Calls negotiations a 'strategic choice'
Associated Press Mar 5, 08 9:44 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Fatah Palestinians will resume peace talks with Israel, Mahmoud Abbas said today, recapitulating on his demands that Israel first halt its bloody campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Abbas characterized the peace process as a “strategic choice.” The Palestinian president halted the talks on Sunday after an Israeli attack, and reiterated his demands earlier today, but a flurry of backroom dealings by Condoleezza Rice brought him around.
More »
Blames Hamas
for sabotaging talks with violence
Haaretz (Israel) Mar 4, 08 8:16 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Condoleezza Rice made stops in both Cairo and Israel today in her effort to restart stalled peace talks, telling reporters that she understood "Israel's need to defend itself" against Hamas rockets, but was concerned about "the loss of innocent life" in Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza. Rice blamed Hamas for using the rockets to derail the two-state solution in the region.
More »
Says negotiations won't resume until offensive on Palestinians ends
Reuters Mar 2, 08 1:24 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas halted peace talks with Israel today “until [Israeli] aggression is stopped,” Reuters reports. Abbas ordered the suspension of the US-brokered talks as Israel’s Gaza offensive continued and the Palestinian death toll topped 100. But Israeli PM Ehud Olmert showed no sign of relenting, calling Israel's actions self-defense.
More »
UPDATED
Armor- and air-supported troops sweep into territory to retaliate for rocket attacks
Associated Press Mar 1, 08 3:30 PM CST
(Newser)
-
At least 54 Palestinians were killed after Israeli troops supported by armor and aircraft launched new raids into the Gaza Strip today, the AP reports. The attacks are in retaliation for rocket attacks into Israel from the disputed territory that have prompted calls from some Israelis to launch a major sweep of Gaza. It's the worst violence since Hamas took control of Gaza in June.
More »
PM invokes phrase
to threaten Hamas
BBC Feb 29, 08 7:49 AM CST
(Newser)
-
As Israeli air strikes continued to hit Gaza targets overnight, a top Israel official warned that If Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israel, they "will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves." The rare use of the word usually reserved for Nazi genocide came from the country's deputy defense minister, as long-range missile attacks by Hamas on the city of Ashkelon have led Israel to step up its offensive in Gaza.
More »
Israel posts troops, accuses Hamas of endangering civilians
AFP Feb 25, 08 11:22 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Thousands of Palestinians joined hands today in an attempt to form a human chain across the Gaza Strip, AFP reports. They were protesting the Israeli blockade that has left the impoverished region perilously low on supplies. Israel massed forces along the border, including a rare artillery battery, and accused Hamas of “orchestrating a premeditated effort to put civilians on the front line.”
More »
Israeli military denies involvement in death of Palestinian Islamic Jihad chieftain
Reuters Feb 15, 08 6:32 PM CST
(Newser)
-
A leading member of terrorist group Islamic Jihad was killed today in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports. Ayman Fayed and at least seven others were killed in an explosion that leveled a house where Fayed was staying. The Israeli army denied involvement, but Palestinian leaders saw the attack as Israel taking revenge for recent killings there.
More »
Ends 11 day supply grab under Israel's blockade
Reuters Feb 3, 08 9:48 AM CST
(Newser)
-
After 11 days, Egypt has sealed the gap in its border with the Gaza Strip, ending the stream of Palestinians in search of food and supplies, Reuters reports. Hundreds of Egyptian security officers used barbed wire and metal barriers to seal the last gaps in the wall. Hamas militants told Palestinians in the area to go home.
More »
Egypt border remains open, but humanitarian concerns grow
Haaretz (Israel) Jan 24, 08 7:49 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Israel's highest court will conduct an emergency hearing Sunday on suits filed by Palestinian organizations over the blockade that has cut Israeli shipments of fuel and gas to Hamas-controlled Gaza. The border to Egypt remains open, reports Haaretz , after militants in the Gaza Strip blasted open the fence and thousands streamed into Egypt to replenish supplies. The Israeli defense ministry insists that fuel shipments are unnecessary now that resources are flowing over the Egyptian border.
More »
Soldiers, water cannons turn back Palestinian protesters
BBC Jan 22, 08 12:10 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Crowds of Palestinians swarming the Rafah border crossing today in an attempt to enter Egypt from Gaza were turned away as both riot police and Palestinians fired guns into the air, the BBC reports. Dozens of people were injured as the protesters, mostly pro-Hamas women, called for the border to be opened to supplies cut off by the Israeli blockade, the AP said.
More »
'Gaza can walk' says Olmert, upholding the ban on automobile fuel
Reuters Jan 21, 08 4:28 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Israel will loosen its border blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, permitting an EU fuel delivery to pass through, Reuters reports. The shipment, which will allow Gaza’s main power plant to run for a week, includes diesel fuel for generators, cooking gas, and limited supplies of food and medicine. Gas for cars is still not allowed.
More »
Bombs, rockets fly; UN decries
closing of border crossings
Reuters Jan 19, 08 9:53 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Israeli bombs yesterday flattened a Hamas-run ministry on the Gaza Strip, and Israel also shut down Gaza border crossings.Cranking up pressure on Hamas to exert more control over militants who have stepped up rocket attacks, Israel killed at least 34 Palestinians this week, Reuters reports. The Palestinians cautioned that renewed violence imperils the peace talks between Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert.
More »
Two parties threaten
to leave Olmert's governing coalition
Associated Press Jan 14, 08 10:45 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Talks opened today between high-level Israeli and Palestinian negotiators as leaders on both sides faced intensifying criticism from within their own camps. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert was threatened with the withdrawal of two political parties from his governing coalition if sensitive subjects such as a divided Jerusalem are broached, and Hamas called on Mahmoud Abbas to "stop giving away Palestinian blood and rights for free."
More »