All Stories Archive

Israeli newspaper Maariv has revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to order the construction of a wall along the border of the Jordan Valley, similar to the apartheid wall between the West Bank and Israel. The construction of the Jordan Valley wall will begin after the construction...

A group of Israeli settlers broke into Palestinians farms in Bethlehem on Monday and damaged eight dunams of Palestinians farms planted with fertile olive trees. Eyewitnesses said that the settlers were from Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem. They broke into the villages of Hosan, Wadi Fokeen and Nahaleen. The...

Israel's National Security advisor General Yaakov Amidror warned on Sunday that if the political process with the Palestinian Authority collapsed, it could escalate international pressure and the boycott against Israel. Amidror said: "the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority are very important. Israel should make efforts to keep them going...

Israel's channel 10 has quoted a senior Israeli officer of the Southern Command as saying that "the Israeli army has failed miserably against the Hamas tunnels which the movement uses to carry out operations against Israel." The officer commented on the Qassam Brigades operation which members carried out near...

A senior Israeli army officer has said that Palestinian Authority (PA) security services arrested a Palestinian group from Ramallah that planned to capture Israeli soldiers for prisoner swaps last week. According to the officer, the group was held with little effort, ahead of their plans to carrying out the...

A Palestinian prisoner from an Israeli jail died on Tuesday at dawn after spending 20 days in a serious condition at al-Afoula hospital in Israel. The prisoner was identified as Hassan al-Torabi, 22. He was from Sorra, west of Nablus. Al-Torabi was admitted to hospital on October 16 2013,...

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS A Palestinian masters student from the besieged Gaza Strip has discovered a pesticide to combat the anti-tuta absoluta moth, which causes the Palestinian farmers in the Strip huge losses. This worm, which appeared in the Gaza Strip 5 years ago, damages tomato crops and in certain seasons,...

The Syrian Information Minister, Omran Al-Zoubi, announced on Monday that President Bashar Al-Assad's regime will not go to the Geneva II Conference "to hand over power" as demanded by members of the opposition and the countries supporting them. Al-Zoubi told the official SANA news agency that: "We will not...

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood has revealed that its members have now finished their deliberations about launching a political party to represent the Brotherhood, deciding to do so under the name of "The Promise" and commissioning Dr Mohammed Walid to act as chair. The Brotherhood will announce the official launch of...

On Tuesday, a prominent member of Hamas' political bureau, Moussa Abu-Marzouk, downplayed the effectiveness of Israel's detention of Palestinians in its attempt to stifle the resistance. "This is the way to a third intifada," he wrote on his Facebook page in response to the detention campaign against his movement's...

According to Israel's national security advisor Yaakov Amidror, Egypt's military coup led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi against the legitimate President Mohammed Morsi has thwarted the rise of Islamic movements throughout the region. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that during the government's session on Monday, Amidror told his fellow officials...

The Israeli Knesset finance committee has approved the formation of a special committee of three members to pass secret funds to the Shin Bet and Mossad without revealing the source of or the reasons for the transfer. Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the new committee includes Knesset finance committee chair,...

Jordanian journalists are accusing their country's government of interfering in the editorial policy of their newspaper. The journalists working at Al-Rai Newspaper, the biggest daily in Jordan, announced on Tuesday that they have decided to suspend reporting on the activities of the government from tomorrow. According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi,...

Israeli forces Monday demolished a property in occupied East Jerusalem owned by the Roman Catholic Church, displacing 14 Palestinians. At a press conference held by the ruins of the home, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Tawwal condemned the demolition in the presence of senior church officials, foreign diplomats and...

The Secrets of Arabia news site has learned from sources close to Hamas that, upon the request of Tehran, a meeting recently brought together the movement's officials and Iranian officials in one of the region's capitals. During the meeting Tehran invited the movement's leadership, including the Chairman of the...

Yasser Abd Rabbo, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has said that US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrives today to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas to talk about the peace process, "will deliver only promises". Commenting on Kerry's visit to the Palestinian...

A former aide has told the BBC that just days before the military coup, ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, predicted that he could have been "murdered." Mohamed Hadara said that Morsi recognised the threats surrounding him and the threats to his own safety. He said that the president told...

What could be the largest discovered inscribed tablet (stele), dating to the reign of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II between 605-562 BC, has been discovered in the Turkish city of Karkamis on the military zone along the Turkey-Syria border. Noting that the excavations sites are untroubled despite their proximity to...

Izzat al-Reshiq, a member of the Hamas political bureau welcomed remarks by the Qatar Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin-Hamad al-Thani, who stressed continuous support for the Palestinian cause. Al-Resheq reiterated his movement's position and thanked Qatar for its generous support of the Palestinian cause and people. On the 42nd inauguration...

The CNN has reported that US sources with access to intelligence on Syria as saying that the US is studying new classified intelligence which suggests that President Bashar al-Assad's regime may have concealed chemical weapons from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW.) The U.S. official told...

An Israeli magistrate's court in Jerusalem unanimously acquitted former Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman of fraud and a breach of trust charges. According to Israeli media, the ruling cleared the way for Lieberman to retake his position as foreign minister. As the decision was announced, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin...

The international body charged with the disposal of Syria's chemical weapons has enough money to fund its mission only until the end of this month, and urgently needs more funds for the destruction of poison gas stocks next year. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which...

According to Mahmoud Al-Aloul, a prominent Fatah leader, the party has decided to appoint Marwan Barghouti as Vice President to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, hoping that this move will trigger his release. Barghouti is a member of Fatah's Central Committee and has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002....

A number of soldiers and officers in the 12th Division of the Iraqi army, stationed in Kirkuk in the governorate of Ta'mim, have announced their defection from the army. The Commander of the first regiment of the 47th Brigade in the 12th Division, Colonel Saad Ibrahim Hassan Al-Azzawi, said...

Palestinian activists organised a symbolic funeral in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday for the Palestinian prisoner who died in an Israeli hospital after he had been denied proper healthcare for months. Hassan Al-Torabi was pronounced dead by Israeli medical sources on Tuesday. He had spent 20 days in an...

Swiss scientists have discovered radioactive polonium in the remains of deceased Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, amid claims that he was intentionally poisoned. The scientists tasked with examining samples from Arafat's remains found 18 times the normal amount of radioactive polonium in his body, which raises the likelihood that he...

The Palestinian Islamist Movement Hamas has called upon the Palestinian Authority (PA) to carry out an independent investigation into the death of late leader Yasser Arafat. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu-Zuhri issued a press release on Wednesday stating that: "The findings of the investigation handed over today to the PA...

Turkish news agency, Anadolu reported former Israeli military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin, as describing the incidents of July 3rd in Egypt as a military coup that favoured the Israeli occupation. The senior Israeli official was reported as saying that these incidents had returned the Arab Spring in Egypt to...

Because of the severe shortage of fuel and electricity in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Health Ministry is warning of the possibility of a cessation in its healthcare services at any time should the crisis continue, according to a ministry spokesperson. Spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qedra explained that his ministry has...

The Ahrar Centre for Human Rights and Prisoners Studies reported on Thursday that 11 out of the 15 Palestinian parliamentarians in Israeli prisons are being held under administrative detention. Ahrar's director Fuad Al-Khuffash, who is a former prisoner himself, explained that the Israeli occupation continuously targets the Palestinian lawmakers...

Palestinian officials said that the Palestinian and Israeli delegations have held a new round of talks on Tuesday during which tension over the Israeli settlements thwarted the meeting. A Palestinian official is reported as saying, "American delegates have attended the Palestinian- Israeli talks but the meeting was very tense...

Israel has arrested 25 young men and women after raiding their homes in several neighbourhoods of Jerusalem city. The director of the Prisoners' Club in Jerusalem, Nasser Qus, said that Israeli forces have arrested 25 young men and women. The forces have raided their families' homes and confiscated their...

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khalid Suleiman Al-Jarallah denied on Thursday the reports suggesting that his country would take the UN Security Council seat which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has rejected. Al-Jarallah stressed that Kuwait is participating in the efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to reconsider taking the...

EXCLUSIVE IMAGES Jamal al Khodari, chairman of the Popular Committee against the Siege said the situation in the Gaza Strip amounted to a humanitarian catastrophe due to the Israeli siege and the water and electricity crises, He called for urgent international intervention to avoid further consequences from the crises....

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel will not abide by any future agreement with Iran and will do what must be done to protect itself and the security of its citizens. Netanyahu told reporters right before his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on...

After it was rejected by Saudi Arabia, Jordan is expected to accept the Arab seat in the UNSC, Western diplomats said on Friday. Saudi rejected the seat in protest against the failure of the UNSC to end the conflict in Syria, in addition to other major issues in the...

The widow of late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has confirmed the reports that a large quantity of polonium was found in her husband's body. She said the substance must have been administered to him through food, drink or injection. She said her husband was murdered and expressed her profound...

VIDEOS Saudi Arabia's official news agency has reported clashes between police and expatriate workers in the capital city of Riyadh, leaving dozens injured. According to neighbourhood witnesses, the anti-riot police units accompanied by Riyadh's deputy governor, Prince Turki Bin Abdullah, surrounded the poor neighbourhood of Manfuhah in southern Riyadh...

A recent report by Wealth X Foundation and UBS Bank has revealed that the number of billionaires in the Middle East now stands at 157, owning a net wealth worth $354 billion in 2013. According to the report, Saudi Arabia has topped the list with 64 billionaires owning a...

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS The Palestinian Minister of Health in Gaza, Dr Mufid Al-Mukhalalati, has warned that frequent power outages could result in a humanitarian catastrophe claiming the lives of Palestinian patients in Gaza. Mukhalalati announced during a press conference from the Shifa hospital that at least 500 dialysis patients are...

The Israeli government is expected to vote today for the re-appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as Foreign Minister. The move follows a court decision which acquitted Lieberman of corruption charges last week. Lieberman will join a coalition government between the Likud Party and Yisrael Beiteinu Party. On Monday, all the...

The Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a plan for the establishment of a new Jewish community in the Negev, known in Arabic as the Naqab, on top of a Bedouin Palestinian village set to be destroyed as part of the plan. The residents of the Bedouin village Umm Al-Hiran,...

An editorial in a major Israeli newspaper on Monday argued that a unilateral Israeli military attack against Iran's nuclear plants and other sites is the only solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis. As editor-in-chief, Amos Regev wrote in Israel Today that he supports a "bad deal." However, he still...

Israel's major newspapers have waged a media campaign against a potential American Iranian deal saying that the United States would prefer to settle for a 'bad deal with Iran' than to wage a good war against it. Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that "the Americans favour an agreement with...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made it clear on Sunday that Iran's right to enrich uranium is a "red line" that cannot be crossed and that he believes Iran acted rationally and tactfully during the latest negotiations over its nuclear programme with the P5+1 group that comprises the US, Russia,...

Israeli Energy and Water Minister, Silvan Shalom, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the Palestinian Authority's debts to the Israeli National Electricity Company. Israeli newspaper Maariv said that the debts were nearly NIS 1billion (£175million). The meeting comes one week after an official warning to the Palestinian...

On Tuesday the UAE Federal Supreme Court is scheduled to resume the second session of the trial against the "Muslim Brotherhood cell", including 30 Emirati and Egyptian nationals. The state is accusing the defendants of establishing an international Muslim Brotherhood branch in the UAE without obtaining a proper license....

Israel prevents a third of Palestinian prisoners family visits based on Israeli prisons service's "security reasons," a report revealed. The report by the Palestinian Prisoners Club, said that there was no basis for the Israeli prison service to prevent family members visiting prisoners. According to the report, more than...

Iran's deputy Minister of Trade, Safdar Rahmat-Abadi, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen on Sunday evening in the capital Tehran. According to the official Iranian news agency (IRNA) "Iran's deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and commerce, Safdar Rahmat-Abadi was assassinated on Sunday evening in an armed attack near the Sabalan...

The assistant spokesperson of the Prisons' Directorate General in Saudi Arabia, Major Abdullah Al-Harbi, revealed that the state has so far detained 33,350 foreign workers of different nationalities, deporting 14,304 by Sunday, following the government's campaign to inspect the residency status of expatriate workers. The detained and deported foreign...