Archive for Mid-East News

| July 26, 2013
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Steinitz: Israel prepared for ‘serious territorial concessions’ for peace deal

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz says his gov’t ready to make ‘serious territorial concessions’ since the only possible solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a 2-state solution with demilitarized Palestinian state.

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Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told the Daily Telegraph Friday that Israel is willing to make “considerable concessions” within the framework of an agreement with the Palestinians. Steinitz also said that a demilitarized Palestinian state is the only possible solution.

Minister Yuval Steinitz speaks to Daily Telegraph - Screenshot

“At the end of the day, we will have such a situation. It’s going to be difficult to achieve it – there are many obstacles in the way – but I think there is no other solution to the problem,” Steinitz told the Telegraph. Continue Reading »

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| July 25, 2013
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Hamas closes Al Arabiya & 2 other media offices in Gaza

 

Security forces even closed down the Palestinian news agency Maan, all for
“reporting false news, fabrications and lies.”

By REUTERS
 

 

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas closed the offices of three media companies, including the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television and Palestinian news agency Maan, on Thursday, employees and a Hamas spokesman said.

PALESTINIAN SECURITY forces loyal to Hamas patrol the border area between Egypt and southern Gaza.

PALESTINIAN SECURITY forces loyal to Hamas patrol the border area between Egypt and southern Gaza.- Photo: REUTERS

Al Arabiya and Maan employees said Hamas security men had arrived at their offices with an order from the attorney general to shut down immediately and a Hamas spokesman said the step was temporary, until an investigation was concluded.

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| July 25, 2013
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Iranian family buy Israeli passports to emigrate

 

 

7 family members detained in Vancouver after amusing faults in Israeli passports reveal they are actually Iranians carrying fake papers.

Itamar Eichner

An Iranian family, wishing to immigrate to Canada with no visas, bought stolen Israeli passports in the black market and added false information. The Canadian airport uncovered the fraud and quickly arrested the seven suspects.

Israeli Passport - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Israeli Passport – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The family – either a couple or siblings, and five children – were arrested at the Vancouver International Airport. The Iranian family used the name “Solomons”, while pretending to be an Israeli family supposedly residing in Rehovot. Continue Reading »

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| July 24, 2013
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Hizbullah is feeling the crunch of heavy losses in Syria

 

 

The Lebanon-based terrorist group has buried up to 250 fighters thus far, including a few high ranking officials. Their political loss in the EU doesn’t help any.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

The Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization is taking heavy losses in Syria, according to a report released by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC).

Coffin of Hizbullah terrorist killed in Syria – Reuters

The assessment, sent to media this week, indicates the terror group’s involvement in the two-year-long savage civil war across Israel’s northern border has cost Hizbullah more than 180 men.

In addition, several hundred more of its guerrilla fighters have been wounded in the effort to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power, ITIC estimates. Continue Reading »

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| July 24, 2013
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French politician files appeal for overturning libel conviction on al-Dura video

French court in 2008 overturned Karsenty’s original conviction after reviewing the full video footage, but last month France 2 successfully appealed the case.

Karsenty has now filled an appeal to France’s supreme court.

By JTA

 

 

Philippe Karsenty, a French Jewish politician, has appealed to France’s supreme court to overturn his conviction of defamation for accusing a television channel of doctoring a video allegedly showing the death of a Palestinian boy.

Mohammed al-Dura cowering behind his father's back - Screenshot

Mohammed al-Dura cowering behind his father’s back – Screenshot

Karsenty, deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, was convicted of defamation in 2006 for saying France 2 and its reporter Charles Enderlin had doctored the 2000 video showing the alleged death of Mohammed al-Dura, a 12-year-old boy.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| July 24, 2013
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EU law officials to begin receiving intel on Hezbollah from Israel

Israeli officials say EU agencies will need tons of information on the Hezbollah to curtail its exploitation of operational agendas on the continent.

Israel’s UN ambassador Prosor says EU allowed Hezbollah to operate freely (in all it’s nefarious operations) for decades.

By HERB KEINON
 

 

Now that the EU has decided to designate Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist organization, Israel will begin providing EU law enforcement officials with intelligence material so they can enforce the decision, Israeli diplomatic officials said Tuesday.

HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS march through the streets of Beirut last year.

HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS march through the streets of Beirut last year. – Photo: Khalil Hassan/Reuters

Law enforcement authorities, homeland security officials and intelligence agencies in the EU’s 28 countries will need a plethora of information to make sure that Hezbollah’s military wing does not continue to operate on the continent, the officials added.

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| July 24, 2013
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Pentagon Reports: U.S. military actions in Syria could run $1b a month

NYT Reports: General Dempsey in a letter to Congress warns that the decision to use force in military options against Assad, ‘is no less than an act of war’.

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The Pentagon has provided Congress with the first list of detailed options for military intervention in Syria, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

U.S. Navy photo shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. – Photo: AP

The scenarios were presented in a letter by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, and enumerate that strikes on Syrian military targets will costs billions of dollars. Continue Reading »

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| July 23, 2013
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Hamas claims Egypt is attempting to reclaim sovereignty over Gaza

 

Ahmed Assaf, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, called on Hamas to stop meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt of other Arab countries, saying this was causing grave damage to Palestinians.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

Hamas is concerned that Egypt may be trying to restore its sovereignty over the Gaza Strip, Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior Hamas official, said Monday.

An Egyptian military helicopter flying over Alexandria [file].

An Egyptian military helicopter flying over Alexandria [file]. – Photo: REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

Abu Marzook wrote on his Facebook page that by sending helicopters to fly over the Gaza Strip, “Egypt is signaling that it trying to restore its sovereignty over the area, which it lost after the 1967 aggression.”Over

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| July 23, 2013
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Four more seriously injured Syrians sent to Israeli Hospital

8 yr-old girl among the 4 Syrians sent to a Ziv Hospital in Northern Israel after they were seriously wounded in their civil war.

A total of 45 Syrians have received treatment at Ziv since Syria’s civil war broke out.

By Gil Ronen

 

Four Syrians including an eight-year-old girl were brought to a hospital in Israel after they were wounded by fighting in the war-torn country, a medical source said on Tuesday.

“Yesterday night an injured eight-year-old girl and her 48-year-old mother were treated for fractures to their arms and legs from shrapnel,” said a spokesman for Ziv hospital in Tzfat, north of the Sea of Galilee. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| July 23, 2013
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British Report: Syria’s Assad asked Israel’s support for Alawite State

 

UK’s The Guardian: Syria’s President Assad asked a mediator to approach Israel’s ex-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in 2012 with a request that Jerusalem not oppose the formation of an Alawite enclave.


In response Lieberman asked for information on Ron Arad’s whereabouts & the return the remains of spy Eli Cohen.

Israel Hayom Staff

According to a report in The Guardian on Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad sent a message to Avigdor Lieberman in 2012, when the latter was serving as foreign minister, asking Israel’s position on the establishment of an Alawite enclave in northwestern Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad – Photo: AP

The Guardian reported that a mediator — a well-known diplomatic figure — is understood to have been asked by Assad to approach Lieberman late last year with a request that Israel not stand in the way of attempts to form an Alawite state, which could have meant moving some displaced communities into the Golan Heights area.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 22, 2013
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Syrian regime accused of firing chemical weapons on Palestinians

Opposition fighters report 22 killed in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus from gas inhalation.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

Syrian opposition activists say that the military has used chemical weapons against the Al Yarmouk district of Damascus, an area of the city comprised predominantly of Palestinian refugees, Israel Radio reported.

A Free Syrian Army fighter in Yarmouk refugee camp

A Free Syrian Army fighter in Yarmouk refugee camp – Photo: REUTERS

Palestinian sources said that 22 people have been killed in the area, most from inhalation of poisonous gases.

In what was considered a significant tactical and moral victory, forces battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad captured the Yarmouk region this past December.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 22, 2013
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It’s Done: EU puts Hezbollah’s military wing on terror blacklist

Blacklisting means imposing visa bans on certain Hezbollah members & freezing assets on organizations associated with the terror group, which is blamed for the 2012 tourist bus bombing in Burgas that killed 5 Israelis, 1 Bulgarian.

By Reuters and

European Union governments agreed on Monday to put the military wing of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on the EU terror list, diplomats said, in a major reversal of policy driven by concerns over the group’s activities in Europe.

Hassan Nasrallah

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah delivering a broadcast speech during a rally, May 25, 2013. – Photo: AP

“Agreement (was) reached to list Hezbollah,” one EU diplomat told Reuters. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| July 22, 2013
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Hamas: Egypt Curtailing Our Income by Sealing Smuggling Tunnels

Gaza’s leaders are furious with Egypt for destroying their smuggling tunnels between the Gaza and the Sinai.

By Dalit Halevi & Elad Benari

 

 

The Hamas terrorist group, which controls Gaza, is upset with Egypt over its actions to shut down the smuggling tunnels which are used to transfer goods, weapons and even terrorists between the Sinai and Gaza.

Since the Egyptian military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood movement is Hamas’s parent movement, the Egyptian army has been operating in the Sinai to eliminate terrorist cells who take advantage of the lawlessness in the region to carry out terrorist attacks.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 20, 2013
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Nasrallah: The Galilee will be in danger before Lebanon

 

Hezbollah’s leader responds to European criticism, says ‘no one will force their plans on Lebanon,’ and goes on to threaten Israel saying they will pay the price for aggression.

Roi Kais

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah , currently the center of an international debate, slammed the United States and Israel in a speech on Friday evening.

נסראללה עם אסד ואחמדינג'אד ב-2005. ארכיון (צילום: AP)

Nasrallah with Assad, Ahmadinejad in 2005. Archives – Photo: AP

“The US abandoned all her allies in favor of its own interests and Israel’s,” Nassrallah declared in a live broadcast via the Hezbollah Al-Manar TV channel.

Despite recent losses suffered by the Shiite organization, Nassrallah insisted: The Galilee will be in danger before Beirut is. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| July 20, 2013
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Lebanese official tells EU not to declare Hezbollah terrorist organization

Germany now leads European efforts to place Hezbollah’s military wing on EU terror blacklist following new evidence on the 2012 suicide bombing that killed 5 Israelis in Bulgaria.

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The European Union is reassessing whether to declare Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist organization, a move it has long avoided despite U.S. pressure.

Reenactment of the Burgas bus bombing.


Reenactment of the Burgas bus bombing.- Photo by AP

The move was bolstered by Germany’s policy change after long resisting calls to list Hezbollah for fear it could destabilize Lebanon.

Germany said it was pushed toward declaring Hezbollah a terror group by the 2012 attack in the Black Sea resort of Burgas in Bulgaria. Continue Reading »

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