All Stories Archive

US Secretary of State John Kerry has hinted that Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements might not be evacuated under a future peace deal; however, they would live under Palestinian sovereignty. The international community widely perceives Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law. The...

The state of Egypt's economy shows no signs that it will improve any time in the near future, in light of the continued rises in unemployment, inflation and public debt. Despite an influx of financial assistance from the Gulf States, internal debt over the past six months amounted to...

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has warned that Iraq is going through a financial crisis that seriously threatens both the economy and financial system, according to a statement published by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Iraq's Alsumaria news agency reported on Thursday news of the statement, which claims...

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, the deal, which would involve the supply of eight billion cubic metres of gas per year, comes following the announcement of a deal between Israel and Jordan. Middle East Monitor has previously reported on the problems facing Egypt's energy sector and...

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued a statement advising British nationals against travelling to the Sinai Peninsula and the provinces of Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, Sohag and the South Sinai region, with the exception of the Sharm El-Sheikh resort. The warning follows a bomb attack against a tourist...

Israel has started a secret operation to send African asylum seekers to Uganda, a senior government official said. The official said that in the past month dozens of asylum seekers agreed to be moved there. A Sudanese citizen, who left Israel for Uganda last month, said he was on...

A member of Fatah's Executive Committee has said that his movement refuses to accept the return of ex-official Mohamed Dahlan, Al-Quds Al-Arabi has reported. Jamal Moheesin called upon the Arab countries which are trying to mediate between Fatah and Dahlan to put an end to their efforts. He did...

People in Israel are living in "terror" with no personal security, a leading observer and commentator has claimed. Jospeh Shapira said that Israeli citizens are afraid to leave their homes and that this is having a negative effect on the economic life of the country. Shapira made his comments...

Official investigations into the network of Mossad spies in Egypt have revealed that Ramzy Mohamed Shebini made contact with the Israeli spy agency through the Israeli Embassy in 2009; money was his prime motivation. In return he expressed his love for Israel and a promise of all the information...

Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has said that for the first time since the 1980s Egyptian forces have reinforced their presence and started to develop surveillance systems on the border with the occupied Palestinian territories. The moves have been coordinated with the Israeli occupation army. The Hebrew-language newspaper pointed out...

The Egyptian army should leave politics, social and economic crisis and go back to its military bases, former nominee for Egyptian presidency Hamdeen Sabahi said on Tuesday. Talking to Dream 2, an Egyptian TV channel, Sabahi said: "I understand why some people need a military president; because they are...

Israeli Knesset Member Moshe Feiglin desecrated Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound on Wednesday, climbing on top of the Dome of the Rock and uttering discriminatory remarks against Muslims and Arabs, witnesses have reported. For much of the past year, Feiglin had been banned from entering the Mosque due to his history...

While the staff at UN organisations have confirmed that the Syrian child Marwan "did not cross the Jordanian border alone and that he was 20 feet away from his family", UNICEF also revealed that "about 8,000 out of the one million Syrian children who have fled to neighbouring countries...

The International Press Institute (IPI) today urged Egyptian judges to dismiss terrorism-related charges against 20 Al Jazeera journalists and to immediately release those who remain in detention. Three weeks after their indictment by Egyptian prosecutors, the news photographers and correspondents are due to appear in a Cairo criminal court...

Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr has criticised Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his government, calling Al-Maliki a dictator who runs an authoritarian tyranny. The cleric stated that Al-Maliki's government violates the rights of the Iraqi people of all sects, as well as oppresses and detains its opponents in the...

France has asked Russia to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in order to reach a settlement of the crisis after the failure of the Geneva II conference. "We ask the Russians to use all their influence so that Syria, which is persecuted by its leader and his...

The Libyan government has reached a new understanding to address the political situation in the country, Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said. Zeidan's remarks followed threats by Libyan Al-Qaqa Militia to arrest and try parliamentarians if the parliament does not hand over power. Zeidan denounced the idea of resorting...

An Egyptian court has delayed making a decision about declaring the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, to be a "terrorist organisation". The hearing at the Court for Urgent Matters has been adjourned until next week, legal sources said. Egyptian law allows a court to have three such adjournments. The...

The Bank of Israel will release a new coin bearing an image of the Jordan River; Israel's Maariv newspaper reported. The Bank has not set the coin's value or its date of release to the markets. The newspaper said on Wednesday that the new coin named "piece of memory"...

Failure to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians would mean "the end of Zionism and the Jewish state", Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni warned. The minister told a gathering of representatives of major Jewish organisations in Jerusalem on Monday that "the majority of Israelis favour...

In a letter written by Dr Salah Sultan, the former secretary-general in the Higher Council for Islamic Affairs, from his prison cell to his son Dr Mahmoud Salah, he outlines the horrific treatment he and his fellow inmates are subjected to. In opening, Dr Sultan affirms that spirits are...

The US administration is discussing new options in Syria, including a range of military, diplomatic and intelligence activities, after talks between the rival sides have stalled and Russia has failed to put pressure on the Syrian regime, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The new options, according to...

The Libyan authorities released on Tuesday an Egyptian merchant ship after seizing it for violating Libya's territorial waters, the official spokesperson for the Libyan Navy Forces, Colonel Ayoub Qassim, told Turkey's Anadolu Agency. The Egyptian Navigation Company's commercial vessel was impounded near Tobruk's naval base in eastern Libya earlier...

Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip have repeatedly staged demonstrations in front of the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to protest against aid cuts at a time when their humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. The refugees are expressing their anger towards UNRWA's...

The Egyptian military-backed government is expecting an additional $9.1 billion in Gulf aid within the next few weeks, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Tuesday. The aid package includes $2.9 billion from the United Arab Emirates. The UAE aid is part of a development assistance agreement signed between Egypt...

The world and the United States are losing support, sympathy and patience with Israel, Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid warned on Monday. Lapid told a gathering of representatives of major American Jewish organisations in Jerusalem that "Israel cannot accept the return of four million Palestinians into its territories. If...

Field Marshal and Minister of Defence Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi should stay in his ministry position to "protect his status", Egyptian leftist presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi said. In an interview with the pro-coup Al-Tahrir channel on Sunday, Sabbahi said: "Al-Sisi derives his status from the role he played as Minister...

A US brokered framework peace agreement will be ready before the nine month period ends although there are points in the settlement that both parties will not accept, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said. Shapiro told Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday that he believes the draft for...

Egypt's Administration Court today adjourned the ruling to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood, closing all its offices, freezing its funds and confiscating assets. The new dates are now set for April 8 and 15, Egyptian media said. The case was raised to the court by nine complaints against the group....

Iran will continue supporting and protecting the Syrian regime against Western powers and their allies in the Middle East region, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told Iranian media on Monday after his meeting with his Syrian counterpart Mohammad Jihad Al-Laham. Al-Laham is visiting Tehran to participate in the ninth...

Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank (DB), has included the Israeli Hapoalim bank in a blacklist of "unethical companies" reportedly because of its involvement in funding settlement activities in the West Bank. Deutsche Bank said Hapoalim does not abide by ethical standards, and that the bank's work in settlements is...

Hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets in Jandouba, to the west of Tunis, on Monday to protest against terrorism after an armed gang attacked and killed four people on Saturday night, including two policemen. Protesters, who gathered in front of Jandouba's ruler, chanted: "Tunisia is free, terrorism is...

International companies have dropped out of the Israeli government's tender to build private seaports in Haifa and Ashdod due to concerns over political repercussions, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday. The Dutch operator of ports Boskalis Westminister had submitted a proposal last December to take part in the project...

The deputy foreign minister of the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, Ghazi Hamad, issued a statement on Monday denying any kind of talks with the Israeli occupation. Hamad's statement came in response to a report published by the Israeli news website Walla! suggesting that Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh...

The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) is considering the possibility of writing off the debt owed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has reached 1.2 billion shekels ($375 million) as of last month, Yedioth Ahronoth's business appendix reported. The publication added that the IEC is considering the possibility of rating...

Israel's Deputy Minister of Defence Danny Danon has won a court case against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday. The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that the Likud central committee can vote to take power away from Netanyahu, the party's leader, giving the Likud's...

Israel's Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein has cancelled a scheduled debate in the Knesset on Tuesday to consider Israel's custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The proposal was initiated by lawmaker MP Moshe Feiglin of the Likud party who claimed: "The Muslim Waqf [the Muslim religious trust on the Temple Mount, overseen...

Retired Egyptian general and former Chief of Staff Sami Anan dismissed rumours about Muslim Brotherhood backing for his presidency bid as "nonsense". In a statement to Al-Shorouk newspaper, Anan said he would hold a press conference "within days" to respond to the rumours, confirming his decision to run for...

Israeli weapons smugglers tried to send spare parts for F-4 Phantom jets to Iran via a ghost company based in Athens, Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini revealed on Monday. The newspaper cited the findings of a probe conducted by joint American and Greek efforts, headed by US Homeland Security and...

European and Western boycott advocates against Israel over its settlement constructions are anti-Semitic, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. "Anti-Semites boycotted Jews' stores in the past and today they call to boycott Israel. There is a new campaign against us and they believe it will harm us....

Israeli occupation forces fired live bullets towards peaceful Palestinian protesters as they approached the security fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday. Israeli radio said: "In two separate incidents, Israeli army fired bullets towards two Palestinian groups attempting to approach the security fence between the Gaza Strip...

Israel's Labour and Industry Minister has said that there is no need to withdraw from the West Bank as the Arab world "is collapsing". Naftali Bennett made his comments as he reiterated his rejection of negotiations with the Palestinians. Speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organisations...

The UN announced on Saturday that the number of refugees who have fled from the civil war in South Sudan across the border into Sudan has reached 27,000. Almost 5,000 have crossed the border in the past 21 days. According to the UN office for Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan,...

Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, has appointed a full-time rabbi to provide spiritual guidance for its agents; Israel's Maariv newspaper reported on Monday. The newspaper quoted an Israeli Mossad officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as saying: "There are many religious personnel in the Mossad and the number...

The United States is planning to use the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as a base for a potential military intervention in Syria to topple Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his regime, Western diplomatic sources claimed. The sources told Rai Alyoum news agency in London that US Ambassador to...

Libya's oil production has fallen to 390 thousand barrels per day as protestors partly stopped production at Al-Sharar oil fields; Libya's National Oil Corporation spokesperson Mohammad Al-Harari said. On Wednesday, the Zintan tribesmen partly stopped the flow of Al-Sharara oil field; 400 kilometres south of the capital Tripoli which...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that his country has implemented all its pledges regarding the Syrian government's participation in the Geneva II conference, stressing that Moscow will not pass any resolution in the Security Council that could lead to intervention in Syria under humanitarian pretexts. Speaking...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met on Sunday with around 300 Israeli students at Muqata, his presidential compound in Ramallah, and told them that: "e do not seek…to flood Israel with millions or to change its social composition." He also expressed his preliminary approval of recognising Israel as...

Jordan's prime minister has warned of Israel's plan to take custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Abdullah Ensour described the initiative by members of the Israeli Knesset as "dangerous" and a threat to the peace treaty signed between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom. "Israel cannot select from the treaty as it...

Some 100 civilians have been killed and 530 wounded since the outbreak of violence in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah two months ago, medical sources told the Anadolu news agency. The media spokesman of Fallujah General Hospital Wessam Al-Issawy said in a statement to Anadolu that his team...