Tag: Israel

Palestinian PM to visit Gaza for reconciliation efforts

by Shatha Yaish Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) – Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah will travel to Gaza on October 2 as part of a fresh push to end a decade-long split between Fatah and Hamas, which runs the enclave, his government said Monday. The visit follows concessions by Islamist group Hamas after discussions with Egypt, which has urged it to take steps towards reconciliation with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank. Fatah […]

Israel’s Netanyahu vows to fight ‘Iranian curtain’

by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to fight an “Iranian curtain” descending on the Middle East, pledging to prevent Tehran from ever establishing a permanent foothold in Syria. Netanyahu — who in recent years has coined his own sort of theater at the annual United Nations speech marathon with podium props and dramatic warnings — was in a lighter mood for 2017, cracking jokes and […]

Palestinians need Trump two-state pledge before peace: officials

by Nasser Abu Bakr Agence France-Presse RAMALLAH,, Palestinian Territories – Donald Trump’s team must commit to a two-state solution and oppose Israeli settlement construction before the US president’s peace push can move forward, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. Their comments came ahead of talks on Thursday with Trump aides, including special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt and the president’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy Jared Kushner. The visit for meetings with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders comes with […]

World’s oldest man, Holocaust survivor, dies in Israel aged 113

(Reuters) — Holocaust survivor Israel Kristal, who last year was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living man, died in Israel on Friday (August 11), aged 113, local news media reports said. Guinness said Kristal was born in Poland on Sept. 15, 1903, and survived the Auschwitz death camp, where his first wife, two children and other family members were killed by the Nazis. He married again after the war and moved […]

Clashes as Palestinians end boycott of Jerusalem holy site

by Shatha Yaish and Joe Dyke Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined  – Clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians at a sensitive Jerusalem  site Thursday as thousands of Muslim worshippers entered to end a boycott of the compound over new Israeli security measures. An AFP correspondent witnessed the clashes break out shortly after the worshippers entered. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported around 100 people wounded both inside the Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the […]

Netanyahu slams EU’s ‘crazy’ Israel policy

by Peter Murphy & Geza Molnar Agence France-Presse BUDAPEST, Hungary – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday denounced the European Union’s political demands on Israel as “absolutely crazy,” in remarks leaked from a closed-door meeting with eastern and central European leaders in Budapest. “The (EU) is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel… in every area on political conditions,” he said in a recording heard by AFP. […]

UNESCO puts Hebron on endangered heritage list, outraging Israel

by Anna Maria Jakubek Agence France Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — UNESCO on Friday declared the Old City of Hebron a Palestinian world heritage site in danger, sparking outrage from Israel which said the decision denied a Jewish claim to an ancient burial cave that is also sacred to Muslims. The Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Muslims as the Ibrahami Mosque, is venerated by members of both faiths as the gravesite of the biblical […]

Israel forces hit Syria army after new stray fire

JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) — Israel hit a Syrian regime position on Wednesday night after stray mortar fire from the war-torn country struck the occupied Golan Heights, in the third such exchange within a week. A military spokesperson said a mortar round had hit open ground in the Israeli-controlled zone of the plateau and “forces responded and targeted the Syrian army position that fired the mortar.” She did not say if the Israeli retaliatory fire had […]

Israel sends P1-M worth of supplies, medicine and equipment for Marawi victims thru PHL Red Cross

  The Israel Embassy officially has turned over P1 million worth of basic equipment, medicines, and supplies to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), to support immediate needs of those affected by the Marawi conflict. “We are all touched by the events in Marawi and the effect they brought to the people of Marawi. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed us to lend a hand of support to the affected people in Marawi and the surrounding […]

Israel strikes Hamas bases in Gaza after rocket: officials

GAZA CITY, Israel (AFP) — Israeli airstrikes hit a series of targets in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip overnight Monday, officials said, hours after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave landed in the Jewish state. Strikes were recorded in at least three locations in Gaza, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said, with Hamas bases struck near the southern city of Rafah and Gaza City, as well as open land southeast of Gaza City. The Palestinian health […]

Israel reduces power supply to Gaza

GAZA, Israel (Reuters) – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip prepared for Iftar on Tuesday (June 13) by candlelight as Israel began reducing the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian Authority limited how much it pays for power to the enclave run by Hamas. The decision by Israel’s security cabinet is expected to shorten by 45 minutes the daily average of four hours of power that Gaza’s 2 million residents receive from an […]

Israeli court awards Netanyahus $32,500 in libel case

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — An Israeli court Sunday awarded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife $32,500 in a libel case over a journalist’s claim she kicked him out of the car during a row. Court documents said writer Igal Sarna was ordered to pay 60,000 shekels ($17,000, 15,000 euros) in damages to Netanyahu and 40,000 shekels to his wife Sara, as well as a further 15,000 shekels for the couple’s court costs. They had […]