Considering that in his last op-ed for the New York Times, Mr. Luttwak stated that the Muslim world will not accept Obama due to his “conversion to Christianity” (Muslim countries’ approval of U.S. leadership has increased under Obama’s presidency), it is no surprise that his op-ed published today in the Wall Street Journal on why […]
Well, the recount of votes for seats on the Fatah Central Committee shook things up a bit. Notably, the recount pushed a prominent supporter of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, At-Tayyib Abdul Rahim, onto the panel, extending the elected part of the committee from 18 to 19 seats. Abdul Rahim previously said he would not seek […]
The Israeli government did a U-turn on its policy involving negotiations with Syria, stating that Jerusalem would only agree to direct talks with Damascus instead of moderated talks through Turkish officials. Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon stated in an interview with Reuters that moderated talks were clearly failing and that only through direct negotiations could […]
Jon Elmer has a piece at IPS about Palestinian women who have spent time in Israeli prisons. Despite the rotten conditions – both because of the total absence of women-specific accommodations as well as the fact that, well, it’s a prison – his interviewee, Khawla al Azraq, used her prison time to educate herself. She […]
The Israeli, Turkish, and U.S. navies will participate in a joint exercise over the Meditaranean next week to practice strategies for ensuring safety at sea. The operation, launched annually for the last ten years, will involve eight ships, three search and rescue aircraft, and four helicopters. More importantly, though, the exercise is the first joint operation […]
Today a senior Iranian official admitted that about 4,000 people were detained in June’s post-election street protests. Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi stated that 3700 detainees arrested during post-election incidents have been released and only 300 people were held for longer than a few days for being “involved in the riots.” Among those 300 people are […]
Israeli and Hamas officials could be on the verge of a breakthrough in negotiations to release abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who was captured by the terror group over three years ago. Ma’an News is reporting that Israel transfered Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmad Sa’adat from a prison in Ashkelon to […]
Headlining the first Fatah conference in 20 years, the election for a new 18-seat Central Committee resulted in some serious surprises and problems for certain party members. Because some party members could not leave Gaza to vote, these officials could vote until 4 p.m. Notably, imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti won, what is likely to […]
There is nothing in Iran and Taliban’s past relationship, which leads one to believe that these two sides can cooperate. Taliban’s hardcore theology includes anti-Shiite prejudice that often bought it to the brink of war with Iran during its days in power. On August 8th 1998, Taliban killed eleven Iranian diplomats and carried out a […]
Officials from Hizballah and Israel have been exchanging hostile words recently. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated that all of Lebanon would pay the price for any Hizballah transgressions against Israel. Hizballah representatives indicated that the guerrilla group is more than prepared for another confrontation with Israel, and is suspected of possessing over 40,000 rockets. […]
As of tomorrow, the Israeli government will cease its policy of purchasing $100 million per day. The program, started in July 2008, was meant to ensure that the worth of the shekel would not drop significantly by backing-up the currency. Due to stabilization in the economy, the Bank of Israel decided to end the program, […]
A senior Israeli diplomatic official in Boston authored a memo that struck an unfortunate chord with his superiors back home. Nadav Tamir, the consul general in Boston, wrote in a memo that Israel is harming its strategic alliance with the United States over the settlement dispute with the United States. In response, senior foreign ministry […]
A new INSS report describes the unique situation of a town on the Israel-Lebanon border that rests within both countries. The residents of Ghajar hold Israeli citizenship but predominantly maintain their identities as Syrian. Israel claimed the town following the 1973 war that led to the capture of the Golan Heights from Syria. Due to […]
While the second day of the trial of protesters arrested in post-election turmoil in Iran might not have provided the same shock level as the day one of the trial, it still had its share of extremely interesting confessions. Though in today’s hearing no one accused high-level reformist leaders of conspiring against the Islamic Republic, […]
A newly disclosed document- answers to questions for the record submitted by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to the Senate Intelligence Committee in April 2009 – has revealed that Iran is at least four years away from producing nuclear weapon and Iran has been secretly helping the Afghan insurgents including the Taliban. The Washington […]