APS Diplomat Recorder articles from March 2009

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from March 2009

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 1 - Israeli Media Denounced For Insulting The Prophet.
March 7, 2009... GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah denounces the derogatory remarks made about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in an Israeli television program. "These ugly remarks made against the Prophet is part of a malicious campaign...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 4 - Another Sign Of Thaw In Syria-Saudi Relations.
March 7, 2009... Syrian President Bashar Al Assad met Saudi FM Prince Saud Al Faisal in Damascus in another sign of a thaw in ties between the two Arab countries that had clashed over regional issues. The official Syrian news agency reported the meeting but...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 3 - Arab League Calls For Inclusion In Talks On Iran.
March 7, 2009... Arabs must be kept in the loop about Iran, Arab League chief AMousa says after a gathering of Arab FMs in Cairo. "I demand that no foreign [power] talks to Iran without Arabs being aware of it and having a role in the process", Mousa said, in a...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Mar 5 - Britain Re-Establishes Ties With Hizbullah.
March 7, 2009... Britain is re-establishing contact with the political wing of the militant group Hizbullah following the formation of a broad coalition government in Lebanon. The British Foreign Office said that it had established contact with the group's...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Mar 4 - Israel Strikes 3 Gaza Smuggling Tunnels.
March 7, 2009... The Israeli military says its aircraft have struck three smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border. The military says the airstrikes came in response to rocket attacks on Israel the day before. Palestinian officials in Gaza say no one was...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Mar 5 - Israel Kills Five Militants In Air Raid On Gaza Strip.
March 7, 2009... Israeli air raids on Gaza kill four fighters just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her first Mideast trip vowing to breathe life into the peace process. An air strike in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Mar 5...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Mar 1 - Iran One Step Closer To Bomb, US Says.
March 7, 2009... The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen says the US believes that Iran has amassed enough radioactive material to build an atomic bomb, said Sunday. The statement by Admiral Mike Mullen went further and was more...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Mar 3 - Clinton To Send Two Diplomats To Syria.
March 7, 2009... US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, says the US would dispatch two senior diplomats to Syria for negotiations this week, in the clearest break yet with Washington's policy of isolating Damascus. Hillary Clinton with Rabbi Israel Meir Lau...

IRAQ - Mar 5 - Car Bomb In Southern Iraqi Market.
March 7, 2009... A car bomb explodes in a livestock market in Iraq's southern Babil province, killing 12 people and wounding 40, police said.- The blast occurred in a region that has been relatively peaceful for months. Violence has fallen across Iraq to lows...

ISRAEL - Mar 2 - Israeli Minister Calls For Assassination Of Top Hamas Leaders.
March 7, 2009... Israeli Minister of Religious Affairs Yitzhak Cohen calls for the assassination of Hamas leaders to stop rocket fire from Gaza Strip. Cohen, who resides in the southern city of Ashkelon, said it was time to "remove Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal,...

PALESTINE - Mar 1 - Gaza Militants Increase Rocket Attacks On Israel.
March 7, 2009... Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fire at least 11 rockets into Israel, the most intense bombardment since the end of Israel's military offensive against the Hamas-controlled strip six weeks ago. The attacks dealt a fresh blow to...

SAUDI ARABIA - Mar 2 - Arab Peace Offer 'Not Open-Ended'.
March 7, 2009... Saudi FM Saud al-Faisal warns Israel that an Arab initiative for Middle East peace could not remain on the table forever. "The peace initiative was launched at the Beirut summit in 2002 but it did not meet with any Israeli response", the Saudi...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 9 - Israel Has Choice On Peace, Says Assad.
March 14, 2009... Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, has suggested he will sign a peace settlement with Israel even without a resolution to the Palestinian conflict, but warned that any such deal would be largely symbolic. Assad is laying down a challenge to...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 11 - Saudi Brings Syria Back Into The Fold.
March 14, 2009... Saudi Arabia attempts to overcome damaging rifts in the Arab world and weaken Iranian influence in the region by playing host to Bashar al-Assad, the controversial Syrian president, in a big show of reconciliation. The leaders of Egypt and...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Mar 9 - Israel Opposes UK-Hizbullah Talks.
March 14, 2009... Israel has expressed its objection to the British cabinet's decision to initiate talks with Hizbullah. Israel called on the United Kingdom to stop establishing any kind of relations with the party. An Israeli foreign affairs spokesman said that...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Mar 8 - US And British Forces In Iraq Are Reduced.
March 14, 2009... Two combat brigades that had been scheduled to return to Iraq this year will not be replaced, the US military announces, signaling a first step in President Barack Obama's plan to end combat operations there by 2010. In addition, the last 4,000...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Mar 8 - 12,000 US Troops To Quit Iraq By September.
March 14, 2009... The US military announces that 12,000 American and 4,000 British troops will leave Iraq by September - hours after a suicide bomber struck police and recruits lined up at the entrance of Baghdad's main police academy, killing 32 people. The...

IRAN - Mar 11 - Iran's Ahmadi-Nejad Blames West For Economic Crisis.
March 14, 2009... Iran's president is blaming the West for the global economic meltdown and says capitalism is collapsing. President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad gave an opening speech at the Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Tehran on Mar 11. The summit...

IRAQ - Mar 10 - 33 Killed In Suicide Attack On Iraq.
March 14, 2009... A suicide bomber strike tribal leaders touring a market in a Sunni area west of Baghdad, killing as many as 33 people in the second major attack in the capital area in two days. The bombing was part of a spike of violence that comes as the US...

IRAQ - Mar 11 - Iraq's Former Deputy PM Jailed For 15 Years.
March 14, 2009... Tariq Aziz, former deputy PM of Iraq and Saddam Hussein's spokesman to the outside world, is sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 Baghdad merchants. The trials of former Saddam Hussein allies have been...

PALESTINE - Mar 11 - Hamas, Fatah Peace Talks Enter Second Day.
March 14, 2009... Rival Palestinian factions continue talks in Cairo after no concrete results were produced on the first day of their reconciliation talks on Mar 10 aimed at coming up with a power-sharing agreement between Fatah and Hamas and eventually holding...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 20 - Moussa Meets Al-Sistani, Calls For Reconciliation.
March 21, 2009... The head of the Arab League says that Iraqis must succeed in their push for national reconciliation to achieve stability after years of brutal sectarian warfare. AMoussa, the secretary-general of the 22-nation organization, also said the...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Mar 21 - Obama Offers Iran 'New Beginning'.
March 21, 2009... In a significant departure from the tone of the Bush administration, President Barack Obama welcomes "new beginning" with Iran in a surprise video message marking Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. Obama told Iran's people that the US wanted to...

AFGHANISTAN - Mar 19 - Afghan Legislator Killed In Bombing.
March 21, 2009... A powerful roadside bomb kills an Afghan legislator and four others on the road between Kandahar and Helmand Provinces in southeast Afghanistan. The legislator, Dad Muhammad Khan, was a former mujahedeen commander who served as Helmand's head...

IRAN - Mar 15 - Khatami Mulls Exit From Presidential Race.
March 21, 2009... Muhammad Khatami, a leading Iranian reformist and presidential contender, held talks with Mir-Hossein Moussavi, a former PM who is also running in the June election, amid speculation that Khatami might withdraw from the race. Khatami, a...

IRAQ - Mar 15 - Iraqi President Sets Off Talk On Role Of Iraqi Kurds.
March 21, 2009... President Jalal Talabani's office confirm that he will not seek a second term, setting off speculation over a battle for his successor and whether the Kurds would retain the post of president, one of the three top jobs in the Iraqi government....

ISRAEL - Mar 16 - Hardliner Set To Be Israeli FM.
March 21, 2009... Avigdor Lieberman, the controversial Israeli far-right politician, is set to become FM of the incoming government, to the alarm of the country's neighbours and allies. Lieberman, who has repeatedly lashed out at leaders of Israel's Palestinian...

ISRAEL - Mar 19 - Israeli Forces 'Kidnap' Hamas Leaders In West Bank.
March 21, 2009... Israel launches a new crackdown on Hamas, rounding up top leaders in the West Bank after the failure of efforts to secure the release of a soldier held by the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces seized 12 senior Hamas leaders in...

KUWAIT - Mar 16 - Kuwaiti Cabinet Resigns For Second Time.
March 21, 2009... Kuwait's government resign for the second time in four months after deputies moved to question the PM, further exacerbating a political crisis in the oil-rich state and threatening an economic stimulus plan. The crisis could delay the approval...

PALESTINE - Mar 20 -No Deal On Composition Of Unity Government.
March 21, 2009... Rival Palestinian groups adjourn their reconciliation talks in Egypt with no deal on the shape or agenda of an interim government that would oversee the rebuilding of Gaza and prepare for elections. An Egyptian official told the state-run...

SYRIA - Mar 18 - Al Assad Praises Obama Actions.
March 21, 2009... Syrian President Bashar Al Assad says he hoped to meet US President Barack Obama and expressed his willingness to help mediate between the West and Iran. Al Assad, in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica published , also confirmed...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 24 - Syria Appoints First Ambassador To Lebanon.
March 28, 2009... Syria has appointed its first ambassador to Beirut, a move welcomed by a senior UN official who said it would contribute to Lebanon's stability. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman accepted the diplomatic credentials of Ali Abdul Karim Ali on...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 25 -'Israel Exploiting Arab Disunity'.
March 28, 2009... Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah calls for Arab and Palestinian unity in the face of Israeli aggression as he opened the fifth session of the Shoura Council. He said he would continue his efforts to unite Arab nations until every...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Mar 25 - US Claims Gulf Donors Fund Taliban Fighters.
March 28, 2009... The US has told its Nato partners that funds from individuals in Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia now rival drug money as a source of financing for Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. The US launched a high-profile push to reduce Gulf funding...

AFGHANISTAN - Mar 23 - NATO Says A Top Taliban Leader Is Killed.(Maulawi Hassan)
March 28, 2009... A senior Taliban leader responsible for numerous roadside bombings and suicide attacks against NATO forces has been killed with nine other insurgent fighters. Maulawi Hassan, described as a Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan, was killed...

EGYPT - Mar 25 - Egypt Backs Sudanese President.
March 28, 2009... Egyptian officials welcome President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan to Cairo, undeterred by the arrest warrant that has been issued against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity by an international court. Egyptian President Hosni...

EGYPT - Mar 25 - Afghan Strikes By Taliban Get Pakistan Help, US Aides Say.
March 28, 2009... The Taliban's widening military campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan's military intelligence agency, despite Pakistani government promises to sever ties to militant groups...

IRAN - Mar 22 - Iran's Supreme Leader Rebuffs Obama's Overture.(Ali Khamenei)
March 28, 2009... The supreme leader of Iran has rebuffed President Barack Obama's latest overture, saying that Tehran is still waiting to see concrete changes in US policy. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was responding to a video message Obama issued Mar 27 in which he...

IRAN - Mar 26 - Iran To Attend Afghan Meet-Tehran.
March 28, 2009... Iran said on Mar 26 it would attend a UN conference on the future of Afghanistan which was proposed by Tehran's old foe the US and called for a regional solution to the "crisis". But FM spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said Iran had yet to decide who...

IRAQ - Mar 22 - Shoe-Throwing Journalist Had A Fair Trial, Al Maliki Says.
March 28, 2009... Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki says his government did not intervene in the trial of the journalist who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush, but offered little sympathy for the man many consider a hero for his protest. In an interview...

IRAQ - Mar 23 - Baghdad On Alert As Nine Die In Bomb Blast.
March 28, 2009... A powerful blast tore through a house on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Mar 23, killing nine people and wounding at least eight others, the second attack in that region in March, doctors and police said. The bombing came as Baghdad buzzed...

ISRAEL - Mar 23 - Netanyahu Pushes To Bring Labour On Board.
March 28, 2009... Benjamin Netanyahu launches a last-minute effort to enlist the centre-left Labour party as a coalition partner in the next Israeli government, a day after the leader of the rightwing Likud party took another decisive step towards securing the...

LEBANON - Mar 22 - Beirut Ready To Host Joint Arab Law Enforcement Office.
March 28, 2009... Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud calls on delegates attending a conference of Arab interior ministers in Beirut to set up an anti-organized crime bureau to counter drug trafficking, immigrant smuggling and e-crime. Baroud stressed in opening...

KUWAIT - Mar 26 - Kuwait Finally Approves $5.2 bn Stimulus.
March 28, 2009... Kuwait's cabinet finally passed a $5.2 bn economic stimulus package after a dissolution of its fractious parliament allowed the government to implement the bill unopposed. The package had previously stalled due to bickering between the cabinet,...

PALESTINE - Mar 23 - Palestinian Official Killed In Lebanon Bomb Attack.(Kamal Midhat)
March 28, 2009... A senior Palestinian official is killed along with two colleagues and a driver when a roadside bomb detonated next to their convoy as they left a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, security officials said. The Palestinian official,...

SAUDI ARABIA - Mar 27 - Prince Naif Appointed Deputy Saudi PM.
March 28, 2009... Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah appoints his half-brother Prince Naif as the new second deputy PM, signalling that he would be next in line for the throne after the ailing Crown Prince Sultan. The appointment of 74-year-old Prince Naif, who has...

SUDAN - Mar 23 - Scholars Tell Bashir To Avoid Qatar Trip.(Brief article)
March 28, 2009... Religious scholars have told Sudan's president not to travel to an Arab summit in Qatar at the end of March. President Omar Bashir risks being detained if he leaves Sudan because the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant...

SUDAN - Mar 26 - Bashir Defies ICC, Visits Egypt.(Omar Bashir)
March 28, 2009... Sudanese President Omar Bashir meet his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on his second foreign visit since the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered his arrest for war crimes in Darfur. FM Ahmed Aboul Gheit renewed Egyptian opposition to...

TURKEY - Mar 24 - Gul Pays Historic Visit To Baghdad.
March 28, 2009... Turkey's president calls for greater co-operation from Iraqi leadership in preventing Kurdish rebels from launching cross-border attacks as he made the first visit to Iraq by a Turkish head of state in more than 30 years. Abdullah Gul became...