APS Diplomat Recorder articles from May 2009

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from May 2009

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 7 - Relief Convoy Leaves For Gaza.
May 9, 2009... OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu says the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) ensures that aid it sends to Gaza reaches people who are in need of it and this is the reason why many charities and international organizations...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 5 - Iran And Syria Continue To Support Resistance.
May 9, 2009... The leaders of Iran and Syria reaffirms their support for "Palestinian resistance", a defiant message to the US and its Mideast allies who are uneasy over Washington's efforts to forge closer ties with the hard-line government in Tehran....

ARAB US RELATIONS - May 5 - Gates Pessimistic On Chance Of Tehran Accord.
May 9, 2009... The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says Tehran's response to Washington's overtures had not been encouraging and played down the prospects of a breakthrough in relations with the Islamic republic. But after a meeting in Cairo with Hosni...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 9 - Afghan Leader Says Civilian Deaths Hurt Ties With US.
May 9, 2009... President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan disputes criticism by the Obama administration that his government was not doing all it could to fight corruption. He said instead that any gulf between the countries had more to do with the civilian toll...

IRAQ - May 8 - Iraqis Seek Death Penalty for Ex-US Soldier.
May 9, 2009... Iraqi officials and civilians call for the death sentence for a former American soldier who was convicted of a crime that pressed at the worst extremes of the complicated and often fraught relationship of Iraqis and the American military: the...

ISRAEL - May 5 -'Israel Abusing Gaza Patients'.
May 9, 2009... Israel's Shin Beth internal security service has increased its interrogations of people seeking to leave Hamas-run Gaza for medical treatment. Data collected by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel "indicates a rise in the number of Palestinian...

LEBANON - May 5 - Geagea Accuses Hizbullah Of Endangering Stability.(Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea)
May 9, 2009... Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea accuse Hizbullah of putting the country's stability in danger by challenging the integrity of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). In a news conference held May 4 at his residence in Maarab, Geagea...

PALESTINE - May 4 - Addressing US, Hamas Says It Grounded Rockets.
May 9, 2009... The leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas says that its fighters had stopped firing rockets at Israel for now. He also reached out in a limited way to the Obama administration and others in the West, saying the movement was seeking a...

PALESTINE - May 6 - PA Guns For Secret Agents.(Palestinian Authority)(Brief article)
May 9, 2009... The Palestinian Authority has established a special counter-intelligence squad in its West Bank-based security services to uncover agents working for Hamas and Hizbullah. Haaretz said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) security services have...

PALESTINE -May 7 - Fatah Plans To Form Government.(Brief article)
May 9, 2009... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to ask his PM within the coming week to form a new government without the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers. Months of power-sharing talks between Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas have gone nowhere. "If they...

TURKEY - Masked Gunmen Kill 45 At Turkish Wedding.
May 9, 2009... A massacre at a wedding party in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south-east has prompted fresh criticism of the government's policy of arming villagers to fight separatist insurgents. A group of masked gunmen armed with assault rifles on May 4 evening...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 11 - Muslim World Recognises Israel In New US Peace Plan.
May 16, 2009... Jordan's King Abdullah says the US is promoting a peace plan for the Middle East involving a '57-state solution' in which the entire Muslim world would recognise Israel. "We are offering a third of the world to meet them with open arms", the...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 12 - Cabinet Approves New OIC Charter.
May 16, 2009... The Council of Ministers endorse the new charter of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world's largest organization of Muslim countries, which is based in Jeddah. The new charter, which was adopted by the OIC summit...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 15 - Jordan Presses Israel On Peace.
May 16, 2009... Jordan's King Abdallah tells Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that a two-state solution to the Arab Israeli conflict that involves Israel's withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands was a "prerequisite" for the establishment of lasting peace in the...

ARAB US RELATIONS - May 11 - US Adviser Holds Firm On Airstrikes In Afghanistan.
May 16, 2009... President Obama's top national security adviser says the US would likely continue conducting airstrikes against extremists in Afghanistan despite a sharp warning from President Hamid Karzai that civilian casualties were fast turning ordinary...

IRAQ - May 10 - US House Speaker Discusses Economic Relations With Iraq In Surprise Visit.
May 16, 2009... US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise one-day visit to Baghdad and discussed US-Iraqi economic relations with the PM. PM Nouri Al Maliki asked Pelosi, a California Democrat, to shield Iraq from the demands for reparations from...

IRAQ - May 12 - Violence Rises In Iraq's Tense North.
May 16, 2009... Tensions flared in Iraq's volatile north with demonstrations in Mosul and a car bomb that killed 7 and wounded 18 in Kirkuk. The bomber in Kirkuk rammed a car into a police patrol near the headquarters of the main Turkmen political party, said...

LEBANON - May 12 - Hizbullah Confirms Broad Aid For Hamas.
May 16, 2009... Shaikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hizbullah, gives a rare interview to the FT, sitting beneath tapestries showing Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late Supreme Leader...

LEBANON - May 15 - Nasrallah Hails May 7 As 'Glorious Day' For Resistance.(Hezbollah Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah )
May 16, 2009... Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah criticizes "those who doubt the opposition's ability to run the country's affairs", saying: "The Resistance that defeated Israel can govern a country that is 100 times larger than Lebanon". In a live...

SAUDI ARABIA - May 13 - Jerusalem Plan Called Dangerous.
May 16, 2009... FM Prince Saud Al-Faisal calls an Israeli plan to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and surround the city with Jewish-controlled sites "dangerous and provocative". Lauding US efforts to relaunch the Middle East peace process, Prince...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 17 - Moussa Says Israel Nuclear Programme 'Real Danger'.(Arab League Leader Amr Moussa)(Brief article)
May 23, 2009... Arab League chief AMoussa says Israel's alleged nuclear programme is "the real danger" in the Middle East. "The real danger as far as nuclear military programmes are concerned is posed by Israel and not Iran", Moussa said at the World Economic...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 17 - Israel Feels Syrian Gesture Will Help Clear Air Between Enemies.
May 23, 2009... Israel's president urges Syria to open direct peace talks, saying any gesture by the Damascus government would help clear the air between the two arch enemies. President Shimon Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose office is largely...

ARAB AFFAIRS - May 18 - Obama Fails To Coax Netanyahu On Two-State Plan.
May 23, 2009... Barack Obama offers Benjamin Netanyahu a trademark dose of warmth and conciliation while politely distancing himself from many of the Israeli premier's hardline positions on the Arab-Israeli conflict. But Obama did not succeed in persuading...

IRAQ - May 17 - Tensions Stoked Between Iraqi Kurds And Sunnis.
May 23, 2009... Tensions between Sunni Arabs and Kurds are boiling over in Nineveh, the northern Iraqi province that includes Mosul, as Kurds fight the result of a provincial election in January that shifted power to Arabs. Though strains between the groups...

IRAN - May 20 - Iran 'Launches Advanced Missile'.
May 23, 2009... Iran successfully launches a surface-to-surface missile with a range of about 2,000 km (1,250 miles) on May 20, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The Sejil 2 missile, which has an advanced technology, was launched today...and it landed...

IRAN - May 19 - Khamenei Accuses US Of Terrorism Plot.
May 23, 2009... Iran's leading authority accuses the US of promoting terrorism and using arms and money to plot against the Islamic Republic in his latest verbal attack on Tehran's arch foe. Supreme Leader Ayat Ali Khamenei's comments in a televised speech are...

KUWAIT - May 17 - Kuwaitis Elect Women MPs.
May 23, 2009... Kuwaitis have elected women members of parliament for the first time. Analysts said the election was a vote for change after combative parliaments had locked horns with the government but failed to deliver economic reform. Four women were voted...

LEBANON - May 21 - Lebanon Makes Israel Spy Ring Claim To UN.
May 23, 2009... Lebanon files a complaint to the UN after uncovering what it claimed was an Israeli spy network that has led Beirut to arrest 18 alleged agents accused of spying on Hizbullah in recent months. Lebanese security forces have found listening...

PALESTINE - May 19 - Abbas Swears In New Hamas-Free Government.(Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas )
May 23, 2009... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a new government comprised mainly of members of his Fatah Party, but without representation of his bitter rivals from the militant Islamic Hamas group. The move underlines the failure of attempts to...

ARABS ISRAEL RLATIONS - May 28 - Israel Insists On Some Construction In West Bank Settlements.
May 30, 2009... Israel insist that it wants to reach an understanding with the US on construction in West Bank settlements, despite a blunt call by the Obama administration to completely freeze all work. A government spokesman, Mark Regev, had said a day...

ARAB US RELATIONS - May 28 - Obama Urges Israel, Palestine To Progress With Peace Talks.
May 30, 2009... President Barack Obama is challenging Israelis and Palestinians to be fair brokers in the quest for Midle East peace. The plan for peace faces new trouble, but Obama says he "will do everything I can". "We can't continue with the drift, with...

AFGHANISTAN - May 29 - Taliban To Stop Fighting In Mingora.
May 30, 2009... Firebrand Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah has asked insurgents to stop battling Pakistani troops in the capital of northwest Swat Valley. Pakistani security forces have been pounding Taliban positions in three northwest districts since late...

IRAQ - May 26 - US Says Roadside Bomb In Iraq Kills 3 Americans.
May 30, 2009... Three Americans, including a State Department employee, are killed by a roadside bomb that struck a convoy west of Baghdad. The blast killed a US soldier, a State Department official and a civilian contractor working for the Defense Department...

IRAN - May 24 - Ahmadi-Nejad Attacks Presence Of Foreign Troops In The Region.
May 30, 2009... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad attacks the presence of foreign forces in the region at a summit with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts aimed at tackling terrorism and other security problems. The three neighbours' first such...

IRAN - May 25 - Supporters Welcomed Mir Hussein Moussavi.
May 30, 2009... The strongest challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad attracted an unusually large and exuberant crowd of supporters on May 25 during a campaign speech in this northwest city near the candidate's birthplace, with only a few weeks before...

ISRAEL - May 24 - Netanyahu Defies US, Plans To Expand West Bank Settlements.
May 30, 2009... PM Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will continue to build homes in existing Occupied West Bank settlements, defying US calls to halt settlement growth. Netanyahu told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet that he would not allow any new...

ISREAL - May 25 - Israel Ties 2 Nations To Iran's Uranium.
May 30, 2009... Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained The AP. The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first...

ISRAEL - May 26 - Draft Bill By Israel To Ban Nakba Is Attacked.
May 30, 2009... Israel's rightwing government has become embroiled in fresh controversy, over a draft law that would ban the country's Arab minority from commemorating the mass exodus of Palestinians from their homes and villages during the 1948 Arab-Israeli...

JORDAN - May 27 - Amman Protests Israeli Idea Depicting Jordan Home For Palestinians.
May 30, 2009... The Jordanian government lodges a strongly-worded protest with Israel over a discussion at the Israeli Knesset of a proposal envisaging the Hashemite Kingdom as a homeland for Palestinians. FM Nasser Judeh summoned the Israeli ambassador in...

LEBANON - May 26 - Hizbullah Tries To Secure IMF Funds.
May 30, 2009... Lebanon's Hizbullah has held talks with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union as it seeks to secure continued financial support for Lebanon if the alliance it leads was to win next month's parliamentary elections. The...

PALESTINE - May 25 -Hamas Court Sentences 3 Fatah Men To Death.
May 30, 2009... A Hamas military court sentences three former Fatah security men to death by firing squad for the 2007 killing of two journalists at a pro-Hamas newspaper. The killings took place in May 2007 during factional fighting between the rival Fatah...

PALESTINE - May 27 - Occupiers Can Change Nationality, Says Qorei.(Ahmad Qorei)(Brief article)
May 30, 2009... Ahmad Qorei, the head of Palestinian negotiating team with Israel, said that Jewish occupiers could live under Palestinian law and can become Palestinian citizens. "(Former US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice told me she understood our...

PALESTINE - May 28 - Most Palestinians Want Unity Govt.
May 30, 2009... Most Palestinians support efforts to forge a unity government as the way to heal an internal rift that has hurt the chances of achieving a peace deal with Israel, an opinion poll published yesterday showed. A survey by Birzeit University, based...

PALESTINE - May 28 - Israeli Troops Kill Hamas Senior Commander In West Bank Raid.
May 30, 2009... The Hamas militant group says one of its senior commanders was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Hebron after a 14-year manhunt. The Israeli military says they surrounded the militant's house May 28 and called on him to...