Archive for March 29, 2012

| March 29, 2012
No comments

Abbas drops threat to dismantle PA over stalled Israel talks, foreign diplomats say

The Associated Press obtains a letter the Palestinian Authority president is planning to deliver to Israel, with planned ultimatum to dismantle the PA removed from the text.

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has dropped a planned threat to dismantle the Palestinian Authority in protest of the deadlock in peace efforts with Israel, foreign diplomats said on Thursday.

Abbas had been planning to deliver the threat in a letter to Israel. But, according to the letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, the language has been dropped from the text.

The diplomats who provided the letter said Abbas scrapped the threat at the urging of President Barack Obama.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Israel Seeking Foreign Partners in Gas Fields

Israel is looking for foreign partners to help in exploiting some 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas sitting off its coast.

Israeli officials are actively seeking foreign partners to help tap massive natural gas resources recently discovered off of its coast.

“All parties with expertise and know-how in prospecting, extraction and infrastructure are welcome,” Shaul Tzemah, head of Israel’s energy ministry, told French delegates at a seminar on Wednesday.

“It’s now or never – if you want a presence, there are opportunities to be grasped,” he told representatives of Electricité de France (EDF), Suez-Gaz de France and Technip.

Continue reading at:

 

View Source
By Gabe Kahn
 Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: ,
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Israeli drug could save stroke victims

Synthetic peptide significantly enhances the only currently approved drug to get blood flow moving to the brain after a stroke.

 

Could a new Israeli treatment help save millions of people from death and severe disability after a stroke?

The six-person team of the recently funded company Thrombotech believes they have a fighting chance. Their new drug amplifies the effects of one of the only existing stroke medications on the market, while preventing dangerous side effects.

There is a critical window of time needed to get to the hospital if you are having a stroke. If it is an ischemic stroke, meaning an artery to the brain is blocked, doctors must get the blood flowing to the brain quickly.

Continue Reading »
Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News |
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Analysis: US ‘leaks’ on Iran meant to prevent strike

The thrust of US news stories seems more about stopping Israel from striking Iran, than about Iran’s nuclear program.

 

Yossi Klein Halevi, in an article on The New Republic’s website earlier this month entitled “Why Israel Still Can’t Trust That Obama Has its Back,” argued that Washington seems more concerned about warning Israel, than stopping Iran.

“Even when he seemed to be warning Tehran, he was really warning Jerusalem,” Halevi said about US President Barack Obama’s AIPAC speech. “His goal these last days hasn’t been so much to deter them but us.”

US Air Force F-15E releases a GBU-28 Bunker Buster - By REUTERS/Handout

US Air Force F-15E releases a GBU-28 Bunker Buster - By REUTERS/Handout

A mere look at the headlines in some key Iran-related stories in the media over the last few weeks proves Halevi’s point. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Buy Israeli Goods weekend gets underway

Pro-Israel organization StandWithUs announces ‘BIG’ day for March 30, urges shoppers to purchase Israeli-made products in bid to counter global anti-Israel boycott day

For the past few years, store-owners worldwide who chose to sell Israeli made products and their customers have had to face a daily gauntlet of protestors seeking to boycott Israeli goods through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is actively seeking to operate against Israel on a global leve.

Now, StandWithUs, a pro-Israeli organization is fighting back. StandWithUs is urging schools, campuses, synagogues, community organizations, and individuals to celebrate Israel by designating March 30 as the day to buy up Israeli goods at local stores – the BIG weekend

The date was chosen because the anti-Israel boycott campaign has planned a global boycott of Israeli products for the same day (March 30). Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags:
| March 29, 2012
No comments

MK Uri Ariel Calls on Gov’t to Rescue Arab Seller in Hevron

MK Uri Ariel has called on the government to rescue the former Arab owner who sold a property to Jews near the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union) has called on the defense establishment to find a way to rescue the Arab who was the former owner of a property next to the Cave of the Patriarchs (Machpelah) recently sold to Jews in Hevron.

Jewish residents moved into the building overnight late Wednesday night, quietly, in an effort to avoid creating a disturbance in the area — but IDF forces immediately surrounded the building — newly named “Beit HaMachpelah” — and declared it a closed military zone. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Pro-Palestinian activists to hold second ‘fly-in’

Organizers say they expect 1,500- 2,000 people to arrive in Ben-Gurion Airport to protest Israeli policy vis-a-vis Palestinians.

 

Pro-Palestinian activists plan to hold their second fly-in to Ben-Gurion International Airport just after Passover at staggered times on April 15 and 16.

According to one of the organizers, Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem, anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 participants, ages 9 to 90, from 15 countries are expected to land in Israel on that day.

If they are allowed to enter the country, they will participate in a week of educational and volunteer activities in the West Bank, Qumsiyeh said. Last summer in an event labeled “Welcome to Palestine” activists also tried to board planes and land in Ben-Gurion in solidarity with the Palestinians and to protest Israel’s policy of banning such foreign activists.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags:
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Settlers take up residence in Hebron house

Several dozen settlers move into property located near Cave of Patriarchs; say they have legal ownership. Palestinian owner detained by PA police

Several dozen settlers have taken up residence in a Hebron house overnight, claiming they purchased it from its Palestinian owner.

Sources in Hebron said that the owner of the house, which is located near the Cave of the Patriarchs, was detained for questioning by the Palestinian police.

As soon as news of the move reached the defense establishment, large IDF forces arrived as the scene to maintain the order. No unusual events were noted on the premises overnight. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 29, 2012
No comments

Camel Merchants Threaten Cairo Siege

A ban on camel sales has halted USD 250 million in annual trade, quickened rising meat costs, and led camel merchants to the brink.

 

Camel merchants in Egypt have threatened to besiege the Agriculture Ministry and other government buildings in Cairo with their animals if a temporary ban on their trade is not lifted.

“This ban has harmed the livelihood of thousands of people working in the camel trade, mainly in the provinces of the Red Sea and Aswan,” Hassan Hafez, who heads an association of camel traders, told Gulf News.

Earlier this month, Egypt’s agriculture minister imposed a ban on the trade in camels across the country after a massive outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in Egypt. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 28, 2012
No comments

‘Natural gas exports will 1st go to Arab neighbors’

Landau says gas can be means to improve regional ties; Israel, Greece sign agreement for cooperation on environmental issues.

Landau with Greek counterpart Papaconstantinou - By Courtesy Energy and Water Ministry

Landau with Greek counterpart Papaconstantinou – By Courtesy Energy and Water Ministry

By exporting portions of its natural gas to the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, Israel could help bridge relations on a broader level with its neighbors, Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau said on Wednesday.

 “Naturally, the immediate export of natural gas will be to our neighbors the Palestinians and the Jordanians, and I believe that this connection will be an important step in building trust and peace in the region,” Landau said, according to his office.

Continue Reading »
Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 28, 2012
No comments

Rhodes Scholars in Israel to examine Arab-Jewish coexistence

Group of scholars hailing from Kenya, US Australia and New Zealand to meet with Israeli and Palestinian policymakers, academics, and government officials.

 

A delegation of 10 prominent Rhodes Scholars are in Israel March 24-29, for a first-hand look at the Jewish state, including its political, historical, cultural, technological, strategic and religious dimensions.

The educational seminar, which includes participants from the United States, Australia, Kenya, and New Zealand, is sponsored by Project Interchange, an educational institute of AJC.

During the course of their Project Interchange seminar in Israel, the Rhodes Scholars will participate in-depth briefings related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli and Palestinian politics and society, high tech solutions to world problems, Israel as a “Start Up Nation”, and meetings with Israeli and Palestinian policymakers, academics, and government officials. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News |
| March 28, 2012
No comments

What’s the capital of Israel? Don’t ask the U.S. State Department

In statement issued this week, State Department spokeswoman listed a U.S. diplomat’s travel destinations as ‘Algeria, Qatar, Jordan, Jerusalem, and Israel’ – drawing fire from conservative reporters.

 

The status of Jerusalem has long been a controversial issue – even in the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland echoed that fact this week while answering a question about Israel’s capital.

Earlier this week, the Department of State issued a routine statement announcing the visit of the Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Kathleen Stephens to the Middle East. The statement said that Stephens was “to meet with a broad cross-section of government officials, students, NGOs, and exchange program alumni”.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 28, 2012
No comments

Israel, Sudan & Me

A former Sudanese slave speaks out.

Simon Deng, a former South Sudanese slave taken by a neighbor as a young boy to Islamist Northern Sudan, gave this impassioned speech at the Durban Watch Conference in New York, Sept 22, 2011.

 

 

 

I want to thank the organizers of this conference, The Perils of Global Intolerance. It is a great honor for me and it is a privilege really to be among today’s distinguished speakers.

I came here as a friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. I came to protest this Durban conference which is based on a set of lies. It is organized by nations who are themselves are guilty of the worst kinds of oppression.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| March 28, 2012
No comments

Peres to push Pollard’s release ahead of medal

Thousands sign petition that president should use presidential medal of freedom to press Obama over jailed Israeli agent.

President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that he would do whatever possible to bring about the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard before he receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama.

Peres responded to a petition signed by more than 15,000 people calling upon him to take advantage of being granted the medal as an opportunity to push Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence to the more than 26 years of his life sentence he has already served.

“As president, I see it as very important to work determinedly to bring about Jonathan Pollard’s release,” Peres said.”We

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 28, 2012
No comments

NYC co-op votes against Israeli product boycott

Members of Brooklyn food co-op reject a boycott meant to protest Israel’s policies on Palestinians

A New York City co-op’s proposed boycott against Israeli products to protest the Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians has been overwhelmingly defeated.

Tuesday night’s vote by members of the Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn rejected a motion on whether to hold a referendum on the boycott, with 1,005 voting against and 653 in favor.

Anti-Israel protest (Illustration) Photo: Shani Bar-OZ

Anti-Israel protest (Illustration) Photo: Shani Bar-OZ

Public Advocate and Brooklyn resident Bill de Blasio said he was proud of his neighbors for doing the right thing, calling the proposal inflammatory and destructive. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »