Tag: Israel

JERUSALEM - Israeli naval commandos on Tuesday seized a cargo ship in the Mediterranean carrying what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were Iranian-supplied weapons intended for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
A military spokeswoman said Israeli forces met no resistance when they intercepted the German-owned "Victoria" some 200 miles from Israel and were taking the vessel to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Israel maintains a land and naval blockade of the Gaza

JERUSALEM - Envoys of the Middle East Quartet were meeting with Israel's chief peace negotiator on Thursday, as the Jewish state faced growing pressure to break the logjam in talks with the Palestinians.
Talks with Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho were being hosted by the US embassy, with Washington represented by David Hale, assistant to US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, an embassy spokesman told AFP. "There is a meeting today with the Quartet," Kurt Hoyer said. "We believe that

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that Israeli troops would remain on the border between Jordan and the West Bank under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Speaking to reporters as he toured Israeli military facilities along the Jordan river, Netanyahu said only Israeli troops would be able stop militants and rockets from infiltrating into the West Bank.
"Our security border is here on the Jordan and our defence line begins here. If

JERUSALEM - Chile's president on Sunday sought to mollify Israel over his country's recognition of Palestinian statehood, saying that the move was ultimately for the good of the Jewish state. Speaking to journalists after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Jerusalem office, Sebastian Pinera echoed a phrase often used by his host, saying that any lasting peace must be based on security. "Chile has just recognised the Palestinian state because we have always

JERUSALEM - Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu held talks on Monday with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, as international peace negotiators sought to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into some form of peace dialogue.
Israeli officials confirmed the two had met but refused to give details of what was discussed, as media reports suggested the premier was shying away from sending his chief negotiator to meet Quartet representatives in Brussels.
The Quartet chiefs -- EU foreign policy

MADRID - Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Wednesday that the passage of two Iranian warships through Egypt's Suez Canal for the first time since Iran's 1979 revolution was a "political provocation". The Kharg, a supply ship, and the Alvand patrol frigate sailed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean on Tuesday on their way to Syria, an Iranian ally and Israeli enemy, in what Tehran has described as a routine visit.
But analysts have said the move was an attempt by

BRUSSELS - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on Tuesday said there was "no linkage" between turmoil in the Arab world and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the EU pressed for quick progress on peace talks to ensure stability.
"The Israel-Palestinian conflict is not the main issue, not the main problem," Lieberman said after talks in Brussels on EU-Israeli ties."The main reason for instability is poverty, misery, inefficient government," he said at a press conference

JERUSALEM - Israel on Tuesday urged world powers to respond "firmly" after two Iran warships began sailing through the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean, in what the Jewish state says is a provocation. The two ships entered the canal shortly after dawn and were expected to emerge into the southeastern Mediterranean in the early evening, some 12-14 hours later, a canal official said.
"We are talking about an unprecedented Iranian military presence in the Mediterranean, and

JERUSALEM - Israel worked with Chile to spy on the Iranian ambassador in Santiago as the Jewish state grew increasingly concerned about Tehran's influence in South America, a leaked US cable from 2008 showed. "Israel is monitoring Iranian influence in the region, which includes enhanced Iranian diplomatic relations with Colombia and Venezuela," reads a cable sent from the US embassy in Santiago in July 2008 which was leaked to whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
"Israel is also

JERUSALEM - Israel has put its embassies on high alert, fearing they could come under attack, after identifying suspicious activities around some of them, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. "Unusual occurrences have been identified recently around a few Israeli missions abroad. Our assessment, at this point, is that these sites are under threat, and this is being taken care of," it said in a statement.
"The relevant Israeli authorities are in touch with relevant authorities

JERUSALEM - Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with union officials in a bid to stave off rising public anger and a general strike threat over spiralling food and petrol prices, officials said. During the talks with Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini and the heads of the manufacturers' association and the local authorities' union, Netanyahu laid out a package of cuts aimed at staving off public discontent over rising prices.
The emergency session was convened after union

JERUSALEM - The US "desertion" of its long-time ally President Hosni Mubarak in the face of protests shaking the Egyptian regime has angered Israel, with analysts warning of consequences for the turbulent Middle East. Until now, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's government has held back from any public criticism of the US position, to avoid a row with US President Barack Obama.
But Washington's change of heart towards the embattled Egyptian president has not passed unnoticed in

JERUSALEM - Israel is watching developments in Egypt carefully and its efforts are focused on maintaining the "stability and security" of the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
"We are attentively following what is going on in Egypt and in our region," Netanyahu told reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting after holding late-night talks with top intelligence officers and key ministers.
"Our efforts are focused on preserving the stability

JERUSALEM - Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and its deadly raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the coastal enclave last year conform with international law, an Israeli probe concluded on Sunday.
The May 2010 raid, in which nine Turkish activists were killed, soured relations between Ankara and Israel and earned the Jewish state widespread international censure. Israel set up its own commission of inquiry into the raid, headed by former judge Yaakov Tirkel, after

ISTANBUL - Israel used "excessive" force in its assault on a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza that killed nine Turkish activists, according to the findings of a Turkish inquiry announced on Sunday.
The preliminary conclusions of the report said "the Israeli army used excessive force against the Mavi Marmara". The preliminary conclusions of a report were released on Sunday, coinciding with the findings of Israel's own inquiry into the incident in the eastern Mediterranean

GAZA CITY - A Palestinian was killed and two were injured on Tuesday as Israeli tanks carried out an operation in the northern Gaza Strip, a medical official said. Hamas emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya named the victim as 17-year-old Amjad al-Zaanein, saying he died after being hit by Israeli tank fire near the northern town of Jabaliya. One of the two injured men, who were hit by shrapnel, was said to be in critical condition, he added. Seven Israeli tanks made a rare

TEHRAN - Iran said on Monday it will sue its archfoe Israel for the murder last year in Tehran of senior nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran's complaint against the Zionist regime will be lodged to international bodies soon," Iran's acting foreign minister and atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. Salehi said Tehran had "finished gathering evidences of the Zionist regime's involvement in the assassination