APRIL 8th PREDICTION

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Economists call for political union to prevent euro collapse

24.04.2006 - 09:59 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

Prominent Belgian economist Paul de Grauwe has argued the euro is bound to collapse in 10 to 20 years as there is no clear progress towards a political union in Europe.

Professor De Grauwe from the Catholic University of Leuven, advocated the creation of the common currency in the 1990s but his forthcoming research paper will present evidence of the euro's risks for the future, news agency AFP reports.

"A political union is the logical end-point of a currency union," Mr De Grauwe told Belgian weekly, The Business, adding "The monetary union will collapse ... not next year, but on a time frame of 10 or 20 years. There is not a single monetary union which survived without political union. They have all collapsed."

Economists point out that the common currency was established with the view to creating more jobs, higher growth and lower prices, but the current situation is far less optimistic.

Growth is around two percent a year in the 12-member eurozone and high unemployment - above 8 percent

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One Down Two to Go?

As posted on our discussion board, this article may be a little old, but still very relevant (Read it here)>>>> http://fulfilledprophecy.com/one_down_twoto_go.html

I very much agree. In fact, we can't avoid the possibility. If you've seen my PowerPoint presentation and read the article, you may already know where I'm going. It may be one horn down and two to go.

In 1995, with the entry of Greece, the Western European Union (WEU) became a military alliance of 10 nations. In 1998, at the Vienna EU Summit, the Office of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy was created bearing the biblical number 666. Then, in 1999, the prior head of NATO, Javier Solana, became the first person to hold this new Office. What made this event possibly even more prophetically significant, the same year, Solana also became head over the WEU 10 nation alliance. In other words, it might be said a little horn just appeared among 10. If so, this is the geo-political reality we find described in Daniel 7: 7-8.

But, if we're actually witnessing the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy, we should expect to see three of these 10 nations somehow subdued by the little horn. That's where the article I posted above may come in.

As you may already know, the EU "big three" -- France, Britain and Germany -- have formed a directorate in order to maintain control over the EU's foreign and security policy. This being the case, it's only natural France and Britain, who already have their permanent seats on the UN Security Council, would support Germany's bid to have a seat on the UN Security Council too. Ironically, all three of these nations are also members of Solana's 10 nation alliance. And, this brings up a problem.

You see, Solana's Office of High Representative was established to run the EU's foreign and security policy. So, what we have are three out of the 10 WEU nations -- the EU big three -- standing in Solana's way. In other words, it's just like the Bible predicted. That's why I said before, the geo-political reality may be unavoidable.

It turns out that Germany's Gerhard Schr

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Livni to EU: Don't be fooled by Hamas

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Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 25, 2006

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The European Union should not "fall" for moderate-sounding statements the Hamas leadership will likely issue in the near future to gain international legitimacy and financing, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday, referring specifically to the possibility that Hamas will endorse the 2002 Saudi peace initiative.

Livni's comments came during a meeting she had with visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. Livni praised Moratinos for Spain's "uncompromising position" regarding the need for Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous agreements before being granted international legitimacy.

She stressed the need for Europe to take a unanimous position on this matter, and said that lowering the bar on these three conditions now would make diplomatic progress more difficult in the future.

Livni's reference to the Saudi initiative comes as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Arab League have in recent days been pressing Hamas to accept the Saudi plan.

The plan, adopted at the Arab Summit in Beirut in March 2002, calls on Arab states to "normalize relations" with Israel in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state following an Israeli withdrawal to the green line, and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN Resolution 194. This resolution called on Israel to allow the return of Palestinian refugees and compensate who don't want to do so.

Israel rejected the initiative, which has since been welcomed by UN Security Council resolution 1397 and mentioned in the road map.

One senior diplomatic official said that, in conversations with her colleagues, Livni has made clear that Israel would not accept any attempt by Hamas to "implicitly" recognize Israel's right to exist by accepting the Saudi plan or any other diplomatic effort.

Although attempts to get Hamas to accept the initiative before last month's Arab League summit in Sudan fell far short, some diplomatic officials feel that the likelihood that Hamas might now accept the idea would increase as its international isolation - and lack of international funding for the PA - continued.

"Right now Hamas's friends are Syria and Iran," one Israeli diplomatic official said. "This is obviously something they will try to change."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, when asked whether Israel would be satisfied with a Hamas acceptance of the Saudi initiative, said, "They have been asked to unequivocally recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce terrorism and accept all previous agreement. There can be no ifs

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EU Congo mission gets green light from UN

26.04.2006 - 09:39 CET | By Mark Beunderman

The UN Security Council on Tuesday (25 April) approved an EU military mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo to secure elections in the violence-stricken country due in June.

The unanimous approval by the top UN body comes after the UN in January asked the EU to "make available a deterrent force during the electoral process."

Since then, the bloc has been struggling to hammer out a plan for a Congo security force of up to 1,450 troops from at least ten EU countries.

The Democratic Republic of Congo will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in June, which should boost the fragile reconstruction process in the African country after a brutal war from 1998 to 2002.

The UN has about 16,000 peacekeeping troops in Congo, with violence in some parts of the country still rampant.

Tuesday's UN resolution formally authorises the EU operation, which is expected to carry the name "Eufor R.D.Congo," to support the UN mission, protect civilians, help guard the capital of Kinshasa's airport and execute limited operations to extract individuals in danger.

Reuters quotes French UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere as saying only a few hundred of the EU soldiers would be based around the Congo capital Kinshasa, with others staying on alert outside Congo, both in Africa and in Europe.

The last months saw intense diplomatic wrangling in the EU over the exact composition of the mission, with many member states wary of sending soldiers to the turbulent African state.

Despite criticism from German media and politicians, the German government, led by chancellor Angela Merkel, agreed to provide around one third of the troops for the EU operation.

The military planning will be conducted from a German headquarters in Potsdam, while France will lead the EU forces on the ground.

Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Sweden have pledged to contribute to the mission, with the Netherlands also considering participation.

http://euobserver.com/9/21437

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Islamic Civil War

Reports about the car bombings are coming in as I write. It seems the West's war against terror has become a war between radical Islam and moderate Islam. Today, three bombs were detonated in the Egyptian tourist town of Dahar, on the easter shore of the Sinai Peninsula (Read about it here)>>>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4940506.stm

Already, Al Qaeda is being blamed. As it was 18 months ago, it is believed the target of the bombings was Egypt's tourist industry. And, as the death toll rises, it's understood that the majority of those killed will be foreigners -- European foreigners.

I suspect there was another target also in mind -- the Egyptian government's recent moves toward democracy. Like I said before, I suspect what we're seeing is radical Islam against moderate Islam -- an Islamic civil war.

Take a look at what's going on in the Palestinian Authority since the election of Hamas. Here, too, it looks like we're seeing a fight between radical Islam and moderate Islam (Read about it here)>>>> http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...ticle%2FPrinter

What's interesting to us students of prophecy is how the international community will respond. That's because, when this Islamic civil war is over, we know what to expect. The Bible indicates that two major powers will eventually rise over the Mediterranean region (Revelation chapter 13). The first power is widely believed to be a revival of the old Roman Empire. The second is believed to be some kind of religiously motivated political entity that will work in concert with this revived Rome. And, speaking of concert, I can't help but think of the so-called "Quartet." The Quartet, as you may know, are the four international players who are supposedly working in concert to bring peace to the Middle East -- the EU, the US, the UN and the Russian Federation.

Now, this brings us to the person who dreamed up the Quartet idea in the first place -- the EU's Javier Solana. Where does Solana stand in this on-going Islamic civil war? Evidently, according to this report, unlike the US who wants to get rid of radical Hamas, Solana believes changing Hamas is the better answer (Read about it here)>>>> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/708466.html

In other words, Solana wants to convert Hamas.

And, this in turn brings us to what I believe really should concern us. If you've been following the news, you will find Solana and company has been very busy lately attempting to retrofit a religious element into both his Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Peace, and in his new, international order that he's attempting to create in the UN.

In other words, what we appear to now be witnessing is not only a revival of the old Roman Empire, but also, as a result of this Islamic civil war, the beginning of a global religious authority. These two powers are not only wanting to bring peace to their region, but to the world.

It's just like the Bible predicted.

04-24-05

http://fulfilledprophecy.com/islamic_civil_war.html

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Quartet to hold key talks on fate of its Mideast role

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

Heads of the international Quartet will convene at the office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday to discuss the future role of the U.S.-UN-EU-Russian grouping in the Middle East conflict, with the talks centering on the possibility of backing away from the road map peace plan and ending Quartet mediation in the Mideast conflict.

A main issue in the talks will be whether to appoint a replacement for James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's former envoy for the Disengagement, or to refrain from further involvement in mediation between Israel and the Palestinians.

According to senior European sources, the Quartet officials will also weigh the degree to which the road map peace plan is relevant, discussing whether to update the plan or to withdraw from it altogether.

Senior Quartet sources are voicing doubt regarding the continuation of international involvement in the Mideast diplomatic process. The doubt comes in the wake of the formation of the new coalition by Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - who has indicated that he intends to continue to pursue his policy of unilateralism - and following the rise of the Hamas government and the international boycott against it.

"The Quartet will need to take a principle decision regarding the continuation of its contribution to mediation between Israel and the Palestinians, if the reasons for Wolfensohn's resignation do not change," a European diplomat told Haaretz.

"If it is decided to name a new envoy, it will be necessary to formulate a mandate that is relevant to the new reality that has been created on the ground."

Wolfensohn, ending more than a year's service as the Quartet envoy to Israel and the Palestinians, Monday singled out the rise of the Hamas government as a main stumbling block to further movement in Middle East diplomacy.

Wolfensohn had initially intended to leave the job in December, but bowed to a U.S. request that he stay on until the end of April to allow the Palestinian and Israeli elections to play out.

While agreeing it was time for Wolfensohn to step down, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signalled in a joint news conference with Wolfensohn Monday that he might be called back for another stint and said, "I hope he will keep his uniform not very far from the door".

Wolfenson urges urgent attention on Mideast

In a summary report he submitted to the heads of the Quartet when he decided to resign, Wolfensohn called on the international community to address the Israeli-Palestinian crisis without delay, in order to prevent severe consequences for the whole region and for world peace, while impugning the Quartet's credibility as a conflict-resolving party.

He warned that without a fundamental change in the situation vital services in the territories would collapse in the near future.

Wolfensohn noted that if the Palestinian Authority did not receive the tax money Israel collects for it, if Israel continued its regime of restrictions on trade and labor and if the flow of donations continued to weaken, the GDP in the territories would drop this year by 27%.

According to the former World Bank president the bank's economists predict unless the situation turns around in 2008 74% of the Palestinians will be living beneath the poverty line and unemployment will reach 47%.

He attributes a large part of the tremendous economic damage caused to the Palestinians to a systematic violation of commitments by Israel regarding the Gaza Strip border crossings and freedom of movement in the West Bank. Wolfensohn stressed the Palestinian Authority provides 60% of the health and education services and that the U.N. and voluntary organizations can not replace it. He said due to fear of American sanctions banks throughout the world refuse to transfer money to the PA or even directly to its employees.

"We must ask ourselves whether humanitarian aid is enough to bring us to the desired goal - a two-state solution - as the Road Map says," Wolfensohn concluded his latest report. He noted that in recent years the international community allocated an annual sum of some two billion dollars as aid to the Palestinians, hoping it would help build effective institutions and a thriving economy, on the way to establishing a viable state.

"Are we going to give all that up now," he asks, alluding to the policy of completely boycotting the Hamas government, " or will we find a way that will allow us to work in the framework of the law and the policy, while continuing to support building a democratic and responsible administration, that can act to realize the dream of peace and security for the two peoples."

The 72-year-old Australian-born American Jew informed PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and the heads of the Israeli defense establishment during his latest visit in Israel in mid-March that if he did not receive a renewed mandate for his mission he was resolved to resign at the end of April. He explained he did not see any point in his continuing to serve as long as the Quartet and the donor nations had not decided on a clear policy that befitted the new political situation created in the territories following the Hamas victory in the legislative council elections.

Since the elections Wolfensohn and his team have coordinated efforts to obtain funding for the Palestinian interim government. Wolfensohn, who took office last May, coordinated the contacts that led to the agreement on the border crossings between Israel and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice last November.

Wolfensohn recently met representatives of the Bereaved Families Forum, that includes both Israelis and Palestinians, and decided to donate 100,000 dollars of his own money to an exhibit they initiated, Offering Reconciliation 2006, whose purpose is to bring the idea of reconciliation to the public's awareness through art. In the exhibit, which will be displayed at the Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan , before traveling the world, 135 Israeli and Palestinian artists present their work, including the prime minister's wife, Aliza Olmert, Danny Caravan, Moshe Gershoni, Menashe Kadishman, Yigal Tumarkin, David Tartakover, Usama Za'tar, Jamal Houda, Jalal Kamal, Bouthniya Milhed, Rafi Lavie and others.

Wolfensohn leaves with dig at Hamas

"The Palestinians need to understand that it is not business as usual," Wolfensohn told the news conference, adding in a reference to Hamas, "Here you have a Palestinian group which has said it wants to destroy its neighbor.

"I guess if Canada did that to the United States, or New Zealand did it to Australia, the reaction would not be very [positive]," he said.

Speaking in Washington on Monday, Wolfensohn said he had made "quite a lot of progress" in promoting economic development of Gaza after the Israelis withdrew in September of last year.

But he said that given Hamas' accession to power after its surprise win in January's Palestinian elections, "the political events are such that I think the issues are above my pay grade".

"With the government of Hamas having taken over with the Palestinians, it's a very difficult movement to be able to try and negotiate any independent type of arrangements," Wolfensohn said.

Wolfensohn, who had frequently complained of being "disenfranchised" in his Gaza role and threatened to quit, left with a warning that the West should not consider trying to starve the Hamas-led Palestinians into submission.

"I don't think anyone in the quartet believes that to be the policy - although, sometimes, it is made to appear that that is what it is," he said. "I think that's a losing gambit."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.j...SubContrassID=0

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EU's top diplomat unable to shed light on CIA flights, prisons

Tue May 2, 2:08 PM ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he had no certain information that the CIA secretly flew across Europe hundreds of prisoners taken in the US "war on terrorism."

In answers to a European Parliament committee probing the suspected flights and possible CIA prisons in Europe, Solana said he did not have the power to demand that EU member states provide details about the allegations.

"I have no information, no information whatsoever, that tells me with certainty that any of the accusations, allegations, rumours, et cetera that have taken place in the last year's time are true," he said in Brussels.

"I have not the competence in my role to ask the countries how they have handled these questions," he said, adding: "They do not have the obligation to answer me, either."

He said that only the European Commission, the EU's executive body, or the Union's 25 member states could force individual countries to respond.

The United States has come under intense fire over the last year following press reports about hundreds of CIA flights suspected of carrying undeclared prisoners across European airspace since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

In remarks to the committee, set up in January to run parallel with a separate inquiry by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, Solana warned EU states against allowing any such secret prisons.

"If these exist, or have existed in Europe or elsewhere, they would violate international human rights and humanitarian law," he said.

"Our stance against torture and degrading treatment is clear: it is always wrong and it is always illegal; there are no ifs and there are no buts."

"For us, to succeed in the fight against terrorism we should uphold our core values and we should be seen doing so clearly," he said.

The EU parliamentary panel, which is due to issue a first report at the end of May, has no power to insist on evidence and has been relying on voluntary submissions from witnesses.

Under its remit, the committee is also investigating whether European governments were aware of the alleged CIA activities, and whether citizens of EU or EU candidate states were involved, including as victims, in Europe or elsewhere.

Last week a member of the committee, Italian MEP Claudio Fava, said that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had carried out more than 1,000 secret flights in Europe since 2001 without governments raising questions.

In remarks to European deputies not linked to the investigation, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he had no knowledge of any CIA flights or the holding of secret prisoners.

"I have no information on so-called alleged CIA flights or alleged rendition" to third countries, he told the assembly's foreign relations committee and added: "The NATO alliance of course respects all elements of human rights."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060502/wl_af...ts_060502162931

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Tough challenges for the Quartet

By Yonatan Touval

As the international Middle East Quartet of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia convenes tomorrow in New York, it would do well to acknowledge three fundamental problems undermining its work and perhaps even its future existence.

First, its one and only plan, the road map, has expired and will remain obsolete unless the Quartet chooses to update it. Second, the Quartet's reaction to the election of Hamas, and the three conditions it put to the Palestinian Authority, have not produced the intended outcome. And third, the Quartet is not recognized as a relevant address by one of the main parties - the Israeli government.

Of these, the most urgent problem - and the one likely to dominate tomorrow's discussions - is the Quartet's policy vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority.

That the Quartet's policy decisions in the wake of the January elections have so far failed to produce the desired effect is becoming painfully evident. Not only has the Hamas-led Palestinian government not met the Quartet's three conditions - namely, committing itself to nonviolence, recognizing Israel and accepting previous agreements and obligations, including the road map - but the suspension of donor aid is slowly creating a humanitarian catastrophe which the Quartet must now work to prevent.

In the meantime, the Quartet's actions have only further radicalized Palestinian society, and whatever leverage the Quartet had hoped to use over the PA has been seriously undercut by the very sanctions it put into effect.

One possible reason for the Quartet's failure is that it acted too quickly in setting its conditions to the Palestinian Authority and too categorically in defining them. By dictating its demands already on January 30, a mere five days after the Palestinian elections, the Quartet shut the door on a potentially necessary dialog with the democratically-elected leaders of the Palestinian Authority, a dialog that could have given the movement an opportunity to internalize the meaning of its victory and to recognize the need to address international demands.

And by defining its conditions too categorically, the Quartet failed to recognize that, however important are the principles underlying each and every one of its three conditions, they are not equally important, and meeting one need not carry the same significance as meeting another. By grouping the three conditions together, the Quartet created an unnecessary identity between them (where distinctions would have been more instructive), and it needlessly raised the bar too high for Hamas to pass, certainly in one single leap.

In the face of this bleak reality, several steps may be called for.

Without for a moment abandoning its principles, the Quartet could reframe the three conditions in a memorandum of understanding with the PA that will prioritize the conditions and set clear benchmarks for meeting each of them.

This could mean, for instance, that in the immediate term, the Palestinian government renounces terrorism and works to stabilize the situation on the ground. It would work to establish law and order, control all the militias (including not only its own, but also those of Islamic Jihad, Fatah and others), and ensure that no artillery and rocket attacks are directed at Israel. In return, the Quartet and other donor countries would resume their financial aid to the PA and establish contacts with its officials.

An additional benchmark could include a commitment by the Palestinian government to assume full responsibility for its legal duties as the new government of the PA, and hence to not violate previous agreements. An official endorsement of these agreements would signify another benchmark.

As for recognition of Israel, several options are available. The condition can be linked to a reciprocal recognition by Israel of the Palestinian right to establish an independent state within the 1967 borders. Alternatively, the issue can be put off until the end of the negotiating process. Recognition is an essential principle of international code of conduct, but it must be reciprocal; and it need not serve as a precondition to a negotiated process if it is clearly understood to comprise its end. That, after all, was the case with both Egypt and Jordan.

The Quartet's rewards for meeting each benchmark should be clearly spelled out. They can include, in addition to the resumption of financial aid and the establishment of official contacts, an upgrade of relations to a diplomatic level and a package of social, political and economic incentives.

Last but not least, the Quartet should draft a separate memorandum of understanding with Israel. The exact content of such a memorandum may not be that important, although it should definitely include an understanding that Israel immediately and unconditionally resumes the transfer of Palestinian tax money it collects at the borders.

More important, however, is the very act of concluding such a memorandum if through such a document Israel was brought to recognize the Quartet as such. Israeli officials have, of course, met over the past four years with individual members of the Quartet, but never collectively, never together - never, that is, as a Quartet.

Israel's unofficial boycott of the Quartet is perhaps the biggest diplomatic open secret in current Mideast negotiations. Clearly, if the U.S., EU, UN and Russia can't bring Israel to recognize the Quartet, there can be little confidence in the Quartet's ability to do much more. Yet it must achieve much more or else refrain from further involvement, for to continue playing a counter-productive role is worse than playing no role at all.

The writer is a policy analyst with the Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF), a Tel Aviv-based think tank dedicated to bringing about an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/713273.html

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10/05/2006

Hamas signals suspicion over new Quartet emergency aid plan

By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas signalled suspicion on Wednesday over a new Quartet plan to channel temporary aid to the Palestinians, hinting that the U.S.-EU-UN-Russian grouping was trying to force Hamas to agree to formally recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Israel welcomed the decision, although opposition critics said it could undermine economic pressure on the Hamas-led government.

"As far as we are concerned, the Quartet's decision to give further humanitarian support to the Palestinian Authority, bypassing the Hamas government, is definitely okay," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Army Radio.

Haniyeh spoke hours after members of Quartet members, meeting at the United Nations in New York, agreed Tuesday to back a "temporary international mechanism" to channel aid to the Palestinians for a trial period to ease the financial squeeze on the new government following the election of Hamas.

The Quartet reached a "silent agreement" to establish a trust fund that will pay the salaries of Palestinian civil servants through the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

However, Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza, "The Quartet have conditions. They aim to push the Palestinian government to make concessions that harm (Palestinian) rights and red lines and give the (Israeli) occupation legitimacy."

Haniyeh did not elaborate, but Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghazi Hamad said a statement would be issued later on Wednesday in response to the Quartet's decision.

In Jerusalem, Livni welcomed the decision.

Livni's predecessor, Likud MK Silvan Shalom, criticized the move as a "grave decision, one that distances us from the possibility of bringing an end to this terrorist regime of the Hamas."

After Hamas took control of the PA in March, major donor nations and Israel imposed a foreign aid freeze, demanding that the armed group renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and embrace existing peace deals.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to a news conference on Tuesday with other Quartet members following the aid decision, said, "The thrust of the statement is that the international community is still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian people."

"It is to provide assistance to the Palestinian people so they do not suffer deprivation," she said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the international mechanism to be used, which has not yet been fully decided on, should begin as soon as possible and be reviewed after three months.

But senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat told Reuters the Quartet's plan did not go far enough.

"We had hoped the Quartet would announce immediate continuation of aid to the Palestinian people because the continuation of the suspension of aid is leading to a humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

Hamas bypassed to pay 165,000 salaries

The initiative is meant to bypass the Hamas government and pay the salaries of 165,000 civil servants who have not received their salaries since March. The decision stems from a realization by Quartet members that a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian Authority must be averted.

Earlier, a source close to the talks said that the United States was edging closer to agreeing to a "temporary international mechanism" to pay employees of the Hamas-led government who have not received wages for two months.

"America is softening its position. The Arab foreign ministers made very clear if the Palestinian Authority collapses then you could potentially have a civil war," said the source, who asked not to be named as negotiations were at a delicate stage.

He said the money could be handled via a body such as the World Bank which could set up a special account for a limited period. However, he stressed no final decisions had been made.

Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan expressed concern that cutting off aid would lead to the financial collapse of the Palestinian government and boost violence in the region.

Arab nations are pushing for a French proposal to channel funds through the World Bank or for salaries to be paid via the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party lost to Hamas in the January parliamentary elections.

In addition, the Arab League has offered a plan to deposit donor funds directly into the accounts of government workers, but this has been thwarted by Washington.

Hours before the talks, Abbas urged the Quartet to end the freeze on foreign aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government, saying lack of funds could "jeopardise the very foundation" of government.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/714085.html

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US could access EU data retention information

12.05.2006 - 09:50 CET | By Helena Spongenberg

US authorities can get access to EU citizens' data on phone calls, sms' and emails, giving a recent EU data-retention law much wider-reaching consequences than first expected, reports Swedish daily Sydsvenskan.

The EU data retention bill, passed in February after much controversy and with implementation tabled for late 2007, obliges telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called who and who emailed who for at least six months, aimed at fighting terrorism and organised crime.

A week later on 2-3 March, EU and US representatives met in Vienna for an informal high level meeting on freedom, security and justice where the US expressed interest in the future storage of information.

The US delegation to the meeting "indicated that it was considering approaching each [EU] member state to ensure that the data collected on the basis of the recently adopted Directive on data retention be accessible to them," according to the notes of the meeting.

Representatives from the Austrian EU presidency and from the European Commission said that these data were "accessible like any other data on the basis of the existing ... agreements" the notes said.

The EU representatives added that the commission would convene an expert meeting on the issue.

Under current agreements, if the FBI, for example, is interested in a group of EU citizens from a member state who are involved in an investigation, the bureau can ask for help with a prosecutor in that member state.

The national prosecutor then requests telephone operators and internet service providers for information, which is then passed on to the FBI.

This procedure opens the way for US authorities to get access under the EU data-retention law, according to the Swedish newspaper.

In the US itself meanwhile, fury has broken out in the US congress after reports revealed that the Bush administration covertly collected domestic phone records of tens of millions of US citizens since the attacks in New York on 11 September 2001.

President George Bush did not deny the allegations in a television statement last night, but insisted that his administration had not broken any laws.

http://euobserver.com/9/21580