Middle East diplomacy - Page 24

JAFFA, Israel – The South African ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Ashraf Suliman, visited the Gaza Strip on Sunday and met with Hamas leaders there. During a much publicized meeting with Hamas’s former Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar (pictured) and former

The ongoing tension between Saudi Arabia and the United States reached new heights recently after U.S. lawmakers insinuated that Riyadh may have been complicit in the 9/11 attacks. The acrimony received a great deal of attention in the Arab media.

Ynetnews reports: The Golan Heights will remain part of Israel forever, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday.  “In the 19 years the Golan was under Syrian occupation, it was used for bunkers, barbed wire fences, landmines, and aggression. It was used

More than 90 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives has signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to use U.S. veto power to block any United Nations resolutions seen as biased against Israel, one of the letter’s lead sponsors

The Jerusalem Post reports: The report that the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi requested help from Israel during the revolt against his rule could be another example of the leader’s actions at odds with his harsh rhetoric. After many years

U2 lead singer Bono appealed to Congress on Tuesday for a “Marshall Plan” to provide aid to the Middle East much like the massive relief the United States provided to rebuild Europe and counter extremism after World War Two.

JERUSALEM – Hamad a-Sharifi, a former diplomat at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, arrived on Sunday for a visit to Israel, Israeli paper Ynet reported. The unusual visit by the national of a country with which Israel has no diplomatic relations

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The United States suggested Thursday it was open to a “new arrangement” with Iran for peacefully resolving disputes such as Tehran’s recent ballistic missile tests, while America’s Sunni allies in the Persian Gulf said Iran must

The Jerusalem Post reports: Iran presents a greater danger to Gulf States and the stability of the Middle East than Israel, a high ranking official in the Bahrain government told Arab Media in recent comments. During an interview with Saudi

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Four decades after his brother was killed during a rescue operation in Uganda, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is embarking on an African mission of his own — but with very different aims. Galvanised by a growing demand for

CNN reports: Washington (CNN) The Obama administration is considering pulling troops out of a base in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in part due to the growing threat from ISIS and other militants, CNN has learned. The U.S. is mulling moving some U.S. and

The Jerusalem Post reports: Film a successful hasbara video and win valuable cash prizes. That, at least, is the newest Foreign Ministry plan to boost Israel’s public diplomacy, announced this week by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (pictured). “Israel is moving from

Iran has sent commandos to Syria as advisers, a military official said on Monday, suggesting it is using its army as well as paramilitary forces to help President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the country’s civil war. Tehran is Assad’s main

TEL AVIV – Iran’s involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq is meant not only to ensure the survival of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and weaken anti-Shi’ite militants in the region, but to ensure that Iranian weapons smuggling to Syria and Lebanon

The Jewish Press reports: On his Wednesday’s press briefing, State Dept. spokesman John Kirby strongly condemned the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission’s unreasonable focus on Israel, in a world tormented by so much evil and tyranny. Kirby was asked regarding the

Ynetnews reports: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed several Arab countries that the U.S. and Russia have reached an understanding that Syrian President Bashar Assad will leave to another country as part of the future peace process aiming to

TEL AVIV – Donald Trump’s pledge to stop purchasing Saudi oil unless Riyadh sends ground troops to fight the Islamic State has sparked a broad range of reactions in the Persian Gulf, ranging from apprehension to derision.

Syria is willing to take part in an international coalition against terrorism but only if the United States will work with Damascus in a way it has not done so far, the Syrian envoy to Geneva peace talks said on

The presidents of Russia and Iran agreed on Monday to step up bilateral contacts, including over the Syrian conflict, in which both countries are allies of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government and Western-backed opposition are currently holding U.N.-mediated peace

Turkey has prevented potential attacks in recent weeks including planned suicide bombings, President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Monday, following a spate of attacks blamed on Islamic State and Kurdish militants. Ibrahim Kalin made the comment at a news conference

TEL AVIV – Earlier this week, Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign released the text of the speech he would have given had he attended this week’s annual convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Sanders, the sole Jewish candidate in this year’s presidential elections and the first Jewish politician to ever win a presidential primary, was also the only presidential candidate not to speak at AIPAC’s conference.

The Jerusalem Post reports: Shortly after the ouster of an Egyptian MP from parliament for meeting with Israel’s ambassador, another Egyptian lawmaker may find himself in similar trouble for promoting normalization with Israel. Sayyid Faraj, an Egyptian member of parliament, has

The Times of Israel reports: Ankara is willing to work together with Jerusalem in fighting international terrorism, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin Wednesday, in a rare phone call between the two leaders. Erdogan expressed

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he did not expect a breakthrough on Middle East peace before he leaves office and reiterated his support for a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians could live peacefully side by side.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he hoped the United States would continue to reject any move towards a U.N. Security Council resolution backing Palestinian statehood. “A Security Council Resolution to pressure Israel would further harden Palestinian positions

TEL AVIV – Jubilant Islamic State sympathizers and militants have welcomed Tuesday’s wave of terrorist bombings that killed at least 30 people in Brussels, warning “the Crusader infidels” in the West to brace for more such attacks.

TEL AVIV – The terrorist attacks in Brussels, Paris, San Bernardino, Istanbul and the daily attacks by Palestinians in Israel are part of the same assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his address to the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday.

TEL AVIV – Anyone who buys settlement products is an accomplice to an act of war, PLO Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi (pictured) told the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported. The UNHRC met in Geneva toward the

JAFFA,  Israel – Hamas has opted for “confidence-building measures” in order to minimize Egypt’s mounting antagonism after Cairo accused the Islamic movement of responsibility for the assassination of Egyptian state prosecutor Hisham Barakat, Hamas sources in Gaza told Breitbart Jerusalem. Hamas members in Gaza

JAFFA, Israel – A top Kuwaiti official has made unusually harsh remarks about President Barack Obama ahead of his visit to the Gulf region. In addition to other Arab officials, Tamer Alsabah, the head of Kuwait’s national security agency, criticized Obama for

Presidential candidate John Kasich called on Monday for “active steps” to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Israel, including suspending U.S. participation in the Iran deal and helping the Jewish state strengthen relationships with Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

The Washington Post reports:  SALT LAKE CITY — Bernie Sanders pledged Monday that if elected president he would be “a friend not only to Israel but to the Palestinian people” as the United States seeks a help broker a two-state solution

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the world on Monday,  March 14 that his forces will be withdrawing from the front line of Syria’s bloody civil war. Stating that they had accomplished most of their objectives there, Mr Putin added that some

The Times of Israel reports: Wrapping up a two-day visit to Russia, President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday met with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for talks aimed at strengthening bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries. In light

Iran will likely escape new United Nations sanctions, though the U.N. Security Council could issue a public reprimand for recent launches of what Western officials described as ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, diplomats said. Council diplomats said

The Jerusalem Post reports: Regardless of the problems  that existed under the Obama presidency, the next administration’s initial instinct will be to improve ties with Israel, Dennis Ross (above left) said this week. Ross, who dealt with Middle East issues