APS Diplomat Recorder articles from November 2006

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from November 2006

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 31 - Blair In Secret Overture To Damascus.(Tony Blair)
November 4, 2006... Tony Blair, Britain's PM, has launched a secret diplomatic move to prise Syria away from its support for radical Middle East groups and policies. In an initiative that departs from the US policy of isolating Syria, Blair this week sent Sir...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct 30 - Israel Plans To Expand Offensive In Gaza Strip, Says Olmert.
November 4, 2006... PM Ehud Olmert said yesterday that Israel plans to expand its military offensive in the Gaza Strip and will decide soon on the what kind of operation it will conduct. The military offensive will not lead to an Israeli reoccupation of the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct 31 - Israeli Planes In Mock Raids Over Hizbullah Strongholds.(Brief article)
November 4, 2006... Israeli warplanes staged mock raids yesterday over Hizbullah strongholds in south Beirut in the heaviest show of air power over Lebanon since the August ceasefire.At least six times the Israeli fighter jets dived down to zoom low over the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Nov 1 - Eight Killed As Israelis Try To Halt Palestinian Rockets.
November 4, 2006... Seven Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed on Wednesday as the Israeli army launched one of its biggest raids into the Gaza Strip in recent months. Israel's security cabinet met to discuss widening the Gaza offensive but decided to...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 30 - US Death Toll In Iraq Tops 100 In October.
November 4, 2006... An announcement by the US military on Monday that a marine had been killed in the western province of Anbar sent US military fatalities in Iraq in October over the 100 mark, making the month the fourth-deadliest for the US military since the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 1 - Syria 'Plotting To Destabilise' Lebanon.
November 4, 2006... The US on Wednesday said it had mounting evidence that Syria, Iran and Hizbullah were planning to "topple" the elected Lebanese government and told them to keep their "hands off". The US warning reflects growing concerns that Lebanon's...

EGYPT - Oct 31 - Egypt To Amend Rules On Mubarak Successor-By William Wallis In Cairo.
November 4, 2006... As part of a raft of constitutional changes, Egypt's parliament will amend the rules governing who will succeed President Hosni Mubarak to make it easier for opposition parties to run candidates, said Fathi Sorour, the parliament's speaker....

EGYPT - Oct 31 - Egypt Convicts Sadat's Nephew Of Defaming Military.
November 4, 2006... Talaat el-Sadat, the nephew of former President Anwar Sadat and an opposition member of Parliament, was sentenced by a military court to one year in prison on charges that he had defamed the military by essentially blaming it for having a hand...

IRAN - Nov 2 - Iran Fires Missiles In War Games.
November 4, 2006... Iran was reported on Wednesday to be accelerating its uranium enrichment process even as Europe took the first steps at the UN Security Council towards obtaining a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend its...

IRAQ Oct 31 - Sadr Losing His Grip on Mahdi Army.(Muqtada Al sadr)
November 4, 2006... An upsurge in violence in southern Iraq has thrown a spotlight on radical Shi'ite leader Muqtada Al sadr, to whom the Iraqi government is turning for help at the same time as it moves against his followers. Although Sadr is revered by many...

IRAQ - Oct 31 - U.S.-Iraqi Checkpoints In Baghdad Lifted.
November 4, 2006... Nuri Kamal al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered the lifting of joint U.S.-Iraqi military checkpoints around the Shiite militant stronghold of Sadr City and other parts of Baghdad - another apparent move to assert his authority with the Americans and...

IRAQ - Nov 1 - 'Iraq Will Turn Into Hell If Saddam Given Death'.(Saddam Hussein )
November 4, 2006... The defense team of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has sent a letter to the US President George W. Bush warning him that Iraq will turn into "hell" if the former leader was sentenced to death, one of the lawyers disclosed yesterday. "We...

LEBANON - Oct 31 - Hizbullah Warns Of Resignations, Protests If Demands For Unity Government Not Met.
November 4, 2006... Hizbullah will seek the formation of a new government through all democratic means, including the resignation of its two ministers and street protests, the group's senior MP said on Monday. Hizbullah and its allies have been demanding a new...

LEBANON - Nov 1 - Hizbullah Issues Ultimatum To Lebanese Government.
November 4, 2006... Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hizbullah movement has given the coalition government of Fouad Siniora until mid-November to agree to the formation of a national unity government or face protests demanding new elections. He said...

PALESTINE - Nov 4 - Women Break Mosque Siege-Hisham Abu Taha.
November 4, 2006... Palestinian women yesterday broke the Israeli siege of a mosque in Beit Hanoun and helped dozens of fighters holed up there to escape death. In the process, two women were killed and at least 10 of them injured by Israeli gunfire. Israeli...

QATAR - Oct 30 - No Nation 'Has Monopoly Over Democracy'.
November 4, 2006... Qatar's foreign minister said here yesterday that no country in the world has a monopoly over the concept of democracy at the opening of a UN-sponsored summit on new and restored democracies. Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabr Al Thani, Qatar's...

SAUDI ARABIA - Nov 2 - King Orders Release Of Ismailis Held For Rioting.
November 4, 2006... King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday ordered the release of most of those jailed after a riot by minority Ismaili Muslims in 2000, state media said. The monarch ordered the release of those jailed over the disturbances in the...

SAUDI ARABIA - Nov 2 - Saudi Unemployment 'To End In Five Years'.
November 4, 2006... Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz has said the kingdom, which relies heavily on foreign labour, will end crippling unemployment among young Saudis within five years, newspapers and state media said yesterday. The world's largest...

TURKEY - Oct 30 - Report Puts Turkey's EU Hopes in Jeopardy.
November 4, 2006... Turkey's bid for European Union membership will be dealt a fresh blow next week when an official report will slate Ankara for failing to make enough progress on freedom of expression, curbing the use of torture and establishing civilian control...

YEMEN - Oct 30 - Sanaa Arrests Al Qaida-Linked Gun-Runners.(Brief article)
November 4, 2006... Yemeni security forces have arrested eight foreigners with suspected links to Al Qaida who were smuggling weapons from Yemen to Somalia, a senior interior ministry official said yesterday. The state September 26 website (www.26sep.net) said the...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 6 - GCC Plans To Obtain Reconnaissance Satellite.
November 11, 2006... The Gulf states aim to acquire a reconnaissance satellite to boost their joint military capabilities. The defence ministers of six states, which form the GCC, will meet in Abu Dhabi to study plans to obtain the satellite. The GCC states had...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Nov 5 - Israelis Vow To Press On With Gaza Offensive.(Brief article)
November 11, 2006... The Israeli government says the military will continue a five-day-old offensive in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun in the face of international concern about an operation in which more than 40 Palestinians have been killed. The Pope...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 8 - Iraq Unmoved By Rumsfeld Exit.
November 11, 2006... The Iraqi government dismisses the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as "an internalissue". "We are dealing with an administration, not persons. We are committed to an understanding with the administration", said Ali al-Dabbagh, a government...

IRAN - Nov 6 - Tehran 'Ready To Share Missile Systems' With Others.
November 11, 2006... Iran is ready to share its missile systems with friends and neighbours, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards says, after he shows off missiles including some he says had cluster warheads. Guards commander-in-chief Yahya Rahim Safavi also...

IRAQ - Nov 5 - Saddam Hussein Sentenced To Hang.
November 11, 2006... Saddam Hussein and two senior members of his regime are sentenced by an Iraqi special tribunal to death by hanging for carrying out a campaign of collective punishment against a Shi'ite village where the deposed president suffered a 1982...

JORDAN - Nov 6 - King Abdullah In Plea For Revival Of Peace Process.
November 11, 2006... King Abdullah warns of a conflagration in the Middle East over the next year if the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is not revived. In an interview with the FT, the king said the biggest risks were an escalation in violence in the occupied...

PALESTINE - Nov 5 - Haniya Not To Lead 'Unity Government'.(Esmail Haniya)(Brief article)
November 11, 2006... Pres Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party and the ruling Hamas party have principally agreed that PM Esmail Haniya will not head the new unity government. "We have agreed on the political platform of the new government", Hamas lawmaker and senior leader...

PALESTINE - Nov 5 - Palestinians Show Renewed Consensus After Gaza Killings.
November 11, 2006... Rival Palestinian factions resume talks on a national unity government, showing renewed consensus as tens of thousands join a mass funeral for the 18 civilians killed by Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip a day earlier. Palestinian officials...

YEMEN - Nov 10 - Yemen Vows To Crush Al Qaida.
November 11, 2006... The Yemeni government vow to strike with "an iron fist" after a recent internet statement attributed to "Al Qaida in Yemen" claimed responsibility for suicide attacks on oil facilities in the country and pledges more attacks. According to...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 21 - Iraq And Syria Agree To Restore Relations.
November 18, 2006... Syria and Iraq announces the formal restoration of diplomatic ties, nearly a quarter of a century after they were suspended. The move comes as the US and other western powers are exploring the option of enlisting Syrian and Iranian help in...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 20 - Victory In Iraq Impossible, Says Kissinger.(Henry Kissinger)
November 18, 2006... Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state who has advised the Bush administration on the war in Iraq, says he no longer believed a military victory is possible in the conflict. "If you mean by clear military victory an Iraqi government...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 20 - Bush Denies Decision On Altering Iraq Troop Levels.
November 18, 2006... Bush says he has made no decisions on altering troop numbers in Iraq following reports that the Pentagon was considering a temporary boost to curb sectarian violence in Baghdad. The Washington Post reported that a Pentagon team reviewing Iraq...

IRAN - Nov 19 - Rafsanjani Wins Backing For Key Election.(Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, presidential elections)
November 18, 2006... Iran's supreme leader backs the pragmatic former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in his decision to stand in next month's elections for the Assembly of Experts, a crucial state body. The move is seen as an attempt by Ayat Ali Khamenei to...

IRAQ - Nov 23 - Suicide Attacks On Baghdad Shi'ite Kill 160.
November 18, 2006... In what may be the single deadliest attack in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, at least 154 people are killed in a series of co-ordinated suicide car bomb attacks in the crowded east Baghdad slum of Sadr City. According to police sources...

JORDAN - Nov 22 - Jordan Reshuffles Cabinet But Key Posts Unchanged.(Brief article)
November 18, 2006... PM Marouf Bakheet reshuffles his government keeping the foreign, finance and interior portfolios unchanged. Government officials said the reshuffle was aimed at ensuring greater cohesion in Bakheet's cabinet, appointed last year with a mandate...

LEBANON - Nov 21 - Anti-Syrian Leader Killed In Lebanon.
November 18, 2006... Pierre Gemayel, a Lebanese cabinet minister and strong opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon, is gunned down in his car, jolting a nation already paralysed by political conflict that threatens to topple the government. The killing of Gemayel,...

PALESTINE - Nov 23 - A Grandmother Blows Herself Up Near Israeli Soldiers In Gaza.
November 18, 2006... In the first suicide bombing claimed by Hamas in nearly two years, a grandmother blows herself up near Israeli troops operating inside Gaza near the town of Beit Lahiya. The soldiers, who had warning, threw a stun grenade toward the woman, who...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 12 - Iran Sends Stern Warning To Israel.
November 18, 2006... The FM says Iran's Revolutionary Guards will strongly and immediately respond to any Israeli attack, and President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad harshly criticises the UN Security Council over its efforts to impose sanctions because of Tehran's...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 12- GCC To Adopt Strategy To Deal With Iraq.
November 18, 2006... Interior Minister Prince Naif says: Iraq now constitutes the main base of terrorists", adding that the GCC countries will adopt a united strategy to deal with events in the war-torn country. He said: The condition in Iraq is changing day by...

ARAN EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Nov 13 - Blair Maintains Tough Stance On Iran.(Tony Blair)
November 18, 2006... Tony Blair declares that "a new partnership" is "possible" between the west and Iran - as long as the Tehran regime acts to support peace between Israel and the Palestinians and agrees to curb its nuclear ambitions. In his first foreign policy...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Nov 15 - General Warns Against Iraq Exit Timeline.(John Abizaid)
November 18, 2006... The top US commander in the Middle East General John Abizaid, warns that a phased withdrawal of US troops within six months, which some Democrats want, will increase sectarian violence in Iraq. Gen Abizaid also drew the ire of John McCain, the...

IRAN - Nov 14 - Iran Says It Will Be 'Fully Nuclear' Soon.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad's military policy)
November 18, 2006... Tehran's Pres Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad promises a "celebration of Iran's full nuclearisation" before the end of the Iranian year next March and said the US and its allies had "finally agreed to live with an Iran possessing the nuclear fuel cycle"....

IRAQ - Nov 12 - Maliki Plans Big Reshuffle.
November 18, 2006... Iraq's PM Nouri al-Maliki, tells parliamentarians that he is planning a "comprehensive" reshuffle of ministers in his national unity government, and scolded lawmakers for failing to show their loyalty to a united Iraq. The declaration is part...

IRAQ - Nov 14 - Most Hostages Freed From Baghdad Ministry.
November 18, 2006... Iraqi state TV reports that most of the hostages seized at a government ministry building in Baghdad has been freed in a late night raid. Gunmen dressed as police commandos kidnapped dozens of male staff and visitors from the institute. Women...

IRAQ - Nov 16 - Corruption 'Is Fuelling Iraqi Conflicts'.
November 18, 2006... Deputy PM Barham Salih says uncontrolled levels of corruption in Iraq are fuelling the country's sectarian conflict and creating a "political economy" of violence. Salih, in an interview with the Financial Times, said his government intended to...

LEBANON - Nov 11 - Hizbullah Ministers Quit Lebanon's Cabinet.
November 18, 2006... Lebanon's political crisis deepens with the resignation from the cabinet of all five Shi'ite ministers from the pro-Syrian Hizbullah movement and its allies as unity talks collapsed. Hizbullah repeated its threat to stage "peaceful"...

PALESTINE - Nov 13 - Palestinians Close To Agreement On New PM.(Brief article)
November 18, 2006... The Palestinians appears a step closer to agreeing on a new PM to replace Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh as part of negotiations on a new national unity government they hope will lead to a resumption of international aid. Muhammad Shabir, a US-educated...

PALESTINE - Nov 14 - Hamas Dampens Western Hopes.
November 18, 2006... Hamas says that a new Palestinian unity government will not recognise Israel or accept a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict as demanded by Israel and the US. In Amman, President Mahmoud Abbas denied reports that Muhammad Shabir has...