Palestina

NAHR BARED, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanese troops unleashed an intense artillery bombardment on Saturday against positions of Islamist fighters who have been holed up inside a refugee camp for almost a month.

LONDON (Petra) — King Abdullah on Saturday urged the international community to shoulder responsibility for “this critical” stage of the Palestinian cause.

RAMALLAH (AP) — Embattled Mahmoud Abbas got a major boost in his increasingly bellicose showdown with Hamas on Saturday, with a US diplomat saying he expects a crippling 15-month-old foreign aid embargo to be lifted once the Palestinian president appoints an emergency government without the Islamic fighters.

CAIRO, June 15 (Reuters) – Egypt backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in the conflict between his Fatah movement and the Islamist group Hamas, saying all Palestinians should rally behind him as leader.

The deposed Palestinian prime minister from Hamas has defied Mahmoud Abbas, the president from rival faction Fatah, calling his sacking and declaration of an emergency “hasty” and pledging that his government will continue to function.

An uneasy calm has returned to the Gaza Strip where Hamas is in full control following a series of attacks on key strongholds of its rival, Fatah.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Thursday said that the idea of deploying international troops in the Gaza Strip was worth of discussion.

El Arish – Ninety-nine Palestinian police officers loyal to the Fatah movement fled to Egypt on Thursday as the rival Hamas group took control of most of the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security official said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defence minister vowed Thursday not to let Hamas’ near takeover of Gaza spill over into violence against the Jewish state. Some Israelis are calling on the military to invade the coastal strip, but for now, the government seems more inclined to stay out of the …

DAMASCUS (AP) — A senior Hamas official in Syria said Thursday there would be no change in Gaza’s status and no Islamic rule declared in the territory after a near takeover of the seaside strip by the group.