Tag Archives: East Jerusalem

The US “will always be there for Jordan,” President Joe Biden told King Abdullah on Monday as the Jordanian monarch arrived in Washington for an official visit. Biden called the king a “good, loyal, decent friend.” “You’ve always been there, and we will always be there for Jordan,” he said. …

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday and that the two agreed there was a need to make trust-building steps. It was the first high-level contact made public by the new Israeli government, which was sworn in last month, unseating the country’s …

Israel’s parliament approved a new coalition government on Sunday that sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the opposition after a record 12 years in office and a political crisis that sparked four elections in two years. Naftali Bennett, the head of a small ultranationalist party, was sworn in as prime …

 Israeli lawmakers are to vote Sunday on a “change” coalition government of bitter ideological rivals united by their determination to banish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power. The crunch Knesset vote will either terminate the hawkish premier’s uninterrupted 12-year tenure or return Israel to a stalemate likely to trigger a …

Israeli officials said on Tuesday they would allow a right-wing march in Jerusalem’s Old City to go ahead next week under certain conditions, a day after police barred the event’s route fearing it would rekindle conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. Several right-wing Israeli groups had planned a …

The next phase of international diplomacy to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must focus on ending Israel’s occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state, according to Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN. He told Arab News said that efforts at the UN relating to Palestine this year have fallen …

The UN launched an emergency appeal on Thursday to raise $95 million of funding for urgent humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, along with repairs to key infrastructure damaged by Israeli attacks this month. The conflict has left 800,000 Palestinians without access to clean water. More than 1,000 housing …

Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned against a continuation of the provocative Israeli violations in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the repeated and illegal attempts to displace residents in a number of east Jerusalem neighborhoods, especially Sheikh Jarrah, which led to the recent escalation, state news agency Petra reported. Speaking …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged on a Middle East mission on Tuesday that Washington would provide new aid to help rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between its Hamas Islamist rulers and Israel. Hoping to reverse a move taken by former President Donald Trump …

An Israeli defense official said Monday aid to rebuild the conflict-battered Gaza Strip must bypass its Islamist rulers Hamas, and instead flow through an international “mechanism” to reach people directly. Israel has enforced a blockade on impoverished Gaza since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the crowded enclave.Israel argues the …

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held into a third day on Sunday as mediators spoke to all sides about extending the period of calm after the worst outbreak of fighting in years. Egyptian mediators have been shuttling between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, to …

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said the Democratic Party still supported Israel and he was praying that the ceasefire between Israelis and Hamas would hold. Speaking at a White House news conference, Biden said a two-state solution was the only answer to resolving the conflict between the two sides, …

When the fighting halted, the celebrations began. Unable last week to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the joyous Muslim feast marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month, many Gazans took to the street at 2 a.m. on Friday to extol the start of a Hamas truce with Israel that ended 11 …

Israel and Hamas will cease fire across the Gaza Strip border as of Friday, the Palestinian Islamist faction and Egyptian state TV said, bringing a potentially tenuous halt to the fiercest fighting in years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said his security cabinet had voted unanimously in favour of …

An Israeli airstrike on Saturday destroyed a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip, despite repeated urgent calls from the news agency to the military to halt the impending attack. AP called the strike “shocking and horrifying.” Twelve AP staffers and freelancers were working and …

Jordanian riot police on Friday forcibly dispersed hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters trying to reach a bridge that leads to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Witnesses said police fired tear gas and shot into the air to halt about 500 young demonstrators, who broke away from the scheduled route of a march …

The U.N. Security Council will publicly discuss the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants on Sunday, diplomats said, reaching a compromise over U.S. objections to a meeting on Friday. Diplomats said the United States, a close ally of Israel, had initially suggested a virtual public meeting could be held …

Three rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Thursday but landed in the Mediterranean Sea, causing no damage or casualties, the Israeli military said. The rocket firing threatened to open a new front in the escalating fighting between Israel and the militant Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza. The …

The United States has objected to a request by China, Norway and Tunisia for a public, virtual meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to discuss the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants, diplomats said. The United States, a close ally of Israel, cited diplomatic efforts as …

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Jerusalem and Gaza, at the request of Saudi Arabia, it was reported on Thursday. The meeting between foreign ministers of OIC member nations will address continuing Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territories, which have …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that a meeting of four international mediators for resolving the intensifying Israeli-Palestinian conflict is urgently required. Israel said it killed 16 members of the Hamas armed wing in Gaza in a barrage on Wednesday. At least 56 people have been killed in …

Israel was preparing ground troops along the Gaza border on Thursday and Hamas launched rocket barrages at southern Israel as the fiercest hostilities in years dragged on with no end in sight. Sirens blared in Tel Aviv overnight and the sound of rockets being shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome …

The Arab League on Tuesday condemned deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip and called on the international community to move urgently to stop escalating violence that it blamed on Israeli actions against Palestinians in Jerusalem. The violence began with confrontations between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces at …

Hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated overnight, with 35 Palestinians killed in Gaza and three in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years. Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into the early hours of Wednesday, as the Islamist group and other Palestinian militant groups fired …

Saudi Arabia has condemned attacks carried out by Israeli forces at Al-Aqsa, a foreign ministry statement said early Tuesday. The actions have caused concern in the Muslim world as the site is one of the most religious in Islam.  The Saudi ministry of foreign affairs strongly condemns the attacks carried …

Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza early Tuesday, hitting a pair of high-rise buildings believed to be housing militants, as Hamas and other armed groups bombarded southern Israel with hundreds of rockets. The escalation was sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem. Since sundown Monday, 26 Palestinians — including …

Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets into Israel and Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday, and unrest also spread within Israeli Arab communities in Jerusalem. A Palestinian official said Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations were trying to intervene to stem the violence – the worst …

JERUSALEM: Palestinian protesters threw rocks and Israeli police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets in clashes outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Monday as Israel marked the anniversary of its capture of parts of the city in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said more than 180 …

Turkey criticised Israel and accused it of unleashing “terror” on Palestinians after Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youth at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque late on Friday. The clashes at Islam’s third holiest site and around East Jerusalem, which injured 205 Palestinians and 17 police officers, …

Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youth at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday amid growing anger over the potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers. At least 178 Palestinians and six officers were injured in the night-time clashes at Islam’s …

The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK have called on Israel to drop its plans to illegally build hundreds of new houses in an area of the occupied West Bank which would isolate a Palestinian neighborhood. “We urge the government of Israel to reverse its decision to …

The EU has urged Israel to ensure that Palestinian elections are held across all territories, including East Jerusalem, following a unilateral decision by President Mahmoud Abbas to delay polls planned for May 22.   The Palestinian leader said that the fear Jerusalem would be excluded from the electoral process was the …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday postponed planned parliamentary elections amid a dispute over voting in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and splits in his Fatah party. Abbas, 85, blamed Israel for uncertainty about whether it would allow the legislative election to proceed in Jerusalem as well as in the occupied West …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Israeli counterpart on Monday that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was best for the future of Israel, the US State Department said “The Secretary addressed the US approach toward a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous future for Israelis, Palestinians, and …

U.S. President Joe Biden made a long-awaited first phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday after a delay that had seen Washington deny it was snubbing Israel’s leader. There had been speculation that the Democratic president was signaling displeasure over Netanyahu’s close ties with former President Donald …

John Bolton, former US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, said on Wednesday that while a return to the Iran nuclear deal appears to be a priority for the Biden administration, he doubts the sincerity of Tehran’s promises not to pursue the development of nuclear weapons. In an interview with …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday acknowledged differences with U.S. President Joe Biden over Iranian and Palestinian issues, but said they enjoy a “very strong” working relationship. The White House on Friday denied that Biden was snubbing Netanyahu by failing to include him so far in an early round …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not troubled that U.S. President Joe Biden has not phoned him yet, Israel’s ambassador to Washington said on Saturday, seeking to play down the lack of direct contact so far. There has been speculation that the Democratic president could be signalling displeasure over the …

Leaders of rival Palestinian factions began Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks in Cairo on Monday to try to heal long-standing internal divisions, ahead of planned Palestinian elections later this year. Egypt has tried in vain for 14 years to reconcile Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s nationalist Fatah faction and its bitter rival Hamas, …

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has called on the EU to play a bigger role in reviving the peace process. He underlined the humanitarian role of the bloc and its member countries to provide aid to the Palestinians, including refugees in the occupied territories and neighboring countries. During a …

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry announced that Egypt intends to organize a meeting to include Germany, France, Egypt and Jordan with the aim of further advancing peace talk efforts. Shoukry statements came during a joint press conference held on Saturday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Palestinian Foreign Minister …

The Palestinian foreign minister on Saturday urged Israel to return to talks based on a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ahead of the transition to a new US administration. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki’s comments came in a joint statement with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry and Jordan’s Foreign …

Israeli police on Friday arrested a man for trying to set fire to an east Jerusalem church by the Garden of Gethsemane, the site revered by Christians as the place where Jesus prayed before he was crucified. The 49-year-old Israeli suspect poured flammable liquid inside the Church of All Nations, …

Israel should stop engaging in activities that undermine peace with Palestine, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi said, reiterating the importance of the two-state solution in maintaining harmony in the region. Safadi, who was meeting his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi at the King Hussein Bridge Border crossing …