costs of around $390,000, the court said. It did not name the Chinese party awarded the compensation.

Japan had lodged a formal diplomatic protest over the seizure and warned it could "intimidate Japanese companies doing business in China".

Japanese media suggested the seizure of the ship was meant to underline China´s growing assertiveness before US President Barack Obama´s arrival in Tokyo on Wednesday on the first leg of an Asian tour.

Tokyo believes that the seizure undermines a 1972 joint communique that normalised ties between Japan and China, in which Beijing agreed to renounce any demands for war reparations.

China replied that the case was a civil matter and had nothing to do with war reparations.

The ship seizure comes as a set of lawsuits related to wartime forced labour have also been filed in China against Japanese corporations.

Mitsui´s predecessor chartered two ships from a company called Chung Wei, now referred to by mainland China as Zhongwei, in 1936.The ships were reportedly commandeered by the Imperial Japanese Navy and were sunk during World War II, media reports said.

A compensation suit was brought against Mitsui by the descendants of the founder of the Chinese company, and in 2007 a Shanghai court ordered Mitsui to pay compensation.

Mitsui said in a statement on Monday that it had been seeking an out-of-court settlement after China´s supreme court rejected its appeal in 2011, but the vessel was "suddenly" impounded.

The ship was expected to depart China later on Thursday, Japan´s Kyodo news agency said.

The Baosteel Emotion, designed to carry ore, was docked at Majishan island off Shanghai, according to Chinese media reports. (AFP)