APS Diplomat Recorder articles from February 2009

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from February 2009

ARAB AFFAIRS - Feb 2 - Kingdom Asks Palestinians To Be Realistic.
February 7, 2009... Saudi Arabia urges the Palestinians to adopt a new and realistic concept of resistance that would realize their unity, strengthen their legitimate organizations, protect their lives and properties and ensure their legitimate rights. The Council...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Feb 3 - Arab Minister's Meet In Abu Dhabi Backs Abbas.
February 7, 2009... Nine Arab FMs who met in Abu Dhabi declare their support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). UAE FM Shaikh Abdullah told WAM after the meeting that it was held "as part of the ongoing...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Feb 1 - Israel Bombs Central Gaza As Olmert Vows 'Disproportionate' Response.
February 7, 2009... Israeli warplanes bomb a Hamas security base in central Gaza tonight along with attacks on two other sites along the Egyptian border. The hits centered around Hamas targets as the group attempts to put the finishing touches on its...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Feb 3 - Obama Calls Al Maliki On Troop Pullout.
February 7, 2009... President Barack Obama calls Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki to discuss US troop withdrawals and congratulate him on Jan 31 provincial elections. The elections took place with "little violence" and should mark an additional step toward Iraq assuming...

IRAN - Feb 2 - Khatami To Mount Reformist Challenge.(Muhammad Khatami)
February 7, 2009... Iran's former reformist president Muhammad Khatami, is expected to announce that he will contest the presidential elections in June, as pressure intensifies on him to unseat the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. Leading reformist politicians told...

IRAN - Feb 4 - Iran Says US Must Accept Nuclear Programme.
February 7, 2009... A senior adviser to Iran's president Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, says dialogue with the US will succeed only if the Obama administration accepts Tehran's right to have a nuclear programme. He said in an interview with the Financial Times, Tehran...

IRAQ - Feb 5 - Party Of PM Wins In Iraq Elections.
February 7, 2009... The Dawa Party of PM Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is the overwhelming winner of provincial elections in Iraq. But while candidates in the slate backed by Dawa garnered the most votes of any party in nine Iraqi provinces, the party must still build a...

ISRAEL - Feb 1 - Air Strike On Gaza Follows Israel's Threat.
February 7, 2009... Ehud Olmert vows to hit back at Hamas with "disproportionate" force, amid signs that the fragile ceasefire that ended three weeks of conflict in the Gaza Strip is unravelling. Hours after the PM's warning, Israeli aircraft bombed targets...

ISRAEL - Feb 6 - Israeli Race Tightens With Livni Gains.
February 7, 2009... The race to become Israel's next PM has tightened, with the latest polls showing the right-wing Likud party under Benjamin Netanyahu is losing ground to his centrist challenger, Tzipi Livni. Israel's FM Ms Livni, has led her Kadima party to a...

PALESTINE - Feb 1 - Hamas Leaders In Tehran Seeking Support.
February 7, 2009... A high-level delegation from Hamas arrives in Tehran as part of a regional push to reinforce support for the Palestinian group after the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The delegation, headed by Hamas leader Khalid Mesha'al, will meet Iran's Supreme...

PALESTINE - Feb 2 - New Gaza Exchanges Strain Fragile Truce.
February 7, 2009... Palestinian militants fire two mortar shells from southern Gaza at Israel and Israel carried out an air strike against what the military said were members of the launching squad as they tried to flee in a vehicle, further straining the tenuous...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Arabs Pessimistic After Israeli Election Deadlock.
February 14, 2009... The Arab world reacts to Israel's indecisive election with renewed pessimism for Middle East peace. FM Tzipi Livni's Kadima party won 28 seats in the 120-seat parliament, falling short of a majority, while ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Feb 10 - France's Sarkozy In Iraq To Rebuild Ties.
February 14, 2009... President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Baghdad, on a trip aimed at restoring ties with Iraq and ending US-French animosity over the 2003 invasion that Paris strongly opposed. On the first visit by a French head of state since the US-led war...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Feb 13 - Hamas Claims Accord Is Close With Israel.
February 14, 2009... Hamas officials say that an announcement of an 18-month cease-fire with Israel was days away and would include a substantial opening of Gaza's borders with Israel in exchange for an end to Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israeli communities....

IRAN - Feb 9 - Khomeini's Minister Says Future Belongs To Democrats.
February 14, 2009... When the Shah fled Iran in January 1979, Ebrahim Yazdi was with Ayat Ruhollah Khomeini in the theolgian's headquarters in the Paris suburb of Neufle-le-Chateau. "I said to reporters then that I had the same feeling as when my first child had...

IRAQ - Feb 9 - 4 US Soldiers Are Killed With Interpreter In Iraq.
February 14, 2009... The US military says that four soldiers and an interpreter are killed in a suicide car bombing in Mosul in northern Iraq. Violence has declined greatly in Iraq in recent months, and the attack Feb 9 was the deadliest against US forces here in...

IRAQ - Feb 13 - Iraq Suicide Bomber Kills Shi'ite Pilgrims.
February 14, 2009... A woman wearing a vest rigged with explosives kill at least 35 Shi'ite pilgrims at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said. The attack was the deadliest in Iraq this year and marked the third consecutive day of bloodshed against...

ISRAEL - Feb 11 - Israeli Leaders Scramble To Forge Alliances.
February 14, 2009... The leaders of Israel's main parties begin the arduous process of assembling a new government, and resolving the political gridlock created by Feb 10's inconclusive general election. But as the political haggling began, officials and analysts...

PALESTINE - Feb 10 - Court Moves To Study Claims Of Gaza Crimes.
February 14, 2009... The PA is pressing the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate potential war crimes committed by Israeli commanders during the recent war in Gaza. The Palestinian minister of justice, Ali Kashan, first raised the issue during a...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Feb 19 - Kingdom Condemns Iranian Statements On Bahrain.
February 21, 2009... Saudi Arabia denounces statements by Iranian officials asserting Tehran's claim on Bahrain. "These irresponsible statements are only an attempt to defy historical and geographical facts", an unnamed Saudi official told the Saudi Press Agency....

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Feb 18 - Israeli Aircraft Strike Two Gaza Strip Targets.
February 21, 2009... Israeli aircraft strike two targets in the southern Gaza Strip causing some damage but no casualties, local Palestinian residents and Hamas security officials said. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that aircraft had hit targets in Gaza but...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Feb 15 - US Envoy Reaches Out To Iran In Afghan Visit.
February 21, 2009... President Barack Obama's top envoy to Afghanistan declares that Iran should play a vital role helping stabilize the war-torn country. It was the latest statement by Obama officials signaling a clear shift away from the Bush administration's...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Feb 21 - Petraeus Warns Iran Against Extremism.
February 21, 2009... US General David Petraeus urges Iran to stop backing extremist groups that contribute to ongoing violence in Iraq, and said the US is watching Tehran "very, very closely". The commander of the region that includes both countries also told a...

IRAN - Feb 19 - Iran Has Enough Nuclear Fuel For Bomb, Experts Say.
February 21, 2009... According to a report issued Feb 19 by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, Iran has enough nuclear fuel to build a bomb if it decides to take the drastic steps of violating its international treaty obligations, kicking out...

ISRAEL - Feb 15 - Kadima Presses Likud To Forge Power-Sharing Deal.
February 21, 2009... Israel's Kadima party calls for a power-sharing deal with right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu amid furious haggling in the wake of tight parliamentary elections. "A rotation is the minimum that Kadima can demand so that a stable...

LEBANON - Feb 16 - Hizbullah Has 'Every Right To Possess Air Defences'.
February 21, 2009... The leader of Hizbullah said his group has the right to possess air defences to face the Israeli warplanes that regularly fly over Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah, however, refused to confirm or deny persistent Israeli reports that Hizbullah may have...