Credit for the roadside bombing which killed an Israeli soldier along the Gaza border earlier today has been claimed by the Jihad and Tawhid Brigades, an al-Qaeda linked group which has repeatedly clashed with Hamas. Still, the Israeli military says that even though Hamas didn’t carry out the attack, it is still responsible for it [...]
Former Justice Department employee James Lindsay released a report today titled “Fixing UNRWA: Repairing the UN’s Troubled System of Aid to Palestinian Refugees” which took the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to task for, among other things, treating the Palestinians (many of whom live in refugee camps) like refugees.
“For the Palestinians it serves, this [...]
With an eye toward finding yet more nations in which to intervene, President Barack Obama is reportedly seeking a “fresh approach” to the goal of driving Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe from office.
The fresh approach seems anything but: aides say the strategy will be to take Zimbabwe to the United Nations Security Council to pass a [...]
The Israeli military had its first post-ceasefire casualty today, when a roadside bomb near the Kissufim border crossing killed one soldier and wounded three others. So far none of the assorted groups that fought Israel during the invasion of the Gaza Strip has claimed credit for the attack.
But that didn’t prevent Israel from launching attacks [...]
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani declares the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s sharia-based court system in the Swat Valley “not acceptable,” but indications are that there is little the Pakistani government is able to do about the TTP’s growing influence in the area, or its court system.
Indeed, reports are that a majority of the Swati [...]
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni lauded the war in the Gaza Strip today during a meeting with US ambassador James Cunningham, saying it “created a strategic change in the status of Hamas” and “can serve as a stimulus for the new [Obama] Administration and the international community to change the reality.”
Hopes for a fundamental change [...]
Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh says that his government has agreed in principle to allow Russia to create a naval base at their Black Sea port at Ochamchira. The construction of the base is expected to begin sometime later this year.
The move will likely shore up the nation’s independence bid, having formally broken away from Georgia [...]
The Egyptian government is reportedly pressing Hamas to hurry up and agree to a ceasefire with Israel’s outgoing Kadima-led government before next month’s elections. Several terms are yet to be agreed upon by both sides, but they have maintained a ceasefire for over a week and negotiations continue.
But if Hamas pushes the negotiations past the [...]
Israeli human rights group Yesh Din is calling for the ouster of the military’s top rabbi, Brigadier General Avichai Rontzki over his messages to soldiers during the 22-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The primary concern was a booklet which, among other things, contained a rabbinical edict against showing mercy.
The booklet contains quotes from [...]
The fragile truce in the Gaza Strip continues to endure. The Israeli invasion force has left… the bodies have largely been recovered from the rubble that used to be the cities and refugee camps of Gaza. This is the time when a war torn nation would begin its reconstruction efforts. Yet the Israeli government’s continued [...]
