Middle Orient News

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel rejected a U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday and warplanes and tanks pounded the Palestinian enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed Thursday’s binding Security Council resolution demanding an “immediate and durable” ceasefire in the two-week-old war as “unworkable.” …

RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Palestinians in the occupied West Bank protested on Friday against Israel’s full-scale offensive against Gaza, but the demonstrations were divided, short, and relatively muted. The death toll in the two-week onslaught, now 783, has stunned West Bank Palestinians, eclipsing an internal quarrel between those ready to recognize …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Global expectations of Egypt have been doubled because of its different geographical position and its shared borders with Gaza through Rafah border crossing, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said. Egyptian government needs to comply with its historical and conscientious obligations over Gazans and take fundamental steps regarding …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Village Affairs Mehmet Mehdi Eker and Iranian Ambassador to Ankara Bahman Hosseinpour in a meeting on Thursday discussed ways to expand cooperation in agriculture and animal husbandry. At the meeting, the Iranian envoy offered to set up a joint agricultural commission to speed …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran once again reiterated the need for continued international and regional diplomatic efforts to remove the offensive and siege against Palestinians in Gaza. During the last week, over a dozen senior Iranian diplomats were dispatched to various world countries to invite them to push for the said two …

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian politician described proposals put forward by Middle Eastern and European states to end the Gaza conflict as “honey injected with poison” that would not protect Palestinian rights. Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, a major figure in the Islamic Republic, was apparently referring to ideas put …

Singapore – Oil rebounded above $42 on Friday amid signs Saudi Arabia would deepen supply cuts next month, after sinking 2 percent overnight on signs of worsening demand from the United States, the world’s top energy consumer. US crude for February delivery rose 85 cents to $42.55 a barrel by …

AMMAN, Jan. 9 – Jordan’s activists has mulled a legal war against Israel in light of its intensive offensive against the Gaza Strip which has claimed over 700 lives there, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Friday. Representatives from 20 civil societies and law schools in the kingdom met …

TOKYO, Jan. 9 – Japan is studying the feasibility of sending a special envoy to related countries to help end hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, Kyodo News said Friday. Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session that Tatsuo Arima, special envoy on the …

UNITED NATIONS – China on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and the comprehensive and effective implementation of the new Security Council resolution by all parties concerned. Zhang Yesui, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, said the newly adopted resolution reflects the shared expectations and desires …