Surf Arab States » palestine

Arab States Weekly Review 8th – 14th May 2010

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:34:09 +0000

Approximately 100 Iraqis, almost all civilians, were killed on May 10th during a series of bombings throughout Baghdad, Basra and Hilla. It was the highest death toll in one day this year.

The long-awaited ‘proximity’ talks between Israelis and Palestinians were resumed via American intermediary after an 18-month pause. Israeli PM Netanyahu was embarrassed by having to deny an earlier statement from the US State Department that Israel would halt settlement-building for 2 years.

Arab States Weekly Review 1st – 7th May 2010

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:23:50 +0000

Indirect talks (under American mediation) between Israel and mainstream Palestinians were set to resume after the Arab League endorsed the conditions. USA’s Middle-East envoy George Mitchell went to the region to meet members of both sides.

Iraq’s incumbent prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki, whose State of Law Alliance ended second in the latest elections, made a deal with the third placed group (Iraqi National Alliance), a religiously oriented Shia group. Followers of Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia with strong Sunni support who ended first in the elections, would be outraged if he was to be excluded from a government.

Arab States Weekly Review 10 – 16 April 2010

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:17:02 +0000

Shimon Perez, President of Israel, accused Syria of supplying scud missiles to Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon. Syria has dismissed the accusations as “fabrications”, and believes Israel is trying to set the stage for “Israeli aggression”. Last year Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his organization could hit “any city in Israel”, but did not give details.

At least two Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli army strike in the Gaza strip. The Israeli military says it hit a Palestinian group which was planting explosives near Gaza’s perimeter fence.

Arab States Weekly Review 6th – 12th March 2010

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:30:34 +0000

Iraq held its general elections on the 7th of March, accompanied by scores of bombings in Baghdad. Turnout was lower than in 2005, and preliminary results showed that no group will win an outright majority in parliament. Forming a coalition may take months.

Israel declared that another 1600 houses would be built for Jewish settlers in Israeli-annexed suburbs that Palestinians hoped for as their future capital. The news came briefly after ‘proximity talks’ between Israel and Palestine were announced to be resumed.

Egypt’s senior cleric Sheikh Muhammad Tantawi died at the age of 81 in Saudi Arabia. Tantawi was a moderate cleric who angered radical Muslims by denouncing their insistence that Muslim women should be wholly covered.

Weekly Review 27 Feb – 5 March 2010

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:17:06 +0000

A suicide bombing in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed at least 33 people. Tensions have rose preceding a general election in Iraq on March 7th.

George Mitchell, Obama’s envoy to the Middle-East, will set off to the region to initiate another round of ‘proximity talks’ between the Israeli’s and the Palestinians. The Arab League has welcomed the news of the negotiations, which have stalled for over a year.

Arab States Weekly Review 12-18 Dec 09

admin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:40:23 +0000

A ship carrying a cargo of livestock sank off the coast of Lebanon. The vessel, headed from Uruguay to the Syrian port of Tartous, sank due to bad weather. At least 9 bodies have been recovered, with an estimated 35 still missing.

The defence ministry of Yemen reports it has foiled an Al-Qaeda attack, killing 34 suspected militants and arresting 17. The operations were carried out in the Abyan and Arhab regions. The Al-Qaeda group was planning a number of attacks against local and foreign targets, according to Yemeni officials.

The term of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestine Authority, has been extended indefinitely as has the mandate of the parliament. Elections were due in January but have been postponed due to differences between rival factions Fatah and Hamas.