Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday denounced as a “fifth column” thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel who joined a demonstration calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Around 10,000 protesters, many waving Palestinian flags, joined a rally in northern Israel on Tuesday to remember 530 villages from which some 760,000 people […]...
Some 10,000 Palestinians rallied in northern Israel on Tuesday to demand the right of return for refugees expelled after the creation of the Israeli state in 1948. The demonstration took place in the Israeli village of Lavi, which was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village of Lubya. Lubya was home to 2,726 Palestinians […]...
By Jamal Kanj A day after Palestinians reached a national unity government, Israel announced the suspension of the never ending peace talks. The Israeli position was echoed instantly in Washington by one of Israel’s unofficial agents, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida, calling for “immediate suspension of US aid to the Palestinian Authority.” The Gaza accord […]...
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas held “positive” talks with Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Doha Monday in the first meeting since their rival movements signed a surprise unity deal last month. “Abbas and Meshaal held a long meeting this afternoon in Doha to discuss the latest Palestinian developments, including the reconciliation agreement and creating a positive […]...
An Israeli NGO is on Monday launching a smartphone app that allows users to find the remains of Palestinian villages that now lie inside modern-day Israel. The launch is timed to coincide with Israel’s 66th “independence day”, which begins at sundown, when the Palestinians remember the “Nakba” or “catastrophe” that befell them when Israel came […]...
The Egyptian navy detained three Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip early Tuesday, a union official said. Nizar Ayyash, spokesperson for the Gaza fishermen’s union, told Ma’an that Egyptian naval squadrons obstructed a fishing boat off the coast of Rafah. The navy then took Amir Jamal al-Aqraa and his two brothers […]...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday moved to defend his plans to enshrine Israel’s status as the national homeland for the Jewish people in law. Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the aim was to “anchor” in law Israel’s status and ensure it would remain a Jewish state following any peace deal with […]...
Hamas will allow the redistribution of a West Bank based newspaper in the Gaza Strip on Monday, seven years after it was banned, a Hamas official said. Gaza government spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein confirmed to Ma’an that the daily Al-Quds newspaper will be available again in the Gaza Strip. The redistribution of factional media was demanded […]...
President Mahmoud Abbas was to hold talks with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal in Doha on Monday for the first meeting since their rival movements signed a surprise unity deal. “Abbas will meet Mashaal today (in Doha) but the timing is not clear,” a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told AFP. The Palestinian leader flew to […]...
By Jeremy Salt The latest evidence of a chemical weapons attack in Syria has emerged in the form of a video proudly filmed by the perpetrators themselves, the so-called ‘lions’ of Jabhat al Nusra, Al Qaida’s Syrian franchise, listed by the US as a terrorist organization yet used by the US and its allies in […]...
By Uri Avnery How would the US react to a declaration that the Palestinians would not conduct negotiations with an Israeli government that includes semi-fascist parties? With outrage, of course. How does the US react to an Israeli statement that Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas? With full approval, of […]...
By Iqbal Jassat – Johannesburg Election fever has gripped a variety of countries across many regions of the world. Notable amongst these are India and South Africa, where many challenges facing incumbent governments are not too dissimilar: unemployment, poverty, absence of services and inadequate healthcare, feature as dominant issues. While millions of people are engaged […]...
Arrangements are being made for some 3,000 Palestinian Authority policemen to join the Gaza government’s security forces, a statement said Sunday. Abd al-Salam Siyam, secretary-general of the Gaza government’s cabinet, said in a statement that the officers would be sent to Gaza in order to begin implementing the Hamas-PLO unity deal reached on April 23. […]...
By Richard Falk A week ago Israel suspended participation in the peace talks in response to news that the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah had for a third time concluded a unity agreement with the Hamas leadership of Gaza. Such a move toward intra-Palestinian reconciliation should have been welcomed by Israel as a tentative step in the […]...
Israel will seek to anchor its status as the national homeland of the Jewish people in law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. “One of my main missions as prime minister of Israel is to bolster the status of the State of Israel as the national state of our people,” Netanyahu said in a […]...
Israeli police on Thursday challenged Washington’s inclusion of Jewish extremist attacks on Palestinians in a global terror report, saying such incidents could not be likened to militant attacks. For the first time, the State Department’s 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism, published Wednesday, included a reference to a growing wave of racist anti-Palestinian vandalism, euphemistically known...
By Ramzy Baroud For years, Palestinian factions have strived for unity, and for years unity has evaded them. But is it possible that following several failed attempts, Fatah and Hamas have finally found that elusive middle ground? And if they have done so, why, to what end, and at what cost? On April 23, top […]...
More than 1,000 people gathered in Ramallah on Wednesday for the funerals of two Hamas fighters Israel killed in 1998, whose remains had just been returned. Israel transferred the remains of Imad Awadallah, 48, and his 46-year-old brother Adel, to Palestinian officials at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank overnight, Palestinian activists said. They […]...
Palestinian officials from the West Bank and Gaza took a first step towards implementing the reconciliation agreement signed by Hamas and the Fatah-led PLO a week ago, a committee member said Wednesday. Khalil Assaf told Ma’an that officials in Ramallah and Gaza City simultaneously convened a subcommittee meeting to discuss civil liberties in the West […]...
An improvised cargo ship built by fishermen and international activists was hit by an explosion in Gaza City early Tuesday, the Gaza’s Ark initiative said in a statement. At 3:45 a.m., a guard on board the boat received a call that the boat would be attacked, the statement said. The guard left, but returned after […]...