Tag Archives: Israel

By Dr. Aqel Salah*     This study discusses the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the continuing Israeli war by all means against Hamas. The study is based on a fundamental question: Is the war on Gaza aimed at rocket warheads or the head of Hamas? In order …

Greece, Israel, Cyprus and the United States agreed to enhance cooperation in energy, cyber and infrastructure security, Greek Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Wednesday after ministers of the four countries met in Athens. Natural gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean in the past decade have rendered the region a …

Facebook Inc on Wednesday defeated an appeal by American victims of Hamas attacks in Israel, who sought to hold the company liable for providing the group a social media platform to further its goals. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 …

Lebanon’s heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Friday denied using Beirut’s sea port to import arms in response to an accusation by Israel’s United Nations envoy this week. “I completely deny the claim of the Israeli representative in the Security Council that Hezbollah uses the Beirut port to transfer weapons …

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that the Israeli Occupation Authorities continue the ethnic cleansing policy, especially in Jerusalem and its surroundings, ignoring the UNs and Human Rights Organizations’ warnings, and insists the demolishing of about 100 apartments and displacing …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he informed U.S. President Donald Trump in advance of what Israel has described as a spy mission in Tehran last year to capture a secret Iranian nuclear archive. Netanyahu said in April 2018 that Mossad operatives had spirited thousands of hidden …

Israel’s financial system faces significant risks from falling U.S. bond yields and high global debt levels, the Bank of Israel said on Sunday in a semi-annual financial stability report. The central bank noted that global growth and rate forecasts continued to moderate in the first half of 2019, while major …

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that the Israeli occupation government proceeds with its settlement plans in the West Bank and works day and night to seize more lands. The percentage of confiscated land has increased to a high degree …

Palestinians urged Egypt and Jordan on Wednesday to reconsider their attendance at a U.S.-led conference on June 25-26 in Bahrain, voicing concern it would weaken any Arab opposition to Washington’s coming peace plan. The United States has billed the gathering as a workshop to boost the Palestinian economy as part …

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that the occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights following the 6-Day War in 1967, changed the face of the Palestinian territories due to …

By Graham E. Fuller  (grahamefuller.com) 6 June 2019 The “Deal of the Century”—Trump’s modestly named new proposal for peace  between Israel and the Palestinians—has long been said to be nearing completion. Ongoing turmoil in Israeli politics makes that presumed launch date  less certain. But whether or not Bibi Netanyahu will …

By Firas Samuri*   On June 2, Syrian Arab News Agency reported on Israeli aggression on the T4 airbase, located in the eastern countryside of Homs province. It’s recognized that the Syrian Air Defense System managed to destroy two missiles. The remaining rockets hit targets on the territory of the …

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in his latest weekly report , that the Israeli ignores of the international law and international legitimacy resolutions through annexing more occupied Arab territories, as the US President Trump’s Adviser, Jared Kouchner on Thursday handed over a new map to …

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck Syrian army targets on Sunday after rockets were fired at the Golan Heights, and Syria’s state media said three soldiers were killed in the second such flare-up in a week. Syrian television reported big explosions near Damascus before dawn and said air defences …

The Palestinian cause represents a core issue for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Saudi King Salman said in his speech during to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Mecca on Saturday, adding the kingdom “refuse any measures that touch the historical and legal position of East Jerusalem”. (This …

Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a new election after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline. Netanyahu preferred a new ballot, set for Sept. 17, to the alternative, under which Israeli President Reuven Rivlin could …

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, has reached a plea bargain in a fraud case over allegedly misusing state funds to order catered meals, Israel Radio said on Wednesday. Under the agreement, she will pay the state 45,000 shekels ($12,400) in reimbursement and a 10,000-shekel fine while admitting a lesser …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     It’s the Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, not exactly the best time of the year to exercise your synapses. Nonetheless, I found myself doing exactly that on Sunday 12 May 2019 when I attended a lecture organised by the American University in …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   What can I say about Ammar Al-Masry’s Throne of Atlantis, the long awaited sequel to Shadows of Atlantis? It’s a mind-boggling treat! To remind those who have forgotten, myself included, here is a summary. In Shadows of Atlantis you have a near perfect world …

by Areej Zaher*   President Trump has announced recently his intention of withdrawing US troops, estimated at about 2000, from Syria. This put him under the mercy of criticism by his own administration. This announcement came as he asserted the defeat of Islamic State. This led to a dispute among …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   Typically for me, after watching and debunking The Angel (2018), I couldn’t help but watch 7 Days in Entebbe (2018) by a director I really do not like, José Padilha, on account of the mess he made with the Robocop (2014) remake. I thought, …

Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA) said on Sunday it completed a $500 million deal to buy state-owned rival IMI Systems after receiving government approval for the privatization of IMI last week. Elbit (ESLT.O) paid $495 million for IMI, with an additional payment of $27 million contingent on IMI meeting …

An Israeli-American man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Israel on Thursday for making about 2,000 hoax bomb threats that forced evacuations of U.S. Jewish community centers and planes to make emergency landings. The threats, by phone and email were made in 2016 and 2017, and raised concern …

Home-renting company Airbnb Inc <AirBnB Inc> said on Monday it would remove listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move Israel called a “wretched capitulation” to boycotters and Palestinians hailed as a step towards peace. The decision, affecting some 200 listings, would take effect in the coming days, Airbnb said. Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 …

Think Tanks Activity Summary (For further details, scroll down to the PUBLICATIONS section) The American Foreign Policy Council looks at Trump’s Iran policy.  They note, “Even more important, however, is the current tug-of-war taking place over Iran’s banking sector. The Nov. 7 sanctions round is aimed in large part at …

The United States said it would oppose on Friday for the first time an annual resolution at the United Nations calling on Israel to rescind its authority in the occupied Golan Heights, drawing praise from Israeli officials. The Golan Heights form a buffer between Israel and Syria of about 1,200 …

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his resignation on Wednesday in protest at a Gaza ceasefire that he called a “capitulation to terror”, weakening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative coalition government. “Were I to stay in office, I would not be able to look southern residents in the eye,” Lieberman …

In a clear violation of all laws and human rights principles, including the right to education and access to educational institutions, many Palestinian schools in the countryside and Bedouin communities are attacked by Israeli soldiers and settlers against the Oref and Luban Sharqeia’s schools south of Nablus, 7 students were …

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said on Tuesday they would halt cross-border attacks immediately if Israel did the same after the most serious exchanges of aerial fire since a seven-week war in 2014. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, responded by putting the onus on the Palestinians to …

The Israel-Gaza border fell quiet on Monday after a botched Israeli undercover operation in the Gaza Strip led to fighting that killed a Hamas commander, six other Palestinian militants and an Israeli colonel. Palestinians fired 17 rockets into southern Israel late on Sunday in response to the incursion and air …

A $15 million Qatari cash infusion was paid out to impoverished Palestinian civil servants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, offering the enclave’s dominant Hamas Islamists a potential domestic reprieve though Israel said the money would not go to them. Hamas’s political rival based in the West Bank, Palestinian President …

Tuning into the news at dawn on Wednesday, the extended family of Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress, celebrated her victory in their home in the Israeli occupied West Bank. Tlaib, a Democrat, ran virtually unopposed in Michigan’s 13th congressional district, which encompasses …

Following the Akkivot Institute’s demand to disclose confidential documents from the Israeli archives on the territories occupied in 1967, a policy was recently revealed by the government of the occupation on granting a economic safety nets for investments for Israelis in the occupied territories in order to expand and promote …

Israel on Friday condemned the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but said cooperating with Riyadh against Iran was a greater priority. In his first public reaction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Khashoggi’s death, which has caused global outrage, was “horrendous” and must be …

Member of the PLO Executive Committee, and the DFLP’s Political Bureau, Tayseer Khaled saluted the Palestinian Jerusalemites, as they have boycotted the municipal elections in the occupied East Jerusalem, which emphasizes their solid position on the city despite all the maneuvers exerted by the Israel Government and the occupation Municipality …

A Turkish ship will start drilling for oil and gas in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said, a move that could create tensions with neighboring Cyprus and Greece over jurisdiction. Attempts to tap gas and oil in the eastern Mediterranean, along with a dispute over Greece’s maritime …

According to the new findings that tackled the Israeli housing banks, they showed that the Israeli banks have given loans to 26 random outposts under the direction of the Settlement Department, one of the settlement organizations of the Israeli government. One of those outposts is Amona, which were evacuated under …

Palestinian militants said on Saturday they would halt attacks into Israel from the Gaza Strip after they fired the heaviest rocket salvoes across the border since August. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups that operates in Gaza, said it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel’s killing …

The Palestinian Authority (PA) says Israel doctors the Palestinian curriculum in schools in the occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds. Education Minister Sabri Sidem said “the Israeli authorities printed distorted copies of the Palestinian curriculum and distributed them to the schools supervised by the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem” al-Quds, London-headquartered website …

Palestinian-American billionaire developer Bashar al-Masri is the brains behind Rawabi, a $1.4 billion planned city of 40,000 in the West Bank, the territory home to 2.6 million Palestinians. Rawabi is the first planned city in the West Bank built by and for Palestinians. With a price tag of $1.4 billion, it is …

Jordan says it plans to end a lease of two areas of land to Israel that was agreed in annexes to the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries. The areas are Naharayim in the north and Tzofar in the south, known as Baqura and Ghamr in Arabic. The lease …

Plans to judaize the Old City of Hebron are proceeding step by step amid international silence and the American support that encourages the occupation authorities to continue their policy. Following the Ibrahimi Mosque’s massacre, the occupation authorities divided the Mosque between the Palestinians and the settlers. More than one site …

The General Assembly on Tuesday voted by an overwhelming majority to temporarily grant the “State of Palestine” additional rights and privileges, allowing it to head the biggest bloc of developing countries at the United Nations. A whopping 146 states voted in favor of Resolution A/73/L.5, while only three countries — the …

Tayseer Khaled , member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the politbureau of the Democratic Front of the Liberation of Palestine warned of the grave consequences of the Israeli government’s policy of dealing with Gaza Strip in  Security standards only  to continue economic sanctions …