Archive for Mid-East News

| August 2, 2016
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Iranian official exposes Palestinian President Abbas of being CIA collaborator

 

Iran and the Palestinian Authority’s last public spat came in February when Tehran announced it would bypass Abbas’ PA and send money directly to families whose children carried out armed attacks against Israelis.

By ADAM RASGON

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an Iranian diaspora opposition group, met in Paris on Saturday, renewing tensions between the Palestinian leadership and Iran.

Abbas meets Rajavi, the head of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), in Paris.

Abbas hosted Rajavi at his hotel and updated her on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and the Middle East, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news agency. Continue Reading »

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| August 1, 2016
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Hamas claims Abbas’ PA arrest members in bid to manipulate election outcome

 

Hamas officials admit their Islamic organization expects a crackdown of arrests of their members, orchestrated by Fatah ahead of October elections in order to skew voting results.

By i24news

 

Hamas officials are expecting a clampdown on its members in the West Bank at the hands of rival party Fatah in a bid to skew the upcoming elections, the Times of Israel news site reports.

Palestinian security forces in Bethlehem on December 24, 2015 – Photo: MOHAMED AL QASEM

The Palestinian Authority regularly arrests activists suspected of being linked to Hamas, often in coordination with Israeli security forces to stop attacks within Israel. Continue Reading »

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| July 31, 2016
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Hamas divvies out land to loyal employees in lieu of pack-pay

Facing continuous financial troubles and ignoring the disapproval of the Palestinian Authority, the Hamas terrorist group offers a solution to compensate loyal employees who are owed months in back pay.

By The Associated Press

 

Hamas has begun handing out plots of the land to 40,000 civil servants loyal to the Islamic militant group, to make up for millions of dollars in salaries it owes them for the past two years. The land giveaway is the latest sign that Hamas is struggling financially after almost a decade of uncontested power in the coastal strip.

Building materials in Gaza – Photo: AP

Gazans grumble about a lack of jobs, constant electricity shortages and a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt that has confined the territory’s 1.8 million people to the tiny strip.

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| July 30, 2016
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Hezbollah’s leader lashes out at Saudi Arabia’s ‘normalization with Israel’

 

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claims Saudi Arabia seeks to normalize ties with the Jewish State at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday blasted Saudi Arabia for its alleged “normalization with Israel.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah broadcasts televised speech from his secret underground bunker. – Photo: Reuters/file

“Saudi Arabia has taken advantage of the ailing Arab situation, only to build relations with Israel. The price will be at the account of the Palestinians,” he warned, in comments quoted by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

“This is free normalization with Israel and this will open the doors to other states than Saudi Arabia to follow suit,” added Nasrallah.

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| July 27, 2016
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Jordan arrests terrorist entering Israel with petrol bombs

 

REPORT: Jordanian border security detained a man who sought to enter Israel with a car carrying petrol bombs.

Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Jordanian border guards on Tuesday arrested a man as he tried to enter Israel in a car containing petrol bombs, an official said, according to AFP.

He was detained after ignoring orders at a checkpoint and trying to drive through roadblocks leading to the border, the source told the news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source added the car was seized and found to contain petrol bombs which the driver had “intended to use illegally”. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| July 21, 2016
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German media reports Israeli aircraft fires missile at target in Syria

Contrary to a Hizbollah report attributing an explosion in Syria to al-Qaeda, German media quoted a Syrian security official who said an Israeli jet fired on positions in the Syrian Golan Wednesday, killing one and injuring others.

By Roi Kais

 

An Israeli jet launched missiles at a military checkpost in the Quneitra Governoratein the Golan on Wednesday morning, according to a senior Syrian security official quoted by a German news agency.

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An official from the opposition uploaded to the internet this picture of smoke rising from a building in Quneitra, Syria seemingly damaged by the alleged attack.

The report claimed that the attack resulted in the death of a civilian who crossed the border by mistake and the wounding of three more Syrian soldiers. Continue Reading »

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| July 15, 2016
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American lawmakers demand UNRWA produce true number of Palestinian refugees

 

“UNRWA is sort of becoming an entitlement program of the Middle East,” with the US giving hundreds of millions of dollars EVERY YEAR to UNRWA, to provide free education, free health & social services programs to 3rd generation descendants of anyone who once claimed to be a refugee.

By MICHAEL WILNER

 

WASHINGTON – Longstanding US support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is facing new questions this week, as both houses of Congress work to modify critical funding bills to determine the legitimacy of the agency’s operations.

A Palestinian refugee knocks on the closed gate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters with his walking stick.

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| July 14, 2016
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Israeli official: Palestinian demand of pre-conditions for Cairo summit is a non-starter

 

An Israeli gov’t official expressed skepticism that the Palestinians would join a Cairo summit, saying the preconditions were a way to avoid negotiations, “They will run away as they have in the past, if it gets real.”

By HERB KEINON

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to go anywhere to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate, but the setting of preconditions for such talks is a non-starter, a government source said Wednesday amid speculation of a four-way summit in Cairo.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas in the Egyptian capital Cairo on November 8.

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| July 11, 2016
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Another Gaza terror-tunnel collapses, Another Islamic Jihad terrorist dead

 

In the latest in over a dozen tunnel cave-ins this year, Islamic Jihad reports of an Al-Quds Brigade terrorist recovered dead after a terror-tunnel in northern Gaza collapsed.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

A tunnel collapse in the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed a member of the terror group Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, it said, in the latest in a series of such incidents.

The collapse occurred in the northern Gaza Strip, the Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement, without providing further details.

It identified the terrorist killed as Ibrahim Hassan Al-Masri, 28, of Al-Quds’s northern command.

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The northern Gaza Strip, controlled by the radical Islamist terror organization Hamas, shares a border with Israel. Continue Reading »

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| July 7, 2016
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Germany: Iran still trying to acquire illicit materials for nuclear program

 

A year after Iran signed a deal with Obama’s administration promising to curtail its nuclear program, Germany’s domestic intel agency warns of Iran’s continued efforts to violate agreement and acquire forbidden materials.

By Polina Garaev

 

Iran is still making extensive attempts to acquire materials to further its nuclear program, a year after signing a deal promising its curtailment, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned last week.

A building housing the reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the Iranian port town of Bushehr – Photo: AFP

The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) says it has detected extensive Iranian attempts to acquire illicit materials in Germany, “especially goods that can be used in the field of nuclear technology,” noted the agency in its recently released annual report. Continue Reading »

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| June 23, 2016
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Hamas: ‘Normalization with Israel serves Turkey’s interest, Gaza siege doesn’t’

 

Hamas official tells an Arab London-based newspaper: “Erdoğan told the leadership that he must make progress on the normalization deal with Israel in order to serve Turkey’s interests, …but the Israeli gov’t stubbornly rejected his attempts,” to lift the siege.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN

 

Amid reports about an approaching normalization deal between Israel and Turkey, Hamas claims that Turkey has renounced the condition that Israel lift the siege on Gaza that it has defined as a prerequisite for reconciliation.

Erdoğan and Mashaal – Photo: REUTERS

In a conversation with the daily-Arab London-based newspaper Rai al-Youm, unnamed Hamas officials said: “Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced to Hamas’s leadership that he has done everything possible to lift the siege or ameliorate it, but the Israeli government stubbornly rejected his attempts.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 16, 2016
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Dozens of Hezbollah killed/injured by Syrian forces over military strategy

 

Syrian media reports of heavy fighting early Thursday morning involving Hezbollah fighters against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in two villages of Aleppo’s southern suburbs.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN

 

The first signs of a rift between Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, which have been cooperating over the past five years in the Syrian civil war, reportedly began emerging amid heavy fighting against rebel factions in Aleppo.

Lebanese Hezbollah supporters march during a religious procession in Nabatieh. – Photo: REUTERS

According to the Syrian news site, Syrian Mirror, heavy clashes broke out between the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah fighters early Thursday morning in two villages in Aleppo’s southern suburbs. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2016
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Gazans furious at Hamas leader’s portrayal of life in Gaza as ‘wonderful’

 

Ismail Haniyeh’s skewed public sermon about life in the embattled coastal enclave under Hamas’s rule send angry Gazans to post their outrage on social media.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN

 

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s controversial statements Friday describing life in the Gaza Strip as “wonderful” aroused mayhem on Palestinian social media networks over the weekend, where a group of Gazan activists launched a campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.

Billionaire Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, delivers a speech during Friday prayers, September 5, 2014. – Photo: REUTERS

“Gaza is more stable and secure than the West Bank. Life in Gaza is wonderful and we are happy with it. Continue Reading »

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| June 5, 2016
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Political reshuffle in Turkey likely to facilitate amicable end of reconciliation talks

 

For Israel, Turkish President Erdoğan’s removal of Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkish intelligence, who is considered an ‘agent’ for Iran & an obstacle in the reconciliation talks with Jerusalem, is a positive development.

By Itamar Eichner

 

Two recent political developments in Turkey could mark the successful end of Ankara’s reconciliation talks with Israel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – Photo: AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently decided to remove the head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, from his post, and make him Anakara’s ambassador to Japan instead. At the same time, the Turkish president also decided that Turkey’s Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu, would be be appointed Ankara’s ambassador to the UN. Continue Reading »

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| May 28, 2016
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Arab Media Report: Arab countries want Abbas out, archrival in

 

view videoWith Mahmoud Abbas having finished his (4 year) elected presidency 10 years ago, the UAE, Egypt & Jordan are reportedly planning to have the PA chairman replaced with his old nemesis, Mohammed Dahlan.

By Ben Ariel, Canada

 

The United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan are planning for a post-Mahmoud Abbas era in the Palestinian Authority, which would leave Abbas’s arch-rival Mohammed Dahlan in control of the PA, the Middle East Eye website exposed on Friday.

Mohammed Dahlan (right) and Mahmoud Abbas (left)

Senior Palestinian and Jordanian sources told MEE separately of the plan. Although there were differences in emphasis – the Jordanian source added caveats about Dahlan’s known weaknesses – they independently corroborated the existence of a joint plan of action. Continue Reading »

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