APS Diplomat Recorder articles from December 2006

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from December 2006

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 26 - Gaza Ceasefire Raises Hopes Of Talks.
December 2, 2006... Israel and Palestinian militants begin a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, raising hopes for a meeting soon between Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian Pres Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza on Nov 26 morning, ending an offensive...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 27 - Olmert 'Ready To Free Jailed Palestinians'.
December 2, 2006... The Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says publicly for the first time that Palestinian prisoners will be released if a captured Israeli soldier are freed first. Olmert also offered humanitarian concessions in return for an end to violence soon after a...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 29 - US Sends More Troops Into Baghdad.
December 2, 2006... More US and Iraqi troops are to be deployed in Baghdad, US commanders say, in an effort to shore up the weakened Iraqi PM as he prepares to meet Bush in Amman on Nov 30. Officials insisted that Nouri al-Maliki - who is weakened by mounting...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 29 - Bush Show Of Support For Iraqi Premier.(George W. Bush)
December 2, 2006... Pres Bush put on a strong show of support for Iraq's beleaguered PM, calling Nouri al-Maliki the "right guy for Iraq". The US president assured Maliki that the Bush administration would not respond to pressure for a "graceful exit". But Maliki...

IRAN - Nov 27 - Khamenei Urges 'Exit Of Occupiers' In Iraq.(Ayat Ali Khamenei)
December 2, 2006... Ayat Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, tells visiting President Jalal Talabani of Iraq that the first step towards restoring Iraq's security is the "exit of the occupiers". The meeting comes as US Pres Bush, and the UK PM, Tony Blair,...

IRAQ - Nov 27 - Kurd Witnesses Recount Survival In Shooting Fields.
December 2, 2006... Two US residents gives harrowing accounts of surviving shooting fields under Saddam Hussain at his resumed trial of genocide against the Kurds. One described the day nearly two decades ago when he watched his mother and sisters being shot to...

IRAQ - Nov 29 - Iraq's Civil War 'Set To Worsen'.
December 2, 2006... The civil war in Iraq is likely to deteriorate significantly over the next few months regardless of which combination of options the Bush administration chooses to exercise, according to a report released by a leading Washington think-tank on...

JORDAN - Nov 26 - King Of Jordan Warns Of 'Three Civil Wars'.
December 2, 2006... King Abdullah warns the Middle East is on the verge of three civil wars - in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, ahead of crisis talks with US Pres George W. Bush and the Iraqi PM. The Jordanian king said that "something dramatic"...

LEBANON - Nov 28 - Lebanon Christians Seek To End Tensions.
December 2, 2006... Lebanon's political and religious leaders struggle to contain the country's political crises and avert a repeat of recent clashes between rival Christian groups. The heads of the Shi'ite, Sunni and smaller Druze community issued a statement...

PALESTINE - Nov 26 - Hamas Says Committed To Truce.(Brief article)
December 2, 2006... Hamas's exiled deputy leader says that the militant group is committed to a cease-fire with Israel but not until the Jewish state stops its aggression on Palestinians. Mousa Abu Marzouk's comments in the Syrian capital came as Israeli troops...

SYRIA - Nov 28 - Islamic Militant Kills Himself At Syrian Border.
December 2, 2006... A Syrian leader of an Islamic militant group blows himself up at a Syrian border post on the Lebanese border after a gunbattle with Syrian security forces. An Interior Ministry statement said that Omar Abdullah, 28, the leader of the Islamic...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 8 - Arab States Seize On Call For Peace Drive.
December 9, 2006... Arab officials seize on the Iraq Study Group recommendations to highlight the need for greater US commitment to a revived peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. But there was also concern in some Arab states that any early...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec. 8 - Iran Must Address Nuke Safety.
December 9, 2006... Saudi FM Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday said that the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states will express their concern to Iran about the prospect of nuclear power plants being developed on its side of the Arabian Gulf coast. "We hope that...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Dec 8 - Fresh drive for sanctions on Iran-By Mark Turner at the United Nations-Published.
December 9, 2006... December 8 2006 23:56- France, Germany and the UK on Friday launched a new United Nations drive to impose sanctions on Iran, calling all countries to prevent the supply of goods that could help its nuclear enrichment and reprocessing...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 4 - US 'Not Satisfied' With Pace Of Iraqi Progress.
December 9, 2006... Pres Bush tells a powerful Iraqi Shi'ite theologian that he is not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq as they discussed how the US could accelerate assistance to the Baghdad government. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme...

IRAQ - Dec 4 - Saddam Trial Hears Of Kurds Buried In Mass Graves.
December 9, 2006... It has been the most chilling testimony in the 14 months since Saddam Hussein and his associates first went on trial: an account of how Iraqi death squads took 301 victims to remote desert sites in the late 1980s, herded them into pits dug by...

IRAN - Dec 5 - Baghdad Wants Control Of Talks With Neighbours.
December 9, 2006... Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, says he is sending envoys to neighbouring countries to improve security co-operation and that he will call for a regional conference. Baghdad has been trying to take ownership of regional policy ahead of the...

IRAN - Dec 6 - Iraq Panel Calls For Radical Change Of Course.
December 9, 2006... The Iraq Study Group calls for a radical change of course in US policy, saying conditions in Iraq are "grave and deteriorating". Its report set out how the US was spending $2 bn a week on an unpopular conflict in which nearly 100 Americans were...

ISRAEL - Dec 6 - Israel Predicts No Switch Of US Policy.
December 9, 2006... Israel decides not to issue an immediate comment but weigh its response to the ISG report, which called for a revived commitment to Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts and talks between Syria and Israel. Officials were confident that Washington...

LEBANON - Dec 5 - 'Shi'ite Blood Is Boiling', Say Lebanon Protestors.
December 9, 2006... Lebanon's sectarian fabric looks increasingly stretched as thousands of Shi'ite demonstrators attend the funeral of the first fatality in their continuing protests to topple the country's Sunni PM Fouad Siniora. The army's commander warned that...

PALESTINE - Palestinian Prime Minister Says His Government Will Never Recognise Israel.(Ismail Haniya )
December 9, 2006... PM Ismail Haniya vows that his Hamas- led government will never recognise Israel and will fight to liberate Jerusalem, telling a rally at a mosque here that he will resist US pressure to moderate his policies. On the first day of a visit to an...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 10 - Gulf Arabs Weigh Joint Nuclear Programme.
December 16, 2006... Gulf Arab leaders consider a joint civilian nuclear programme, a move that can heighten proliferation concerns in the oil-rich region. The decision to order a study, announced at the end of a two-day summit in Riyadh attended by leaders from...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 12 - Arab League Tries To End Lebanon Crisis.
December 16, 2006... Arab diplomacy to find a solution to Lebanon's political crisis intensifies as the head of the Arab League, AMoussa, joins another Arab envoy for mediation efforts in Beirut. The opposition, led by the pro-Syrian Shi'ite Hizbullah movement, and...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 11 - Bush Maintains Optimistic Line On Iraq.(Brief article)
December 16, 2006... Bush says he will continue to aim for "success in Iraq" in spite of the growing view that the Pres's ambitions for Iraqi democracy are not achievable. Bush distanced himself from the tone of last week's report by the Iraq Study Group, which was...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 13 - Bush Vows Not To Rush On Altering Iraq Plans.
December 16, 2006... Winding up the semi-public portion of an intense Iraq policy review, Pres Bush says at the Pentagon that he will be rushed into hastily rewriting US strategy, but added that he had already rejected "ideas such as leaving before the job is...

IRAN - Dec 12 - More Angry Words At Iran's Holocaust Conference.
December 16, 2006... Pres Mahmoud Ahmadi-nejad tells delegates at an international conference questioning the Holocaust that Israel's days are numbered. Ahmadi-nejad, who has set off an international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World...

IRAQ - Dec 10 - Iraq Study Group Report 'Unfair And Unjust'.
December 16, 2006... Iraqi leaders rail against the Iraq Study Group amid mounting alarm that a change in US policy risks forcing the dominant Shi'ite and Kurds into concessions towards the Sunni Arabs. But the pressure also appears to be spurring the Iraqi...

IRAQ - Dec 12 - Suicide Car Bomber Kills 60 In Baghdad.
December 16, 2006... A suicide bomber targeting poor labourers kill 60 people in Baghdad hours before Pres Bush was to review his unpopular Iraq policy in a video teleconference with US military commanders in Iraq. Interior Ministry sources said 221 people were...

ISRAEL - Dec 12 - Olmert Plays Down Nuclear Remarks.
December 16, 2006... PM Ehud Olmert, says that he has not changed position regarding the possible existence of nuclear weapons in his country, and stressed that Israel will not be the first country in the region to obtain such weapons. Speaking to journalists in...

LEBANON - Dec 10 - Hundreds Of Thousands Protest In Beirut Against Government.
December 16, 2006... The center of Beirut packs with hundreds of thousands of pro-Hizbullah and allied demonstrators, pressing their call for the Lebanese government to resign in a jubilant mass of protest and carnival. The pounding of martial music, the roaring...

PALESTINE - Dec 10 - Haniya Said Early Polls Would Lead To Unrest.(Esmail Haniya)(Brief article)
December 16, 2006... PM Esmail Haniya says early Palestinian elections will lead to unrest. Pres Mahmoud Abbas had said he planned to call early elections to end a political deadlock with the group. "The proposal... about holding early elections is the start of...

PALESTINE - Dec 11 - Fatah Official's Sons Shot Dead In Gaza.
December 16, 2006... Palestinian gunmen kill the three young sons of a senior intelligence official close to Pres Mahmoud Abbas in the Gaza Strip, reigniting fears of an escalation in factional clashes. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but...

PALESTINE - Dec 15 -Hamas Says Abbas Seeks War.(Mahmoud Abbas)
December 16, 2006... Security forces loyal to Pres Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah fire on a Hamas rally in the West Bank and firefights erupt between the rivals in Gaza, pushing the Palestinians closer to civil war. "What a war Mahmoud Abbas you are launching, first...

SAUDI ARABIA - Dec 11 - Nuclear Energy Is Needed, Says Cabinet.
December 16, 2006... Saudi Arabia emphasises the economic significance of a joint GCC program to develop nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes. The Council of Ministers said: Possessing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes has economic and scientific...

YEMEN - Dec 16 - Yemen Call For Help To Fight Terror.
December 16, 2006... Yemen will not be able to combat terror without regional and international co-operation, says Assistant Secretary-General of Yemen's ruling party, General People's Congress an official Sultan Al Barakani, who warns of the ramifications of...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 20 - Israeli PM Lifts Hope Of Summit With Abbas.
December 23, 2006... Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, raises the possibility of an early summit with president of the PA Mahmoud Abbas, as he expresses for the first time his government's concern about the inter-factional violence in the Palestinian territories. Israel has...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Dec 18 - Blair Seeks To Bolster Support For Abbas.
December 23, 2006... Tony Blair tries to shore up international support for the Palestinian Pres Mahmoud Abbas, in the wake of fighting between his Fatah party and Hamas. Blair told Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah that he backed his plan for elections and...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 20 - Holy City Of Najaf Handed Over To Iraqis.
December 23, 2006... US-led forces hand over security control of Najaf province, whose capital is seat of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite theologians, to Iraq, calling it a major step forward in strengthening the government. Iraqi authorities imposed a vehicle ban in...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 21 - US Marines Charged With Haditha Murders.
December 23, 2006... US military prosecutors charge four US Marines with murder and four others on related charges in the November 2005 deaths of 24 unarmed civilians in the western Iraq town of Haditha. The Pentagon has spent months investigating allegations that...

IRAN - Dec 17 - Ahmadi-Nejad Suffers Vote Setback.
December 23, 2006... Results emerging from Dec 15 elections across Iran signal a bruising setback for Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, just 19 months after he won a landslide victory to become Iran's president. The Pleasant Scent of Service, a candidate list endorsed by...

IRAQ - Dec 17 - Sunnis 'Risk Ethnic Cleansing'.
December 23, 2006... Vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi, the country's most senior politician from the Sunni Arab minority, says that more US troops are needed in Baghdad to stop the "systematic cleansing" of the Sunni community by Shi'ite militias. Some 3,000 Iraqis...

LEBANON - Dec 22 - Beirut Street Protests Enter Fourth Week.
December 23, 2006... Despite attempts at mediation, street protests to bring down the government of Lebanon's PM Fouad Siniora shows no sign of letting up. The Beirut protests, which pit Lebanon's Hizbullah-led opposition against the Western- backed government,...

LIBYA - Dec 19 - Medical Workers Sentenced To Death In HIV Retrial In Libya.
December 23, 2006... A Libyan court again sentences five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to be shot by a firing squad for deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV, more than 50 of whom have died. The decision complicates Libya's efforts to...

PALESTINE - Dec 17 - Abbas's Gamble Deepens Strife With Hamas.
December 23, 2006... Pres Mahmoud Abbas, meet election commission officials, a day after announcing what aides described as a political gamble by calling for an early ballot to unseat the Islamic movement Hamas. The announcement intensified violence in the Gaza...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 24 - Saudi-Oman Ties Get Big Boost.
December 30, 2006... Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Sultan Qaboos of Oman hold talks on major regional and international issues and explored ways of strengthening bilateral co-operation in all areas, an official statement after their meeting at...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 27 - Israel To Renew Attacks On Gaza Rocket Squads.
December 30, 2006... The Israeli government orders the military to resume targeting militants spotted firing rockets from the Gaza Strip but said its month-long ceasefire with the Palestinians would otherwise remain in force. The government ended its policy of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec 28 - Egypt Sends Weapons To Abbas, Israelis Say.(Mahmoud Abbas )
December 30, 2006... After co-ordination with Israel and the US, Egypt has sent a shipment of weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip to forces loyal to the Palestinian Pres Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Senior Palestinian officials denied the report, including the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 27 - US Accuses Iran Military Of Plotting In Iraq.
December 30, 2006... The US military says it has evidence linking a group of Iranians and some Iraqi associates, detained in raids last week, to attacks against US forces. The military also said that some of those detained had been involved in shipments of weapons...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec 28 - Bush Silent On Iraq After Meeting Advisors.
December 30, 2006... Pres Bush gives no details about a change of policy on Iraq, after convening a meeting with his top national security Advisors, following the recent visit to Baghdad by Robert Gates, his new defence secretary. After the meeting at his Texas...

EGYPT - Dec 26 - Mubarak Presses For Democratic Change.
December 30, 2006... Pres Hosni Mubarak, asks parliament to consider proposals for amending 34 articles of the constitution with the purpose of "opening wide the doors to democracy and its practice". The changes appeared tailored to give some space to the country's...

IRAN - Dec 26 - Iran 'Revises' Co-Operation With IAEA.
December 30, 2006... Tehran parliament considers a plan to "revise" the country's co-operation with the IAEA in response a vote by the UN Security Council to impose sanctions onran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology. UN vote, aimed at dissuading...

IRAQ - Dec 25 - British Troops Attack Iraqi Police Station In Basra.
December 30, 2006... Hundreds of British soldiers assault a police station in the southern city of Basra, killing seven gunmen, rescuing 127 prisoners and ultimately reducing the facility to rubble. When British forces eventually gained control of the facility,...

IRAQ - Dec 30 - Saddam Hussein Executed In Baghdad.
December 30, 2006... Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator, is put to death at dawn, Baghdad time, just days after an Iraqi appeals court refused to commute his execution. Before he was taken to the gallows inside Baghdad's green zone, the former Iraqi...

ISRAEL - Dec 27 - Israel To Renew Attacks On Gaza Rocket Squads.
December 30, 2006... The Israeli government orders the military to resume targeting militants spotted firing rockets from the Gaza Strip but said its month-long ceasefire with the Palestinians would otherwise remain in force. The government ended its policy of...

PALESTINE - Dec 24 - Hamas Criticises Israeli-Palestinian Talks.
December 30, 2006... Hamas, the radical Islamic faction that leads the Palestinian government, dismisses as inconsequential the concessions made a day earlier by Israel in talks with the PA's president, Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas was also critical of Abbas for his...

SYRIA - Dec 27 - Jumblatt Vows Revenge Against 'Tyrant' Assad.(Walid Jumblatt)(Bashar Assad)
December 30, 2006... Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt lashes out at Syrian Pres Bashar Assad, calling him the "Damascus tyrant". "This boy is controlling people's lives in Damascus and killing free people in Lebanon; one day, there will be a...