No image available
/ 12 February 2008
Israeli leaders vowed on Monday to step up their war against Hamas and predicted the Islamists’ grip on the Gaza Strip would end within months. Two days after a rocket wounded an Israeli child in a country grown used to barrages that do little damage, Defence Minister Ehud Barak pledged to step up the military campaign.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Israel threatened to topple the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers on Monday following a surge of cross-border rocket attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group. ”I believe a combination of steps against Hamas in Gaza will bring an end to the Hamas regime in Gaza,” Israel’s Vice-Premier, Haim Ramon, told reporters. ”They will not last. It will take a few months.”
No image available
/ 5 February 2008
Israeli forces killed at least eight Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a day after a suicide bombing in Israel claimed by the Islamist group. Six of the Hamas men were killed by an air strike on a security post in southern Gaza and two other armed members of the movement were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
No image available
/ 23 January 2008
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday he had given his security forces orders to let Palestinians in from Gaza to buy food and then return home. ”I told them: ‘Let them come in to eat and buy food’, then they go back, as long as they are not carrying weapons,” Mubarak told reporters at a Cairo book fair.
No image available
/ 21 January 2008
Gaza endured a fourth day of hardship on Monday as Israel vowed to maintain a punishing blockade in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run territory, despite increasing international concern over a developing humanitarian crisis. The European Union slammed what it termed the ”collective punishment” of impoverished Gaza’s 1,5-million residents.
No image available
/ 19 January 2008
Moin al-Wadia lay on his hospital bed beneath a window on Friday, soaking up the last of the day’s winter sunshine. Around him sat his family, with boxes of sweet pastries and bouquets of flowers, as they tried to explain the growing anger and frustration of the people of Gaza.
No image available
/ 18 January 2008
Israel closed border crossings with the Gaza Strip and destroyed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry on Friday in what witnesses said was an air strike, stepping up what it says is a campaign to halt Palestinian rocket attacks. One woman was killed and at least 30 others nearby were wounded in a large explosion, medical officials said.
No image available
/ 16 January 2008
A right-wing party quit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government on Wednesday, condemning his peace talks with the Palestinians and leaving him even more politically vulnerable. Olmert had his majority in the 120-member Parliament cut from 78 seats to 67 after Yisrael Beiteinu’s defection.
No image available
/ 11 January 2008
The Israeli government said on Friday it endorsed United States President George Bush’s call during his visit for a rapid peace agreement but made clear it does not see the final establishment of a Palestinian state this year. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesperson said that Israel hoped for a ”historic agreement” in 2008.
No image available
/ 11 January 2008
United States President George Bush made his most explicit call for an end to the Israeli occupation after making his first visit to the West Bank on Thursday, where he witnessed Israel’s military checkpoints, the vast West Bank barrier and the spread of Jewish settlements.
No image available
/ 10 January 2008
Embarking on his first visit to Jerusalem as United States President, George Bush pressed Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday to seize what he called an historic opportunity and make tough concessions for peace. Defying sceptics who doubt he can deliver on a pledge to seek a deal on a Palestinian state before he leaves office in a year, Bush said he was ”very hopeful”.
Snipers patrolling rooftops, streets and entire city blocks sealed off and thousands of police and soldiers on duty — Israel and the Palestinian Authority are going on full alert for United States President George Bush’s visit. For weeks, Israeli and Palestinian officials have grappled with how to ensure the safety of the leader of the world’s sole superpower.
The number of Israelis and Palestinians killed in the Middle East conflict dropped last year but human rights abuses continued, a leading Israeli human rights group said on Tuesday. The number of Israeli casualties was at its lowest level since the start of the second intifada in 2000, reflecting a growing sense of security within Israel.
No image available
/ 25 December 2007
Christians around the world celebrated Christmas on Tuesday as the Catholic leader in the Holy Land pleaded for peace in the Middle East and Pope Benedict XVI spoke against selfishness. Iraqi Christians meanwhile celebrated a fearful Christmas in the shadow of suicide bombings and sectarian violence.
No image available
/ 23 December 2007
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, on Sunday ruled out ceasefire negotiations with the Islamist movement Hamas and said his military was fighting a ”true war” against armed groups in Gaza. He warned of further Israeli military strikes in the days ahead which he said were intended to prevent Palestinian militants from firing makeshift rockets into Israel.
No image available
/ 18 December 2007
Palestinians were given a powerful signal of international and Arab support for an independent state on Monday night, with ,4-billion in aid to revive their moribund economy and bolster renewed but faltering peace negotiations with Israel.
No image available
/ 4 December 2007
Israel said on Tuesday it believed that Iran had restarted its atomic-weapons programme and that a United States-backed campaign to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions must continue despite a US report it had halted the work. ”It is vital to pursue efforts to prevent Iran from developing a capability like this,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters.
No image available
/ 3 December 2007
More than 400 Palestinian prisoners came home to a heroes’ welcome on Monday after the latest Israeli release aimed at boosting President Mahmoud Abbas during the revived peace process. Thousands of singing and dancing well-wishers waving Palestinian flags gathered to greet the buses filled with the smiling ex-detainees.
No image available
/ 30 November 2007
Israel’s top court has upheld a government decision to reduce the Gaza Strip’s fuel imports, but postponed planned electricity cuts to the Hamas-ruled territory, Israeli officials said on Friday. Israel began reducing the amount of fuel oil, diesel and petrol allowed into Gaza last month as part of economic sanctions.
No image available
/ 29 November 2007
Israeli police said on Thursday there was insufficient evidence to indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a graft case, a major boost for the premier as he returned home from a United Sates peace conference. ”There is insufficient evidence to indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Bank Leumi case,” police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said.
No image available
/ 28 November 2007
United States President George Bush invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the White House to renew long-stalled peace talks on Wednesday but faced deep scepticism over chances for a deal. Finally embracing a hands-on approach, Bush will ceremonially inaugurate the first formal Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in seven years.
No image available
/ 28 November 2007
United States President George Bush has set himself the herculean task of shepherding an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of next year, but doubts remain about his commitment. Talks on borders, settlements, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees — are to begin on December 12.
No image available
/ 27 November 2007
United States President George Bush said on Tuesday it was the ”right time” for peace between Israel and the Palestinians before launching his biggest initiative to negotiate an end to the conflict. But he warned ”achieving this goal will not be easy”, according to remarks prepared for delivery at the opening later of the Annapolis peace conference.
No image available
/ 27 November 2007
President George Bush launched a United States drive to create a Palestinian state on Monday, with Israelis and Palestinians nearing an agreement to address the toughest issues of their decades-old conflict. His legacy dominated by war in Iraq, Bush began three days of Middle East diplomacy in separate Oval Office meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
No image available
/ 26 November 2007
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators neared an agreement on Monday on a peace agenda ahead of a new drive by United States President George Bush to restart long-dormant talks to create a Palestinian state. Expectations were low for three days of meetings in Washington and nearby Annapolis, Maryland.
No image available
/ 26 November 2007
United States President George Bush meets Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Monday in a last-ditch push for Palestinian statehood before he leaves office in 14 months. Expectations are low for three days of talks because Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all face political challenges at home.
No image available
/ 25 November 2007
Hamas officials have issued stark warnings that the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis this week is likely to result in more violence rather than settlement, including a threat from the group to escalate its own ”resistance” to Israeli occupation.
No image available
/ 23 November 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Friday that the failure of new peace efforts would be ”deadly” as new polls showed Israelis and Palestinians equally pessimistic about its chances of success. Most Israelis and Palestinians do not think the meeting, opening on Tuesday in the United States, will succeed, according to separate opinion polls.
No image available
/ 22 November 2007
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was hosting a summit with the Palestinian and Jordanian leaders on Thursday as Arab foreign ministers mull whether to join a United States-sponsored peace conference next week. Mubarak met Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss preparations for the conference.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
Condoleezza Rice taught crisis management at Stanford University but experts say the top United States diplomat will need more than academic prowess to mediate an end to six decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ”The question is, will she have that diplomatic skill to pull it off?” asked Daniel Levy, a former Israeli mediator.
No image available
/ 20 November 2007
A meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders has failed to produce a joint declaration for a Middle East summit due next week in the United States, after they could not resolve key differences. The declaration that diplomats originally expected Israel and the Palestinians to agree on has yet to be agreed.
No image available
/ 19 November 2007
The Israeli Cabinet on Monday approved the release of nearly 450 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to president Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a United States-sponsored peace meet, a senior official said. "The government approved the proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to release up to 500 Palestinian prisoners," the official said on condition of anonymity.