George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has returned to Washington after failing to secure a compromise deal for renewed peace talks bewteen Israel and the Palestinians.

Mitchell had hoped to reach a deal on a settlement freeze that would allow the two sides to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

 But Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem correspondent, said: “The hopes for that big symbolic meeting are looking slim to non-existent … things are certainly looking distinctly unhopeful.

“Really, Friday was the last day for Senator Mitchell to make any headway in trying to close this yawning diplomatic gap.”

 Mitchell’s efforts were effectively brought to an end, at least temporarily, by the onset of Israeli and Palestinian public holidays – the Jewish New Year and Muslim Eid al-Fitr.

‘No agreement’

US and Israeli officials remained tight-lipped over the talks, but Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said that no deal had been reached.

“Mitchell’s shuttle visit has ended without agreement. There is no agreement yet with the Israeli side and no middle-ground solution,” he said. 

Abbas has demanded a full halt to settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a condition for resuming negotiations on a final peace settlement – talks that were broken off in
December.

Barack Obama, the US president, has endorsed that call, urging both sides to meet the terms of a 2003 US-backed “road map” for peace.

But Netanyahu has ruled out stopping construction in East Jerusalem and wants settlements in the West Bank to be able to grow to accommodate the expanding families of current settlers.

The Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed Israeli government official as saying that Israel was prepared to go further than the six-month freeze previously suggested by Netanyahu.  

“Israel will agree to extend the freeze beyond six months – possibly nine months, but less than a year,” the official was reported as saying.

The US has pushed for a year-long freeze in settlement building.

The Palestinians say that the spread of the settlements could deny them a viable state as they divide areas of the West Bank.

About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and in Arab East Jerusalem, territory captured in a 1967 war, alongside about three million Palestinians.

Meeting ’still possible’

The meeting at the United Nations in New York could still take place, Erekat said, but added that it would be “meaningless” unless Netanyahu changed his position on settlement expansion.

Rowland said: “The Palestinians will obviously be in New York at the United Nations General Assembly, and the Israelis will be there as well.

“So theoretically the two sides would have up until the eleventh hour to actually decide whether they were going to meet, even for a symbolic handshake, with President Obama.”

A further key issue stalling the talks is Israeli reluctance to commit to a target schedule for reaching a final settlement, possibly in no more than two years, that would create a Palestinian state.

Abbas, facing a strong challenge from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has rejected suggestions that he negotiate possible temporary arrangements with Israel.

Philip Wilcox, a former US Consul in Jerusalem and current president of the think tank the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told Al Jazeera there is still hope for talks.

“I would say that it is the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.

“The settlement freeze was designed as a confidence building measure, as a preliminary to real negotiations on the issues that really count.

“Freezing settlements would still leave 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“The real issues are borders, refugees, Jerusalem, the settlements and security.”

Sources: Aljazeera and agencies

Ahmad Akam, a Yemeni coast guard official, said the people smuggling season had just started. “It usually begins in September every year as the weather becomes milder, helping smugglers traffic Africans to Yemen by boat.”

He said each passenger paid smugglers about US$50 to get from the Somali port city of Bossaso to Yemen.

On 13 September a boat carrying 142 Somali and non-Somali citizens had engine failure and capsized near the Yemeni coastal town of Radfan, 150km east of the UNHCR-run Mayfaa Reception Centre for Somali refugees, according to Leen al-Mugahed, a public information assistant at UNHCR’s Sanaa office.

“Ninety-eight passengers managed to swim ashore while 43 others are still missing and presumed dead,” she said. Survivors said one person had died of suffocation in the boat’s engine room.

In another incident, a boat carrying 122 Africans capsized near Yemen’s shores and 13 passengers lost their lives because of severe mistreatment at the hands of smugglers, said a 15 September statement by UNHCR. It quoted survivors as saying the dead passengers had been accommodated in the boat’s engine room since departing from the Somali village of Marera.

A third incident was reported by a European Union warship, the Louise of Belgium, which detected a sinking boat. The warship proceeded immediately to the scene and rescued 38 people.

UNHCR quoted survivors as saying there were originally 48 people on board. Two dead bodies were spotted by navy helicopters engaged in the rescue but were not recovered as priority was given to survivors. Agency officials said another six passengers were missing and presumed dead.

3,000 new arrivals in September

Rocco Nuri, external relations officer at UNHCR’s Aden office, told IRIN on 16 September there were a total of five boats trafficking refugees and economic migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemen when the incidents occurred.

About 3,000 Africans have fled to Yemen since 1 September, he said.

“The influx of new arrivals from the Horn of Africa is likely to continue due to a number of push factors which are forcing people to flee Somalia and neighbouring countries, such as ongoing conflict, political instability, famine and extreme poverty,” Nuri told IRIN.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, with scarce resources and limited employment opportunities, yet it hosts over 140,000 refugees and grants refugee status to all Somalis entering its territory, according to UNHCR.

Since the beginning of 2009, 860 boats carrying 43,586 people have made the perilous journey to Yemen across the Gulf of Aden; 273 people have died or are missing and presumed dead, according to UNHCR.

Source: Irin

At least 11 people including six African Union (AU) peacekeepers have been killed after two large car bombs exploded in the AU’s headquarters in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Seven more people were also killed and 18 wounded in gun battles that broke out after the blasts on Thursday, witnesses said.

 Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, an spokesman for rebel group al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attacks saying they were to avenge the death of Salah Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan-born al Qaeda suspect, who was killed in southern Somalia on Monday during a raid by US special forces.

“We have got our revenge for our brother Nabhan. Two suicide car bombs targeting the AU base, praise Allah,” Rage said.

 “It took place at noon on the 27th of Ramadan, the best blessing. We knew the infidel government and AU troops planned to attack us after the holy month. This is a message to them.”

‘Deafening thunder’

Nabhan, 28, had been allied with al-Shabab, which the US accuses of being al-Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia.

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Witnesses said two vehicles with UN markings entered the coastal airport base of the 5,000-strong African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) mission – comprised of troops from Burundi and Uganda – unchallenged before blowing up. 

One witness said: “We thought they were real UN cars carrying white people, but moments later deafening thunder shook the ground,”

“The area was covered with flames and clouds of smoke.”

Nicolas Bwakira, the AU’s special representative for Somalia, said in a statement: “At least two bombs exploded at the force headquarters at about midday … causing injuries and damage to Amisom peacekeepers, facilities and equipment.

“Despite this barbaric attack, the African Union remains resolute in its commitment to support the Somali people and the … government in their peace and reconciliation efforts.”

Hostage demands

The bombings came just hours after al-Shabab issued demands in return for the release of a French security consultant the group is holding hostage, including an immediate end to French support for Somalia’s fragile government.

The French hostage is one of two security consultants kidnapped by gunmen in Mogadishu in July.

Al Shabab said the attacks were revenge for the killing of Nabhan [AFP]

His colleague managed to escape on August 26. 

In return for his release, al-Shabab demanded the “immediate cessation of any political or military support to the apostate government of Somalia and the withdrawal of all its security advisers in Somalia”, the rebels said in a statement.

They demanded the withdrawal of AU troops supporting President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s administration and the departure of French warships trying to stamp out piracy in Somali waters.

The group’s statement also called for the release of prisoners in other countries to be named later.

Fighting in Somalia has killed more than 18,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and left another 1.5 million homeless.

Thursday’s attack was the worst on AU peacekeepers since 11 Burundians were killed and 28 wounded in February by two suicide bombers who infiltrated their base.

Source: Aljazeera and agencies