By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GAZA CITY, Gaza – Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, said he sees “no prospects” in the near future for a Middle East peace settlement, saying that Israel promotes “war and occupation, thus blocking meaningful negotiations regarding the Palestinians, Syria, and Lebanon.”

Mashaal made his statements after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia has tried to restart peace talks among the parties in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Mashaal expressed his doubt at any success by the Russians.

“We appreciate any role that Russia and other countries could play in the Mideast peace process, but only Egypt has the real capability to settle the problem,” said Mashaal.

Hamas has remained defiant of international attempts at restarting peace talks both between the Palestinians and the Israelis, as well as between the two opposing Palestinian factions. Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2006, has long been at odds with the other Palestinian party, Fatah, which governs the West Bank. Egypt has proposed a comprehensive peace deal between Hamas and Fatah, though Hamas has refused to sign.

The dispute between Hamas and Fatah could have serious consequences for the residents of Gaza, as the hostilities have spilled over to local infrastructure. Gazans, already beleaguered by the continuing effects of the war between Hamas and Israel during the winter of 2008-2009 and the ongoing Israeli blockade, may be hit by increasingly frequent power outages. The Palestinian Authority, which is governs the West Bank and is predominantly made up of Fatah members, is in a financial dispute with the Gaza-based distribution company. Critics have accused the Palestinian Authority of using the dispute as leverage against Hamas.

In a rare conciliatory move, Hamas has expressed regret for Israeli civilian deaths that resulted from Hamas rockets during the 2008-2009 Gaza War. In a response to the U.N. Goldstone Report, Hamas released a statement saying, “We regret any harm that may have befallen any Israeli citizen…We hope the Israeli citizens understand that their government’s continued attacks on us were the key issue and the cause.”

For more information, please see:

Los Angeles Times – Power Struggle Could Portend a Cold, Dark Winter in Gaza Strip – 10 February 2010

Associated Press – Hamas Sees “No Prospects” for Mideast Peace – 8 February 2010

Reuters – Hamas Regrets Civilian Deaths, Israel Unmoved – 5 February 2010

Christian Science Monitor – Hamas Threatens to Take Fight Against Israel Beyond Gaza – 2 February 2010

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Yemen’s president said Thursday the military will halt operations against northern rebels after reaching a cease-fire agreement that ends the country’s six-year conflict.

Ali Abdullah Saleh made the announcement on Thursday after reports that the Yemeni government and the group were close to reaching a deal to end six months of fighting. The truce was made possible after the group, belonging to the Zaidi Shia sect, accepted six conditions put forward by the government for the cessation of hostilities.
Yemen said last week it had handed the fighters a timetable for implementing the ceasefire terms, a week after rejecting a Houthi truce offer because it did not include a promise to end hostilities with neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom was drawn into the conflict in November when the group seized some Saudi territory, complaining that Riyadh was letting Yemeni troops use its land for attacks against them. Riyadh declared victory last month after the Houthis offered a separate truce and said they had withdrawn from Saudi territory.
The rebels announced a unilateral cease-fire with Saudi Arabia in late January. However, the Saudis responded cautiously to the rebel announcement, and demanded militants pullback from border positions and return five missing soldiers.
The Yemeni announcement comes after the rebels reportedly accepted several conditions, including a pledge not to attack Saudi Arabia, put forward by the government to end the hostilities. Houthi rebels from the minority Shia Zaidi sect based in the North-Western Sa’ada district have been battling the government since 2004.

The UN refugee agency says 250,000 Yemenis have been displaced by fighting in the region.
For information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Yemen Announces Truce With Houthis – 11 February 2010

Fox News – Yemen Announces Truce With Rebels – 11 February 2010

BBC – Yemen Announces Truce With Northern Rebels – 11 February 2010

AFP – Yemen president declares ceasefire to war with Shiite rebels – 11 February 2010

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has begun enriching uranium at a purity level of twenty percent. The state-run media in Iran reported on February 9 that the increase in purity allows for the production of a higher grade of nuclear fuel. This action was defiance of many Western countries who remain concerned that Iran’s ultimate goal with their nuclear program is the ability to manufacture  weapons of mass destruction.

An unnamed Iranian official told Iran’s Arabic-language Al Alam channel that “Today (Iran) started to make twenty percent enriched nuclear fuel…in the presence of IAEA inspectors at Natanz.” Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, announced that the government informed the UN’s atomic watchdog that would begin enrich the fuel at the higher level.

This announcement from Iran was met with calls from the United States and its allies for the imposition of stronger UN sanctions against Iran over it’s nuclear program. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained that “the only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track but it will require all of the international community to work together.” A spokesman for the US State Department, PJ Crowley, did make it clear that the US government had “no interest in creating additional hardships on the Iranian people.”

The enriching of uranium to twenty percent does not by itself produce nuclear fuel that could be easily used in a bomb. The level of uranium enrichment that is required for a nuclear weapon is ninety percent. The concern from Western countries lies with the fact that the technological jump to get from twenty percent to ninety percent is fairly straightforward.

Iran’s top nuclear official, Ali Akba Salehi, also said that the Iranian government would build ten new enrichment plants next year. This is despite the fact that there are still problems with its first one. The United States and its allies, in response to this news, said that the time had come “fore the adoption of strong sanctions.” The UN Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran in response to it’s uranium enrichment activities.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Iran ‘Begins Advanced Enrichment’ – 9 February 2010

BBC – Iran ‘Starts Enriching Nuclear Fuel to 20%’ at Natanz – 9 February 2010

New York Times – Small Step in Iran’s Nuclear Effort Suggests Ambitions for a Weapon, Experts Say – 9 February 2010

Voice of America – Iran Defies West, Begins Boosting Uranium – 9 February 2010

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Ten Yemeni soldiers have been killed, most of them by snipers, and 18 wounded in a fresh outbreak of fighting with Shiite rebels in north Yemen, a military official said on Monday. The latest clashes come days after the government announced a timetable for a ceasefire, to which the rebels have yet to respond. The fighting took place around the northern city of Sa’ada, in Harf Sufyan, which lies to the south of the city, and in the Malahidh border area, the official told the AFP on condition of anonymity.

The rebels, meanwhile, reported the deaths of two children in what they said was Saudi shelling near the border in northern Yemen. The children, aged five and 10, were killed when one of almost 150 shells fired by the Saudi army towards positions near the border crashed into their farm, the rebels said in a statement on their website.

Yemen’s defence ministry said this week that the government would stop its war with rebel Houthi fighters if they were to begin complying with its six conditions. Ceasefire terms, presented in August, included removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all military equipment and weapons, and releasing civilians and military personnel. But a government official said on Sunday that the ceasefire deal should have included a pledge by the group not to attack neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Government officials have said Houthi leaders twice rejected the terms, while Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis’ leader, said last week that his fighters had twice declared they wanted to end the conflict.

The latest round of clashes erupted on August 11, when government forces launched “Operation Scorched Earth” — an all-out offensive to stamp out the uprising. Saudi Arabia entered the conflict on November 4th , a day after Houthi forces killed a Saudi border guard and occupied two villages within Saudi territory. The rebels accused the kingdom of aiding Yemeni forces, a charge it denied.

The rebels announced their withdrawal from Saudi territory on January 25.
The UN refugee agency says that about 250,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Yemen’s Houthi Truce Under Scrutiny – 10 February 2010

Tehran Times – Saudi Forces Raid Yemen’s Northern Villages – 10 February 10

AFP – Ten Soldiers Killed in North Yemen Clashes – 9 February 2010

CNN – Fighting Erupts in Yemen During Peace Talks, Journalist Says – 6 February 2010

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East