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The US will not review its policy of isolating Syria because Damascus has not moved far enough to allay US fears over its role in the Middle East, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Welch, said in an interview Wednesday.
Syria's move to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon is "a start" but...
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Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has offered his country's assistance in rebuilding Lebanon's army, in a bid to improve security amid ongoing sectarian tensions.
North Lebanon has witnessed in the past two months repeated clashes between Sunni followers of the western-backed government and others loyal to the opposition, led...
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Major international media organizations protested against Israel Thursday because it has prevented journalists from entering the Gaza Strip for nearly two weeks now.
The media organizations sent a letter to caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying they were "gravely concerned" about the denial of access to the Gaza Strip...
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Major international media organizations protested against Israel Thursday because it has prevented journalists from entering the Gaza Strip for almost two weeks.
The media organizations, including ABC news, the BBC, CNN, the Associated Press, Reuters and the New York Times sent a letter to caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying...
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US president-elect Barack Obama telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and promised him that his administration would continue efforts to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement sent to reporters overnight that in Tuesday's telephone conversation,...
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Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband started official talks with Lebanese leaders Wednesday, saying he hoped that stability would prevail in Lebanon until the upcoming parliamentary election due in May 2009.
"The entire world is looking at the upcoming parliamentary elections where politics, not violence, should...
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Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem Monday, with a collapsing Gaza truce high on their agenda.
The two leaders have been meeting regularly since they revived Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations for the first time in seven years at an international summit in...
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Israeli police questioned caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Friday for the 10th time in recent months on corruption suspicions.
Police arrived at Olmert's Jerusalem residence in the morning and probed him for 2.5 hours, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
He said fraud detectives questioned him on suspicions that he funneled...
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Israeli caretaker prime minister Ehud Olmert wants to start direct negotiations with Syria by January, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday.
Olmert wants to upgrade the talks despite internal criticism by members of both the opposition and coalition, who say he lacks the legitimacy to negotiate during his final months in...
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed in Israel Thursday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of Sunday's meeting in Egypt of international sponsors of the current Middle East peace negotiations.
She is scheduled to meet the now Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the afternoon and Foreign Minister Tzipi...
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Israeli and Palestinian leaders welcomed Wednesday the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential election, with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni calling it a "badge of honour" and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urging him to get involved in the peace process "immediately."
"President Abbas looks...
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The hardline opposition Likud party submitted a bill to parliament Monday, which if passed would make it illegal for any Israeli transitional government to conduct peace talks and give up territory.
The bill is another effort by the party to block attempts by Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate a peace treaty...
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Israeli President Shimon Peres completed consultations with parliamentary factions Monday, preparing the ground for early elections in the politically turbulent country before March.
A day after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni informed him that she was unable to form a government, Peres was expected to announce to Knesset speaker...
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Israeli President Shimon Peres gave the green light Monday for the country to hold new elections, telling parliament that consultations he has held led him to conclude that no legislator has enough backing to form a new coalition.
Peres held the consultations with political factions after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni informed him...
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Israeli President Shimon Peres gave Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni a two-week extension Monday for forming a new government to replace that headed by outgoing Premier Ehud Olmert.
The extension was given after Livni met with Peres for an hour and 15 minutes Monday morning, to request the additional fortnight and to brief him on her...
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not quit his post when his term officially ends on January 9, the Ramallah- based al-Ayyam daily reported Monday.
The daily quoted Abbas as telling newspaper columnists at his office Sunday night that since the Palestinian election law states that presidential and legislative elections should...
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Israeli President Shimon Peres gave Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Monday a two-week extension to the period allocated to her to form a new government to replace that headed by outgoing Premier Ehud Olmert.
Livni met with Peres for an hour and 15 minutes Monday morning, and briefed him on her attempts to form a "stable and...
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An ultra-Orthodox Israeli party has expressed reservations about entering a coalition headed by a woman, creating another hurdle for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in her efforts to form a new government.
Israel's Ma'ariv daily Thursday quoted a senior spiritual leader of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, Rabbi Joseph Shalom...
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There were positive signals from talks brokered by Egypt with Palestinian factions, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in New Delhi Thursday.
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of a four-day visit to India, Abbas also said a decision on elections in the Palestinian Territories - presidential and legislative -...
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Israeli fraud squad detectives questioned outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the eight time in recent weeks on Thursday, regarding corruption affairs in which the premier is suspected of being involved.
It was the Israeli leader's first interrogation since he resigned the premiership on September 21.
Israel Army Radio reported...
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Iran's nuclear ambitions need to be dealt with by the international community and not by Israel alone, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks published Monday.
"Iran is a large world power, which poses a threat to the international community. The one charged with handling the Iranian issue is, first and foremost, the...
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Israel's opposition Likud Party called Thursday on Knesset factions to agree on a date for new elections, rather than join a government headed by Tzipi Livni, who scored a narrow victory in the leadership primary of the ruling Kadima party.
Livni, who beat her main rival Shaul Mofaz by only 431 votes in the race to succeed discredited...
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The West Bank administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Thursday the election of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as the new leader of Israel's ruling party.
"Livni was deeply involved in the peace process so we think she will continue peace-seeking with us," senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat told reporters in...
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In a contest which could decide the fate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Israel's ruling Kadima party began electing a new leader Wednesday to replace discredited Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Some 144 polling stations opened their doors at 10 am (0700 GMT) at locations throughout the country, and stay open for 12 hours, to...
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Members of Israel's ruling Kadima party is choosing a new leader Wednesday to replace discredited Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Some 74,000 registered members of the centrist party are eligible to vote at 114 polling stations placed in 93 different locations throughout the country.
Polls are scheduled to open 10 am (0700 GMT) and...
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Israeli Fraud Squad detectives Friday questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the seventh time in recent weeks over corruption affairs the premier is suspected of being involved in.
Olmert's artist wife Aliza was also quizzed during the lengthy session which, as with previous interrogations of the prime minister, went on for longer...
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Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is the odds- on favourite to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the ruling Kadima party, a poll released Thursday has found.
The survey, published in the Ma'ariv daily, showed 48.9 per cent of Kadima members want Livni to head the party, compared to 27.9 per cent for her main...
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Lebanon will send an official complaint to the United Nations Security Council in response to a warning from Israel that it could strike at the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, an official source said Friday.
"Lebanon will complain to the UN about recent comments made by Israeli officials in which they issued direct threats...
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Israeli police were questioning Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for a sixth time time Friday on his alleged involvement in corruption affairs currently under investigation.
It was unclear which of the affairs would form the focus of the latest round of questioning, but Israeli media said the investigators would quiz the premier on...
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Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Monday called for stepping up support by African and Asian nations for
an independent Palestinian state. Opening a two-day
conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Jakarta,
Yudhoyono called on Asian-African countries to help empower
Palestinians so they would be...
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Morris Talansky, a Long Island
businessman involved in the corruption case which concerns Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, confessed the truth at the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday. The questioning lasted seven hours. He testified he gave to Olmert about $150,000,
mostly in cash stuffed into envelopes.
The businessman declared...
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In the last days, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
simultaneously began talks with Syria,
discussed a possible agreement with Hamas and promoted a Palestinian investment
conference in the West Bank. He did all this
while being under investigation on suspicion of taking bribes from an American
business man. Olmert is...
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 A pacifist Israeli group claims construction in West Bank settlements will continue, despite previous
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The report of “Peace Now” was released during
a visit by U.S. Secretary of the State Condoleezza Rice and it shows that more
than 500 buildings are under construction and that...
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 Israel attacked Gaza-based Palestinians
on Thursday killing six Palestinian militants and one civilian during a raid,
Voice of America reports.
Hamas Officials say that five of the Palestinians who died in
the fighting in Northern Gaza Strip on Thursday were Hamas members. A teacher
was killed and at least two people wounded...
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Legislators of the opposition Likud party asked Israel's attorney-general Friday to examine whether interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the head of a transitional government has the authority to continue peace negotiations with Syria.
Likud legislator Yuval Steinitz said Olmert, by conducting talks with Syria as an outgoing...
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Israeli President Shimon Peres gave the green light Monday for the country to hold new elections, telling parliament that consultations he had held with political parties led him to conclude that no legislator had enough backing to form a coalition government.
The president had completed the consultations earlier Monday, a day after...
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due in Moscow on Monday for sensitive talks on Iran's nuclear programme and Russian arms sales to Syria, as Moscow seeks to keep a role in Middle East peace process despite the diplomatic fallout over its war with Georgia.
Olmert, who is making the visit despite his resignation two weeks ago amid...
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are to meet in Jerusalem for talks
over the future of the Middle East peace process, it was reported
Tuesday. The meeting is to take place in Jerusalem on
Wednesday, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported, citing
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. An...
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The traditional Bastille Day military parade
began Monday on the Champs Elysees in Paris in the presence of more
than 30 European and Mediterranean heads of state and government.
The leaders who will be reviewing troops alongside French President
Nicolas Sarkozy were among the 43 presidents and prime ministers who on
Sunday...
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 Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed Germany's wish for a successful
Middle East summit in Annapolis this week, in a phone conversation
Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Olmert had stressed his great interest in the success of Tuesday's
conference in the US state of Maryland, Merkel's spokesman said.
Merkel had...
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 Nicolas Sarkozy's victory in France received broad support, with
congratulations from around the world for the conservative leader. European
Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said he had "complete
confidence" in Sarkozy to play a driving role in consolidating European
politics. Also, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said...
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 Amid information that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members plan to increase the production of crude oil in order to stop its soaring value, the price of oil dropped significantly on Tuesday. A barrel of crude oil was down at 90.27 dollars, 1.57 dollars more than the 91.84 dollars the previous day, according to...
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The United States has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iranian nuclear sites, an Israeli newspaper reported Wednesday.
The US viewed the request as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran, Ha'aretz said, quoting "senior...
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 US President George W Bush sternly warned Iran on Wednesday of "serious consequences" if it attacks US warships in the Gulf.
"We have made it clear publicly, and they know our position, and
that is, there will be serious consequences if they attack our ships,
pure and simple. And my advice to them is don't do...
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 US President George W Bush was set to kick off the first Middle East
peace conference in seven years Tuesday by cautioning that it marked
only the beginning of efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and that difficult challenges lie ahead.
The parley is aimed at relaunching peace talks between the sides,
and an Israeli...
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 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived at the White House Monday
for talks with US President George W Bush, kicking off three days of
intense talks on the Middle East conflict aimed at relaunching
long-stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
After meeting with Olmert, Bush was scheduled for a...
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No one expected US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's latest visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, which ended Tuesday, to result in a breakthrough in the peace process, so no one was disappointed.
A breakthrough is always possible in the peace negotiations, which resumed around the turn of the year, after a seven-year...
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 Israel and Syria stated on Wednesday they had launched indirect talks to reach a comprehensive peace
agreement. The talks are mediated by Turkish officials in Istanbul. This is the first time in eight
years when the two countries are willing to reach a common denominator.
"It will be a very long process. The direct...
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 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend a meeting with top Israeli officials on Wednesday as a last stop in her Middle East tour. The main issue to be debated at the scheduled meeting will be the Israel-Gaza peace efforts. However, the meeting has been somewhat overshadowed by the latest Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip in...
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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will commence a two-day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank on Tuesday, in preparation for
a Washington-proposed international conference on the Middle
East.
The Bush administration under direct supervision of the president has
proposed a conference in the US in November to confront...
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Israel will have to withdraw from the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, if it wanted peace with its Arab and Palestinian neighbours, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks published Monday.
"We need to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, in which the significance is a...
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One day after securing the leadership of Israel's ruling party, Tzipi Livni called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to implement his promise to resign as soon as possible, allowing her to form a new government urgently.
The Israeli foreign minister - chairing the first meeting of the centrist Kadima party since she won primaries held...
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday evening, for their last talks before his ruling Kadima party chooses a new leader.
The parley would be business as usual, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, adding the Palestinians would work with Israel's prime...
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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni remains the favourite candidate to win next week's primary in Israel's ruling Kadima party, maintaining her two-digit lead, according to an opinion poll published Friday.
Over 46 per cent of Kadima members polled said they supported Livni, while under 28 per cent said they favoured her main rival, Shaul...
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Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to negotiate the future of Jerusalem, a US official said Thursday.
An Israeli official confirmed that that Israel was ready to negotiate Jerusalem, seen as the most sensitive bone of contention that the sides need to settle.
But he added the issue had not yet been brought up in the talks...
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Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Wednesday that he is concerned about ongoing sectarian tensions in Lebanon.
"We are worried about the situation in Lebanon, particularly Tripoli in north Lebanon," Abul Gheit said after meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.
North Lebanon has witnessed in the...
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Eight months into its difficult negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel has drawn up a detailed proposal for a peace agreement in principle, offering to withdraw from 93 per cent of the West Bank, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.
The proposal includes arrangements on three bottleneck issues of the decades-old...
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An overwhelming number of Israelis think Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert was right to announce his intention to step down
from the premiership, a poll published Friday revealed. A
massive 91 per cent of respondents in the poll in the Ma'ariv daily
said Olmert made the right decision when he said Wednesday night that
he would resign...
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Israel's anti-corruption unit has said Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's announcement that he will step down in September
will not affect the ongoing corruption probe against him, Israeli media
reported Thursday. Police detectives probing a string of corruption allegations against Olmert
are due to question him again on Friday over some...
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Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is to travel to Washington Tuesday night for another round of peace negotiations
with Palestinians under the auspices of US officials scheduled for
Wednesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Former
Palestinian premier Ahmed Qureia would represent the Palestinian side
in the three-way talks...
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown received a red carpet welcome in Israel on Sunday, with President Shimon Peres calling him 'one of the most respected leaders of our time in my judgement.'Brown's visit to Israel is his first since he took office a year ago. He is scheduled to hold talks with both Israeli and Palestinian officials,...
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Ehud Olmert's lawyers Friday began a second
day of cross-examining a key state witness, whose allegations that
Olmert accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from him are threatening the
Israeli premier's political future. The lawyers managed to
expose some inaccurate details in Morris Talansky's account on the
first day of the crucial...
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The head of the Palestinian Fatah movement in
southern Lebanon said Sunday that the expected swap between Lebanon's
Hezbollah guerrilla movement and Israel will include the bodies of
Palestinian guerrillas who fell in Lebanon or carried out attacks
inside Israeli territories during the 1970s. 'Among the
bodies that Lebanon will...
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His political future becoming increasingly
uncertain, Ehud Olmert was probed for a third time Friday on suspicions
that he illegally accepted at least tens of thousands of US dollars in
cash from an American fundraiser. Police questioned Olmert
for more than two hours at his Jerusalem residence Friday morning,
Police Spokesman...
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Israeli police Friday announced new, 'serious'
suspicions of corruption against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israel
Radio reported. Olmert is suspected of claiming travel
expenses for trips made around the world as a public figure from
various bodies at once, the radio said, quoting a joint statement
issued by the Israeli justice...
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Israel’s Cabinet approved on Sunday an exchange with Hezbollah. The accord will last two weeks to fulfill and will consist of Hezbollah’s return of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for five Lebanese and an indeterminate number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The Israeli don’t have any proof that the soldiers...
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 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched her planned two-day visit to Israel on Saturday. She plans to press Israel to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians and to improve their daily lives. This includes the promised removal of West Bank roadblocks.Rice said she wanted to discuss about these issues with both Israeli Prime...
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 "I'm still hopeful we'll get an agreement by the end of
my presidency," President George W. Bush said at a news conference at the
White House, after the meeting in Washington
with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and State Secretary Condoleezza Rice. He
will encourage peace negotiations, seeking a Middle East
peace...
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 Despite intense peace efforts, the violence in Israel and Gaza persists. Two Palestinian militants were killed on Tuesday by an Israeli air strike, Reuters wrote on its Web site. One of the victims was a rocket squad member according to militant and medical sources. The strikes determined Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend...
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 Israel responded to UN’s demand to end the violence in Gaza and began to wind down its raids and air strikes that killed approximately 116 Palestinians since last week. Most of the ground troops already left the troubled area ruled by the Islamic Hamas movement, an army spokesman told Bloomberg.However, despite the fact that Israel began...
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 A long-expected report on Israel’s second war with the Lebanese
Hezbollah militia was released Wednesday, both the military and government
being heavily criticized for several flawed decisions.
Although Ehud Olmert’s government is blamed for entering the
conflict before deciding “which option to select and without an exit...
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 Israeli security officials said Monday evening that the military would
allow industrial diesel fuel to enter the Gaza Strip for one day only
on Tuesday, allowing the enclave's sole power plant to resume
operations following a four-day Israeli lockdown.
"On a one-time basis, Israel will allow in industrial diesel,"...
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 Israel launched three more airstrikes Friday, targeting also Gaza
City's Hamas-run Interior Ministry, in response to three days of
escalating violence during which Palestinian militants fired at least
130 rockets and mortar shells at the Jewish state.
A 52-year-old woman was killed and at least 46 people were injured
in the strike...
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 Five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were killed in two Israeli Israeli
airstrikes Thursday, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that Israel
will not continue to "suffer unending Qassam rocket fire" from the
salient.
The second airstrike, in the evening, killed three people,
including a mother and her son, as well as a...
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 In a widely expected move Wednesday, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister
Avigdor Lieberman said he was pulling his party out of the government to
protest the start of peace talks with the Palestinians, but Premier
Ehud Olmert said negotiations would continue.
The exit of the 11-seat Yisrael Beitein (Israel Our Home) faction
leaves...
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 Israel killed three Palestinian civilians in a botched strike
Wednesday, while militants launched 42 rockets and mortars at the
Jewish state, in response to bloody Israeli-Palestinian fighting
Tuesday which left 18 Gazans dead.
Israeli troops in the West Bank also killed a senior leader of the
radical Islamic Jihad, who had been...
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 Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met Monday for their first talks in
seven years on the so-called core issues of the decades-old conflict.
In contrast to previous Israeli-negotiating sessions, there were no
immediate leaks from the two-hour meeting, as the chief negotiators -
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for the Israelis and...
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 US President George W Bush concluded a three- day visit to Israel and
the West Bank Friday, during which he expressed optimism the sides
could wrap up a peace treaty by the time he leaves office, despite the
"tough choices" which lie ahead.
Both Israeli and Palestinian officials expressed satisfaction with the...
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 Admitting that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Premier
Ehud Olmert faced some "tough choices," US President George W Bush
nonetheless expressed optimism Thursday that the sides would be able to
reach a peace deal by the year's end.
"I believe there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I...
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 US President George W Bush said he was "optimistic" Wednesday, as he
opened a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories
aimed at advancing difficult, ambitious efforts to reach a peace deal
by the end of his term.
"I come with high hopes," Bush told Israeli President Shimon Peres
in Jerusalem,...
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 Even if Israeli and Palestinian leaders do not reach a peace deal by
the end of 2008, there could be "an agreement on what a Palestinian
state will look like," US President George W Bush told Israeli
television.
"I'm optimistic that we can have the outlines of a state defined,"
he told Channel 2 News in an...
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 Israel will intensify its actions against rocket attacks launched from
the Gaza Strip, Premier Ehud Olmert said Sunday, as an Israeli raid
into the central salient killed at least three people after militants
fired 42 mortars and 16 rockets at the Jewish state over the weekend.
The Israeli raid on the vicinity of the el-Bureij...
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