All Stories Archive

Imad Deeman, the leader of the Al-Tawhid Brigade and a member of the Al-Tawhid Shura Council, said in an exclusive interview to Masar Press that: "A committee representing the Al-Tawhid Brigade and other factions including the Army of Islam, the Syria-Sham Hawks Brigade and the Free Syrian Army, has...

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS Palestinian citizens expelled from the occupied Palestinian city of Bethlehem 12 years ago held a press conference in front of the house of the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in the Gaza Strip. Spokesman of the deportees, Fahmi Kanan, blamed Abbas for the length of time...

Several members of the US Congress sent a message to Secretary of State John Kerry asking him to publicly address the human rights violations in Egypt, AP reported on Tuesday. The letter also asked Kerry to emphasise the need for the interim government to protect minorities in Egypt, including...

The head of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), Ahmed Al-Jarba, announced on Tuesday that "the Syrian people have become bored with the pledges of certain countries" and that right now the SNC cannot say yes to Geneva II. In a press conference held in London, Al-Jarba stated that the...

Palestinians organised a symbolic funeral on Wednesday in front of the Gaza seaport to honour the Palestinian and Syrian refugees who drowned off the Italian coast last week. Hundreds of Palestinian and Syrian refugees died when their ship sunk in the Mediterranean not far from the Italian coastline. They...

The explosion of a Truck bomb in Iraq on Wednesday has resulted in the collapse of a bridge linking Iraq and Jordan near the city of Rutba in the western Al-Anbar province, killing of a number of security workers and truck drivers. A security source in Baghdad told the...

The head of the Islamic movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, said on Wednesday that the relationship between the Israeli occupation and the leaders of the military coup in Egypt has undermined efforts to resist the Judaisation of Jerusalem. Appearing on an episode of Al-Jazeera's popular weekly show "Without...

IMAGES The Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a complete closure of Kabsa neighbourhood in Abu-Dis on the outskirts of the holy city of Jerusalem in response to activists smashing a 2.5 metre wide hole in the Apartheid Wall. Eyewitnesses described a "massive" number of Israeli security forces tracking down...

Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Thursday that he has never known any Palestinian ready and willing to concede his rights as his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas. Speaking at a conference for diplomats hosted by the Jerusalem Post, Peres said: "I have known him for 30 years and I...

In a rare interview with the American magazine The New Republic, former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin has revealed that the coming year will be the decisive year for resolving the perceived nuclear threat from Iran, and that Israel does not require a green light from the US to...

The issue of Iran's nuclear programme could be settled if Tehran called a halt to uranium enrichment. This claim was made by Israel's Minister of Intelligence and International Affairs Yuval Steinitz, who suggested that the Iranians could then purchase enriched uranium from other countries for use in nuclear reactors...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has said that Saudi Arabia and Israel share a position on Iran but cooperation between the two countries is difficult due to the continued Palestine-Israel conflict. Livni, who is currently leading the negotiations with the Palestinians, added that when the Saudis talk about what needs...

Mahmoud Abbas has urged the European Union to enforce its regulations against Israeli companies based in the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Palestinian president made his plea when he briefed the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on the latest developments in the ongoing peace talks...

Israel's Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni said that Tel Aviv should intensify its efforts to progress negotiations with the Palestinian side to strengthen alliances with Arab States. Livni said during Israel's diplomatic conference on Thursday in Herzliya "we must work to contain the Iranian threat and to progress with...

Israel's former head of Mossad, Danny Yatom, has said that he was not surprised by the news circulating that Washington had tapped the phones of European leaders, who are allies, saying the United States spies on everyone including Israel. Yatom told Maariv newspaper yesterday that the United States taps...

Israel announced on Thursday that it intends to construct more illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in an apparent attempt to appease Israeli extremists who oppose the ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians. Israeli local media reported that new construction bids are expected to be...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reopened opportunities for Egyptian teachers after they were suspended in the aftermath of the 25 January uprising. Applicants would, however, have to prove their support for Egypt's new military regime. Al-Masryoon newspaper reported today the UAE Minister of Education, Hamid al-Qitami, as saying...

A senior Fatah leader in the Ain El Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon was shot dead on Friday evening. A Palestinian source in the camp said that unknown gunmen shot Mosaad Hojair; a Fatah leader and member of the joint Palestinian security force. The source said that Hojair...

Israel's deputy Foreign Minister, Zeev Elkin, has said that his country and the EU would continue to drift apart if they don't find a compromise solution on the new EU criteria relating to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Elkin added that differences over the settlements could affect...

The Iranian government has ordered anti-American slogans to be removed from public places in Tehran, in a sign of the new rapprochement between the two countries. A spokesman for Tehran's municipality told the official IRNA news agency that the move is due to the lack of formal approval by...

The United Arab Emirates signed an aid agreement with Egypt on Saturday bringing its total support to the Egyptian economy since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi up to $4.9 billion, the state news agency WAM said. The aid package includes a $1 billion grant sent to Egypt in...

The Israeli government is set to announce the approval of 1,700 new housing units in illegal West Bank and Jerusalem settlements. Most of the homes will be built in the Shlomo settlement in occupied Jerusalem; the rest will be in other parts of the West Bank, said Maariv newspaper....

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has reported that the Syrian regime has submitted a preliminary report on the destruction of its chemical arsenal within the time specified by the international agreement. "On 24 October, the Syrian Arab Republic submitted a formal initial report on the...

The Ministry of Economy in the government of the Gaza Strip said on Sunday that the closure of the tunnels beneath the border with Egypt has caused heavy losses amounting to $230 million per month. The tunnels have in the past been described as "Gaza's lifeline" but are being...

The UAE's Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour Bin-Zayed has stated that Arab support for Egypt will not continue forever, therefore Egypt must think of innovative and unconventional solutions to help address the country's growing financial problems. In a meeting with Bin-Zayed, Egypt's interim Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi confirmed that...

Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike on Monday morning hitting vacant land near a primary school in the north-east of the Gaza Strip. Dozens of children were traumatised by the strike, which Israel claimed was in retaliation for "four rockets" fired towards Ashkelon. A spokesman for the Palestinian health...

VIDEO Efraim Halevi, Israel's former Head of Mossad, has said that Israel could benefit from what he describes as a struggle between religion and modernity in the Middle East. Adopting an Orientalist view of the Arab and Muslim nations, while using a completely different framework for understanding his own...

A group of Palestinian refugees who fled to Gaza from the conflict in Syria have held a demonstration in front of the UNRWA headquarters in the beleaguered territory. They accuse the UN agency of neglecting them and their suffering, alleging that it has not supported them nor offered them...

Tal al-Mallohi's name should go down in history, the heroes of freedom are not just a number. The released female detainees should take their place under the sun, and their names, faces, countries must not be forgotten, including Tal al-Mallohi and her fellow liberated detainees. Yet, there are another...

Fatah's Central Committee has said that former member Mohammed Dahlan's false accusations against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas prove that he is a conspirator. In a statement published by Wafa News Agency, the The Central Committee asserted that: "Dahlan is the last person entitled to discuss our national issues,...

The Palestinian Authority is ready to exchange land with Israel in a deal which will mean that 65 per cent of the illegal settlers and their homes will stay "within Israel", Haaretz has reported. The land swap will amount to 1.9 per cent of the occupied West Bank it...

A member of the Fatah delegation responsible for talks with Hamas told Al Quds Al Arabi on Sunday that his movement has called on Hamas to form a national consensus government with Mahmoud Abbas as its head. The faction is also being asked to set a date for parliamentary...

Forces within the Syrian opposition have escalated their stance against the Arab and international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, over his insistence that Iran should participate in the Geneva II Conference. Member of the National Coalition for the Opposition Syrian Forces, Samir Nashar, told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has apparently told John Kerry that his negotiators cannot carry on talking to the Israelis as long as settlement construction and expansion continues. Abbas told the US Secretary of State that the PA cannot accept more confiscation of Palestinian land and Israel's ongoing Judaisation of...

Kuwait's Administrative Court is considering an urgent motion demanding that it blocks a decision by the government to grant Egypt $5 billion in aid. Describing the decision by the Cabinet as "a serious waste of public money which violates the Constitution and the law", the motion before the court...

Israel has bulldozed the home of Ameen Showaiki in Beit Hanina neighbourhood of occupied Jerusalem. Witnesses said that the army bulldozers arrived at 4am. Soldiers broke into the house and forced the sleeping residents to leave before the demolition began. They were unable to remove any personal belongings, which...

A member of the Israel negotiating team had said the Palestinian Authority chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, has softened his opposition towards a proposed interim solution like that of the Oslo agreement, saying that he is looking to make "achievements." Israeli radio quoted members of the Israeli negotiating team as saying,...

The UN's Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories has suggested that the General Assembly should "seek an opinion" from the International Court of Justice about Israel's occupation. Richard Falk told the UN human rights committee that the UN should take this step if the current...

Immediately after the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, Israel announced plans to build 1,500 new settlements in the occupied Palestinian city of Jerusalem, as well as the construction of a new park near Silwan. As part of a deal with the Palestinian Authority (PA), earlier this week Israel released...

Saudi Arabia is asking for UN Security Council reforms to be comprehensive and to reflect the current plurality of the international community, including the interests of all UN member states. The acting head of the Saudi delegation to the UN, Abdul-Mohsin Elyas, made the request during a meeting to...

Israeli occupation forces have demolished another three-storey Palestinian building and arrested three more Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem. Owner Ayman Karsh said that Israeli soldiers told his family to leave the premises in Beit Hanina neighbourhood of the city before their bulldozers destroyed the building. The family was unable to...

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared that the joy of liberating 104 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails will be repeated a third and a fourth time, congratulating the freed prisoners. However he also said that the joy will not be whole unless all Palestinian prisoners are released from...

Bishop Alexius of the Roman Orthodox Church in Gaza has praised the safety and security enjoyed by Christians in the Gaza Strip under the rule of the Palestinian government headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Alexius told the German DW TV channel that: "our relationship with Hamas rule in...

Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad has issued a formal decree sacking Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jameel from his position. Jameel is alleged to have carried out meetings "without coordinating with the government", the Syrian news agency SANA said on Tuesday. Arab and foreign media sources said earlier that Jameel, who...

The Executive Committee of Fatah has accused former leading official Mohamed Dahlan of "assassinating" several of its members in the Gaza Strip and embezzling "millions of dollars". The accusation has been made as an anonymous Fatah official denied that President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to reconcile with Dahlan, who...

The Arab Forum on Asset Recovery has announced that it will prosecute deposed heads of state who are believed to have stolen public funds while they were in power. Speaking during a meeting in Morocco, the UK's spokeswoman on the Middle East and North Africa, Rosemary Davis, said that...

Israel's online economic magazine Globes is reporting that Israel has refused an American offer to solve the dispute with Lebanon over the maritime borders in the Mediterranean. According to the magazine, the continuing dispute over the borders could undermine the development of Lebanese area Block Nine, where excavation work...

Nobel Peace prize winner Tawakkol Karman, has donated her cash prize to a charitable institution which works with the families and victims of the Yemeni Arab Spring revolution. The 2011 Nobel laureate confirmed on her Facebook page that she has decided to donate the $500,000 prize money to the...

Israel is preparing for a new, "even fiercer" war against the people of the Gaza Strip, claims a senior Hamas official, and the preparations have exposed "US hypocrisy" yet again. Political Bureau member Dr Mousa Abu Marzook played down the significance of the threats made by the Israeli occupation...

In an editorial published on Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz condemned the amended version of the Contributors to the State bill that was supposed to soften the extreme discriminatory nature of the original version of the draft law. The amended bill was approved on Monday by the Ministerial Committee...