Israel Targeted by Gaza Rockets as Ashton Visits
THE TELEGRAPH: Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip into a kibbutz in southern Israel, killing a Thai worker, while EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was on an hours-long visit to the area.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton Photo: The Telegraph
The rocket was launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing a Thai agricultural worker, while Baroness Ashton was visiting the Hamas-controlled enclave.

It was the first strike from the territory to cause any fatalities since the end in January 2009 of Israel's Gaza war.

An hour before the attack, the EU's top diplomat Catherine Ashton crossed into the Gaza Strip to tour UN facilities and see how the international funding was being used.

At a Gaza news conference after the attack, Baroness Ashton said: "I condemn any kind of violence, we have got to find a peaceful solution to the issues and problems."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed his condemnation, saying in a statement: "All such acts of terror and violence against civilians are totally unacceptable and contrary to international law."

An unknown Gaza group, Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the attack – launched a day before the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators was to meet in Moscow to discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks. >>> | Thursday, March 18, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: No crisis between US and Israel, says Barack Obama: President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that Israeli plans to build more homes near East Jerusalem were not helpful for the Middle East peace process, but he said the issue had not led to a crisis with one of the United States' closest allies. >>> | Wednesday, January 17, 2010

How Wrong Could the EU Foreign Ministers Have Been?
EURACTIV.COM: EU foreign ministers on Saturday (29 March) broadly condemned a controversial film released by Dutch MP Geert Wilders which portrays Islam as a religion which incites violence, but defended the filmmaker's freedom of expression.

"The film equates Islam with violence and this view is sharply rejected," the ministers said in a statement released after their meeting in Brdo, Slovenia on 29 March. "The problem is not religion, but abusing religion as a pretext for sowing hatred and intolerance," the EU foreign ministers added.

Among other scenes, the 15-minute film includes footage of the September 11 terrorist attacks superimposed alongside verses quoted from the Qur'an, beheadings of hostages and executions of women wearing the hijab (covering the head and body of the wearer).

Muslim organisations condemned the film. Describing it as a "deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims," the secretary general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said the footage was designed to "provoke unrest and intolerance".

Similarly, EU foreign ministers condemned the content of the film, but were quick to defend Mr. Wilders' right to make it. "The production of this movie falls within the exercise of the rights all our citizens have," they insisted.

Likewise, the Council of Europe defended Wilders' freedom of expression, albeit "in this case with disappointment and concern," describing its release as a "sad day for European democracy". The principles of European democracy were being used "to promulgate intolerant and deeply offensive stereotypes," said Terry Davis, the secretary general.

Perhaps mindful of the extent of the reaction to the publication of the Mohammed cartoons in 2005, EU foreign ministers stressed that "feeling offended is no excuse for aggression or threats". EU Foreign Ministers Condemn Dutch Film on Islam >>> | March 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)