Mid-East News

King Mohamed VI of Morocco asks country’s Jews to pray for rain

Throughout Morocco, prayers are recited at mosques & synagogues to remedy news of impending drought.

By JTA

Prayers were recited at synagogues and mosques across the country at the request of the king upon learning that Morocco may suffer a drought this year.

King Mohamed VI of Morocco. – Photo: AP

At the request of the king, prayers for rain were held over the weekend at synagogues throughout Morocco.

The prayers were recited on Saturday, one day after Muslims said similar prayers in mosques at the request of King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan daily Le Matin reported. The king made the request upon learning that Morocco may suffer a drought this year. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Jewish Diaspora, Jewish World, Jews, Morocco

israelandstuffcom | January 15, 2014

Palestinian Law: Abbas Lacks Authority to Make Peace Agreement

Mahmoud Abbas:
President of the State of Palestine
President of the Palestinian Authority
Chairman of the PLO
Leader of Fatah

Abbas’ 1st objective in the Palestinian’s order of priorities is to receive full sovereignty on the territory of 1967 – while leaving the conflict wide open.

By Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi

Mahmoud Abbas – “the president of the state of Palestine,” chairman of the Palestinian Authority, leader of the PLO, and head of Fatah – must recognize that he is not a serious partner for negotiating with Israel because he does not have the authority to make decisions for the Palestinian people. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Mahmoud Abbas, Peace Process

israelandstuffcom | January 15, 2014

Twitter closes Hamas’s Qassam Brigades account without notice

Hamas’ military wing in Gaza blames closure of Twitter account on the Christians & Zionists and then opened new social media account just days later.

By Ynet

Twitter suspended the official English account of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of Hamas – without warning the group, the Palestinian news site Safa reported over the weekend.

Hamas graduation ceremony

The supervisor of the terrorist group’s account said the social media organization suspended the organization’s account on Thursday after being pressured by Zionist groups and Christians.

In a statement on the Qassam Brigades’ website, the account manager said Twitter closed the account because of an image published depicting Palestinian resistance to the West. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: hamas, twitter

Palestinian Media Reports: Armored IDF Vehicles ‘Entered Gaza’

Maan, the Palestinian Authority-based news agency says the IDF’s operation was a ‘limited incursion’ for surveillance.

By Gil Ronen

Palestinian Authority-based news agency Maan reported Tuesday that Israeli military vehicles crossed into northern Gaza for surveillance activities on Monday.

Bayt Lahiya region – Google Earth

The limited incursion took place in a border region near Beit Lahiya, witnesses told Maan. Separately, Israeli warships opened fire at Palestinian “fishermen” off the coast near al-Sudaniyya west of Beit Lahiya.

No injuries were reported, but the fishermen fled and were unable to continue fishing, the outlet said.

View original Arutz Sheva publication at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/176276#.UtV3GbSPlgh Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza, IDF, Maan

Turkey no longer protecting IHH: Sends police to detain members over Al-Qaida links

IHH, the Turkish aid organization behind the Gaza-bound flotilla & Mavi Marmama in 2010, reports storage facility near Syrian border was searched & employee was taken away by Police.

By The Associated Press

Turkish media said police have carried out raids in six Turkish cities, detaining several people allegedly linked to Al-Qaida, including an employee of a prominent Islamic charity.

A crowd greets the Mavi Marmama, the lead ship of the ‘Gaza flotilla,’ upon its return to Istanbul, Dec. 26, 2010. – Photo: AP

The aid organization, IHH, confirmed Tuesday that its storage facility near the Syrian border was searched and an employee was detained. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Al-Qaida, Gaza flotilla, IHH, Mavi Marmama

Arab Leader: We get Jerusalem, or No Peace

Despite John Kerry’s efforts, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas again signals everyone just how unrealistic a true peace deal really is.

By Ryan Jones

The Palestinian leadership at the weekend again signaled how far we are from reaching a bilateral, final status peace agreement, the determined and ongoing efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry notwithstanding.

Palestinians: Give Us Jerusalem, or No Peace

Mahmoud Abbas (center) – Photo source: Israel Today

In a previous report, Israel Today pointed out how Israelis see control over Jerusalem as the next, and most significant stumbling block on the road to peace.

Polls over the past decade have consistently shown that an overwhelming majority of Israelis are opposed to surrendering to the Palestinians the eastern half of their ancient capital, including the Old City and its Temple Mount. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: East Jerusalem, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority, Peace Process

Special Tribunal to try Hezbollah defendants for assassinating Lebanese PM Hariri

Special Tribunal for Lebanon will open trial against Hezbollah defendants in absentia, charged with assassinating former Prime Minster Rafik Hariri and the 21 also killed in the 2005 massive car-bomb explosion.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is set to open the trial in absentia on Thursday against the Hezbollah defendants alleged to have assassinated former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and killed 21 others on February 14, 2005.

Billboards of Rafik Hariri in Sidon – Photo: Ali Hashisho / Reuters

To date, the case has riled, divided and inflamed already hot disputes between Lebanon’s Sunni and Shiite population, with Sunnis demanding justice and Hezbollah claiming the case was pushed forward by Western countries trying to reduce and besmirch its name (even though the court was formed with Lebanon’s consent.) Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: court, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Special Tribunal for Lebanon

israelandstuffcom | January 13, 2014

Hamas Declares: ‘Israel Has 8 Years Left’

In Gaza, Hamas’ Interior Minister boasts Palestinian Arabs will ‘liberate’ Israel by 2022.

By Dalit Halevy, Tova Dvorin

Israel will be gone in eight years, according to one Hamas official.

Fathi Hamad, Hamas’s Interior Minister, claimed in a speech honoring the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead that “Palestine” would replace the Jewish State by 2022.

Hamad noted in his speech that the Palestinian Arabs, according to Islamic prophecies, will enter the Al Aqsa Mosque “in jubilation and victory like they entered it the first time“. He said that Israel has failed in previous wars waged against the Palestinians, while the Palestinians are progressing nationally towards the stage where they are capable of conquering Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza, Palestinian propaganda

israelandstuffcom | January 12, 2014

UN strike brings clash between Palestinian police & refugee camp residents

Local Palestinian employees of UNRWA strike, shutting down critical services in the West Bank.

West Bank resident says, ‘Situation can’t be tolerated with no schools, no clinics and trash everywhere’

By Reuters

At least 50 people were hurt on Sunday in a clash between Palestinian police and residents of a refugee camp protesting against a strike in a UN aid agency that has paralyzed services, police and an ambulance service said.

Palestinian forces arriving at Jenin (file) – Photo: AP

The demonstration, in Jalazoun camp in the West Bank, was the most violent in a series of protests over the past week stemming from a more than month-old strike for higher pay by local employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: UNRWA, West Bank

israelandstuffcom | January 12, 2014

More ‘Palestinian Refugees’ Starve to death in Syria With no Flotillas on the Way

Since the Al-Yarmouk camp is besieged by the Syrian army for months, with the death toll up to 48, no world outrage or assistance since Israel can’t be blamed or demonized.

By Ari Yashar

The Al-Yarmouk “Palestinian refugee camp” in southern Damascus has been under an ongoing siege by the Syrian army. An opposition group said Saturday that two more starved to death in the camp this weekend, bringing the death total to 48.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC), a coalition of rebel forces, said the camp of roughly 20,000 descendants of Arabs who left Israel during the 1948 war ran out of food and medical supplies after 180 days of siege by President Bashar Assad’s forces. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Al-Yarmouk, Palestinian refugees, Syrian unrest

Khameini Reveals Tactics forTalks with US, but White House Oblivious – Netanyahu was right

Supreme Leader of Iran admits talks with ‘Big Satan’ U.S. are for expedience, to relieve economic pressure & deceive the West, using Islamic taqiyya tactic, as permitted in Qur’an.

Revelation goes unnoticed in Washington as US deal is basically what the White House wants too.

By Ari Yashar

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei publicly revealed on Thursday that negotiations with the US about Iran’s nuclear program are part of a tactic to stall international pressure and gain time.

Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran – Photo courtesy Wikipedia Commons

“We had announced previously that on certain issues, if we feel it is expedient, we would negotiate with the Satan (the US) to deter its evil,” said Khamenei in Qom. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Iran Nuclear Program, Iranian Sanctions, P5+1

Palestinian protesters play havoc at Israeli-Palestinian peace meeting in Ramallah

Palestinian protesters smash windows and attempted to crash hotel’s conference hall but failed as PA police arrived.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Scores of Palestinian activists on Thursday attacked a hotel in Ramallah where Israelis and Palestinians were holding a meeting to talk about peace.

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Chanting slogans against “normalization” with Israel, the attackers smashed windows and tried to storm the conference hall before they were pushed back by dozens of Palestinian Authority policemen.

The meeting, which was held under the motto “Ordinary People Make Peace,” was organized by a group called Israeli-Palestinian Public Negotiating Congress in Ramallah & Jerusalem.

The group is co-chaired by Dr. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Palestinian Authority Police, Peace activist, protesters, Ramallah

King Abdullah of Jordan agrees to coordinate with Abbas unified response to Kerry

Jordanian Foreign Minister: Establishment of an independent Palestinian state is on Jordan’s national interest.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Wednesday discussed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest proposals for achieving peace between the Palestinians and Israel.

Jordan’s King Abdullah (L) welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Royal Palace in Amman – REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Abbas said after meeting with the Jordanian monarch in Amman that the two sides agreed on a united response to Kerry’s ideas.

“Kerry is still presenting ideas and we are discussing them,” Abbas said. “He [Kerry] will come soon and we have ongoing meetings with his aides.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Jordan-PA, King Abdullah, Peace Process