Middle East diplomacy - Page 15

Senior Palestinian officials say Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to the US to meet with President Donald Trump next month, during which the American leader will propose that the Palestinians restart peace negotiations with Israel in exchange for a freeze on Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and a promise not to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The UN rights chief warned Tuesday that a “tidal wave of bloodshed” over more than six years of war in Syria had effectively turned the country into a “torture chamber”.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday that the country has unveiled a domestically manufactured tank and has launched a mass-production line.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nation’s atomic agency claimed that “Israel-hired terrorists” were behind the assassinations of several nuclear scientists in recent years.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu of ignorance about history and the Jewish faith on Tuesday after he said ancient Persian rulers tried to destroy the Jews.

President Donald Trump will hold his first conversation with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Friday, the White House said late Thursday.

US President Donald Trump is not as flexible as his predecessor Barack Obama was regarding Iran, a top Tehran regime official said this week, the semi-official state news agency Mehr reported.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday asked US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to reconsider American support for the United Nations agency that deals with Palestinian refugees, as well as for the UN Human Rights Council.

The Palestinian Authority must “stop its incitement to violence” and engage with Israel in “direct peace negotiations, rather than looking to the UN,” a top American diplomatic official said on Tuesday.

One day after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with US Vice President Mike Pence, the Arab League on Wednesday voted unanimously in Cairo for a resolution blocking the proposed relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A senior official in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday accused the United States of provoking tensions after two separate incidents in the Gulf last week.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was hosted at the Pentagon on Tuesday by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis — their second meeting since the Trump administration came to power in January.

Iran said Tuesday it would continue its retaliatory measure of barring US visitors in response to President Donald Trump’s updated travel ban.

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone Monday, the White House confirmed.

JERUSALEM — Speaking from Jerusalem in a Breitbart Jerusalem exclusive interview, Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) strongly rejected Palestinian threats regarding the possibility of the U.S. moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to address developments in Syria and how to combat Iran’s military presence in the war-torn country.

Iran said on Sunday there had been progress in talks with Saudi Arabia on allowing citizens of the Islamic republic to join this year’s hajj pilgrimage, despite some remaining issues.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to voice opposition to what the Israeli leader charged were Iran’s attempts to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria.

Iran is likely to capitalize on the expiration of an international arms embargo in 2020 to purchase new warships, submarines and cruise missiles, according to a new assessment by the US Office of Naval Intelligence.

Iran has the power to compel the Trump administration to abide by the July 2015 nuclear deal, a top Tehran regime official asserted, the semi-official state news agency Fars reported.

Israel will never relinquish security control of the entirety of the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Sunday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stressing the need to work for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after US President Donald Trump signaled that he could accept a different outcome.

TEL AVIV — Hamas is drafting a new political and ideological charter in the wake of top militant Yehiyeh Sinwar’s recent election as party leader, a member of Egypt’s liaison team to Hamas told Breitbart Jerusalem.

The leaders of Egypt and Jordan reaffirmed their continued support on Tuesday for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested abandoning it.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Sisi met with Jewish-American leaders in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the Middle East and the political and economic challenges his country faces.

Saudi Arabia and Israel both called on Sunday for a new push against Iran, signaling a growing alignment in their interests, while U.S. lawmakers promised to seek new sanctions on the Shi’ite Muslim power.

Iran on Monday criticised what it said was coordination between Israel and regional rival Saudi Arabia, describing attempts to create an “international atmosphere” against Tehran.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told a delegation from an umbrella group of US Jewish groups that reaching an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of his top priorities.

At President Donald Trump’s campaign-style rally Saturday, he brought up his plan to create ‘safe zones’ in Syria in lieu of admitting more refugees.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday hailed the success of his recent talks with US President Donald Trump, calling last week’s trip to the United States he start of “a new day” in Israel’s relations with its American ally.

A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict must include exchanges of people and land to ensure the two sides are completely separated, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday.

Iran’s foreign minister on Sunday stepped up efforts to improve ties with Gulf Arab Sunni states urging them to work with their Shi’ite rival to address “anxieties” and violence across the region.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard is to conduct military drills next week, a senior commander announced Saturday, despite warnings from the United States and fresh sanctions over a ballistic missile test.

Organizers of the Munich Security Conference hurriedly rearranged the agenda for their Sunday morning sessions, after Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said he was relishing the original itinerary, on which he was scheduled to share a platform, unprecedentedly, with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night that his country and the United States have a “grand mission” to confront the threat of a nuclear Iran.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah says statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump one day earlier mark the end of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.