Jerusalem, September 12
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today underlined that peace will be possible only if the Palestinian leadership agrees to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, as the two sides prepared for the crucial second round of US-backed direct talks.

Amid widening differences over the formula for peace talks, the hardline Prime Minister warned that the recognition as a Jewish state by the Palestinians is "fundamental" to the success of the peace process, a demand the Palestinians have long rejected.

He told his ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting today that just as Israel and he personally had recognised the rights of Palestinians, Israel would demand for its recognition as the national homeland of the Jewish people.

"This is the basis for peace," he said. Netanyahu stressed that Palestinian refusal to acknowledge Israel's Jewish status was obstructing progress toward a two-state solution.

"Sadly, I have not heard the Palestinians talk of two states for two nations. They speak of two states, but not two nations," he emphasised.

"If we can get over the issue of mutual recognition, I hope that next year we will be able to congratulate one another on achieving an agreement for peace," Netanyahu said.

The 'direct' talks between the two sides that kicked off in Washington earlier this month under US mediation have already been marred by a dispute over timetables.

Israel has called its security of paramount concern and is pushing for an initial focus on this matter and a formal end to the decades old conflict, but the Palestinians have demanded debate on the core issues plaguing the conflict right from the outset - right of return of Palestinian refugees, borders and the status of Jerusalem, which is claimed by both sides as their capital.

The demand, which has been repeatedly rejected by the Palestinians, could further complicate the newly relaunched negotiations which go into a second round in Egypt tomorrow with the participation of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Israeli Premier told his cabinet colleagues that he had telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend to congratulate him on Eid al-Fitr.

The two leaders are due to meet on Tuesday for a second round of negotiations in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm- el-Sheikh, which will be followed by another the next day in Jerusalem.

The United States, which is mediating the talks, has proposed additional summit on Israeli soil in a push to maintain momentum, fearing constant bickering could hamper the talks from the outset.

Besides the rift over issues to be taken up at the start of the talks, there is also intense friction between the two sides over an Israeli freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank due to expire on September 26.

Abbas has repeatedly said he would walk out of talks if the 10-month freeze, which covers all of the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, is not extended.

US President Barack Obama earlier this week tried to heal tensions by playing down the significance of the September 26 deadline, urging the Palestinian president to appreciate Netanyahu's difficulty in securing even a temporary freeze. — PTI

Ankara, September 12
Turks voted today on whether to amend the constitution in a referendum seen as a tussle between a government led by conservative Muslims and its secular opponents for influence over the EU candidate country’s future.

A late opinion poll showed a majority of Turks backing the government’s package, which includes changes that critics say will give the ruling party control over the judiciary. Other polls have shown the result too close to call.

The vote will test support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK Party has pushed political and economic reforms since coming to power in 2002, but is accused by the secular establishment of harbouring Islamist ambitions.

Turks, and investors, will eye the outcome for any clue to Erdogan’s chances of forming a single-party government for a third consecutive term after an election due by July next year.

Erdogan has said the changes to a charter drafted in the 1980s after a military coup exactly 30 years ago are needed to strengthen democracy and bring Turkey closer to European norms. “Turkish democracy is at a turning point today, we are sitting an important test,” Erdogan said after voting in Uskudar district of Istanbul, as police sharpshooters lay in position on rooftops around the school serving as a polling station.

Security forces and Kurdish activists urging a boycott of the vote clashed in parts of the insurgency-ridden southeast, and a soldier was killed by a land mine near the town of Siirt. How Kurds vote could prove important in a tight race. Erdogan said the boycott had little impact except in Hakkari district bordering Iran.

To whip up support, the government has revived memories of the brutal repression that followed the 1980 coup. “A ‘yes’ has to come out of today’s vote, not only for the democratic future of Turkey, but also to right the wrongs of the past and ease the pain of those who suffered in the 1980 coup,” a soldier at the time of the coup, Sahit Yilmazer, said as he voted in Istanbul.

The secularist opposition does not dispute that some changes are necessary, but says the proposals would also open the way for the AK party to take over the courts after building up a strong power base within the state during eight years in office. — Reuters

Tehran, September 12
A senior prosecutor said today that Iran is ready to release Sarah Shourd, one of three US hikers detained for more than a year and accused of spying, on bail of around $500,000.

“For the female defendant (Shourd), bail has been set at five billion Iranian rials (around $500,000),” the official IRNA news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as telling reporters.

“She can be freed by posting the bail... Her lawyer has been informed.” Shourd was arrested with fellow hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal on July 31, 2009, after straying across the border from neighbouring Iraq.

Dolatabadi said the decision to free Shourd on bail was taken after “the judge confirmed Shourd’s illness.” Shourd’s mother Nora said last month that her daughter was being held in solitary confinement despite suffering from a pre-cancerous cervical condition, a lump in her breast and depression.

Iranian authorities have accused the three Americans of illegally entering the Islamic republic and of spying. But they insist they entered the country by mistake after getting lost during a trek in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Dolatabadi said that there were “enough reasons to accuse the three of espionage.” “The case is nearly complete and the judge has issued an indictment for the three Americans accused of spying,” he said, adding that Bauer and Fattal had been remanded in custody.

“It has been proven that they illegally entered through the Kurdistan border. Also the equipment and supplies they were carrying are only used for spying,” Dolatabadi was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying. — AFP