CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, November 21, 2012
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World US blocks UNSC action on Gaza strife
Talks to clinch elusive Gaza truce continue Ceasefire announcement expected today By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Jerusalem for talks yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as expectations rose of a ceaseďŹ re soon to end a week of ďŹ ghting around the Gaza Strip. However, Gaza’s rulers, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, revised a statement that a truce would start overnight, saying it was still waiting for an Israeli response to proposals and did not now expect an announcement until today. An ofďŹ cial in the Egyptian government, whose new, Islamist leadership has been playing peace broker in Cairo, had also said a ceaseďŹ re could begin yesterday. But Israeli ofďŹ cials continued to say discus-
sions were still continuing. Israel pressed on with its strikes in the coastal enclave on the seventh day of its offensive and Palestinian rockets still ashed across the border as Clinton arrived in Jerusalem. She was due to meet Netanyahu around 11pm (2100 GMT). One Hamas ofďŹ cial had said a truce might start at 9pm. But after that moment passed, a senior ďŹ gure in the movement, Ezzat al-Rishq, told Reuters in Cairo: “The truce is now held up because we are waiting for the Israeli side to respond. “We ... must wait until tomorrow.â€? The Jewish state launched the campaign last week with the declared aim of halting the rocketing of its towns from the Palestinian enclave, ruled by the Hamas militant group that does not recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Medical ofďŹ cials in Gaza said 27 Palestinians were killed yesterday. An Israeli soldier and a civilian died when rockets exploded near the Gaza frontier, police and the army said. Gaza medical ofďŹ cials say 134 people have died in Israeli strikes, mostly civilians, including 34 children. In all, ďŹ ve Israelis have died, including three civilians killed last week. Netanyahu said earlier yesterday that Israel was open to a long-term deal aimed at ending Palestinian rocket attacks that have plagued its southern region for years. Khaled Meshaal, exile leader of Hamas, said on Monday that Israel must halt its military action and lift its blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave in exchange for a truce. Both Netanyahu, favoured to win a January national election, and US President Barack
Palestinian boys seen amid the rubble of a damaged house in the southern Gaza town of Rafah yesterday (AFP) Obama have said they want a diplomatic solution, rather than a possible Israeli ground operation in the densely populated territory, home to 1.7 million Palestinians. Israel’s military yesterday targeted more than 130 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National
Islamic Bank. Israeli police said more than 150 rockets were ďŹ red from Gaza by the evening. After nightfall, Israel stepped up its Gaza bombardment. Artillery shells and missiles ďŹ red from naval gunboats slammed into the territory and air strikes came at a frequency of about one every 10 minutes.
THE United States blocked yesterday a U.N. Security Council statement condemning the escalating conict between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, setting the scene for a possible showdown between Washington and Russia on the matter. The United States opposed the statement which had to be approved by consensus - because it “failed to address the root causeâ€? - missile attacks by Hamas - of the escalation in ďŹ ghting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, said Erin Pelton, spokeswoman for the United States mission to the United Nations. Israel said it was these Hamas rocket attacks that had prompted its major offensive against the militants in Gaza last Wednesday. “We made clear that we would measure any action by the Security Council based on whether it supported the ongoing diplomacy toward deescalation of violence and a durable outcome that ends the rocket attacks on Israeli cities,â€? Pelton said.
Assad troops fight to oust rebels from Damascus SYRIAN government troops backed by tanks battled to oust rebel forces from an opposition stronghold in a Damascus suburb yesterday in the heaviest ďŹ ghting in the capital for months. In action in the country’s north, rebel ďŹ ghters stormed an air defence base that President Bashar al-Assad’s military had used to bombard areas near the Turkish border. On the international front, the Turkish foreign minister said NATO states had agreed to supply Turkey with a Patriot missile system to defend against Syrian cross-border shelling. Although the deployment would be for defensive purposes only, it nonetheless marked a
hardening in the foreign opposition to Assad. The rebels also received a diplomatic lift with Britain ofďŹ cially recognising the opposition Syrian National Coalition, set up this month to boost their chances of securing foreign aid and arms, as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. It was the ninth country to do so following France, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states. After months of slow progress, the rebels have captured several army positions in outlying regions in the last week, including a Special Forces base near Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub. They are also trying to take the 20-month-old revolt to the heart of Damascus, Assad’s seat of power.
Vacancy The U.S. Embassy is seeking individuals for the following positions in the Regional Security Office. These are full-time positions (40 hours per week) with rotating shifts and rotating work days:
Applicants must have the required work and residency permits to be eligible for consideration. • Local Guard Force Supervisor: Supervises guard services of assigned Local Guard Force members to safeguard the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, its annexes, official residences and other USG facilities. Reports to the Guard Force Commander and the Security Coordinator. • Local Guard Force Guard: Performs guard services to safeguard the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, its annexes, official residences and other USG facilities. Reports to the Guard Force Shift Supervisor.
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Please visit the following website for detailed qualifications for each these positions: http://cyprus.usembassy.gov/theembassy/employment.html Applicants should send a resume with a cover letter in English to: U.S. Embassy, HR Office, LGF Commander or LGF Guard Vacancy, P.O. Box 24536, 1385 Nicosia, or via E-mail to: VacanciesNicosia@state.gov to arrive no later than November 30, 2012. Cover letters should address the position(s) in which an applicant is interested. No telephone calls will be accepted. An Equal Opportunity Employer.
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