Category: 2. Middle East

The Planning and Building Committee in the Israeli controlled Jerusalem municipality intends to discuss a new plan for the expansion of illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem tomorrow as a first step toward approving the project.

The plan aims to expand what is known as the Gilo settlement south-eastward, on lands and olive groves owned by residents of the Palestinian city of Beit Jala. It includes the construction of 1,900 new settlement units on 176…

Palestinian sources reported that Israeli occupation forces arrested a Palestinian child from the town of Kafr Ad-Dik, west of the occupied city of Salfit, to pressure his father to turn himself in.

Sources told Quds Press that Israeli occupation forces raided the home of Palestinian Ahmed Abdel Karim Al-Dik to arrest him. They searched the house and vandalised it. When they did not find him, they arrested his 12-year-old son, Ahmed, who is named after his…

A Hamas delegation departed for Cairo to discuss “new ideas” aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, an official from the group said, as Israeli air strikes killed 26 people across the territory Tuesday.

The renewed effort follows Hamas’s rejection last week of Israel’s latest proposal to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza.

Talks have so far failed to produce any breakthrough since Israel resumed its air and ground assault on Gaza from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.

“The…

Israel’s Channel 12 reported yesterday that the Israeli occupation government is considering re-arresting Palestinian prisoners released as part of prisoner exchange agreements with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in an attempt to put pressure on the movement to accept the terms of a new ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

The channel said that this step comes after a series of measures taken recently by Israel, including preventing the entry…

The Israeli Air Force has begun the process of dismissing reservists who signed a petition opposing the continuation of the war on the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reported yesterday.

The Air Force has already informed a brigadier general in the reserves of his dismissal and is conducting individual talks with other signatories, the paper added.

The military claims that around 60 of those who signed the petition are active in the reserves, including seven pilots. However,…

Security forces in Tunisia arrested lawyer and former administrative court judge Ahmed Sawab yesterday. Sawab is a member of the defence team in the “conspiracy against state security” case and was taken to a security headquarters in the Bouchoucha district in the capital.

According to lawyer Sami Ben Ghazi’s Facebook post: “Security forces raided the home of professor and former judge Ahmed Sawab, and then he was taken to the headquarters of the Tunisian…

Egypt yesterday issued a strong condemnation of calls by Israeli settler groups to bomb the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, Egypt emphasised its complete rejection of the provocative calls and “extremist and inflammatory rhetoric”.

Cairo emphasised the need to halt the serious violations within the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and warned against any attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites in…

LONDON: He preferred to be called “Father” rather than “Your Holiness,” and in his simple white cassock, Pope Francis carried a message of humility far beyond Vatican walls. He washed the feet of migrants, embraced the poor and forsaken, and reminded the world that true power lies in service — not ceremony.

From the barrios of…

Leader of the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu Party, Avigdor Lieberman, yesterday warned that the country is in a state of “turmoil”, saying it must not reach the level of a “political assassination”.

Lieberman spoke to the local 103 FM radio station about what he described as a state of frenzy on social media.

“The rhetoric is violent, and everything we have seen in the past year is disturbing, and it must not rise to the level of a political…

Hamas has condemned Israeli ministers’ calls for the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, saying this represents an extension of aggressive settlement policies and a desperate attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause by plundering and stealing land from its original owners, Quds Press reported.

In a statement issued yesterday, the movement said the Israeli ministers’ calls reflect a “colonial and fascist mentality” and…