Region

PRAGUE — Palestinian diplomats have apologised for hiding illegal weapons at the Prague embassy where a blast killed the ambassador on New Year’s Day, the Czech foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

“A high-ranking Palestinian foreign ministry official... issued an official apology from the Palestinian side for the illegal presence of weapons on the premises of the Palestinian embassy,” the ministry said in a statement.

After the deadly blast, police found 12 firearms at the embassy, including sub-machineguns and sidearms that were not officially registered in the Czech Republic.

They have refused further comment on the weapons pending the results of an official probe.

The DNES newspaper said police found Skorpion VZ61 sub-machineguns and VZ82 sidearms produced in the former Czechoslovakia and supplied to the Palestine Liberation Organisation before communism fell in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

The Palestinians also apologised “for the incident that resulted in the tragic death of Palestinian ambassador Jamal Al Jamal on January 1”, the ministry statement added.

Jamal, 56, died only three months after taking office, following an explosion that occurred soon after he opened a safe.

Czech police have described it as an accident, but have refused further comment pending their investigation.

The late diplomat’s daughter Rana Al Jamal, however, believes her father was murdered.

Czech foreign ministry spokeswoman Johana Grohova refused to identify the official who issued the apology on Monday.

“Both sides have agreed it is necessary to wait for the outcome of the police investigation... The Palestinian side has expressed its resolve to fully accept its conclusions,” the Czech foreign ministry said.

“The Palestinian side stressed it had drawn the relevant conclusions and taken the necessary measures to prevent similar incidents from happening,” it added.

DUBAI — The ruler of Dubai, a Gulf trade and investment hub with strong links to Iran, said in remarks broadcast on Monday that the international community should ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Under a deal struck in November, Iran is expected to curb its nuclear activity in exchange for a limited easing of the international sanctions. The pact will come into force January 20, Iran and world powers agreed on Sunday.

Asked whether he thought it was time to lift the sanctions, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, told British broadcaster the BBC: “I think so and give Iran a space... Iran is our neighbour and we don’t want any problem, he said, adding that “everybody will benefit”.

Despite a decade of sanctions, Iran has managed to get most of the commodities and goods it needs via Dubai’s flourishing re-export market, although new embargoes imposed by the United States and its allies in late 2011 and early 2012 have hit it hard.

The vast majority of trade between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbours is routed through Dubai, home to tens of thousands of ethnic Iranians and one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates.

Iran says its atomic energy programme is aimed purely at electricity generation and other civilian purposes, although past Iranian attempts to hide sensitive nuclear activity from UN non-proliferation inspectors raised concerns.

“I think they’re telling the truth when they say just for civilian power”, Sheikh Mohammed said in the interview.

Sisi should stay in army

Shortly after the November 24 deal, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went to the UAE to try and improve relations with the US ally.

Across the Gulf from Iran, the UAE stands to benefit directly from any easing of sanctions under the nuclear deal that have dampened regional trade.

Zarif met Sheikh Mohammed during his December visit and the UAE was the first Gulf Arab state to cautiously welcome November’s nuclear deal. The UAE foreign minister flew to Iran days after the agreement was signed, on a trip planned before the deal, calling for a partnership with the Islamic Republic.

The six Sunni Muslim-ruled members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are wary of Iranian power in the Middle East, fearing the Shiite Muslim-led country is seeking regional dominance and stirring sectarian tension. Tehran denies this.

But they have also welcomed Iran’s “new direction” under President Hassan Rouhani and said Tehran should do more to promote stability in the region.

Sheikh Mohammed also said Egypt, which is due to vote on a constitutional referendum this week, was better off without Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was deposed by the army in July after mass protests against his rule.

The UAE is deeply mistrustful of the Muslim Brotherhood and relations soured when Morsi became Egypt’s first freely elected president after the downfall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The UAE, along with Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, have championed army chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi who deposed Morsi, and have poured billions of dollars to shore up the country’s beleaguered economy since Morsi’s downfall.

There has been widespread speculation about whether Sisi, who is depicted by his supporters as a saviour who will restore stability to the shaken country, would run for presidential elections slated for later this year.

Sheikh Mohammed said Sisi was better off in the army, saying: “I hope he stays in the army. And someone else [stands] for the presidency.”

On Syria, Sheikh Mohammed said the UAE was only comfortable supporting displaced Syrians in Jordan and Turkey, as opposed to providing support to rebel groups, some of whom are extremist in nature. 

CAIRO — A crackdown by Egypt’s authorities on the Muslim Brotherhood has left hundreds of Islamic charities struggling for funds, with experts warning the move could impact this week’s referendum on a new constitution.

The Tuesday-Wednesday vote has been billed as the first step in Egypt’s democratic transition after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July following huge protests against his one-year rule.

The government installed by the military after Morsi’s ouster has seized assets, bank accounts, hospitals, schools and institutions run by Islamic charities as part of its crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Analysts say Morsi’s supporters, who have been clamouring for his reinstatement, are likely to find backing for their call for a boycott of the referendum among grassroots Egyptians who are dependent on the charities.

“These charities will definitely have an impact on the referendum. The turnout will be much less this time,” analyst Osama Diab of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told AFP.

“The focus of the Muslim Brotherhood is to ensure a low turnout and the Islamic charities can influence people for that. They can mobilise people through these charities to guarantee a low turnout,” said Diab.

Mustafa Kamel Al Sayyed, professor of political science at Cairo University, agreed.

“The Muslim Brotherhood could use charity networks for mobilising people to boycott the referendum or elections, given their influence on the people,” he said.

“These charities do offer services that aid people and the government’s measures [against them]could backfire,” he said.

According to experts, however, the boycott is not likely to be extensive enough to affect the final outcome of the vote.

The charities say they aid millions of impoverished people in Egypt.

They are also seen by many as providing the Brotherhood with a solid social platform that helped it dominate all elections since the fall of president Hosni Mubarak in the 2011 uprising.

Experts say the authorities suspect that some of the funds are used by the Brotherhood to mobilise anti-government protesters or even for funding militant activities.

A tour of a hospital, one among 30 such facilities operated by the Islamic Medical Association, a non-profit charity group, reveals the extensive reach such charities enjoy in Egypt.

“To me it does not matter who operates this hospital,” said Mahmoud Sami, father of a prematurely born baby that was recuperating in an incubator at the hospital in a crowded Cairo district.

“We are getting quality treatment for our child at an affordable price.”

The hospital charges Sami 200 Egyptian pounds ($28, 22 euros) daily, compared to about 500 pounds charged by private hospitals, while public hospitals are ill-equipped.

Officials at the hospital say they treat about 800 patients daily.

But manager Ayman Mustafa says the hospital is struggling because its bank account has been frozen, and could be forced to shut down, affecting thousands of people in need of care.

“Every day we deposit money into our bank account, but we can’t withdraw our funds because the account is frozen,” Mustafa said, adding that the hospital depends on private donations.

Analysts say people like Sami who depend on Islamic charities could be swayed to boycott the vote at the referendum.

“These organisations have created a goodwill, have created empathy” for the Brotherhood, said James Dorsey, Middle East expert at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“It has created a platform that the mother organisation can use, but this does not deny the fact that these organisations provide services that benefit people.”

These networks “legitimately exploit the failures of the state,” he said.

‘Crackdown on everything Islamic’

Gamaa Sharaaya is Egypt largest Islamic charity with a network of 1,100 hospitals, clinics, schools and mosques that it says serve more than nine million people.

The crackdown is “on anything that is even remotely Islamic”, even if it is not linked to the Brotherhood, said Mustafa Ismail, secretary general of the 100-year-old charity.

Ismail said his charity does not sympathise with Morsi’s Brotherhood. “We have no political affiliations. We only serve the poor and the needy.”

But the social solidarity minister, Ahmed El Borei, insists the charities help “control the poor politically” while former ministry adviser, Mohamed Al Dmerdash, says the crackdown on the charities benefits only the Brotherhood.

BAGHDAD — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Iraqi leaders to address the “root causes” of a surge in bloodshed as security forces clashed on Monday with gunmen in violence-racked Anbar province.

But Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, standing next to Ban at a joint news conference, insisted that the Anbar unrest was not due to internal problems, and that dialogue with militants was not an option.

The UN chief’s visit to Baghdad comes just months ahead of general elections, with the country suffering its worst spate of unrest since 2008 and militants holding an entire city and parts of another on Baghdad’s doorstep.

It is the first time fighters have exercised such open control in major cities since the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion, and Ban’s remarks echoed US calls for Iraqi officials to focus on political reconciliation, in addition to ongoing military operations.

“I would urge the leaders of the country ... to address the root causes of the problems,” Ban said.

“They should ensure that there is nobody left behind. There should be political cohesion” and “social cohesion, and political dialogue, inclusive dialogue,” he said.

“The security situation in Iraq is undoubtedly a source of great concern,” said Ban, adding that he is “deeply concerned by this escalation of violence in Anbar governorate”.

But Maliki insisted that “what is happening in Anbar has no relation to Iraqi problems” and ruled out dialogue with jihadists.

Events in the province have united Iraqis, he said, and therefore “today, there is nothing called dialogue”.

“Dialogue with whom — with Al Qaeda? There is no dialogue with Al Qaeda, and the Iraqi national decision is to end Al Qaeda,” Maliki said, referring to militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has played a major role in nationwide violence.

Ban is on two-day visit to Iraq and is also due to meet Parliament Speaker Osama Al Nujaifi, lawmakers, Vice President Khudayr Al Khuzaie and the head of Iraq’s election commission.

Iraq is embroiled in a bloody standoff with militants and anti-government tribes in Anbar, the mostly-Sunni desert province in west Iraq which shares a long border with conflict-hit Syria.

The country is also experiencing its worst prolonged period of violence since 2008, when it was just emerging from a bloody Sunni-Shiite sectarian war that left tens of thousands dead.

Clashes erupted in Anbar on Monday between police and militants in Humairah, an area in provincial capital Ramadi, when security forces attempted to reopen a police station, an AFP journalist said.

Fighting was also still raging in the Albubali and Khaldiyah areas between Ramadi and Fallujah, officials said.

Highway to Jordan, Syria reopened

Authorities, meanwhile, reopened a stretch of a highway to Jordan and Syria that had been closed for months by Sunni protesters demonstrating against the alleged mistreatment of their community by the Shiite-led government.

Analysts say that widespread Sunni anger towards the government has fuelled the surge of violence in the country.

Militants and anti-government tribes still hold two neighbourhoods in Ramadi, as well as all of Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold just 60 kilometres from Baghdad.

Clashes still erupt periodically in Ramadi but civil servants have returned to work in the city, and residents who had fled Fallujah have since begun to come back.

ISIL has been active in the Anbar fighting, but so have anti-government tribesmen.

The army has for the most part stayed outside of Fallujah during the crisis, with analysts warning that any assault on the city would likely cause significant civilian casualties.

The Iraqi Red Crescent said it had provided humanitarian assistance to more than 8,000 families across Anbar but that upwards of 13,000 had fled Fallujah.

Fighting erupted in the Ramadi area on December 30, when security forces cleared a year-old Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp.

The violence spread to Fallujah, and militants moved in and seized the city and parts of Ramadi after security forces withdrew.

Iraq was also hit by violence outside Anbar Monday, with bombings in Baghdad and a shooting in the north killing at least eight people. 

TEHRAN — Iran’s reformers and moderate conservatives welcomed an agreement Monday between Iran and six world powers on how to implement a nuclear deal struck in November, saying it will shore up Iran’s sanctions-hit economy. Hardliners, however, inside the Islamic republic remain opposed.

The six-nation group — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany — and Iran agreed to start implementing the terms of the historic interim deal from January 20. That will start a six-month clock for a final deal to be struck over Tehran’s contested nuclear programme.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that enforcing the deal opens new windows for Iran and paves the way for expanding its economic dealings with the outside world.

“By enforcing the deal, there will be some openings for Iran’s economy and restrictions will be eased,” said Boroujerdi, a moderate conservative. “Economic sanctions will reduce and the way will be paved for expansion of economic activities.”

Iran’s hardliners have called the deal a “poisoned chalice”, challenging moderate President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif with the task of trying to convince sceptics that they are not compromising on key issues of national sovereignty.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, has supported Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, calling them “sons of the revolution” and “our own children”.

Prominent political analyst Sadeq Zibakalam said the accord has boosted Iran’s regional might.

“By implementing the deal, tensions between Iran and the West will be eased and the Islamic republic’s regional stance will be boosted. It will also nullify efforts by Israel and some of Iran’s Arab neighbours to isolate Iran,” he said.

Zibakalam said both Rouhani and Obama have to fight an uphill task with hardliners who seek to undermine the process.

“We should not ignore efforts by extremists both in Iran and the US to sabotage the process. They are those who benefit from a crisis and will increase pressures on the government as of now. Hardline congressmen and pro-Israel lobby groups will do the same in the US,” he said.

Hardline Iranian cleric Mohammad Reza Ashtiani on Monday told local officials in Qom, a holy city 130 kilometres south of Tehran, that the terms of the deal was not appropriate.

“They are going to give us part of our own money as if we are indebted,” the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

Hardliners say the agreement “practically tramples on Iran’s enrichment rights”.

Under the deal, Iran has agreed to halt its enrichment of uranium to 20 per cent, a level just steps away from weapons-grade material, but will continue enrichment up to 5 per cent. It also will convert half of its stockpile of 20 per cent enriched uranium to oxide and dilute the remaining half to 5 percent.

In exchange, no new sanctions will be imposed against Iran and the current sanctions would be eased for a period of six months as talks continue for a permanent deal.

The November deal allows Iran access to $4.2 billion in revenues blocked in foreign banks that can’t be transferred because of sanctions. Tehran would receive the first $550 million installment February 1.

Under the accord, sanctions on petrochemical products, the auto industry, passenger aircraft parts and services as well as the trade in gold will be lifted but the main oil and banking sanctions will remain in place.

Iran says it will carry out its obligations including neutralising its stockpile of 20 per cent enriched uranium gradually within six months, not all at once.

PARIS — Moscow and Washington made a joint call Monday for Syria’s regime and rebels to agree to ceasefires in parts of their battle-scarred country ahead of peace talks this month.

But the two countries continued to disagree on Iran’s participation in the talks, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying Tehran needs to accept plans for a transitional government if it wants to take part.

Meeting in Paris with UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for the ceasefires to start ahead of the so-called Geneva II talks due to begin in Montreux on January 22.

It was a rare pulling together of two heavyweights in the Syrian crisis, which has seen the US backing the opposition as Moscow sticks by longtime ally President Bashar Assad.

“We talked today about the possibility of trying to encourage a ceasefire, maybe a localised ceasefire beginning with Aleppo [in the north of Syria],” Kerry said.

“What can be done before the beginning of the conference should be done,” Lavrov said. “We are going to try to send signals to all the Syrian sides on the need for the establishment of a localised ceasefire.”

Washington and Moscow are hoping to build momentum ahead of the talks, which are seeking to revive efforts to hammer out a deal on a transitional government after a nearly three-year conflict that has killed 130,000 people.

Damascus’ ambassador to Moscow said Monday that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem will also visit Russia ahead of the talks, with a diplomatic source saying the visit could take place on Thursday.

Kerry and Lavrov said they also discussed possible prisoner exchanges and the opening of humanitarian corridors to bring aid to the millions affected by the conflict.

Lavrov said the Assad regime had indicated it was ready to allow access for humanitarian aid, citing the embattled Damascus suburb of East Ghouta, where thousands have been trapped by fighting.

“We expect similar steps from the opposition,” Lavrov said.

‘Success is defined by a good beginning’

The two said they hoped these issues could be sorted before the talks, but that they would not be preconditions for sitting down.

“Success is defined by a good beginning,” Kerry said.

But divisions remained on the role of Syria’s main regional backer Tehran, with Lavrov saying there was an “absolutely apparent need” for the participation of both Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Brahimi said he also supported Iran’s involvement. But Washington has blocked efforts to extend an invitation to Tehran until it agrees to the idea of a transitional government set out in the first Geneva negotiations.

Kerry said Iran would be “welcome” if it agreed to the Geneva I deal, adding: “I invited Iran today to join the community of nations... and be a constructive partner for peace.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif heads to Moscow Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Iran’s nuclear programme and on regional issues including Syria.

Zarif, who said on Sunday that Tehran would only take part in the Syria talks “without any preconditions”, is also due to travel to Damascus in the next few days.

The Assad regime has agreed to send a delegation to the talks but Syria’s deeply divided opposition has struggled to agree on attending.

After a meeting in Paris Sunday of the “Friends of Syria” group of mainly Western and Gulf countries opposed to Assad, Kerry said he was “confident” the opposition would attend.

Kerry was due to meet again Monday with opposition National Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba, after similar talks on Sunday.

Syria warned against preconditions for the peace talks, after Jarba said Sunday that Assad’s departure is “inevitable”.

“Any person who seeks preconditions or mistakes their dreams for reality is leading to the failure of the Geneva conference before it even starts,” state media quoted a Syrian foreign ministry source saying.

The meetings in Paris come amid days of fighting pitting moderate and Islamist opposition forces against Al Qaeda inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that has killed nearly 700 people.

After Paris, Kerry will head to the Vatican Tuesday to meet top officials for talks on Middle East peace efforts, before heading to Kuwait City for a conference where the United Nations is seeking $6.5 billion (4.7 billion euros) to aid Syrians affected by the war.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Gaza fighters fired two rockets that hit an area close to the ranch where former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was laid to rest on Monday, a military spokeswoman said.

The Israeli military responded with two air raids on the central and southern parts of the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.

“Two rockets hit the Shaar HaNegev region” but fell in an uninhabited area, the army said, referring to the area around the northern border with Gaza.

Security spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the fighters targeted the town of Sderot, which lies very close to the Gaza border, and just four kilometres west of Sycamore Ranch, causing no injuries or damage.

Given the ranch’s proximity to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces had beefed up security in the area, with unconfirmed media reports saying the military had deployed a battery of the Iron Dome missile defence system to counter possible rocket attacks.

In retaliation for the rockets, “Israeli warplanes targeted two terrorist sites in the centre and south of the strip”, the military statement said.

Witnesses and security sources in the Palestinian territory said the strikes hit an Islamic Jihad training camp at Khan Younis and a Hamas one at Nuseirat.

One child was slightly injured in Nuseirat, medical sources said.

DUBAI — The prime minister of the United Arab Emirates said on Monday that the treatment of a US citizen who spent nine months in jail for posting a parody video on YouTube was unsatisfactory, and suggested it was a mistake the UAE would learn from.

Shezanne Cassim was detained in April and sentenced to a year in prison in the Gulf Arab state in December on cybercrime charges for his video, a 20-minute “mockumentary” that pokes fun at young Emirati men who imitate US hip-hop culture.

Asked by the British broadcaster BBC whether Cassim’s case had been handled in a satisfactory way, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “No ... We are not perfect and we try to change it. Any mistakes, we go in and try to change it. We’re not perfect, but we are doing our best.”

Cassim, who was also fined 10,000 UAE dirhams ($2,700), was released last week and returned home to the United States, saying he had done nothing wrong.

He said he had been held with limited information in a prison with few facilities, and not told what crime he was accused of until about five months after he was apprehended. 

BEIRUT — Parties working to prevent Iran from participating in Syria peace talks in Switzerland next week will regret denying Tehran a role, Iran’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“These parties will regret all the efforts they have undertaken to prevent the participation of Iran to find a solution and an end to the Syrian crisis,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a news conference with his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut.

Tehran is the staunchest regional ally of the Syrian regime, which is scheduled to sit down with the opposition at peace talks in the Swiss town of Montreux on January 22.

But it has not been invited to the talks, though Damascus has said it should be and the Iranian government has said it would be willing to if it is invited without preconditions.

“When it comes to Iran’s participation in Geneva II, Iran rejects all forms of preconditions on its participation,” Zarif said.

“If the Islamic Republic of Iran receives a formal invitation, according to the criteria adopted for the invitations to the other parties, without preconditions, it will participate,” he said.

The Syrian opposition accuses Iran of supplying the regime with weapons and funding to allow it to put down an uprising that began in March 2011 and has evolved into a brutal civil war.

Syria’s government has said it will attend the Montreux talks, but insists President Bashar Assad’s departure from power will not be on the table.

The opposition says Assad has no place in Syria’s future and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday that Iran could attend the talks if it embraced political transition in Syria.

Iran has said Assad’s future should be decided at the ballot box and Zarif warned Monday that outside parties should only play the role of mediators.

“The Syrian crisis must be resolved by the Syrian people and other parties should at the very least help to find a political solution and not act as judges imposing conditions for dialogue,” said Zarif.