| Hamas resists shift in its stand on Israel | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 11:18:55 AM by Blog57 Team | | Hamas insisted yesterday that it would not recognize Israel even after a unity government took power in the Palestinian territories, complicating efforts to form a more moderate coalition that would clear the way for foreign aid. Hamas suggested, however, that the coalition would be free to stake out a different position, apparently hoping the ambiguity in its statements would allow it to preserve its anti-Israel ideology but loosen international sanctions that have crippled the Palestinian economy. The tough talk came despite Hamas' promises to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that it would refrain from incendiary public statements during the delicate coalition talks. Abbas is meeting with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to win their blessing for what he hopes will be a broader deal, including not only the formation of a moderate government but also a cease-fire with Israel and an Israel-Hamas prisoner swap.... | |
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| | | Israel presses on with Gaza offensive | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 3:16:39 AM by Blog57 Team | | Israel's military crackdown on Palestinian militants in northern Gaza continued for a fifth day Sunday, with the deaths of a Hamas militant and a Palestinian policeman by Israeli fire, according Palestinian medical sources. At the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Gaza operation "is limited in time but we have no intention of announcing when it will end." The Israel Defense Forces said it was not aware of the attack, described by the Palestinian sources, which killed a militant and a police officer. However, the IDF did say it carried out an airstrike west of Beit Hanoun targeting two militants carrying a rocket-propelled grenade. It did not say if those militants were killed. The Gaza operation has focused on the town of Beit Hanoun since it began on Wednesday.... | |
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| | | Gaza Strip: Palestinian killed, eight wounded as Israel continues ... | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:28:09 PM by Blog57 Team | | Palestinian sources said a 75-year-old man was killed Thursday as clashes between Palestinian resistance fighter and Israeli troops continued in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun. Relatives said the 75-year-old man was killed when he went onto the balcony of his home to take his disabled son inside. He was shot in the head by Israeli troops on a rooftop, they said, acording to Reuters. On Thursday morning three Qassam rockets landed inside Israel, Haaretz reported. According to Palestinian sources, a 15 year old boy was also killed Thursday by Israeli fire in Beit Hanun. Eight additional Palestinians, members of the same family, were wounded Thursday when they were hit by an Israeli shell in Beit Hanun, Palestinian sources said.... | |
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| | | Gulf monarchy to host democracy forum, and Israel's FM | | Posted Friday, October 27, 2006 7:10:03 AM by Blog57 Team | | Doha - Qatar is preparing to host an international democracy conference beginning Sunday that will also provide an opportunity for Israel's foreign minister to make her first official trip to the Gulf monarchy. Israel, a key US ally which is widely regarded as the Middle East's strongest democracy, was the first to announce it was sending its foreign minister to the sixth conference on New and Restored Democracies. Reform in the Arab world is expected to top the agenda for the UN-sponsored meeting, expected to bring together representatives from at least 75 of the United Nations' 192 members. Twenty-seven of them are to be represented at the foreign minister level. Tzipi Livni's registration for the four-day meet has drawn considerable attention in the gas-rich country, which has no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state but shares strong ties with the Palestinians.... | |
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| | | Israel Returns to Gaza-Egypt Border | | Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006 7:08:06 PM by Blog57 Team | | Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israeli forces are back in the border area between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, searching for weapons smuggling tunnels for the first time since Israel left the area last year, the army said on Wednesday. Two tunnels running under the border between Gaza and Egypt and two more openings for tunnels were uncovered in the area on Tuesday. Thirteen tunnels have been uncovered in Gaza during the last weeks, the army said.The tunnels are key to terror groups' attempts to stockpile more and better weapons in Gaza. Israeli officials have said that with a less than effective Egypt on one side of the border and a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority on the other, there is no way to stop the smuggling. .... | |
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| | | UN: Israel Has Provided Maps Of Minefields In S Lebanon | | Posted Monday, October 09, 2006 11:09:15 PM by Blog57 Team | | BEIRUT (AP)--Israel on Monday handed over maps of minefields it laid in southern Lebanon during its nearly two-decade occupation, meeting a key requirement of the U.N. cease-fire resolution that ended this summer's war with Hezbollah militants, a U.N. statement said. Disclosing the locations of several hundred thousand mines that were laid during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of a border zone in southern Lebanon has been one of the main demands of the Lebanese government and Hezbollah guerrillas. Israel has provided maps twice before - following the 2000 withdrawal of the border zone and in 2004 as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah. But both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah repeatedly demanded that Israel give full disclosure on the matter. Israel's army gave the maps to peacekeepers Monday during a meeting of Lebanese, Israeli and U.N.... | |
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| | | Israel Withdraws Last Troops From Lebanon | | Posted Sunday, October 01, 2006 11:08:39 AM by Blog57 Team | | MOSHAV ZARIT, Israel, Oct. 1 -- Israeli military officials said the army withdrew the last of its troops from Lebanon early Sunday, fulfilling a key condition of the cease-fire that ended a month-long war with the radical Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah. The pullout ended a nearly three-month troop presence and cleared the way for the full deployment of an international peacekeeping force that will police the border. The U.N. resolution calls for 15,000 peacekeepers to work with an equal number of Lebanese soldiers to prevent another outbreak of fighting. .... | |
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| | | Abbas keen 'to recognise Israel' | | Posted Friday, September 22, 2006 7:06:23 AM by Blog57 Team | | Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has assured world governments that any national unity government he negotiated with Hamas would recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence. "Any future Palestinian government" would honour all past agreements the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority have committed to, he told the 192-nation UN General Assembly. These include letters between the Palestinians and Israel in which the PLO agreed to recognize Israel, renounce violence and commit to negotiations aimed at an independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel, he said. Abbas has been negotiating a unity government between his Fatah movement and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which took power in March after a sweeping election victory, leading the West to cut off most Palestinian aid.... | |
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| | | Africa Israel in Phillipine real estate project | | Posted Wednesday, September 13, 2006 7:13:44 PM by Blog57 Team | | JERUSALEM, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Israeli conglomerate Africa Israel Investments said on Wednesday it had signed a joint venture with Phillipine Filinvest Land Inc. for a real estate project covering 144 acres. Africa Israel's Phillipine subsidiary will acquire 40 percent of the joint venture with Filinvest for $6.3 million. Total investment in the project, excluding the land, is estimated at $25 million, of which Africa Israel's Phillipine subsidiary's part will be $10 million. The project is called "Timberland Heights" and is in the Rizal region of San Mateo, 35 km from Manila. The agreement also includes an option for future development of additional Filinvest property of up to 1,371 acres for an additional $42 million. Africa Israel, which is controlled by billionaire Lev Leviev, has interests in real estate, energy, hotels, fashion, and infrastructure.... | |
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| | | Israel's Lebanon war general quits | | Posted Wednesday, September 13, 2006 4:05:18 PM by Blog57 Team | | The Israeli general who was in charge of the northern command during the month-long Lebanon war has resigned, the Israeli army said. "The northern command Major-General Udi Adam requested this morning to resign his position in the near future," an army statement said on Wednesday. "The chief of staff has accepted Adam's request and he will be replaced in accordance with IDF [Israel Defence Forces] procedures." Local media reports said Adam tendered his resignation because of differences with army chief of staff Dan Halutz over the conduct of the 34-day offensive on Hezbollah, which ended under a UN-brokered ceasefire on August 14. Some Israeli military affairs commentators had questioned whether Adam, a tank officer, had been the right choice to head the Northern Command and lead a campaign that relied largely on air power, artillery and infantry.... | |
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