Middle Orient News

Europeans and Arabs say turn truce into permanent peace

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – European and conservative Arab leaders said on Sunday Israel and the Palestinians must turn a shaky ceasefire in Gaza into a permanent peace that prevents any recurrence of violence. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the host of a summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm …

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Israeli fire kills Palestinian in Gaza Strip

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in an area where militants had fired mortar bombs in defiance of a unilateral Israeli ceasefire, medical workers said. The incident occurred near the Gazan town of Khan Younis, the workers said, identifying the man as …

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Turkey’s PM travels to Brussels to bolster EU bid

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan flies to Brussels on Sunday for a visit aimed at boosting the Muslim country’s troubled bid for European Union accession. Erdogan’s trip, his first to Brussels in four years, comes as Ankara faces EU pressure to speed up reforms in a decisive …

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Gaza clash erupts despite Israeli ceasefire

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces and Palestinian militants exchanged fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, hours after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire, the Israeli military and Hamas sources said. “Gunmen fired at our forces in the northern Gaza Strip,” an Israeli military spokesman said. “They returned fire from the …

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Iran’s Firs Lady Asks for Facilitated Dispatch of Aid to Gazans

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian First Lady Azam al-Sadat Farahi, in a letter to her Egyptian counterpart, asked for her help to facilitate aid delivery to Palestinians. “Witnessing the dead bodies of women and children is painful and even worse is that some governments in Arab and Islamic countries do not support …

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Iranian FM: Israel’s Ceasefire Not Enough

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Sunday called for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, stressing that just ceasing fire by the Israeli military is not enough. “A mere halt of aerial, naval and ground attacks without a pull-out of the forces from the occupied …

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Iranian Ship Struggles for Gaza Aid Delivery

TEHRAN (FNA)- Captain of Iranian cargo ship, carrying Iran’s aid to Gaza, stressed that his vessel will wait in international waters until its mission is accomplished. “We will be waiting until we accomplish the mission. Our objective is to deliver the cargo to the Gazans,” Goudarz Qaleh-Golab said. “We started …

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UN Chief Issues Statement on Gaza Truce

TEHRAN (FNA)- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement issued on Saturday in Beirut, expressed satisfaction over the decision to cease hostilities in the occupied lands. According to a press release issued by the UN Information Center (UNIC) in Tehran, the full text of the UN chief’s statement is as …

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Gaza building apparently hit by phosphorus: U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A warehouse in a U.N. compound in Gaza that came under Israeli fire on Thursday was apparently hit by white-phosphorus shells, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said. It was the first public allegation by a senior U.N. official echoing an accusation by Human Rights Watch …

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