Israel seizes 234 hectares of Palestinian land

Land seizure - equivalent to more than 250 football pitches - is the largest since 2014.

Middle East Online

'The government is adding fuel to the fire' JERICHO - Israel has declared 234 hectares of West Bank territory as state land, officials said Tuesday, leading a watchdog to warn of possible settlement expansion that could increase tensions with Palestinians. COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for implementing government policies in the Palestinian territories, said the move was taken "in accordance with the decision of the political level". It gave no further explanation nor more details, but settlement watchdog Peace Now said the land involved is south of the Palestinian city of Jericho and close to the Dead Sea. Peace Now said the land - equivalent in size to more than 250 international football pitches - is the biggest reclassification since a seizure of 400 hectares in 2014. The NGO said the order to seize the land was signed on March 10 as US Vice President Joe Biden wrapped up a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, though COGAT refused to comment on the timing. Palestinians who claim ownership of the land can appeal the decision within 45 days. Peace Now said the land could help link up and potentially expand local Jewish settlements. "This declaration is a de-facto confiscation of Palestinian lands for the purpose of settlement," a statement said. "Instead of trying to calm the situation, the government is adding fuel to the fire." The confiscation comes amid a wave of violence that has seen 194 Palestinians, 28 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese killed since October 1, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians were youths killed while carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to the Israeli authorities. Many were killed in clashes with soldiers while protesting against Israel's continued illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Palestinian leaders, including president Mahmud Abbas, have in part blamed the expansion of settlements, and frustration at diminishing prospects for peace, for the violence. In 2010, Israel unveiled plans to build 1,600 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem during a previous Biden visit. Weeks later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a visit to the White House, was denied the privileges customarily granted to foreign dignitaries, even the ritual handshake photograph.

Russia warplanes leave Syria as peace talks enter second day

UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura describes pullout as ‘significant development’ for talks that began in Geneva on Monday.

Middle East Online

Moscow's planes could continue striking targets MOSCOW - The first of Moscow's warplanes landed back in Russia from Syria on Tuesday at the start of a surprise withdrawal that diplomats hope will boost a new round of peace talks by pressuring the Damascus regime. UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura described the pullout as a "significant development" for the talks that began in Geneva on Monday in the latest push to end the five-year conflict, but Western leaders were more cautious. "We hope (this) will have a positive impact on the progress of the negotiations," de Mistura said in a statement. President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the "main part" of his forces out of the war-torn nation but the Kremlin denied it was trying to pressure its long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad. Putin said Monday that Moscow's military goal had been "on the whole" completed some five-and-a-half months and 9,000 combat sorties after the Kremlin launched its bombing campaign in support of Assad. State media broadcast live footage of flag-waving crowds greeting pilots out of their aircraft at a military base in southwest Russia as a brass band played. Russia will, however, keep a contingent at its air and naval bases in Syria and a senior military official suggested Moscow's planes could continue striking targets. "It is still too early to speak of victory over terrorism. The Russian air group has a task of continuing to strike terrorist targets," deputy defence minister Nikolai Pankov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies at the Hmeimim base in Syria. Western leaders reacted cautiously, with Moscow yet to specify a timeframe for completing the withdrawal and a Kremlin official insisting Russia will also keep advanced air defence systems in Syria. Hopes for a breakthrough in Geneva remained remote, with both sides locked in a bitter dispute over Assad's future as the conflict entered its sixth year. De Mistura was expected to hold his first official meeting with the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which has repeatedly said that Assad cannot be part of Syria's political future. The regime insists his removal is a "red line". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "not possible" to infer that the Kremlin was angered by Assad's perceived inflexibility. In February, Russia was unusually critical of Assad after he vowed in an interview to retake the whole country, saying his stance was "not in accord" with Moscow's diplomatic efforts. Western diplomats expressed hope the Russian withdrawal could push the Syrian leader to negotiate. "If the announcement of a withdrawal of Russian troops materialises, this increases the pressure on president Assad to finally negotiate in a serious way in Geneva," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin also said the move would boost the chances of a diplomatic solution to a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions since March 2011. The White House said President Barack Obama had spoken to Putin following Russia's announcement, and discussed the "next steps required to fully implement the cessation of hostilities". But US officials offered a cautious initial assessment. "At this point, we are going to see how things play out over the next few days," a senior administration official said. Russia began air strikes in support of Assad's army in September, a move that helped shore up the regime's crumbling forces and allowed them to go on the offensive. Russia sent some 50 warplanes to carry out thousands of strikes across Syria, saying it was targeting "terrorist" groups including Islamic State jihadists. The intervention was slammed by the West and its regional allies, which insisted that Moscow was mainly bombing more moderate rebels fighting Assad. A temporary ceasefire between Assad's forces and opponents introduced on February 27 has largely held, but does not cover IS and Al- Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front. A jihadist commander told AFP that Al-Nusra was preparing to launch a new offensive "within the next 48 hours". Syria's main opposition welcomed the Kremlin announcement, but said it would wait and see the impact on the ground. "We must verify the nature of this decision and its meaning," HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet told reporters in Geneva. After his first official meeting with the regime on Monday, de Mistura told reporters that "strong statements (and) rhetoric" were part of every tough negotiation and that his initial discussions with government representative Bashar al-Jaafari were "useful".

Turkey stability fears as Kurdish conflict threatens to escalate

© AFP / by Fulya Ozerkan with Damon Wake in Istanbul | A woman pushes a stoller past a Turkish soldier during clashes in central Diyarbakir

ANKARA (AFP) -  Sunday's suicide car bombing in Ankara has raised fears of an escalation in Turkey's long-running Kurdish conflict, as the country grapples with the Islamic State threat while relying on a security system weakened by a political crackdown, analysts say.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the blast which killed 35 people in the heart of the Turkish capital, but the government has pointed the finger at the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), against which Ankara has waged a relentless assault since late last year.
The government said one of the bombers was a woman in her mid-20s affiliated with the PKK and trained in Syria by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia group the Turkish military shelled for several days in February.
The PKK launched a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984 for greater autonomy for Kurds, a conflict that has claimed some 40,000 lives and flared up again last year after a two-year ceasefire collapsed.
Sunday's attack came three weeks after a similar car bombing in Ankara killed 29 people, claimed by a dissident PKK faction called the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK).
"If confirmed that the attack was conducted by TAK or the PKK, it would mark a significant shift in tactics from targeting security force personnel," said Otso Iho, an analyst at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.
Since clashes restarted last year, alongside more traditional attacks targeting police and soldiers, the PKK ordered local "uprisings" in towns in the southeast, seeking to follow the methods of Kurds in Syria who have successfully fought IS jihadists.
But Can Acun, an analyst with Turkish think tank SETA, told AFP the "uprisings" had not worked and the PKK seemed to have been driven to more extreme actions.
- 'Fighting everywhere' -
The current head of the PKK told Britain's Times newspaper that Ankara should expect payback for the military offensive, saying his fighters would take the conflict to Turkish towns -- and no target was off limits.
"Until recently the war with the Turkish army occurred just in the mountains. Then it moved to towns and cities. Now there will be fighting everywhere," Cemil Bayik told the Times just days before the Ankara blast.
The TAK -- seen by Ankara and some analysts as simply a deniable front for the PKK -- has threatened to strike tourist areas, targeting an important part of Turkey's economy.
But Max Abrahms, professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, said it would be "folly" for the PKK to target civilians in Turkey.
"Doing so will only strengthen (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan's hand to fight Kurds and will erode international support for the Kurdish cause," Abrahms told AFP.
- Crackdown backfires? -
Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) won parliamentary elections in November promising to wipe out the PKK and casting itself as the country's only defence against "chaos".
But five major bombings since July last year, killing more than 200 people, including two in Ankara in less than a month, have led some to doubt the government -- and damaged the country's image as a stable bridge between Europe and the Middle East.
Continuing civilian deaths in major cities also undermine Erdogan's claims that his strong -- critics would say increasingly authoritarian -- leadership is proving effective in tackling the terror threat.
In recent months Ankara has launched a crackdown which has seen journalists and academics detained and dissident media outlets muzzled or shut down, prompting European allies to worry Turkey is backsliding on democratic standards just as it seeks accelerated EU membership.
But the sweep has also hit senior police officers and judiciary -- and analysts say this has weakened the state's security services at a time when they are badly needed.
"This loss of expertise can be seen as a key reason for Turkey's security and intelligence failures," Aykan Erdemir, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told AFP.
Nihat Ali Ozcan, professor of international relations at Ankara's TOBB University of Economics and Technology, agreed, saying the security apparatus had been weakened at a period of "unprecedented" threat.
And there may be worse to come, Erdemir warned, saying more attacks in western Turkey could lead Ankara into further armed confrontations with Kurdish rebels in Syria and Iraq.

by Fulya Ozerkan with Damon Wake in Istanbul

© 2016 AFP

Bus blast kills at least 16 in NW Pakistan

© AFP/File | Pakistani army troops patrol in Peshawar, where the military has been intensifying its offensive against Islamist militants

PESHAWAR (PAKISTAN) (AFP) -  At least 16 people were killed and more than two dozen wounded when a bomb blew up inside a bus in Peshawar, the main city of northwest Pakistan, officials said, with the toll expected to rise.
The explosion took place in Saddar, a busy shopping district, as the bus was picking up government workers to take them to their offices.
"At least 16 people were killed and more than 24 were wounded in a blast on a government employees' bus," senior police official Mohammad Kashif Zulfiqar told AFP.
Another police official and hospital officials also confirmed the incident and casualties.
Bomb disposal officials said that it was a four kilogramme (8.8 pound) Improvised Explosive Device (IED) fitted with a remote control detonator and planted near the bus's gas cylinder, amplifying the blast.
Talking to reporters at the site, Abbas Majid Marwat, another senior police official, said that the bus was transporting government employees from the northwestern town of Mardan to Peshawar.
Rescue workers at the site were seen taking the injured from the blue bus and carrying them out on stretchers to waiting ambulances.
Other injured were scattered near the site and some were picked up by rescue workers on their shoulders.

© 2016 AFP

Police kill suspect in Brussels raid linked to Paris attacks

Belgian police killed a suspect armed with an assault rifle after four officers were wounded on Tuesday in a raid on a Brussels apartment linked to investigations into November’s Islamist attacks in Paris, prosecutors said.

One or more people opened fire on Belgian and French police officers when they went to conduct what they had expected to be a routine search of an apartment in a suburban side street in the south of the Belgian capital. Some of those involved in the Nov. 13 bombings and shootings lived or were based in the city.
Three officers, including a French policewoman, were wounded and a fourth was hurt during a subsequent exchange of fire. When police stormed the building three hours after the first raid, they killed an unidentified individual wielding a Kalashnikov—a gun used by some of the Islamic State militants in Paris.
Prime Minister Charles Michel and members of his government told a news conference that police operations were continuing. Police searched more nearby buildings late in the evening in the southern Brussels borough of Forest but did not confirm Belgian media reports that they were hunting two further suspects.
“We have escaped a tragedy,” Michel said, noting that none of the four wounded police officers was seriously hurt.
Ministers said the presence of French police at the scene was a “coincidence” not an indication that the initial search had been expected to provide a major break in the case.
The shooting prompted a lockdown in a wide area around the house in the rue du Dries that lasted for hours until police began escorting children from schools and kindergartens after dark, and some 50 who had taken shelter in a supermarket.
Residents were allowed to return to homes behind the cordon.
Around 5 p.m. (1600 GMT), Reuters journalists heard gunshots as police commandos crowded into the street where the raid unfolded. DH newspaper said a suspect was shot dead after being spotted from a police helicopter in a nearby garden.
Belgian connection
Investigators believe much of the planning and preparation for the November bombing and shooting rampage in Paris was conducted in Brussels by young French and Belgian nationals, some of whom fought in Syria for Islamic State.
The attack strained relations between Brussels and Paris, with French officials suggesting Belgium was lax in monitoring the activities of hundreds of militants returned from Syria.
Belgian security forces have been actively hunting suspects and associates of the militants involved in the Paris attacks.
One of the prime suspects, 26-year-old Brussels-based Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, is still on the run. He left Paris hours after his brother blew himself up outside a cafe. Belgian authorities are holding 10 people who have been arrested in the months since the attacks, mostly for helping Abdeslam.
Belgian public television quoted French police sources as saying Abdeslam had not been the target of Tuesday’s raid.
Brussels, headquarters of the European Union as well as Western military alliance NATO, was entirely locked down for days shortly after the Paris attacks for fear of a major incident there. Brussels has maintained a high state of security alert since then, with military patrols a regular sight.
Soldiers were on streets in central Brussels on Tuesday as the operation continued.
Belgium, with a Muslim population of about 5 percent among its 11 million people, has the highest rate in Europe of citizens joining Islamist militants in Syria.
(REUTERS)

Deutsche Boerse, LSE agree to go ahead with planned merger

© AFP/File | Deutsche Boerse said the merger with the London Stock Exchange would go ahead under a UK holding company

FRANKFURT (AFP) -  Frankfurt stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with the London Stock Exchange to go ahead with their planned merger and both its management and supervisory boards had consented to the key terms of the proposed tie-up.
"Following approval of the supervisory board of Deutsche Boerse, the management board of Deutsche Boerse today concluded an agreement on the implementation of a business combination with (the London Stock Exchange) LSEG under a UK holding company," the German group said in a statement.
"Moreover, the management board and the supervisory board of Deutsche Boerse consented to certain measures serving the implementation of the merger," it added.

© 2016 AFP

5 takeaways from Super Tuesday 3

Columbus, Ohio (CNN)Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump dominated one of the biggest days of the 2016 presidential race so far. Trump overcame controversy about the violent clashes that have marked his rallies this week and Clinton muted the criticism over her history on trade deals with big wins in Ohio and Illinois over Bernie Sanders.

But the Republican delegate count is about to become a national obsession. Ohio Gov. John Kasich's win in his home state -- and 66 delegates -- makes Trump's path to the nomination more difficult, and will have everyone in the political world looking for their calculator.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's contests:

Clinton's pivot, take two

After her big Super Tuesday wins two weeks earlier, Clinton sought to pivot to the general election. She dropped her usual attacks on Sanders and started trying to smooth things over with his younger, more liberal supporters.

Then Sanders threw a wrench into all of that by shocking her in Michigan last week.

A steadier Clinton campaign made up for that loss, and then some, by crushing Sanders in Florida, North Carolina and Ohio on Tuesday, denying him a repeat. She also won Illinois and as of 2 a.m. was battling Sanders in Missouri.

And afterward, Clinton -- who knows Sanders won't be dropping out anytime soon -- turned her eyes to November, and to Trump. The message to Democrats: The general election is here, and I'm going to stand up to the GOP front-runner.

She hammered Trump repeatedly during her speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, only a few minutes from Trump's resort there, saying at one point: "When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture, that doesn't make him strong, it makes him wrong."

Another big night for Trump

Trump won big -- routing Marco Rubio in Florida and running up the score in Illinois and North Carolina, while duking it out to the end with Cruz in Missouri.

This was a defiant candidate. The violence that erupted at his rally in Chicago last weekend didn't stop him from winning the state. The media criticism led him only to take a whack at "disgusting reporters" and leave without taking a single question, even though his campaign had advertised his election-night event as a "press conference."

As the volume and fear about Trump rose to a new level, once again the Republican front-runner gets to say: Scoreboard.

Perhaps the best evidence of Trump's supreme confidence: Embattled campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, accused by a female reporter from the pro-Trump outlet Breitbart of grabbing her during a rally last week, was parked on stage next to Trump, who gave him a shout-out.

"Corey -- good job, Corey. Great job," Trump said.

Kasich's narrow road to Cleveland

So Kasich won his home state of Ohio, and all 66 of its delegates. It was an impressive victory over Trump.

But where does he go from here?

It's the first time Kasich has won a state, and he's far behind Trump and Cruz in the delegate race. He's made big bets on two other states, New Hampshire and Michigan, and he lost them both. If he can't win there, it's not clear where he can win — except for as a dark horse at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.

But there are hurdles ahead for a candidate who will now face more intense scrutiny. Trump has relentlessly attacked the Ohio governor. Ted Cruz will likely hammer his decision to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. And his Not-Quite-Mr.-Nice-Guy persona from his Capitol Hill days could do him damage.

Kasich is betting on strong showings in states that award delegates proportionally, like New York, Connecticut, Oregon and Washington, and the winner-take-alls including Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana and California.

At the convention, Kasich's campaign said in a memo, Rubio's delegates are likely to side with the Ohio governor, "bringing the three candidates very close to parity on a second ballot."

From there, he'd make the argument that he's the best-equipped candidate to take on Clinton.

Kasich's message has been overwhelmingly positive, but he did begin drawing some implicit contrasts with Trump on Tuesday night.

"It's about pulling us together, not pulling us apart," he said.

In another Trump-focused line, Kasich said: "I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land."

A contested convention is more probable

Trump's big night still wasn't enough to stave off the likelihood of a contested convention in Cleveland.

Kasich seizing Ohio's 66 delegates complicates things for Trump. Even after winning 18 of the first 27 states with Missouri still counting, Trump needs to capture about three out of every five remaining delegates to win the 1,237 necessary to claim the GOP nomination outright.

With Cruz and Kasich continuing on, that won't be easy.

Cruz, in particular, represents a pesky challenge. He argued Tuesday night -- as he has each of the past Tuesdays -- that he and Trump are the only candidates with a shot at the nomination.

"Nobody else has any mathematical possibility whatsoever," Cruz said.

Does a contested convention mean Trump would be denied the nomination? Not necessarily.

The anti-Trump forces are now divided into three camps: Anger, bargaining and acceptance.

Some are convinced that allowing him to advance to the general election would permanently damage the party. Some -- particularly those those who have for president or are still in the race -- are still convinced that there's some alternative option. And some believe denying the will of the voters on the convention floor would destroy the party.

Aware of the challenge he faces, Trump talked party unity on Tuesday night from his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida -- name-dropping House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"We need to bring our party together," Trump said.

Rubio's 2020 play

Rubio knew his path to the Republican nomination was non-existent once Trump crushed him in Florida.

So he made a big bet on his political future: He went down swinging against Trump, hoping that a rebalancing might swing the Republican pendulum back in his direction in the future.

"I ask the American people, do not give in to the fear. Do not give in to the frustration," Rubio said.

Of his own campaign, Rubio said, "I chose a different path, and I'm proud of that."

Make no mistake: Rubio's Florida loss didn't just mark the end of his candidacy; it's the defining moment in the electorate's total repudiation of the GOP's efforts to reboot -- with a more inclusive, optimistic message aimed at minority populations -- after its loss in 2012.

Still, at only 44, Rubio's political star could very well rise again.

And while he won't stray far from the conservative movement -- in his exit speech, he railed against Washington elites -- his calculus depends on Trump ultimately faltering, likely in the general election.

Republican operative Rick Wilson made that much clear on Twitter, when he compared Rubio's 2016 campaign to Ronald Reagan's unsuccessful primary against President Gerald Ford in 1976 -- four years before Reagan began eight years of Republican rule and influenced an entire generation of young conservatives.