أرشيف الوسم : israel

Israel has blocked prominent Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering the state and thereby accessing Gaza, but denied on Monday that it has imposed a lifelong ban on the medic. Gilbert works at the University Hospital of North Norway’s Clinic of Emergency Medicine, and had volunteered Gaza City’s Shifa hospital during 2009’s 22-day war in which over 1,440 Palestinians were …

UN Assistant-Secretary General Jens Toyberg-Frandzen on Monday warned the UN Security Council that violence in the Palestinian territories and in Israel will likely worsen if the peace process does not get back on track soon. “Returning to negotiations has never been more important. Without a genuine commitment from the parties and an overall improvement in the lives of Palestinians, we …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday to discuss the increase in violence in East Jerusalem. The meeting will occur in Jordanian capital Amman at 11:00 GMT, Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said. Kerry is set to arrive in Jordan on Wednesday to speak with King Abdullah II on tensions boiling over …

The European Union’s new foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini warned that a new wave of Palestinian-Israeli violence could kick off if peace efforts between the two remain deadlocked. Speaking in Jerusalem, where she was on her first trip since taking up the post, Mogherini said that there needs to be a real “urgency” to advance the stagnant peace process. “The …

French lawmakers are planning to submit a motion to their parliament, asking their government to recognize the state of Palestine, weeks after British parliamentarians successfully passed a similar vote. The move follows the collapse of the peace process between Palestine and Israel after the conflict in Gaza, in which over 2,000 Palestinians were killed. “The (lower house National) Assembly asks …

Israel promised Jordan that it won’t allow Jewish people to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, just as several Jewish extremists tried to advance to the compound. With clashes raging currently in many Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II over the phone to personally assure …

The International Criminal Court said that it would not prosecute Israel over its raid of Gaza-bound ships in 2010, during which ten Turkish activists died, despite a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed”. According to Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, there won’t be an investigation or a prosecution because the alleged crimes were not of “sufficient gravity”. “The …

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini on Monday stated that she would like to see a state of Palestine by the time her five year term ends. She added that for it to happen will require the EU to get more involved with the Middle East than it has been in the past. The former 41-year-old Italian foreign minister …

Rights group Amnesty International accused the Israeli military of displaying “shocking disregard” for civilian lives in the Gaza Strip during the 50-day war. In a report published on Wednesday, the group said that it had documented eight instances in which Israeli security forces attacked houses in Gaza “without warning”, killing “at least 104 civilians including 62 children”. “The report reveals …

The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to talk about Israel’s plans to construct more settlement building in East Jerusalem. The talks were requested by Jordan after a letter from Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour, who had called on the council to “address this crisis situation in occupied east Jerusalem”. UN Undersecretary General for Political …