Peace Hopes Fade after US and Israel Agree to Shun New Palestinian Coalition

Peace Hopes Fade after US and Israel Agree to Shun New Palestinian Coalition

Rory McCarthy
Guardian February 19, 2007



Israel and the US have agreed to refuse recognition to a new Palestinian coalition government ahead of talks in Jerusalem today, the Israeli prime minister said yesterday, reducing the already slim prospects of progress in the peace process.

Ehud Olmert, who is due to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, at a meeting chaired by the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, in a Jerusalem hotel this morning, said that he and the US had agreed to shun the new Palestinian unity government.

When the talks were first announced a month ago they were hailed as the biggest effort in six years to restart peace negotiations, and came alongside new meetings of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators: the US , the UN, the EU and Russia . One UN diplomat at the time described the effort as a "launching pad for the new peace process", and Ms Rice spoke of "trying to accelerate progress on the road map".

But there is now little expectation that the talks will produce any new deals. Mr Olmert, who spoke by phone to George Bush on Friday, said that the US and Israel had agreed that the new Palestinian government, to be formed following a rare agreement between rival factions earlier this month, would not be recognised because it still failed to meet the Quartet's conditions: that it recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace agreements. "A Palestinian government that won't accept the Quartet conditions won't receive recognition and cooperation," Mr Olmert said yesterday. "The American and Israeli positions are totally identical on this issue."

Washington had said it would wait to decide on the new government until after it had been formed, which could take another five weeks, and until its programme had become clear.

The Palestinians had hoped that today's meeting would set out more clearly the details of a future Palestinian state, including issues such as borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees. They argued that a clearer definition of what a future settlement would look like might speed up the peace process.

Yesterday Ms Rice met Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert separately ahead of today's talks. "I hope that this meeting of the three of us will be an opportunity to examine the current situation, to commit - recommit - to existing agreements but also to begin to explore and probe the political and diplomatic horizon," she said.

Although the agreement for a new coalition Palestinian government does not meet the Quartet's conditions, it has brought a halt to the factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah that had claimed more than 100 lives and threatened a slide into civil war. The Palestinians argue that Mr Abbas would risk restarting the violence if he pulled out of the agreement now and note that he heads the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which has already recognised Israel .

But Israel says that Mr Abbas should distance himself from the radical elements of Hamas.
There is pressure from some quarters in Israel for the government to make a move. "Placing the blame for stalling on the other side, in this case on Hamas, will not prevent terror attacks and holds no hope for the future," an editorial in the left-leaning Ha'aretz said yesterday. "It is the responsibility of Israel 's leadership to prepare itself and the nation that elected it for a daring and far-reaching political plan, even if the conditions for its implementation have not yet been created."

Convicted Israel or a Innocent Nazi Germany

The attitude and sentiment below are good enough to say, "Nazi Zionists deserve the nearest gas chamber".

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, sanjay pandey wrote:

Re: [freeamericanow] Re: A schoolgirl riddled with bullets. And no one is to blame.

Sorry Bruce,

I do remember this incident.

It happenned the way it has been written down. If Israel declares that the Commander is not guilty for what so ever reason, and do not tell me in the heat of battlefield it happens, because, that is the reason non-panicking people are appointed as commanders and it is their duty to differentiate between real combatant and innocent civilian, then perhaps it is time to reinstate Nuremberg and either judge the Israelis on the same parameter as Hitler's people were or declare the previous Nuremberg was not a War Criminal Trial but a revenge drama created by the victors and Nazis were innocent.

Take your pick. Which one will it be. Either a convicted Israel or a innocent Nazi Germany.

Sanjay

--- bruceksim <bruceksim@...> wrote:

You are a guest in my home knucklehead as are all your rapist drug smuggling cohorts. You and your ilk take my welfare money, rape the women of Australia, plot to slaughter our innocents, etc, etc.

As for the death of the girl below. It is absolute bullshit. As described the de3ath is nonsensical and does not stand up to scrutiny.

Cheers Bruce

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "taxi_faruque" wrote:

IMAGINE HAVING EVEN A GUEST IN YOUR HOME WHO, FOR FORTY YEARS, BEATS YOU AND INSULTS YOU IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN, EATS YOUR FOOD, KILLS YOUR CHILDREN, DESTROYS YOUR GARDEN/LIVELIHOOD, PREVENTS YOU FROM MOVING IN YOUR OWN HOME. CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THAT?

====================================

A schoolgirl riddled with bullets. And no one is to blame. Rafah, October 21, 2004

Chris Mc Greal, The Guardian, England.

Israeli unit commander is cleared of Palestinian pupil's death !

The undisputed facts are these: it was broad daylight, 13-year-old Iman al-Hams was wearing her school uniform, and when she walked into the Israeli army's "forbidden zone" at the bottom of her street she was carrying her satchel. A few minutes later the short, slight child was pumped with bullets. Doctors counted at least 17 wounds and said much of her head was destroyed.

Beyond that there is little agreement between the army top brass and Palestinian witnesses as to how Iman came to die last week, or even among members of the military unit responsible for killing the child in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp.

Palestinian witnesses described the shooting as cold-blooded. They say soldiers could not have failed to see they were firing at a child, and she was killed as she already lay wounded and helpless.

"Some soldiers were lying on the ground and shooting very heavily toward her," said Basim Breaka, who saw the killing from her living room. "Then one of the soldiers walked to her and emptied his clip into her. For sure she died on the second or third bullet. I could see her lying on the ground, not moving. I can't imagine why that soldier wanted to shoot her after she was dead."

This week an army investigation cleared the unit's commander after some of his own soldiers accused him of giving the order to shoot knowing the target was a young girl, and of then emptying the clip of his automatic rifle into her.

On the day she died, Iman left home shortly before 7am for the short walk to school in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood. The school, facing the heavily militarised border with Egypt, is under the shadow of a towering camouflaged Israeli gunpost.

Like almost every other building in the area, Iman's school is pockmarked by bullets. Last year, a 13-year-old boy was shot dead by the army outside the school. This year, two pupils and a teacher were wounded by bullets inside the grounds.

Iman walked past her school with her satchel over her shoulder, crossed the road and climbed down a small sandy bank to an area that was an olive and citrus orchard until the army's bulldozers flattened it in April. She had entered the "forbidden zone" next to the watchtower where any Palestinian risks being shot.

The schoolgirl kept on walking toward the tower but was still several hundred metres away when two shots caught her in the leg. She dropped her bag, turned, tried to hobble away, and fell.

Four or five soldiers emerged from the army post and shot at her from a distance. Palestinian witnesses and some Israeli soldiers say that the platoon commander moved in closer to put two bullets in the child's head. They say that he then walked away, turned back and fired a stream of bullets into her body.

Iman's corpse was taken to Rafah's hospital and inspected by Dr Mohammed al-Hams. "She has at least 17 bullets in several parts of the body, all along the chest, hands, arms, legs," he said. "The bullets were large and shot from a close distance. The most serious injuries were to her head. She had three bullets in the head. One bullet was shot from the right side of the face beside the ear. It had a big impact on the whole face. Another bullet went from the neck to the face and damaged the area under the mouth."

The doctor said that the nature of the wounds suggested that Iman was already dead when some of the bullets hit her. The army swiftly blamed Iman for her own death by entering the forbidden zone. At first, the military said soldiers suspected the girl was carrying a bomb in her satchel. When it turned out there was no bomb, it said she was being used by Palestinian combatants to lure troops from their post.

But some soldiers in the unit responsible, the Shaked battalion, were outraged at what they saw as a cover-up. One told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that a soldier in the watchtower had told the company commander that he was about to shoot a child: "Don't shoot, it's a little girl".

"The company commander approached her, shot two bullets into her, walked back towards the force, turned back to her, switched his weapon to automatic and emptied his entire magazine into her. We were in shock. We couldn't believe what he was doing. Our hearts ached for her. Just a girl of 13," a soldier told the newspaper.

Other soldiers said that if the company commander was not dismissed they would refuse to serve under him: "It is a disgrace that he is still in his position. We want him kicked out."

The accounts of Palestinian witnesses back the claims of the protesting soldiers.

Fuad Zourob was working at a small brick factory overlooking the area where Iman was shot. "The girl was walking in the sand. She was shot from the army post. She was hit in the leg and she was crawling.

"Then she stood up and started to try and run and then she fell. The shooting went on. The soldiers arrived by foot. One came close to the girl and started to shoot. He walked away, turned back and then shot her some more," he said.

Yousef Breaka watched from the balcony of his second floor flat. He owns the 12 acres of bulldozed land beside the building which Iman crossed minutes before she was shot.

"The first shot came from the army post. It hit her in the leg. She was starting to walk on and then fell. She dropped her bag. They were firing, heavy shooting. I am sure she died before the two soldiers came and shot her bag and then her," he said.

Mr Breaka's living room wall is decorated with the holes of nine bullets fired from the Israeli army watchtower two years ago. A tenth bullet killed his 80-year-old mother, Jindiya.

Neither Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, nor the witnesses know why the girl walked into the forbidden zone.

"I can't explain why she was there. I've asked everyone and no one can explain it. Perhaps she just wanted to walk on the sand. Perhaps she was confused. I don't know," said Mr al-Hams.

Mr Zourob was surprised to see Iman walking at the back of his factory. "I was astonished. I didn't know why she was there. No one goes toward that area. She was alone but some of the schoolchildren were calling her: Iman, why are you there?" he said.

The watchtower sits atop a large hill of sand. It is surrounded by barbed wire and other defences. Even before she was hit in the leg, it would have taken Iman 10 minutes or more to scramble up the hill. Once she was wounded, there was little chance she could have got to the watchtower.

If she was carrying a bomb, it could have harmed Israeli troops had she got close enough to them. But after Iman was shot in the leg she dropped her school bag.

Palestinian witnesses say soldiers pumped it full of bullets, establishing that it was not a bomb, but still went on to shoot the girl.

The Israeli army's rules of engagement permit soldiers to wound a person who enters a security zone and does not heed warning shots to leave. But once the person is wounded, soldiers are only permitted to kill if there is an imminent threat to their lives. Witnesses say Iman was helpless and posed no such threat.

Her father is a teacher at a primary school neighbouring his daughter's. "The day Iman was killed, the headmistress of her school called me at 8.15 and asked why she wasn't at school. I said I had no idea.," he said.

"I ran to the school. The teachers and headmistress told me the army shot toward a small girl but she was fine, don't worry. I calmed down a bit when I heard that and thought maybe they shot toward her to make her afraid and arrested her for interrogation and they will release her. But then they declared her dead. That was the worst moment in my life."

This week, the officer responsible for the Gaza strip, Major General Dan Harel, completed his investigation and pronounced that the company commander had not acted unethically in the shooting of Iman but was being suspended for losing the confidence of his soldiers.

The speed of the investigation has revealed once again the cursory nature of the army's inquiries into such shootings. A more thorough investigation usually only follows if there is external pressure, such as in the case of three Britons shot dead by Israeli soldiers over the past two years.

The military has quietly dropped an investigation into the killing by an Israeli sniper of a brother and sister, both teenagers, in Rafah in May. The army falsely claimed that the pair were killed by a Palestinian bomb and only began the investigation after journalists found the bodies of the children and reported that both had a single shot to the head.

Under pressure from the revelations of the Shaked battalion soldiers, the military police has launched a separate investigation into the death of Iman al-Hams. The soldiers say they will insist that it is completed.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bangla-vision/message/19507

Free America Now (from Israelites)

Free America Now! Prosecute Israelites of America!!

--- Jodie <jodie_usa2000@...> wrote:

Re: Arab Nationalism

Bruce wrote:

"It is OUR Israel!! It was created by OUR United Nations ."

===

"Our" United Nations...???? You said that right, Bruce !! The UN is merely a puppet of the greedy and power hungry western civilizations. Makes me angry and makes my skin crawl from all the lies..........

I admired the guts and courage of Ahmadinejad and Chavez when they spoke the truth to the UN about the U.S. and the Bush administration and its lies, greed, and bullying of Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, and other countries of the Middle East and the world.

Who else spoke the truth ?? No one !! Not even the U.S. media that cheaply decried the "unforgivable offense" of these two leaders that had the "audacity" to come on "American soil" and speak the horrid truth about the lieing Bush thugs.

It brought back memories of Nikita Khrushchev when he spoke at the UN and banged his shoe on the table.

If the leaders of the world cannot speak the truth at the UN because it is on American soil then move the UN to an island that is not owned by any nation !!

Jodie

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "taxi_faruque" wrote:

Re: Arab Nationalism

That¡¦s why you deserve gas chamber. You are a party to the most painful and slow motion Israeli Holocaust in Palestine.

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "bruceksim" wrote:

It is OUR Israel!! It was created by OUR United Nations

Cheers Bruce

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "taxi_faruque" wrote:

Re: Arab Nationalism

"We Jews have spoiled the blood of all the races of Europe. Taken as a whole, everything is Jewdified. Our ideas animate everything. Our spirit reigns over the world. We are the Lords." - Dr. Kurt Munzer, The Way to Zion.

Re: Arab Nationalism

"Our" Israel... ?? I don't think so.....

That is not quite the way I look at Israel. Israel may be "Your" Israel, but it is not "MY" Israel. I do not see Israel as my adopted child or that of my country. Israel is NOT my burden, and the U.S. should not be burdened with taking care of Israel the rest of its life .... That is B.S. !!

jodie

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "(Systems Operator)" wrote:

Arab Nationalism

Israel is not perfect. Far from it. It is a normal state which is concerned with its own self-interests and sometimes it does things which are not popular nor does it seem progressive. But in spite of all that, warts and all, it is still our Israel - because when push comes to shove Israel must be there for Jews. 2,000 years of persecution and hate propaganda by Antisemites has been
the cruel teacher of that lesson.

"Wandering in a desert that with very few exceptions defied the organization of government due to its barren environment, the dominant identification of Arabs was not any form of nationhood but rather the closely knit tribe. Tribalism defined everything; the family, friends, and foes. Any group of settlement outside the tribe was fair game." (Edwin Black, "Banking on Baghdad" 2004)

As Black points out in his book Arabs had reputations as "traders and raiders." And that is how they interacted with the Hebrews in Israel, as traders and as plunderers. The Arabs in the area which is now Israel were mostly Arabs who were Bedouin travelers.

"Bedouins were fond of GHAZU, that is audacious marauding, killing the men in other settlements, kidnapping their wives, and stealing their animals....Ghazu was also a de facto means of Bedouin survival in the parched Arabian climes, where the possessions of others were capriciously---almost routinely---pilfered and plundered as a lifestyle." (Black)

Palestinian nationalism was a fiction. The nationalism was pan-Arab and pan-Islam. There was (is) no greater nationalism than that which exists for ALL of the region as one Muslim nation. It is their religious belief. The HAMAS charter even states it. It is an integral component of the Islamic Resistance Movement, that pan-Islam is integral to their religious belief, to Islamism.

Peace for Palestinians is the Destruction of Israel - Nothing else will do. The mere existence of Israel has been considered a NAKBA; a "calamity", a "holocaust" (Iranian journalist Amir Taheri, "The Caldron:The Middle East Behind the Headlines" (1988)

"Israel was Jewish, democratic, largely western, socialistic and
independent............Israel gradually became the major, if not the only, unifying factor in Arab politics." (Taheri)

MORE: http://pnews.org/PhpWiki/index.php/ArabNationalism

Also see article in The Crypt - http://inyourface.info/crypt/
And links in The Worm Hole - http://pnews.org/

Hank Roth
http://up-yours.us/

Love From Australia via Blog

Love From Australia via Blog

Middle East Formula for Peace, The Result of American Terrorism, Zionised Diversion Tactics, Asian and Muslim Hater Owns 51% SC TV Indonesia, Do They Deserve Hitler?, Modern Day Hitler Marching!, Kangaroo Courts and Wombats and My Dolly are for your consideration.

Promoting Muslim And Christian Bashing as well as NSW Anti-discrimination Board are a slap in the face of Australian legal system.

Conspiracies, Anti_Muslim Conspiracies in Australia and Faruque Ahmed vs Radio Terrorists are further examples of deliberate actions and inactions of the government to promote and foster racism and sectarianism.

Australian Flag A 'gang Colour' message # 20 and 112, and Image Of Christ At Waverton Train Station message #39 may shed some light of desperation in our political system.

Free Australia Now, Free America Now, Who control America, We control America, Invasion of Iraq is an act of Terrorism, WOMAN BEATEN IN JERUSALEM BUS FOR REFUSING TO MOVE TO REAR SEAT, Former Us President Slams Israel, Israeli HOLOCAUST in Palestine, Israeli Holocaust Continuum, Anti-Semitism, Zionism Is Anti-Semitism and Stop Killing Christians are unable to wake up mankind.

Freedom of Speech, Flight ban for anti-Bush T-shirt, Jesus Loves Osama, and Disclaimer speak for themselves.

Hitler wanted to take over the world is not a bad one beside Australian Values and Muslims Are Now Getting The Same Treatment, Jews had a century ago!

Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Ershad Manji are very lovely people too.

Violence Fractures Palestine Unity Talks is a slap in the face of world justice and politics.

Egyptian Terrorists, Iranian terrorists, Iraqi Terrorists and Lebanese Terrorists are consistent with the world politics lingo.

Muslim Village and Free America Now

Faruque Ahmed

Dec 26 2006, 01:05 AM Post #1

Group: Members Posts: 287 Joined: 15-Dec 06 Member No.: 5,258

Free America Now The mighty USA! The best democracy money can buy Regularly supporting tin pot dictators , despotic regimes , the providing of schooling to teach "terror groups"- on how to overthrow democratically elected governments to satisfy the lust and greed of big corporations the- School of the Americas- situated in Georgia. During the process, human rights, natural justice, free speech, nature and environment get the short change to maximise the corporate profit . Don't forget the Zionised media (not RACIST at all!) and the US administration, who have been consistently acting against the wishes and interest of the US population! The USA has used and abused UN veto power, went in two red alerts and took many unnecessary risks to support Israeli blatant terrors . The recent tragedy in the USA is not a product of religion or race. It is due to the humangus hate earned by the successive US governments. It appears to be that the power drunk USA is utterly arrogant and ignorant. In the 80's they became friendly with both the Iranian Communist Party and Saddam Hussein, only to slaughter the Iranians and- later their own monster- Baathist, Saddam grew bigger than his boots, resulting in another continuum- the GENOCIDE of 1.5 million innocent Iraqi children under 5 by the democratic and humanitarian USA! So now, the USA has become friendly, this time with, amongst others, the former Afghan Communists and brigands and the former King Zahir Shah, all to punish their old palls the Talaban. Remember George Washington was a terrorist according to the English king and perceived terrorist Osama bin Laden was a terrorist to the USSR and a freedom fighter to the USA only a few days ago! Violence breeds violence. So in the wake of the September 11 tragedy, let's define "terrorism" and have a universal set of laws applicable to everyone without prejudice and then we would be in a position to address these problems without firing any guns . Sources: Muslim Village and Free America Now

Free America Now!

Free America Now!

Iran said to have assembled two uranium units

America belongs to Americans! They don’t have to;

1. Fight and die for Nazi Zionist Israel,

2. Earn hate and curse due to their illegal and immoral blind support for Israel,

3. Abuse and misuse Veto power for Israeli war crimes and genocides.

1. Americans must regain control of their country!

2. Americans are not slaves of Israel!!

3. Israelites are not masters of America!!!

However, Isador and Baruch have different ideas!

"The governments of the peoples included in this world republic, with the aid of the victorious proletariat, all will fall without difficulty into Jewish hands. Private property will then be strangled by the Jewish directors, who will administer the state patrimony everywhere. Thus the promise of the Talmud will be fulfilled, that is, the promise that the Jews, at the arrival of the Messiah, will possess the key to the wealth of all the peoples of the earth." - Baruch Levy, in a letter to Karl Marx, published in the Rothschild controlled La Revue de Paris, June 1, 1928.

"Nations will gather together to bring their homage to the people of God; the whole fortune of nations will pass into the hands of the Jewish people, they will march behind the Jewish people, in chains as captives, and will prostrate before it." - Isador Loeb, Le Probleme Juif.

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, sanjay pandey wrote:

Agreed fully.

The only reason USA thinks that its borders end at Indo-Pak border is the nuclear arsenal of India and not because of its love for India.

Sanjay

--- taxi_faruque <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freeamericanow/post?postID=MNV5sLHht9rGgI9QEyzwOnI3g5SZ4_-zC9v4zRbSx4S9N0PrDUHyOREVP0TOAeAmb43mt5EWQl1GMZr7lh6GIrlzhA> wrote:

I say, let’s open an inquiry about neo-cons i.e. Israelites of America and their negative impact in:
1. American society,
2. World peace,
3. American trade, politics, safety, and standing in the world.

I also say, an Iranian nuclear bomb will act as a deterrent against Zionised American terrorism in the region and thereby the bomb will again ensure peace and stability in the area.

--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, sanjay pandey wrote:

Grandma,

If UN goes for further sanctions against Iran on the advice of US State Dept then it will just be making a laughing stock of itself.

Before anything can be accepted from USA or its Criminal Allies as credible, they must produce the WMD's from Iraq and evidence of Osama Bin Laden's involvement in WTC.

It has been eons and we are still waiting for both of them.

Moreover, if UN cannot disarm the current Nuclear Weapon States then it does not have any right to ask other states not to arm.

The first candidate should be the only country to have used them, i.e., USA.

Sanjay

--- Jodie <jodie_usa2000@...> wrote:

Iran said to have assembled two uranium units...

Whoop de Doo !! Iran.... Stand up and don't let the U.S. bully you... Go for it !! What's or two more nuclear bombs? Nothing..........

Jodie

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Shrugging off the threat of tougher U.N. sanctions,

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Iran

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has set up more than 300 centrifuges in two uranium enrichment units at its underground Natanz complex, diplomats and officials said Monday.

The move potentially opens the way for larger scale enrichment that could be used to create nuclear warheads. Iranian leaders have repeatedly said the Natanz underground hall would house first 3,000 centrifuges and ultimately 54,000 machines.

It also poses a direct challenge to the Security Council, which late last month imposed limited sanctions targeting programs and individuals linked to Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs ?and warned of stricter penalties within 60 days unless Iran freezes enrichment.

Speaking separately ?and demanding anonymity because their information was confidential ?a diplomat accredited to the Vienna-based

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International Atomic Energy Agency

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and a U.S. official said that two "cascades" of 164 centrifuges each had been set up in recent days.

The likely next step was "dry testing" ?running the linkups without uranium gas inside ?to be followed by attempts to spin and re-spin the gas. The process, known as enrichment, can be used to fuel nuclear power plants. But at higher levels of enrichment the material can be used for the core of nuclear warheads.

Both the Iranian leadership and the Vienna-based IAEA, which is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, had said recently that Tehran would start assembling the machines this month.

In another sign that Tehran was forging ahead with plans to create a large-scale "pilot plant" of 3,000 centrifuges running in series, U.N. officials late last week told the AP that that piping, cables, control panels and air conditioning systems had been installed at Natanz to support such a number of machines.

David Albright, the former U.N. nuclear inspector whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks Iran's nuclear activities, said the country was likely capable of hooking up 300 to 500 centrifuges a month, allowing it to reach its goal of a 3,000-machine linkup this year.

Such an operation could be used to produce fissile material for two bombs a year, but Albright ?like other analysts ?suggested that it could take somewhat longer as the Iranians have had only limited success in running the machines for prolonged periods without breakdowns in aboveground tests at Natanz.

Iran says it wants to use the technology to generate nuclear power, but the U.S. and other nations believe Tehran is intent on using the process to develop weapons. Albright said Iran could opt to create a large stockpile of low-enriched uranium which it could then use to "break out" and re-enrich to weapons grade at any time.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, last week estimated that Iran was two to three years away from having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. The head of U.S. national intelligence, John Negroponte, has spoken of a four-year period.

The State Department did not comment directly on the reported centrifuge setups, saying only that it would push for "incremental" U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran if Tehran authorities continue to ignore council demands for suspension of the country's uranium enrichment program.

Spokesman Sean McCormack said that Iran appears to be continuing "down the path of isolation."

___

On the Net:

International Atomic Energy Agency: http://www.iaea.org

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Shrugging off the threat of tougher U.N. sanctions, Iran has set up more than 300 centrifuges in two uranium enrichment units at its underground Natanz complex, diplomats and officials said Monday.

The move potentially opens the way for larger scale enrichment that could be used to create nuclear warheads. Iranian leaders have repeatedly said the Natanz underground hall would house first 3,000 centrifuges and ultimately 54,000 machines.

It also poses a direct challenge to the Security Council, which late last month imposed limited sanctions targeting programs and individuals linked to Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs ?and warned of stricter penalties within 60 days unless Iran freezes enrichment.

Speaking separately and demanding anonymity because their information was confidential, a diplomat accredited to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and a U.S. official said that two "cascades" of 164 centrifuges each had been set up in recent days.

The likely next step was "dry testing" ?running the linkups without uranium gas inside ?to be followed by attempts to spin and re-spin the gas. The process, known as enrichment, can be used to fuel nuclear power plants. But at higher levels of enrichment the material can be used for the core of nuclear warheads.

Both the Iranian leadership and the Vienna-based IAEA, which is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, had said recently that Tehran would start assembling the machines this month.

In another sign that Tehran was forging ahead with plans to create a large-scale "pilot plant" of 3,000 centrifuges running in series, U.N. officials late last week told the AP that that piping, cables, control panels and air conditioning systems had been installed at Natanz to support such a number of machines.

David Albright, the former U.N. nuclear inspector whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks Iran's nuclear activities, said the country was likely capable of hooking up 300 to 500 centrifuges a month, allowing it to reach its goal of a 3,000-machine linkup this year.

Such an operation could be used to produce fissile material for two bombs a year, but Albright ?like other analysts ?suggested that it could take somewhat longer as the Iranians have had only limited success in running the machines for prolonged periods without breakdowns in aboveground tests at Natanz.

Iran says it wants to use the technology to generate nuclear power, but the U.S. and other nations believe Tehran is intent on using the process to develop weapons. Albright said Iran could opt to create a large stockpile of low-enriched uranium which it could then use to "break out" and re-enrich to weapons grade at any time.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, last week estimated that Iran was two to three years away from having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. The head of U.S. national intelligence, John Negroponte, has spoken of a four-year period.

The State Department did not comment directly on the reported centrifuge setups, saying only that it would push for "incremental"

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U.N. Security Council

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sanctions against Iran if Tehran authorities continue to ignore council demands for suspension of the country's uranium enrichment program.

Spokesman Sean McCormack said that Iran appears to be continuing "down the path of isolation."

___

On the Net:

International Atomic Energy Agency: http://www.iaea.org