Middle East diplomacy - Page 11

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas set aside weeks of widespread and vocal pessimism over US peace efforts, saying that a deal with Israel is not impossible during a meeting with senior White House adviser Jared Kushner Thursday.

A BBC World Service presenter told his audience that the State of Israel was “carved – as it was – out of land which had belonged to the Palestinians.”

Australia is open to the idea of having a new, formal diplomatic presence in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told a group of Jewish community leaders.

France said Wednesday it wants the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon to stick to its current mandate, opposing US calls to strengthen the force’s authority to deal with arms movements by Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist militia.

In an unusual move, a senior Sudanese government official has expressed support for establishing diplomatic relations between his country and Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress, thanking the lawmakers for their “strong support” of the Jewish state, according to a statement from the Israeli leader’s office.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry announced that it suspended funds and support for the Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO Human Rights International Humanitarian Law Secretariat because the organization failed to cut ties to terrorism, according to a Sunday report in the Swiss newspaper Sonntags Zeitung.

According to a report in Vanity Fair, while he served as White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon heavily lobbied President Trump to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, but the move was blocked by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

Qatar on Monday denied it had banned Saudi Arabian flights from landing in the emirate to transport Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, after an accusation by authorities in Riyadh.

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday refused any security cooperation with Western nations or the reopening of their embassies, until they cut ties with opposition and insurgent groups.

A book on terrorism endorsed and touted by H.R. McMaster, the embattled White House National Security Adviser, calls on the U.S. military to respond to any “desecrations” of the Quran by servicemembers with an apology ceremony, and advocates kissing a new copy of the Quran before presenting the Islamic text to the local Muslim public.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the Israeli leader will travel to Russia on Wednesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday the top foreign policy priority for his new government was to protect the nuclear deal from being torn up by the United States.

Turkey and Iran have agreed to boost military cooperation after talks in Ankara this week between the Iranian armed forces chief of staff and Turkish leaders, President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Thursday.

TEL AVIV — Gaza Strip will soon begin receiving $15 million every month in aid from the United Arab Emirates for reconstruction, according to Samir Masharawi, a former Fatah official and current associate of Mohammed Dahlan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ main political rival from within Fatah.

The Israeli Embassy in Cairo is expected to resume routine activities in the near future, after six years of operating only partially, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he welcomed an upcoming visit by three top US officials to advance President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace initiative.

Comedian Conan O’Brien will go to Israel at the end of August to film a segment for his TBS show. The late-night show host announced the upcoming trip on Twitter, adding he was making the journey to “help Jared Kushner.”

A prominent Saudi columnist recently mocked Arab countries for their refusal to publicize their ties with Israel.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has urged the UN to up its efforts in Lebanon to stop the movement of illegal arms to Hezbollah terrorists — the latest move by Haley as she seeks to crack down on the terrorist group’s movements in the region.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday held a rare meeting in Ramallah with a delegation from rival Hamas over possible reconciliation between the battling Palestinian factions.

TEL AVIV — Jordanian media has increased its criticisms of Israel over a recent shooting incident at the Israeli embassy in Amman, where a young Jordanian who stabbed an embassy guard was shot and killed.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister called what he said was Qatar’s demand for an internationalization of the Muslim hajj pilgrimage a declaration of war against the kingdom, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said on Sunday, but Qatar said it never made such a call.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Friday announced that a preliminary probe was launched into the attack Sunday near the Israeli Embassy in Amman where an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanian nationals, including a teen assailant who was attacking him with a screwdriver.

Qatar refuses to bow to Saudi-led demands to “outsource” its foreign policy to resolve the Gulf crisis, its government spokesman told AFP in an interview.

The Al Jazeera network on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “hostile” call to close its Israel bureau, dismissing Israel’s allegations of incitement to violence.

The security guard from Israel’s embassy in Jordan who shot dead two Jordanians at the Amman compound after being stabbed by one of them with a screwdriver has reportedly been charged in absentia with murder.

Jordanian media outlets reported Thursday morning that the kingdom will not allow Israeli Ambassador Einat Schlein and her staff to return to Amman until Jordanian authorities receive guarantees that the embassy guard who killed 2 Jordanians will stand trial.

Israel, the United States and Russia continue to discuss Israeli reservations regarding the ceasefire agreement in southern Syria agreed upon by Jordan, Russia and the U.S., an Arab intelligence source told Breitbart Jerusalem.

WASHINGTON — After dashing to Israel to defuse tensions surrounding the Temple Mount, a top White House envoy jetted to Amman on Monday evening for “additional discussions” regarding an escalating diplomatic imbroglio.

After a day of intense diplomacy, the staff of the Israeli Embassy in Amman — including the security guard who was lightly wounded in an attack near the compound on Sunday — returned home safely to the Jewish state on Monday.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Friday’s Breitbart News Daily to discuss his call for President Trump to pull America out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is on an official three-day visit to China, with the goal of building economic and diplomatic ties.

BEIJING — China will host a symposium between Israel and the Palestinians later this year, a Chinese official said Tuesday, as Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to “ceaselessly” contribute towards peace in the region.

The Palestinian terror movement Hamas, which has been trying to relocate senior officials who were asked to leave Qatar, has asked Algerian authorities for permission to open an office there, the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday.

As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prepares to pass a bill that would massively cut aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it ends its $300 million in annual payments to convicted terrorists and their families, one of the legislation’s leading advocates has said that the PA must change its own laws regarding the payments as a condition for continued US assistance.