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Inside the Middle East
March 18, 2011
Posted: 1505 GMT



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel meets with Piers Morgan(Getty)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel meets with Piers Morgan(Getty)

In a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the possibility that his government would ever negotiate with a Palestinian government that included the Islamist group Hamas.

“Can you imagine a peace deal with Al Qaeda? Of course not.” Netanyahu told Morgan in Jerusalem. “What am I going to negotiate with them? The method of our decapitation? The method of their exterminating us? Of course not"

The vocal opposition from Netanyahu comes amidst Palestinians efforts to end the bitter political divide between their two main political parties.

Wednesday Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he was ready to visit the Gaza Strip immediately in an effort to end the internal political division between his Fatah party and the Hamas faction which rules in Gaza.

That move followed an invitation from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh who extended the invitation to Abbas as tens of thousands of protestors both in the West Bank and Gaza took to the streets demanding political unity.

Israel has long rejected the idea of direct negotiations with Hamas which it regards as a terrorist organization but Netanyahu’s comments signal what appears to be a new Israeli push to prevent Abbas from striking deal that would include Hamas in any future Palestinian government.

Friday’s Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli officials were working to convince the United States and other nations that any Hamas role in a government would attest to the Palestinian’s lack of interest in peace.

The division between Fatah and Hamas began in 2006 when the Islamist party won parliamentary elections and worsened a year later when Hamas seized power in Gaza from Fatah in a violent coup. Repeated attempts at negotiating a political rapprochement have failed .

While few are holding their breath that this latest effort at reconciliation will bear fruit there is considerably more pressure being brought to bear on both factions. Taking a page from protestors in Egypt and Tunisia internet savvy Palestinians have been using social media to organize increasing numbers to demonstrate publicly for reconciliation.

Independent lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti says recent demonstrations represent a new and important youth movement in Palestinian society.

"What you see is the beginning of change, what you see is the voice of the young people and the silent majority among the Palestinians which are pressuring both Fatah and Hamas to end this terrible division, to end this internal competition about an authority which does not exist because it is all under occupation," Barghouti said. "You see the voice of the Palestinian majority asking for democracy back and asking for unity, which is the only way to end occupation and the suffering of the people."

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Filed under: CNN Coverage •Fatah •Gaza •Hamas •Israel •Netanyahu •Palestinians •West Bank


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February 21, 2011
Posted: 749 GMT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Iran's plans to send naval ships through the Suez Canal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Iran's plans to send naval ships through the Suez Canal.

The Israeli prime minister on Sunday accused Iran of trying to expand its influence in the region by planning to send naval ships through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean.

Egypt has agreed to allow two Iranian warships to cross, in a move that puts the country's new military regime in a prickly position with its Israeli neighbor.

The post-Hosni Mubarak caretaker government gave the green light to the Iranian warships Friday. The move comes in the wake of the Egyptian president's ouster earlier this month.

"Iran is trying to take advantage of the situation," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at a weekly Cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu said Israel views the crossing of the Iranian ships through the Suez Canal "gravely."
No Iranian warships have crossed the canal as of Sunday, said Ahmed el-Manakhly, transit director of the Suez Canal Authority.

The Iranian state news agency al Alam earlier reported that two Iranian ships had crossed through the canal and are headed to a Syrian port.

The ships are expected to be the first Iranian warships to sail through the Suez since the Islamic republic's 1979 revolution. Egypt's newly empowered military government has said it would honor all its international treaties.

The Suez Canal is a key waterway for international trade. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, allowing ships to navigate between Europe and Asia without having to go around Africa.

Millions of barrels of oil move through the Suez every day en route to Europe and North America

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Filed under: Iran •Israel •Netanyahu


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January 24, 2011
Posted: 1231 GMT
A former Israeli government official claims Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas almost reached a deal in 2008.
A former Israeli government official claims Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas almost reached a deal in 2008.

Palestinian negotiators offered to give up large areas of East Jerusalem to Israel during negotiations dating back to 2008, the Al-Jazeera network said, suggesting Palestinian leaders have been willing to offer much larger concessions in private than they had previously acknowledged in public.
On Monday a former Israeli government official said an agreement was almost reached during negotiations between former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from the end of 2006 to September 2008.
"After dozens of meetings between Olmert and (Abbas) there was a proposal that was reached ... this offer was on all the issues we call core issues," Yanki Galanti, a former Olmert spokesman, said in an interview Monday with Israeli Army radio.
The core issues in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are considered to be the status of Jerusalem, borders and refugees. Read more...

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Filed under: Israel •Jerusalem •Media •Palestinians •Peace Talks


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January 23, 2011
Posted: 719 GMT
The view of the concrete barrier separating Gaza and Israel from the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing.(CNN/Kevin Flower)
The view of the concrete barrier separating Gaza and Israel from the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing.(CNN/Kevin Flower)

It's an experience I had heard described dozens of times before; a frequent occurrence for Palestinians and an unwelcome rite of passage for some members of the international media covering the Middle East conflict.

But if I thought during my four-and-a-half years serving as CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief I had dodged this particular indignity, I was wrong.

"I need you to take off your sweater and your shirt," came the request from the man on the other side of the glass.

I was in a small fluorescent lit, concrete-walled room with a large picture window. The floor was comprised of a metal grating revealing another dank concrete room below.

Behind the glass sat a casually dressed man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He spoke to me through a microphone.

"Take your clothes off and put them in the container behind you," he told me in Hebrew-accented English.

I stood motionless in the bleak room in a state of shock.

I knew exactly what was happening, but it was still difficult to believe – I was being strip-searched.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Filed under: CNN Coverage •Gaza •Israel •Palestinians


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December 27, 2010
Posted: 1059 GMT

Despite overtures from Turkey, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday that his country will not apologize to Turkey over the deaths of nine Turkish activists aboard an aid flotilla headed for Gaza in May.

Israeli troops board a ship in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31.
Israeli troops board a ship in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31.

"The ones who need to apologize is the Turkish government for supporting terror regarding the IHH (a Turkish charity tied to the flotilla), Hamas and Hezbollah," he told a gathering of Israeli ambassadors from around the world.

"There will be no apology, and if there is one, we are expecting it from Ankara and not vice versa," he added.

A day earlier, Turkey's foreign minister continued to press for an apology from Israel over the incident, as the boat that set off the row between the two countries was scheduled to arrive in Istanbul. Read more...

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Filed under: Gaza •Israel •Palestinians


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December 10, 2010
Posted: 1928 GMT

An Israeli confectionery company seems to have gone one step too far in an unusual, aggressive attempt to market a new chocolate bar.

An anonymous letter sent to dozens of Israeli women this week stated: "I saw you at lunch break next to the elevator, yielding for something new, original and unexpected. Ever since then, I have been imagining our first date at midday, I can't wait!" reads the hand written message, Haaretz daily newspaper reports.

"I don't know how to tell you this so I will be direct: let's meet over coffee for lunch or maybe for a different sort of meeting in the evening. But remember: if you don't come to me, I will already get to you," the letter concludes.

Among the women who received the mysterious note was parliament member Miri Regev who filed a compliant against the anonymous stalker.

"This was a very unpleasant thing to read" she told CNN.

Regev only found the message to be a commercial hoax when police investigation traced an advertising company as the sender.

"The revelation left me outraged. This is simply unacceptable, to be used as a woman just in order to market a product in such a manner that crosses all the red lines," she said.

Police are still investigating the story and have yet to decide whether to press charges against the creative writers and the confectionery company.

EDK advertising, who was responsible for the controversial idea told Haaretz: "The mere fact that the media is talking about the campaign means that it was a success. In any case, this is not a criminal offense."

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Filed under: General •Israel


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December 8, 2010
Posted: 842 GMT
Palestinian children play on one side of a barrier wall.
Palestinian children play on one side of a barrier wall.

A letter signed by 50 state-appointed rabbis telling Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews prompted widespread condemnation Tuesday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and human rights groups.

The letter warned that those who defied the religious ruling should be "ostracized."

"In answer to many questions, we reply that it is prohibited by the Torah to sell a house or field in Israel to a gentile," the letter reads.

The letter is to be published in religious newspapers and distributed in synagogues across the country later this week, according to the Israeli news website Ynet.

It contends that "those who sell or rent out in an area which Jews live cause great damage to his neighbors. ... For their way of life is different to Jews. Read more...

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Filed under: Israel •Judaism •Palestinians


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November 23, 2010
Posted: 811 GMT
An Israeli policeman looks across to the Egyptian border.
An Israeli policeman looks across to the Egyptian border.

Israel started building a barrier along its border with Egypt Monday. The Israeli government says it is to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing into the country and to stop smuggling.
The 240-kilometer-long, $370 million barrier will be part fence and part surveillance technology. The project was announced in January by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "This is a strategic decision to ensure the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel," he said.
The Israeli military estimates around 5,000 infiltrators entered Israel over the past year as well as 1.3 tonnes of hash and 130 kilograms of heroin. Read more..

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Filed under: Egypt •Israel


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November 4, 2010
Posted: 1956 GMT

Following up on our previous post about Israel's anger over the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) designation of  a West Bank religious shrine as a mosque,  the Israeli Foreign Ministry has decided to stop working with the UN agency.

In a statement Israel's Deputy foreign  minister, Danny Ayalon,  announced  "the suspension of Israel’s cooperation with the organization (UNESCO) in the implementation of the five resolutions until these outrageous pronouncements are rescinded"

Ayalon went on to say that the UNESCO recommendations were based on the "automatic Arab majority" in the agency and that it had become a "rubber stamp" of the Palestinian Authority.

An Israeli government official said the move was meant to "send a message" to the UN agency about Israel's "extreme displeasure" with the mosque designation which the official called a "negation" of not only Jewish and Christian tradition but of Islamic history as well.

The press office at UNESCO had no immediate comment about the latest criticism.

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Filed under: Christianity •Islam •Israel •Judaism •Religion


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October 30, 2010
Posted: 1452 GMT
Pamela Anderson poses during the unveiling of a new People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) poster in London. (Getty Images)
Pamela Anderson poses during the unveiling of a new People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) poster in London. (Getty Images)

Former “Baywatch” star and Playboy cover girl Pamela Anderson is now involved in…Israeli politics.

Israeli Daily newspaper Yediot Aronoth reported this week that a letter written by the Hollywood star and noted animal rights activist was received at the office of Israel’s Minister of Religious Services, Ya’akov Margi,  of the religious  political party of Shas.

Anderson, who is due to visit Israel in a few weeks to make a guest appearance in the Israeli version of popular TV show “Dancing with the Stars”,  asked the minister to support a ground-breaking  bill that would ban the use of animal fur for the making of clothes, hats and other products in the Jewish State.

“I urge you to support this historic bill and speak up for the millions of animals who are bludgeoned, electrocuted, and skinned alive for their pelts each year" beseeched Anderson in her letter.

She also implored him to watch a graphic video from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

No word on the minister's response to the Hollywood starlet but according to the report, the minister has asked for the bill to be re-examined  due to the fact that many ultra-orthodox Jews living in Israel traditionally choose to cover their heads with large hats made of sable tails.

The distinctive head covering, called the streimel,  is worn by male adherents of various Jewish sects and is usually donned on the sabbath or high holidays.

While the market for the hats is small the price tags are not – milliners can fetch up to $5000 per streimel.

The sable covered hat is believed to have originated some 500 years ago in Russia after a government decree that all Jews identify themselves by attaching an animal's tail to their skull caps. What began as a humiliation eventually turned into accepted fashion spreading throughout the Jewish communities in Europe.

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Filed under: Israel •Judaism


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