ZIMBABWE INDEPENDENT

Zimbabwe independent august 1 to 7, 2014 19
INTERNATIONAL
Gaza-Israel
Why this war?
Israel and Palestinian militants in the
Gaza strip are involved in some of the most
intense violence for months. Militants are
firing volleys of rockets into Israel and Gaza
is being hit by waves of air strikes. Here is a
look at what is going on.
Why is there always fighting between Israel
and Gaza?
The Gaza strip, sandwiched between Israel
and egypt, has been a recurring flashpoint
in the Israel-Palestinian conflict for
years.
Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 Middle
east war and only pulled its troops and settlers
out in 2005. Israel considered this the
end of the occupation, but it still exercises
control over most of Gaza’s borders, waters
and airspace. egypt controls Gaza© s southern
border.
Israel has imposed tight restrictions on
the movement of goods and people in and
out of the Gaza strip, measures it says are
vital for its own security.
However, Palestinians in Gaza feel confined
and are suffering socio-economic
hardship. The dominant Islamist Palestinian
movement Hamas and other militant
groups say the restrictions are intolerable.
Hamas© s charter is committed to Israel© s
destruction but in recent years it has said
it will consider a long-term truce with Israel.
It cites Israel© s continued occupation
of the West Bank and east Jerusalem as
reasons for its attacks on the Jewish state
before and after 2005.
It says it is also acting in self-defence
against Israeli air strikes, incursions and
other military assaults.rocket fire and air
strikes increased after the abduction and
killing of three Israeli teenagers in June,
which Israel blamed on Hamas and which
led to a crackdown on the group in the
West Bank. Hamas denied being behind
the killings. Tensions rose further after the
suspected revenge killing of a Palestinian
teenager in Jerusalem on July 2, after
which six suspects were arrested.
On July 7, Hamas claimed responsibility
for firing rockets for the first time in 20
months, after a series of Israeli air strikes
in which several members of its armed
wing were killed.
The next day, Israel launched Operation
Protective edge, which it said was aimed
at stopping rocket attacks and destroying
Hamas’ capabilities.
since then, there have been hundreds
of air strikes and hundreds of rockets have
been fired. analysts point to the fact that
Hamas has become increasingly isolated
in Gaza after losing the support of its former
staunch ally syria and to a lesser extent
Iran, and seeing the egyptian authorities
crack down on smuggling tunnels
following the overthrow of Islamist President
Mohammed Morsi. attacking Israel,
they say, may be a way for Hamas to try to
Israeli soldiers
boost its popularity and obtain concessions
in any eventual ceasefire.
Why is it so hard to get the sides to agree
to a ceasefire?
There have been multiple efforts to get
both sides to agree to a ceasefire, but in the
first three weeks truces were short-lived.
The first truce plan was proposed by
egypt after one week — Israel accepted it
but Hamas said it was not consulted and
later on rejected it as “a surrender”.— BBC
Online.
Obama dismisses new Cold War with Russia
President Barack Obama
PresIDenT Barack Obama escalated us
economic sanctions against russia on
Tuesday for its aggression against ukraine
but dismissed suggestions the growing chill
in us-russian relations marked the start of
a new Cold War.
The united states and the european union,
in a carefully coordinated action, announced
targeted new sanctions against
russian banks, energy and defense firms.
It was the West’s most serious response
yet to what it calls russian instigation of
and continuing support for the separatist
uprising in the east and the shootdown of
a Malaysian passenger jet on July 17 over
eastern ukraine.
Obama, speaking at the White House,
said the sanctions would have a “greater
impact on the russian economy than we’ve
seen so far” in a drive to force Moscow to
stop backing the separatists.
until now, europe had stopped short of
THe various euphemisms Chinese media
have used to describe a once powerful
domestic security tsar are no longer
necessary, after the Communist Party announced
that it had launched a corruption
investigation into Zhou Yongkang.
Confirmation of what was long known
has proved a kind of catharsis for journalists,
who have had to strike a balance
between publishing thinly veiled reports
about the sensational case and sticking to
China’s censorship rules.
although journalists have leeway to publish
critical reports on crime, the environment
and business practices, independent
reporting on the activities of central government
and Communist Party leaders is
usually off limits.
That did not stop the bolder Chinese
Belarus to host Ukraine - Russia talks
Belarus will host talks between ukraine, russia and the OsCe security and rights
organisation on the crisis in eastern ukraine, President alexander lukashenko’s office
said on Wednesday.
It did not say when the talks would take place but ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
asked lukashenko to host them on Thursday and to focus on securing access
to the site where a Malaysian airliner was brought down in east ukraine.
There was no indication pro-russian separatists fighting ukraine’s army would attend
the talks, although lukashenko’s office said “all interested sides” were invited.
The talks are expected to involve russia’s ambassador to Kiev, Mikhail Zurabov, and
former ukrainian President leonid Kuchma, who have met several times since the
crisis in ukraine began but have failed to secure a breakthrough.
The fighting in eastern ukraine prevented representatives of the Organisation for security
and Cooperation in europe reaching the crash site on Tuesday for the third successive
day.
“Decisions are being made on a political level on ensuring safety on the site,” Michael
Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the OsCe in ukraine said on Wednesday. “Today, as
far as we know, we won’t be going there.”
an OsCe convoy had earlier on Wednesday been stopped by rebels about 10 km outside
the city of Donetsk because of fighting further along the route, but OsCe officials
later denied it had been trying to reach the crash site.
Poroshenko wants the talks in Minsk to also discuss the release of hostages Kiev says
are being held by the rebels in east ukraine, the ukrainian presidency said in a statement
on Facebook.
He appears to have turned to Belarus for help because the former soviet republic is a
Moscow ally but also has a solid relationship with ukraine.
The regional authorities in Donetsk, one of the regions worst hit by the fighting in
east ukraine, said on Wednesday morning that 19 people had been killed in the past
24 hours.
Kiev’s military offensive has forced the rebels out of some areas they held except
their strongholds in and around the cities of Donetsk and luhansk, and fighting has intensified
since the deaths of 298 people when the airliner was brought down on July 17.
The West says the rebels probably shot the plane down by mistake and accuses russia
of arming them. Moscow denies this. — reuters.
Chinese media can
finally name its prey
newspapers and magazines from reporting
in some detail on Zhou and his allies, while
the censors, in many cases, were happy to
look away.
newspapers and those using social media
often got around restrictions by calling
Zhou “Master Kang” — a popular brand of
instant noodles that shares a character with
his given name.
tougher steps against russia for fear of retaliation. Obama said the new sanctions were a
sign of “the waning patience europe has with nice words from President (Vladimir) Putin
that are not matched by actions”.
senior us officials voiced growing alarm about a russian troop buildup on the border
with eastern ukraine and a continued supply of heavy weaponry to the separatists.
These are signs that, so far at least, the sanctions are not forcing Putin to back down
despite the damage the sanctions are doing to the russian economy.
“It’s not a new Cold War,” Obama told reporters. “What it is, is a very specific issue related
to russia’s unwillingness to recognise
that ukraine can chart its own path.”
still, Obama did not seem inclined to
provide lethal military aid to ukraine, saying
the ukraine military was “better armed
than the separatists” and the issue at hand
was “how to prevent bloodshed in eastern
ukraine”.
But republican senator Marco rubio,
while applauding the new sanctions,
voiced hope that Obama, along with european
allies, “will also significantly increase
our assistance, including military support,
to the ukrainian government.”
“russia’s continued aggression against
ukraine cannot go unanswered, and we
need to do much more to make clear that
we and the rest of the free world stand with
the people of ukraine at this important
moment,” rubio said in a statement.
The new targets for sanctions included
VTB, the Bank of Moscow, the russian agriculture
Bank and the united shipbuilding
Corp., the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions on the three banks prohibit
us citizens or companies from dealing with
debt carrying maturities longer than 90
days, or with new equity.
Five of the six largest state-owned banks
in russia are now under us sanctions.
also targeted was united shipbuilding
Corp, a shipbuilding company based on
st Petersburg, in a move that freezes any
assets it may hold in the united states and
prohibits all us transactions with it.
The Commerce Department classified
united shipbuilding Corp as a defense
technology company.
The new sanctions block the exports
of specific goods and technologies to the
russian energy sector. The Commerce Department
said it will deny any export, reexport
or foreign transfer of items for use
in russia’s energy sector that may be used
for exploration or production of deepwater,
arctic offshore or shale projects that have
the potential to produce oil. — reuters.
The “tiger” reference comes from President
Xi Jinping, who has vowed to target
lowly “flies” as well as high-ranking “tigers”
in his sweeping anti-corruption campaign.
such references are instantly recognisable
to many readers in China, where
internet users have proved adept at crafting
their own nicknames and other shorthand
to communicate what censors will not allow
to be spelled out.
Zhou is by far the highest-profile leader
to be ensnared in Xi’s crackdown and the
most senior Chinese official to be ousted in
a graft scandal since the ruling Communist
Party came to power in 1949.
last seen at an alumni celebration at
the China university of Petroleum on
October 1, he could not be reached for comment.
It was not clear if he has a lawyer.
Dozens of Zhou allies have been implicated
in the scandal in recent months, and
several senior government officials were
placed under formal investigation.
In a country where journalists must tread
carefully, two words uttered by a government
spokesman in March opened the door
to reporting more deeply on Zhou© s case.
— reuters.