American Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday expressing the US' concerns over the "confusing" and "unconstructive" remarks made by Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon. In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kerry demanded Ya'alon make an overt apology for his remarks, which were described as "hurting"...

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) yesterday denounced the prosecution and harassment of anti-government journalists in Egypt saying these methods were being used to silence the voice of the opposition. ANHRI mentioned the detention of Mohamed Madani, who worked for Misr 25 TV channel, which, along with...

Head of the Syrian Opposition Coalition Ahmed Al-Jarba called on Tuesday for the EU to supply ground to air missiles to the Syrian opposition. During a speech at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Al-Jarba said: "We call for the EU to supply us with anti-aircraft weapons in order to...

Egypt's National Alliance to support legitimacy has suggested that the masterminds of the Egyptian coup that ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, are increasingly facing fears of legal retribution, threatening the coup regime. The Alliance pointed out that the Egyptian police have laid all the blame on...

An international tender for oil exploration in the West Bank for foreign companies in partnership with the Palestinian Investment Fund was put out by the Palestinian government in Ramallah yesterday. The Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Mohammad Mustafa, said, in a press statement, that the tender came after...

Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah's central committee, has denied the media reports about a recent statement he made regarding the Palestinian leadership's willingness to reconsider the Israeli demand to recognise Israel as a Jewish state at the end of the peace negotiations. In a telephone conversation with Wafa...

Turkey was the only member of the top 10 trading partners of the EU able to increase its exports to Europe in 2013, the European Union statistics office Eurostat revealed. Eurostat pointed out that the European Union has achieved exports worth €1.733 trillion last year showing an increase of...

The Israeli occupation authorities told Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that the last batch of veteran prisoners, slated to be released on 29 March, would not go ahead unless he accepts extending the talks beyond the April deadline. On her Facebook page, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi...

Israel's former Navy Commander General Eliezer Marom may have escaped from Britain last October for fear of arrest over charges of committing crimes against humanity during the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara freedom Flotilla in 2010, a letter issued by British police has revealed. In an exclusive interview...

A new Israeli poll indicates that about half of Israeli settlers living illegally in selected areas of the West Bank would evacuate their settlements under a peace agreement with the Palestinians in exchange for compensation. The comprehensive poll commissioned by the Blue White Future movement, which supports a two-state...

The image of crowds of Palestinians lining up for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) food parcels, which has emerged as an icon of the Syria conflict, is to be displayed simultaneously on the electronic billboard in New York's Times Square and Tokyo's Shibuya district. The...

Britain is preparing to assist in the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons by burning 150 tons of chemicals, just over 10 per cent of the total weight of the elements used to make such weapons by the regime in Damascus. The French-owned Veolia Company is expected to use its...

The US Administration ordered on Tuesday the suspension of Syrian diplomatic operations on its soil, asking Syrian employees to leave the country. The measure came after the Syrian authorities announced last week that they would suspend the embassy's provision of consular services, leaving it without a purpose. The Syrian...

Egyptian authorities have refused to renew prominent Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook's residency permit, a Hamas spokesman said. It is now believed that Abu-Marzook may be deported when his permit expires next month. Speaking to the Jordanian newspaper Al-Sabeel, Hosam Badran called on the Egyptian authorities to review their...

Israeli air forces this morning attacked Syrian army training facility, military bases and artillery batteries that "incited and helped" carry out the roadside bombing attack that injured four Israeli soldiers on Tuesday. A spokesman of the Israeli army wrote on Twitter: "The explosion near the Syrian border wounded four...

The Palestinian police in Gaza use six dogs to help combat drug smuggling and help with rescue missions. Setup in 2012, the special dogs' unit was expected to have consisted of 16 dogs, however the six being used were purchased for $20,000 and because of the siege, no more...

Nearly 600 migrants of Palestinian, Syrian and Eritrean origins were rescued by the Italian Navy and coastguard off the coast of Italy yesterday. The 596 people included 25 children and 50 women who were on board two ships in the Strait of Sicily. Italy's Corriere della Sera TV channel...

Israel is urging senior US officials and key congressmen to continue supplying the Egyptian army with 10 advanced Apache combat helicopters. An Israeli official said supplying the Egyptian army with combat helicopters is crucial to fight "jihadist organisations" that are active in the Sinai. This will in turn enhance...

Fatah vowed yesterday to sue the Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris on charges of plotting against the Palestinian people and President Mahmoud Abbas and interfering in Palestinian internal affairs. Through his privately-owned Dream channel Sawiris yesterday criticised "Abbas and accused him of taking Palestinian Investment Fund money and using it...

Civil servants in the Gaza Strip have been paid only half their salaries for the past three months due to the blockade of the enclave. This reduced the purchasing power of the 50,000 employees and left markets virtually abandoned. Hatem Eweda, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy in Gaza,...

Three conditions must be met in order for negotiations to be held between the government in Tripoli, Libya, and the Cyrenaica Transitional Council to bring an end to the oil crisis in the east of the country. The Cyrenaica Transitional Council, which declared Cyrenaica autonomy last June, controlled Libyan...

The Misrata Court of Appeals sentenced on Monday the former Grand Mufti of Libya, Mohamed Madani Shweref, to seven years in prison and a fine of 500 Libyan dinars, also ordering all his civil rights to be suspended for eight years. Shweref served as Libya's Grand Mufti during the...

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal ruled out on Tuesday that the political impasse between Saudi Arabia and Qatar would end "as long as Qatar has not changed its foreign policy." This is the first official response from Riyadh on bilateral relations with Doha since the withdrawal of the...

Former Tunisian Prime Minister Beji Caid El-Sebsi said in an interview with Reuters that his party is ready to ally with the Islamist Ennahda movement. El-Sebsi, the president of the secular Call for Tunisia Party and former chairman of the Tunisian parliament under the government of ousted autocrat Zine...

Diplomatic sources in Washington have revealed to the UAE-based newspaper Al-Khaleej that the political disagreement between the State of Qatar and the major Gulf States has prevented the meeting that was planned previously between all the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and US President Barack Obama, therefore...

A senior member of the Islamic Constitutional Movement, a Sunni Islamist party in Kuwait affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and known in Arabic by the acronym Hadas, denied claims that the authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE had officially informed the party's members that Hadas is now included...

After meetings with US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Monday, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli leaders were told to take political risks to reach, at least, a non-binding "framework for negotiations". In the meetings, Abbas said that time...

Clashes erupted between supporters of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and those of Fatah's dismissed leader Mohammed Dahlan at a university in Gaza City yesterday. Eye-witnesses told Quds Press that dozens of Abbas supporters held a demonstration in support of the PA president, who is currently on a visit...

The Israeli Ministry of Public Security released a report revealing that in 2013 Israel demolished 697 buildings in the Negev, a desert and semi-desert region of southern Israel. The report was released on Monday evening, and according to Israeli media it revealed "that Israel demolished 697 building in the...

Iran's Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif cancelled a scheduled dinner meeting with the EU's Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton yesterday in protest of a meeting she held with opposition activists during her first visit to Tehran earlier this month; Iran's news agency IRNA reported. IRNA said...

Egypt's Defence Minister Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi yesterday reshuffled the commanders of the Egyptian army shortly before his expected resignation to run for Egypt's presidency. Al-Sisi replaced Major General Ahmed Wasfy with Major General Mohammed Al-Shahat as commander of the Second Army. Wasfy was appointed head of training...

An Israeli court has not only ruled that a number of Palestinian homes in Haifa have to be demolished but also that the home owners must pay 20,000 shekels (just under $6,000) to the authorities to cover the costs. The buildings belong to Palestinian citizens of Israel who refused...

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon yesterday said that he had changed his mind regarding the Iranian nuclear programme and is now supporting a unilateral Israeli action against it, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Speaking at Tel Aviv University, he said: "We had thought the ones who should lead the campaign...

Standing above an ancient archway on a wall linking an old school house to a church, 86 year old Nakba survivor, To'ameh Maghzal looks down on a crowd of more than 400 people. Hanging on the wall in front of him a banner reads simply 'A wall upon your...

Saudi Arabia slammed accusations by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki that the Kingdom is supporting terrorism, describing such claims as "aggressive and irresponsible". The Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said, in a statement released yesterday, that the Kingdom "renewed its dismay and surprise at the...

The Cairo Appeals Court turned down a request by the vice president of the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, Essam El-Erian, to disqualify two judges in the Ittihadiya case, where ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and 14 other defendants are standing trial, by reason of prejudice. In his recusal request,...

Egyptian security forces stormed Al-Azhar University campus in the Nile Delta governorate of Dakahliya yesterday and arrested a number of female students who were protesting against the arbitrary detention of their colleagues. In a press release, Al-Azhar Student Union said: "Security forces broke into the campus in Dakahliya, fired...

Two Israelis and one Senegalese national are being questioned by police who claim they negotiated the illegal purchase of oil smuggled from a Libyan port by rebels; Cyprus News Agency reported yesterday. The Larnaca court refused to issue arrest warrants against the three suspects as there is insufficient evidence...

Turkey's Finance Minister, Mehmet Şimşek, said on Monday that his country has achieved a budget surplus in January and February. In a press statement following his ministry's announcement of the latest financial statistics, Şimşek said that Turkey's financial performance in January and February was satisfactory. He pointed out that...

Israel would consider releasing a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners to press the Palestinian Authority if the settlement negotiations come to a standstill; Israel's public radio Kol Israel Reshet Bet reported a senior official saying. The official said: "If the settlement talks with the Palestinians came to a standstill;...

Israeli occupation forces use undercover agents to collect intelligence about Palestinians ahead of carrying out arrest campaigns and military operations or to secretly hunt Palestinian citizens throughout their places of residence. Information about these forces is still secret, but leaks by former servants to mass media disclosed some information...

Secretary of State John Kerry has announced a new special US envoy for Syria. He replaces a veteran diplomat who retired earlier this year amid a breakdown in talks between the Syrian government and opposition forces. Shortly after the Syrian conflict marked its three-year anniversary this weekend, Kerry on...

Egypt and Sudan must investigate and prosecute traffickers for kidnapping, torturing and killing refugees in the Sinai Peninsula, Human Rights Watch (HRW) quoted members of the UN Human Rights Council saying on Friday. The 24 countries sponsoring the German-led statement also called on both countries to identify and prosecute...

Trade between Arab states and Russia was worth $14 billion in 2013, Kuwait's KUNA news agency has reported. Egypt topped Russia's Arab trade partners, with business valued at $2.9 billion. In an interview with KUNA, the General Manager of the Russian-Arabic Business Council, Stanislav Yankovic, said that the amount...

Some 68 per cent of Palestinians refuse the establishment of a Palestinian state conditional on the acceptance of Israel as a Jewish nation. The poll, conducted by the Centre for Future and Public Opinion Studies under the supervision of the deanship of the Public Palestinian Scientific Research, found that...

Egyptian security forces transferred 44 jailed children, out of 165, from Alexandria to a punitive detention centre in Cairo known by inmates as "the torture camp" in Tora. The children, all school students aged between 12-15, have been forcibly deported from the Kom Al-Deka detention centre in Alexandria to...

Israeli arrests of Palestinian children have increased by 80 per cent over the past two months compared with the average monthly number detained by the occupation authorities over the past two years. The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights said in a report released on Monday that Israeli forces arrested...

Israeli arrests of Palestinian children have increased by 80 per cent over the past two months compared with the average monthly number detained by the occupation authorities over the past two years. The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights said in a report released on Monday that Israeli forces arrested...

The US Department of Defence said its units intercepted the North Korean flagged Morning Glory oil tanker which carried crude oil from rebel ports in Libya through international waters south of Cyprus. CNN reported Pentagon spokesperson General John Kirby saying US naval forces have intercepted the oil tanker which...

A member of the Hamas political bureau has denied that the movement is planning to relocate its headquarters to Amman, the Jordanian newspaper Al-Sabeel claimed on Monday. The former advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, Dr Ahmed Yousef, told the media that Hamas is to discuss...