All Stories Archive

The Israel lobby in the US suffered a great setback when Congress went on winter break without approving a new bill that would allow Israelis to enter the US without a visa. According to the existing Visa Waiver Programme, citizens from 37 countries around the world who meet certain...

The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to halt the construction of a new IDF training academy on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem after American and German army officers warned that they would not cooperate with the IDF's military academy if Israel moved...

UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has claimed that "Israel is slouching towards nothing less than a Palestinian holocaust" in his comments about the abuse of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. Maariv newspaper reported that Professor Falk has accused Israel of "genocidal intentions" towards the Palestinians. The legal...

American President Barack Obama said on Friday there was no need for new sanctions on Iran, as that would spoil negotiations over a long-term nuclear deal with the world powers. Obama said: "We will not lose anything during the negotiations." He pointed out that during the six months, it...

The sale of Israeli military equipment to China has sparked outrage in the United States, leading to the resignation of an Israeli Defence Ministry official. The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported on Sunday that Meir Shalit, the department head for defence exports at the ministry, resigned last week in the...

The Washington Post newspaper published an editorial on Friday condemning Egypt's interim cabinet for designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, arguing that this shows how "Egypt has abandoned the path to democracy" after the military coup that deposed Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. The newspaper...

On Friday Libyan authorities released four American military staff after two hours of detention, an official in the US administration said. The American official gave no more details about the detention, the release or their whereabouts. No information was given about why they were detained. The New York Times...

The US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, denied on Sunday any connection between the fate of Jonathan Pollard, a convicted spy for Israel, and the ongoing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, including the release of Palestinian prisoners. Last week, Israeli media reported that after the US surveillance of...

In a desperate effort to push forward the peace process, on Friday evening US Secretary of State John Kerry met the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. Hamas said, "through its efforts the US want to create Oslo 2." Earlier on...

The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) has commented on the oppression campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt. CSM, which is close to US decision makers, ruled out the return of the Egyptian street to stability because the MB have pledged to continue their protests, highlighting the killing of...

A spokesperson of the US State Department, Marie Harf, has described the humanitarian situation for Palestinian refugees in the Yarmouk camp south of Damascus, as well as for Syrians besieged in other areas, as "dreadful" and blamed the Syrian regime. For the past year, regime forces and supporting militias...

US newspaper the Washington Post published on Tuesday its most scathing editorial yet criticising the recent developments in Egypt. Under the headline "Egypt's bogus democracy doesn't deserve US aid," the editors argue that, "Egypt's military regime is taking a major step this week toward installing an autocracy more repressive...

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that he has discussed the possibility of enforcing local ceasefires in Syria with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The question of whether or not Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad is willing to permit the flow of humanitarian aid was also on...

Iran will receive the first tranche of its funds which have been frozen due to US-led sanctions by the beginning of February. The State Department said that $550 million will be released as part of the deal over Iran's nuclear programme agreed with world powers last year. The financial...

A Palestinian football club in the Chilean capital Santiago has refused to give in to an intensive Jewish campaign demanding that the club apologise and remove a map depicting historic Palestine from the team's official jerseys. The manager of Deportivo Palestino, which was founded by Palestinian immigrants in 1920,...

During a discussion of the Syrian crisis, which started more than two and half years ago, US Republican and Democratic Senators demanded on Tuesday that the US allow more Syrian refugees into the country. Out of the approximately 2.3 million Syrian refugees, the US has only provided 31 with...

Israel's Maariv newspaper revealed on Monday new details of US Secretary of State John Kerry's framework proposal for pushing the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations forward. According to the newspaper, Kerry has been putting pressure on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a number of concessions that include softening his stance...

PHOTOS Dozens of activists braved extremely cold weather in New York City on Saturday to stage a protest in front of the Egyptian Consulate demanding that Egypt open the Rafah Crossing to provide relief for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who are suffering under Israel's draconian siege. The...

American diplomats have ruled out reaching a prospective framework agreement between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli occupation based on American proposals. The diplomats, who preferred to speak on the condition of anonymity, said that a framework agreement based on American proposals needs more time to be achieved....

Images An Indonesian non-governmental organisation has collected nearly $15 million from Indonesia's poor and rich alike to build the first Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip. The hospital, which will serve those Palestinians living in northern Gaza, is nearly finished and awaiting some equipment before it starts receiving patients....

Malaysia's ruling party UMNO extended an invitation to the speaker of Egypt's dissolved parliament, Saad El-Katatni, to attend the annual party conference in Kuala Lumpur, a symbolic recognition of the dissolved parliament's legitimacy. El-Katatni was arrested following the coup against Egypt's first democratically elected government on 3 July. Official...

China has warned that a military strike against Syria would damage the global economy. Zhu Guangyao, China's Deputy Minister of Finance, told a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit, "The military action will have negative consequences on the global economy, in particular oil prices, which will...

China has condemned the violent incidents in Egypt on October 6th and the security forces crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, as well as the Egyptian government's failure to conduct a comprehensive political dialogue. China issued the statement following the clashes that erupted during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of...

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib abdul-Razak has criticised the military coup in Egypt, noting that it shouldn't have been carried out. Speaking to the CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour last week, Abdul-Razaq said that there is no alternative to a "national dialogue" to solve the issue. Amanpour asked the...

China has officially requested the Egyptian regime to replace the former chief of military police, Brigadier Hamdi Badin, as its military attaché in China because of his alleged "involvement in criminal massacres," media sources have reported. The sources said that China asked Egypt to replace Badin following a report...

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing. The latter expressed his country's support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The Chinese foreign ministry reported Jinping saying to Abbas that "China is insistent on Palestine's independence and peaceful co-existence with Israel."...

The General Secretary of the Palestinian Ministerial Council in Gaza, Abdul-Salam Syam, said on Tuesday that Malaysia had agreed a $6million grant for re-construction projects in Gaza. According to Seyam, the grant included reconstruction of the ministerial council's HQ in the Gaza Strip which was targeted and destroyed in...

China's special envoy to the Middle East, Mr. Wu Si-ke, today called for the inclusion of the Islamic Resistance Movement in the negotiations aimed at achieving peace in the region. He said that the current policy is untenable because Hamas has become an important political player. "Adherence to the...

An Australian court has rejected a request made by the police force in Sydney to postpone a march commemorating the Nakba. The police asked for it to be held at the weekend instead of midweek to avoid disrupting the city's traffic. Judge Christine Adamson rejected the request after a...

The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) has learnt that the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, will address a Labour Friends of Israel reception at the labour Party conference tomorrow Tuesday 29th September. Mr Barak's visit comes days after the publication of the Goldstone Commission report into Israel's 2008-2009 military campaign...

The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) has been reliably informed that formal proceedings will be launched in a London court this morning for the arrest of Israel's Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, for war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip during the period December 2008 – January 2009. Prominent human rights...

The fallout from Mossad's use of British passports in a murder operation is spreading ever wider with new allegations emerging by the day. The Daily Mail today, for example, reports a claim that Mossad tipped off Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, notably MI6, that it was planning an overseas operation...

The Islamic Resistance Movement 'Hamas' considers the summoning of the Israeli ambassadors to both London and Dublin additional international proof that Israel's Mossad is behind the assassination of the military leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month. It has demanded that the countries whose passports Mossad has used, should...

Khaled Meshaal, the head of the Political Office of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has told a Russian newspaper that the United States is "obstructing" Palestinian reconciliation. Along with a high-level delegation, Mr. Meshaal began a formal visit to Russia on Monday to hold talks with Russian officials. The...

As part of the Europe-wide campaign to highlight the issue of Palestinian MPs who have been abducted by the Israeli authorities, Baroness Jenny Tonge has had informal discussions with the Speaker of Britain's House of Commons. Sixteen Palestinian MPs remain in Israeli custody, without charge. Baroness Tonge spoke to...

Hebrew media sources claim that the Russian authorities have decided "suddenly" to cancel an International Conference of the Jewish Agency, which was scheduled to be held later this month in St Petersburg. According to Maariv newspaper, the Kremlin says that the Jewish Agency – an organisation which aims to...

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Daniel Ayalon, is to visit Britain this week, the first visit by a senior Israeli politician since an arrest warrant for war crimes was issued against Tzipi Livni in December last year. As a government minister Ayalon has diplomatic immunity and will not face the...

By Glen Owen for the Daily MailPlans to bring a war crimes prosecution against Tony Blair based on last week's bombshell evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry have been launched by a leading law professor. The move could see Mr Blair follow former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic into a dock...

On the first anniversary of the end of the Israeli war against Gaza, Smash EDO activists in Brighton organized a demonstration against the local factory of arms manufacturer EDO MBM/ITT who made some of the weapons that killed 1417 Palestinians during the three-week assault. Brighton, UK. 18/01/2010. On the...

Fifty European MP's visited the besieged Gaza Strip this weekend to assess for themselves the aftermath of Israel's offensive a year ago, which left over 1400 Palestinians dead, most of them women and children. The recent European delegation was organised by the European Campaign to End the Siege on...

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is preparing to receive the largest delegation of European parliamentarians since the imposition of the blockade against the Gaza Strip. The delegation of MEPs is expected to visit Gaza in the next few days to see for themselves the ongoing effects of Israel's devastating...

A Letter to the Prime Minister, Gordon BrownDear Prime Minister, We are shocked at suggestions by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister Ivan Lewis and Foreign Secretary David Miliband, that Britain may consider changing its laws to avoid any future attempts to prosecute suspected war criminals, Israeli or otherwise. The UK...

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Israel on Monday for violating Lebanon's airspace and using disproportionate force against Palestinians in Gaza, the latest in a series of criticisms Ankara has directed at the Jewish state's policies in the Middle East. "It is impossible for us to remain...

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have accused the Egyptian authorities of procrastination over their application for approval to visit Gaza via the Rafah border crossing. The visit is scheduled to go ahead in five days' time and the MEPs have been waiting for a response from the Egyptians...

The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday said it was concerned about Israel's decision to build 700 new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, adding that such a move was a clear violation of the international law. In a statement released in Ankara, the  Foreign Ministry warned Israel about its decision to...

Five Turkish MPs will on Monday join an international aid convoy that has reached Egyptian port one-week later after the date that they initially hoped to reach Gaza Strip on the first anniversary of Israel's 22-day offensive. Viva Palestina Convoy is now at the Egyptian port of El-Arish with...

Yesterday a delegation of senior British parliamentarians, Muslim figures and Palestinian solidarity leaders in the UK presented a letter to the Egyptian Ambassador Hatem Seif El Nasr to London concerning the obstruction to the Viva Palestina convoy and the blockade of Gaza. The letter was handed in by Baroness...

The Rt. Hon. David Miliband MPSecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth AffairsForeign and Commonwealth OfficeKing Charles StreetLondon SW1A 2AH 23rd December 2009 Dear Mr Miliband, I am writing to express the deep disappointment and grave concern of the Muslim Council of Britain (the MCB) at your views with...

The Director-General of the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) has said that the role of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remains vital for the protection of Palestinian refugees. Speaking at the PRC's London conference with the theme "UNRWA and the future of Palestinian refugees", Dr. Majed Al-Zeer, also...

The Families of the Kidnapped Committee disclosed yesterday that "the torture and abuse of our sons in the West Bank prisons is much more widespread than reported by The Guardian. However, the committee stressed that what was published by the British newspaper in defence of their sons was very...