Palestinian factions meet in Cairo
February 28th, 20090 Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei (sitting 3rd L) reads out a statement during a news conference in Cairo, February 26, 2009. A dozen Palestinian groups launched a long-awaited dialogue on Thursday and laid out a plan to tackle key issues that could reunite Palestinians after 18 months of schism between Gaza and the West Bank....Hamas won’t give in to blackmail
RAMALLAH (IPS) — At the eleventh hour, just as a permanent ceasefire painfully mediated by the Egyptians after weeks of intensive shuttle diplomacy was about to take effect, Israel suddenly changed its preconditions for a settlement with Hamas. This has left the Palestinians, especially Gazans, the Egyptians, the Hamas leadership and...Divided we stand awaiting elections
On Feb. 14, supporters of the March 14th anti-Syrian movement thronged in time-honored tradition to Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut to commemorate the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri four years ago — a show of strength that has become a fixture of Lebanese politics. Saad Hariri at a Beirut...Iraq’s Sunnis joining Shi’a pilgrims
BAGHDAD — Sheikh Mohammad al-Ethawi, resplendent in his gold-trimmed robe and white headdress, hands out oranges to Shi'a pilgrims walking by a striped tent on the main route to the holy city of Karbala. Shi'a and Sunni 'Sons of Iraq' guard force lay down their rifles to serve Shi'a pilgrims on their way to Karbala south of...
Kerry first American official to visit Gaza after Hamas takeover
February 21st, 20090 U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) speaks with a Palestinian man (L) during his visit to the destroyed American International School in the northern Gaza Strip February 19, 2009. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem The U.S. will not change its stance towards Hamas, John Kerry, the former democratic U.S. presidential candidate, has said during a tour...Window closing for a two-state solution
WASHINGTON — Two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Palestinians warm themselves by a fire, as others take cover from the rain, under the ruins of their destroyed house in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip February 17, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem When the "two-state solution" became the...Regional deals won’t harm Lebanon
BEIRUT — U.S. Sen. John Kerry said on Wednesday that the new administration will press Syria to help disarm Hizbullah as it forges ahead with a fresh diplomatic approach in the region. John Kerry, Chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee (L) shakes hands with Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the...Thousands rally in Beirut on Hariri assassination anniversary
BEIRUT – A massive crowd of flag-waving Lebanese filled Martyrs' Square on Saturday to remember slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri — an occasion his supporters used to rally the public before parliamentary elections in which they are struggling to stay in power. Tens of thousands of Lebanese attend a rally near the...
The PLO: Why an alternative and why the panic?
February 14th, 20090 Left: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in June 2008. Right:Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal speaks in Tehran in May 2008. REUTERS When Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal declared before a cheering crowd in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 28, the need for a new leadership, his words generated panic amongst leaders of the West Bank-based...Arabs, stay in the street
Commentary I will sum up the transition in U.S. foreign policy as follows: in the Bush era, since September 2001, U.S. foreign policy entailed the orchestration of crisis that played on the twin themes of the "war against terror" and "those who aren't with us are against us." The Barack Obama era opened with the two central chords,...Egypt hinders investigations into Gaza war
Egypt has refused entry into the Gaza Strip to members of an international committee in charge of investigating Israeli war crimes. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) set up the committee. Four French and Norwegian lawyers comprise the committee. The ICC had earlier started preliminary analysis into alleged...Kerry to meet Assad in Syria
U.S. Senator John Kerry U.S. Sen. John Kerry will meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad next week in Damascus. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be part of a congressional delegation visiting both Israel and Syria, according to media reports. Kerry's spokesman said the Assad meeting would be...Evidence of chemical weapons
GAZA CITY — When Nafiz Abu Shabam received a 5-year-old patient at the Shifa Hospital early in the war between Israel and Hamas, he dressed her burns and sent her for tests. Three hours later, when he and other medical staff redressed the wound, they saw smoke coming from it. Loay Soboh, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy, waves...Politically, Hamas may have won
CAIRO (IPS) — Despite declarations of victory by Israel, the military assault on the Gaza Strip failed to achieve its stated aims, many analysts say. The assault, and even its exceptional brutality, may only have vindicated the notion of resistance among the Arab public. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal speaks during a rally in...
Landslide election wins for Maliki
February 7th, 20090 BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki won landslide victories over Shi'a rivals in provincial elections at the weekend, reflecting a seismic shift in the political landscape, preliminary results issued on Thursday showed. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Results showed big wins for the prime minister's......
A guide to Saturday’s election in Iraq
January 30th, 20090 A doctor casts his vote in a hospital in Baghdad January 28, 2009. Soldiers, police, prisoners and displaced people began early voting on Wednesday ahead of Saturday's provincial election in Iraq, which will determine the political landscape across the country as U.S. forces withdraw. REUTERS/Kahtan al-Mesiary On Saturday, Jan....No reconciliation for Hamas, Fatah
RAMALLAH (IPS) — Reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah is looking increasingly problematic as the two groups exchange serious accusations of treason, torture and extra-judicial killings. A Palestinian, whose house was destroyed during Israel's offensive, counts money distributed by Hamas in Jabalya......
Israeli settlements block peace
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank increased sharply in 2008, despite Israel's pledge at the beginning of the year to freeze all construction, according to a new report by an Israeli non-governmental organization. George Mitchell, U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, addresses the...Hamas signals willingness to negotiate
GAZA CITY (AP) — Senior officials in Hamas are indicating a willingness to negotiate a long-term truce with Israel as long as the borders of Gaza are opened to the rest of the world. "We want to be part of the international community," Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad said. "I think Hamas has no interest now to increase the number of crises...
Video: 60 Minutes explores apartheid and peace prospects in the Palestinian territories
January 27th, 20090 In this 60 Minutes segment, aired on Jan. 25, CBS News correspondent Bob Simon reports from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, examining apartheid and waning hopes for peace in the region. He interviews Daniella Weiss, the mayor of a large West Bank settlement who unapologetically describes the goal of settlers as the...Worse than an earthquake
RAFAH — Traffic on Sea Street, a major thoroughfare alongside Gaza's coastline, includes horses, donkeys pulling carts, cyclists, pedestrians, trucks and cars, mostly older models. Overhead, in stark contrast to the street below, Israel's ultra-modern unmanned surveillance planes crisscross the skies. F-16s and helicopters can also be......
Israel admits troops may have used phosphorus shells in Gaza
Amnesty warns Israel could be guilty of war crimes JERUSALEM — Israel has admitted – after mounting pressure – that its troops may have used white phosphorus shells in contravention of international law, during its three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip. Sabbah Abu Halima, who is suffering from very deep burns on her arm...
Video: Emotional Israeli newscasters broadcast Gaza father’s anguish
January 20th, 20090 Israeli TV broadcast three minutes and 26 seconds of a Palestinian father's hysterical cries Friday night after three of his daughters were killed when his Gaza home was shelled by Israeli tanks. Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish is a gynecologist at a major hospital in Tel Aviv and is well known among Israeli doctors and journalists. Aboul......
Humanitarian aid rushed into Gaza as shaky truce holds
January 19th, 20090 RAMALLAH (IPS) - Humanitarian aid is being rushed into Gaza as Israel and Egypt open their borders temporarily to allow convoys of aid to pass through. A Hamas police officer directs traffic on a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip January 19, 2009. Palestinians took stock on Monday of the devastation from a...
Israel shells U.N. headquarters in Gaza
January 17th, 20090 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, engulfing the compound and a warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees. John Ging, head of United Nations Relief and Works Agency......