Middle East

Inside Middle East

Olmert ponders the release of Palestinians held since 1990s

Thursday, 7 August 2008

Israel is considering the first release of former Palestinian militants – held on serious charges since the early 1990s – as part of the "gesture of goodwill", the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, told the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday.

Blair relative in Gaza protest

Wednesday, 6 August 2008

The Israeli authorities are giving little away on how they will handle a planned sea voyage by some 40 pro-Palestinian activists from Cyprus to Gaza in an effort to "break the siege" of the blockaded Strip.

'Tell us who the terrorists are if you want the doctor'

Monday, 4 August 2008

Seriously ill Palestinian patients are being pressured to collaborate with Israeli intelligence by turning informer in return for being allowed out of Gaza for medical treatment.

Parents forget three-year-old at airport

Monday, 4 August 2008

Israeli airport police say a local couple embarked on an unlikely European vacation, remembering their duty-free shopping and their 18 suitcases but forgetting their three-year-old daughter at the airport.

Robert Fisk: Syrian leader gets top billing in Middle East by doing nothing

Monday, 4 August 2008

President Bashar al-Assad is once more one of the "triple pillars" of the Middle East. We may not like that. George Bush may curse the day his invasion of Iraq helped to shore up the power of the Caliph of Damascus. But Mr Assad's latest trip to Tehran – just three weeks after he helped to toast the overthrow of the King of France beside President Nicolas Sarkozy – seals his place in history. Without a shot being fired, Mr Assad has ensured anyone who wants anything in the Middle East has got to talk to Syria. He's done nothing – and he's won.

Fatah militants forced back to Gaza to face Hamas after clashes

Monday, 4 August 2008

About 30 Palestinians among the 180 who had fled Gaza into Israel after a lethal internal battle in the east of the Strip were sent back to Gaza yesterday and then detained by Hamas forces.

Defiant Iran spurns deal over uranium plant

Sunday, 3 August 2008

Ahmadinejad ignores world powers' deadline for suspending enrichment

Deal left Basra at mercy of gangs, colonel admits

Sunday, 3 August 2008

British commanders in Iraq made an astonishing secret deal with a Shia prisoner, one of the UK's senior military officers in Iraq has said.

Maj-Gen Barney White-Spunner: Very modern Major General

Sunday, 3 August 2008

After the rout of the insurgents in March, the region around Basra has finally seen some stability. So, when can we pull out? Hold your horses, says the UK's returning top soldier in Iraq. The threat and the needs are changing. More than military muscle is needed. James Hanning meets... Maj-Gen Barney White-Spunner

Fighting between Hamas and Fatah leaves four dead

Sunday, 3 August 2008

Four people were killed and at least 40 injured yesterday in the worst day of internal fighting in Gaza for weeks. Amid loud explosions and gunfire in Gaza City, Hamas security forces took control of a Fatah stronghold and arrested dozens of people.

Candidate who wants Olmert's job once 'sought deaths of 70 Palestinians a day'

Friday, 1 August 2008

A leading candidate to be Israel's next premier called for a death toll of 70 Palestinians a day when he was head of the military during the second intifada, according to a best-selling book by two Israeli journalists.

Iraq's new venture: Holidays in the Garden of Eden

Friday, 1 August 2008

Iraq is trying to lure visitors to the land of Babylon with the slogan 'tourism not terrorism'. There is no shortage of ancient attractions, says Kim Sengupta

Olmert bows to pressure and announces resignation

Thursday, 31 July 2008

Ehud Olmert finally bowed to the steadily mounting pressure arising from corruption and fraud allegations against him last night by announcing his resignation after his party chooses a new leader in just over six weeks.

Ni'ilin: the West Bank focus of unarmed demonstrations and civil disobedience

Thursday, 31 July 2008

Mariam Moussa appeared almost catatonic in her grief yesterday, seated immobilised on a sofa, her eyes fixed on the "martyr" poster she was clutching of her ten year old son, killed by an Israeli bullet the previous evening. "Since she heard the news she didn't say anything and she didn't eat or drink anything" said Isma Amireh, 36, a family friend.

Olmert announces decision to step down

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today said he will not run in his party's primary election in September.

Briton found stabbed to death in Saudi Arabia

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

A Briton has been found stabbed to death in Saudi Arabia.

Academics protest at army bar on Palestinians

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Israeli universities are heading for a serious confrontation with the country's military after protesting that severelyrestrictive criteria for the admission of Palestinian students undermines their academic freedom.

Palestinian boy, 10, killed by Israelis at separation wall

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

A 10-year-old Palestinian boy has been killed by Israeli gunfire during a confrontation between troops and stone-throwing youths in a West Bank village, according to medics and witnesses.

Female bombers kill scores of Iraqi pilgrims

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Four female bombers have detonated explosives in the middle of crowds in Baghdad and Kirkuk, killing at least 57 people and wounding 300 in a double attack apparently geared towards stoking increased sectarian and ethnic divisions.

Palestinians 'use torture regularly'

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Torture is used regularly on Palestinians detained by the Fatah-dominated security forces in the West Bank and by their Hamas counterparts in Gaza, two human rights reports say.

Dozens of Shia pilgrims killed in Baghdad

Monday, 28 July 2008

Bombs tore through a Shia pilgrimage in Baghdad and a Kurdish rally in northern Iraq today killing at least 50 people and wounding scores more.

Poverty pushing people into Hamas militia

Saturday, 26 July 2008

The Hamas de facto government is one of the only employers in Gaza with a growing payroll, after a record slump resulting from the Israeli blockade imposed when the Islamic faction took control a year ago.

Israel relaunches plan for West Bank settlement in snub to US

Friday, 25 July 2008

Israel has has taken a decisive first step towards reviving a controversial plan for a Jewish settlement in the West Bank which it was forced to withdraw two years ago under pressure from the US.

World Focus: A quandary for any new US president

Friday, 25 July 2008

It's perhaps lucky for Barack Obama that he was safely on his way to Berlin by the time the Israeli daily Maariv reported that the military had approved construction of a new settlement in the Jordan Valley. For had he been asked about it Mr Obama, on a mission to convince Israel of his unequivocal friendship, could hardly have conformed with existing US policy without criticising the plan.

Security is paramount, Obama tells Israel

Thursday, 24 July 2008

Barack Obama repeatedly promised Israel's leaders yesterday that its security would remain "paramount" while he promoted efforts to resolve their conflict with the Palestinians early in his first term if elected.

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