Washington: Holding a strong view that there would be no change in ground realities in the Middle East even if the UN passed a resolution backing a Palestinian state, the US has said the Palestinians must be willing to negotiate with the Israelis to achieve their goal.

“If the United Nations passes a resolution which says we want to see Palestinians become a state and may be we upgrade their status or may be we recognise them, the next day nothing changes in Ramallah, and I want things to change,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview to Al-Hayat TV of Egypt.

“I want the Palestinians to have their own state; I want them to govern themselves; I want them to continue developing economically to be a real example, to work with Egypt for the betterment of people in the region, and we know that won’t happen,” she said in response to a question.

So, what the US has said is “very straightforward”, she said. “We want to see both sides back at the table, and we criticise and make absolutely clear we don’t want to see provocative actions.

“We’ve said that about the recent announcements from the Israeli Government, but we also know that the Palestinians have to be willing to negotiate.”

“It’s hard for them because they feel like they’ve been at this for a while and nothing has happened. Both sides have their case to be made. Make it at the negotiating table. And that’s what we’re pushing for,” Clinton said.

The Secretary of State said both she and President Barack Obama are in favour of a Palestine State.

“Let me reiterate that President Obama and I very much want to see a Palestinian state, and I have been publicly on record in favour of that since the 1990s. I was the first person associated with the United States government to do that. And President Obama is also very committed,” she said.

“But we, I think, are realists that no matter what happens or doesn’t happen in the United Nations, unless we can get the Palestinians and the Israelis to negotiate over the boundaries of the state, the security provisions, what happens in Jerusalem, what happens with refugees, water, all of the issues we know so well have to be resolved, we’re going to raise expectations without being able to deliver,” Clinton said.

Iranian supreme leader criticises US support for Israel

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Saturday criticised what he called US President Barack Obama’s support for Israel, a media report said.

Khamenei made the remarks during a conference aimed at offering support for the Palestinians which opened in Tehran Saturday, Xinhua reported.

“The US president says that Israel’s security is his red line,” said the Iranian leader, adding that Obama makes such remarks because he is in need of money and support from Israel’s companies to secure his second term in office.

Obama’s red line would be crossed by the Muslim nations, Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Press TV.

US president has reiterated that for any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians the security of Israel is a pre-condition and should be guaranteed in advance.

Khamenei also urged Muslim countries to end all their ties with Israel. (Agencies)

Ramallah: A senior Palestinian official Saturday slammed Tony Blair, former British prime minister and special envoy of the Middle East mediating quartet, accusing him of being biased to Israel.

Nabil Shaath, a Palestinian negotiator, told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the Palestinians “are outraged and dissatisfied over Blair’s behavior shortly before a Palestinian request was submitted to the United Nations for full membership of a Palestinian state on Sep 23”, reported Xinhua.

“The former British prime minister is only seeking to make Israel satisfied,” said Shaath, who is also a member in President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party’s Central Committee.

On Sep 23, Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly shortly after he submitted an official request to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for full membership of a Palestinian state at the world organisation.

Earlier media reports quoted official Palestinian sources as saying that due to Blair’s supportive position to Israel, which opposes Palestine’s UN bid, the Palestinians are considering calling for his sack from the post. The quartet comprises the United States, the UN, the European Union and Russia.

Shaath denied the reports. However, Shaath said that Blair’s stance was criticized by the Palestinian leadership as he demanded the Palestinians accept a resumption of direct peace talks with Israel and avoid the bid to the UN.

Palestinian officials had earlier slammed Blair’s request, saying he neglected their demands of having a reference to the peace talks, halting settlement constructions and recognizing the principle of the two-state solution.

Blair was chosen to be the quartet’s envoy in 2007.

Shaath had called on the quartet to make its position clear concerning the settlement cessation and the international references for the Middle East peace process. (IANS)

Tunis: The daughter of Tunisia’s ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been sentenced in absentia to two years in prison and fined by a court here, a media report said Saturday.

Nesrine Ben Ali, who fled the country Jan 14 along with her businessman husband Sakhr El Materi, was sentenced for drug possession and consumption, Xinhua reported.

The couple is allegedly also involved in several other cases involving real estate corruption, traffic of archaeological objects and embezzlement.

Last week, a court in Tunis had sentenced in absentia Ben Ali’s brother-in-law Belhassen Trabelsi to 15 years in prison for corruption, unlawful trade of foreign currency and precious metals. (IANS)

Nairobi: Kenya’s security forces were engaged in a fierce shootout with abductors of the French woman who was kidnapped early on Saturday from a resort island in northern Kenya.

National Security Minister George Saitoti also warned foreign militia that the East African nation will defend its territory following a series of abductions involving foreigners at the coastal town of Lamu.

“This is totally unacceptable to the government as it is a serious violation of Kenya’s territorial integrity. The government, therefore, reserves the right to self-defence of its territorial integrity,” Saitoti said in a statement issued Saturday in Nairobi.

The 66-year old former journalist returned two days ago from France when she was attacked by the pirates who were driving their boat under the cover of darkness.

The elderly woman who has been living in Manda island in her own house was abducted by about 10 heavily armed Somali bandits suspected to be Al shabaab operatives from Ras Chiamboni in Somalia, near the Kenyan border.

Saitoti said the government swung into action immediately after it learnt of the unfortunate incident by deploying its security forces to pursue the abductors as they sped northwards in a high-speed boat towards Ras Chiamboni.

“In the ensuing shoot-out between the abductors and the Kenyan Navy, several of the abductors were injured but managed to enter Ras Chiamboni,” Saitoti said.

The pattern of the latest incident mirrors that of the recent abduction of a British couple at Kiwayu safari village near the Kenya-Somali border, during which British man was killed by the abductors also from Ras Chiamboni.

The minister promised that every effort is being made to rescue the victim and reassured Kenyans that adequate security measures have been put in place.

“The government would like to send a strong warning to those bent on undermining Kenya’s security from within or without that they will be firmly dealt with by our security forces,” he said.

The latest incident occurred barely after a British couple was attacked in Kiwayu. The assailants shot dead the husband and kidnapped his wife.

According to locals from the area, which borders Shela island, the kidnapped French woman, who is crippled and uses a wheelchair, was whisked from her home in the early hours of the morning and taken to a speed boat which the suspected pirates were using. (IANS)

London: British police have charged three more people with the murder of three Pakistani-origin men who were run over by a car as they tried to protect their shops and homes from looters during the riots in August.

Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, were hit by a car in the early hours of August 10 in Birmingham. They died as they tried to protect shops and homes from looters during riots in the Winson Green area.

Three men from Birmingham aged 20, 25 and 30 have been charged, West Midlands Police have said. They are due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

The men, who were not named by police, were arrested at a flat in the Druids Heath area of Birmingham on Friday, the BBC reported. Ian Beckford, 30, Everton Graham, 29, Joshua Donald, 26, Adam King, 23, and a 17-year-old male have been charged with murder and remanded in custody.

Liam Young, 28, from Winson Green, has been charged with perverting the course of justice.

Five other men – aged 17, 23, 29, 32 and 33 – have also been arrested and bailed pending further inquiries.

During the August riots in London and other cities like Manchester and Birmingham, shops were looted, buildings burned and five people died.

A wave of rioting, looting and arson spread from London to parts of the East and West Midlands, Merseyside, Bristol, Manchester and Gloucester last week after a 29-year-old youth was shot dead by police in Totterham. PTI

Kabul: The murder of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul last month was planned in Pakistan, the Afghan security agency’s press secretary Latifulla Mashal claimed Saturday.

Rabbani was killed Sep 20 by a suicide bomber who blew himself up in Rabbani’s home in Kabul, at a meeting for peace talks with the Taliban movement. The killer had concealed a bomb in his turban.

Mashal said the principal figure behind the attack had been arrested. Important documents were found on the man as well as video and sound tracks and photos to identify his target, which have now been given to the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul.

The arrest was authorised by a special commission investigating the murder.

Mashal said the documents on the planner of the killing, who he did not name, clearly showed the plot was planned in one of the small satellite towns around Quetta, the capital of the southwest Pakistani province of Balochistan.

Local media have previously cited the arrested man as a certain Hamidulla, a Pakistani.

Demonstrations against the murder of Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik, are continuing in the northern provinces of Afghanistan. The demonstrators, who are predominantly from Afghanistan’s Dari-speaking minorities, are demanding that President Hamid Karzai must find the killers and punish them. (IANS)