APS Diplomat Recorder articles from November 2008

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from November 2008

ARAB AFFAIRS - Oct 30 - Sleiman Uses Rome Visit To Call For Middle East Peace.
November 1, 2008... Pres Michel Sleiman urges the international community to enhance its efforts to reach just and comprehensive solutions for all Middle East conflicts. "Such solutions should be based on international resolutions and on the Arab Peace Initiative,...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 31 - Libya Leader To Discuss Hosting Russian Base.(Muammar Gaddafi)
November 1, 2008... Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrives in Russia for talks expected to focus on purchases of Russian arms and the possible opening of a Russian naval base in Libya to counterbalance US interests in Africa. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrives...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 31 - Israel's Underlying Societal Rift Was Exposed In Acre.
November 1, 2008... The recent clashes in Acre between Israeli Jews and those of Palestinian origin brought to the surface a very thorny issue, the uncomfortable coexistence in Israeli society between the Palestinian minority and Jewish majority. The Palestinian...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Oct 27 - US Says Iraqi Militant Killed In Syria Raid.
November 1, 2008... A raid into Syria was carried out by American Special Operations forces who killed an Iraqi militant responsible for running weapons, money and foreign fighters across the border into Iraq. The helicopter-borne attack into Syria was by far the...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Oct 27 - US-Iran Scheme Has Failed.
November 1, 2008... The recent announcement by the US to open dialogue with Iran, brought worryingly to public attention the partnership between the two countries to continue the occupation of Iraq and sharing oil - the spoils of war. The truth is out in the open....

ARAB US RELATIONS - Oct 29 - US Begins Review Of Iraq Draft Amendment Proposals.
November 1, 2008... Washington has received and is reviewing Iraqi proposals for amendments to a pact that would allow US troops to stay in Iraq after a UN Security Council mandate expires this year. "We got them. We are looking at them", embassy spokeswoman...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct 27 - Suicide Bomber In Afghanistan Kills 2 US Soldiers.
November 1, 2008... A suicide attacker in a police uniform blows himself up inside a police station in the northern province of Baghlan, killing two American soldiers and wounding another, Afghan officials said. An eight-year-old boy was also killed in the blast...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct 30 - Afghanistan Tests Waters For Overture To Taliban.
November 1, 2008... The Afghan government and its allies in the region have begun approaching the Taliban and other insurgent groups with new intensity to test the possibilities for eventual peace talks. The diplomatic approaches have been stepped up over the last...

IRAN - Oct 26 - Officials Counter Ahmadi-Nejad Health Rumors.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
November 1, 2008... Pres Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad of Iran is suffering from exhaustion because of the strain of his job, the official news agency IRNA reported Oct 26 in an unusual disclosure about the health of the country's top elected leader. But the news agency...

IRAQ - Oct 29 - On Iraq Security Lists 310 Contractors.
November 1, 2008... At least 310 private security companies from around the world have received contracts from US agencies to protect American and Iraqi officials, installations, convoys and other entities in Iraq since 2003, according to the most comprehensive...

IRAQ - Oct 29 - Iraq Seeks To Ban US Attacks On Neighbors.
November 1, 2008... Iraq wants a security agreement with the US to include a clear ban on US troops using Iraqi territory to attack the country's neighbors, the government spokesman said Oct 29, three days after a US raid on Syria. Also Oct 29, Grand Ayat Ali...

IRAQ - Oct 30 - Iraqi Defense Ministry Is Ordered To Keep Out Of Politics.
November 1, 2008... The Iraqi defense minister announces that all employees of the ministry, from the highest officials to the lowliest soldiers, would be required to remain politically neutral. Officials in the ministry will be required to sign pledges stating...

ISRAEL - Oct 26 - As Israeli Elections Are Called, Livni Is Assessed.
November 1, 2008... Tzipi Livni, the FM of Israel and head of the centrist Kadima Party, officially asked Pres Shimon Peres to declare early elections, adding more uncertainty to her chances of becoming PM. In remarks broadcast live from the Presial residence,...

LEBANON - Oct 27 - Nasrallah And Hariri Break The Ice During Secret Weekend Meeting.(Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Saad Hariri)
November 1, 2008... Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Future Movement head Saad Hariri have jointly expressed "total adherence and respect for both the Taif Accord and the Doha Accord" after a long-awaited meeting over the weekend. The two met secretly...

PALESTINE - Oct 26 - Hamas Debunks Livni Remark.
November 1, 2008... Palestinian officials termed the statement made on Oct 26 by Tzipi Livni, Israeli PM designate, on recommending early parliamentary elections as an "internal Israeli affair" Hamas says it is the latest signal confirming the failure of the peace...

SYRIA - Oct 26 - Syrians Blame US In Deadly Blast On Iraq Border.
November 1, 2008... An explosion on kills nine construction workers and wounded 19 others near the border of Iraq and Syria, the police in Anbar Province said. Local witnesses said they believed the blast was caused by American shelling, but Major General Tariq...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Nov 3 - UK Confident Saudis Will Help IMF.
November 8, 2008... The UK's PM Gordon Brown says he expected Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, to provide funding to the IMF to help it bail out economies hit by the financial crisis. Brown is visiting the oil-rich Arab Gulf to drum up investment in...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Nov 3 - Israeli Security Chief Warns Of Armed Opposition To West Bank Deal.
November 8, 2008... Israel's radical right-wing could launch attacks to prevent a deal that would hand over the occupied West Bank to Palestinians. The head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency Yuval...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Nov 4 - Israel Launches First Airstrike On Gaza Since June.
November 8, 2008... Israel launches an airstrike on Gaza after its troops clashed with Hamas militants who fired mortars into Israel, leaving six Palestinians dead. It was the first battle since a June truce mostly quieted violence in the volatile territory. The...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Nov 6 - Iraq Warns US On Deal Over Troop Withdrawal.
November 8, 2008... Iraq warns that an effort to reach a so-called status-of-forces agreement that will sanction the US military presence in Iraq beyond 2008 would collapse if no deal were reached by the end of this month. Two days after Barack Obama's election as...

ISRAEL - Nov 6 - Rice Tamps Down Mideast Hopes Pending Israeli Vote.
November 8, 2008... The US State Sec Condoleezza Rice arrives with a somewhat diminished hope of trying to keep Israeli-Palestinian negotiations alive. At an US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November, Israeli and Palestinian leaders...

IRAN - Nov 3 - Iran Marks Seizure Of US Embassy.
November 8, 2008... Thousands of Iranians demonstrate to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the takeover of the US Embassy by militant students. Crowds gathered outside the former embassy building to demonstrate on a day that was declared a school holiday so that...

IRAN - Nov 3 - Ahmadi-Nejad Dismisses Move To Impeach Kordan.(interior minister Ali Kordan)(Brief article)
November 8, 2008... Pres Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad dismisses an upcoming impeachment hearing for his interior minister Ali Kordan who has come under fire after he admitted he had a fake degree from Oxford University. The minister will go before parliament on Nov 4...

IRAN - Nov 4 - Kordan Fired.(interior minister Ali Kordan)
November 8, 2008... Iran's parliament votes to dismiss the interior minister Ali Kordan, for faking a degree from Oxford University, in another blow to the government of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. Kordan was the 10th minister to have been replaced in the 21-member...

IRAQ - Nov 4 - Spate Of Baghdad Bombings After A Quiet Few Weeks.
November 8, 2008... According to the police and hospital officials, fifteen people are killed and dozens wounded by bombings in Baghdad, part of an uptick in violence after a relatively quiet few weeks here. In Mashtal, a predominantly Shi'ite neighbourhood in...

ISRAEL - Nov 3 - Israel Will Halt Funds To Illegal Settlements.
November 8, 2008... The departing PM of Israel Ehud Olmert, announces a series of measures in response to a rise in violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including a halt to all direct or indirect government financing of illegal outposts. The...

PALESTINE - Nov 3 - Palestinian Leader Abbas Rules Out Peace Deal With Israel Before 2009.
November 8, 2008... Pres Mahmoud Abbas rules out the possibility of reaching a peace deal with Israel before the year ends. "Frankly speaking there will be no comprehensive solution before the end of 2008", Abbas told reporters after talks with Jordan's King...

PALESTINE - Nov 5 - Hamas Fires Barrage Of Rockets Towards Israel After Army Attack.
November 8, 2008... Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip fires more than 35 rockets towards Israel hours after the Israeli army killed six fighters in the coastal territory. An Israeli police spokesman said the rockets landed in southern Israel, causing no damage or...

SYRIA - Nov 6 - Syria Links Lebanese Group To September Blast.
November 8, 2008... State Television says that an Islamist militant group active in neighbouring Lebanon is behind a suicide car bomb attack that killed 17 people in Damascus in September. It showed what it said were 12 members of Fatah Al Islam, an Al...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 9 - Middle East Negotiators Press For 2-State Solution.
November 15, 2008... The quartet representatives - including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia; the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana; Europe's external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner; and FM Bernard Kouchner of...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Nov 11 - Israel Allows Fuel Into Gaza As UN Warns Food Aid In Peril.
November 15, 2008... Israel reopens the terminal that handles all fuel supplies to Gaza to allow delivery of diesel to the Palestinian territory's sole power plant one day after it shuddered to a halt. A UN agency, meanwhile, warned it would have to suspend food...

IRAN - Nov 11 - In A Shift, Conservatives In Iran Back Ahmadi-Nejad.(President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)
November 15, 2008... President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad receives praise from Iran's reformist politicians and withering criticism from its conservatives after he sent Barack Obama a letter last week congratulating him on winning the US presidential race. But in a sign...

IRAN - Nov 12 - Iran Reports New Missile Tests.
November 15, 2008... Iran says that it successfully test-fired a new generation of long range surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 1,200 miles. A senior official said the missile would be used only defensively, but did not identify a potential aggressor. A...

IRAQ - Nov 9 - Spate Of Attacks Leaves 12 Dead Across Iraq.(Brief article)
November 15, 2008... At least 12 Iraqis are killed in a spate of attacks, many of them in provinces where much-lauded Iraqi-led security operations had taken place recently. The deadliest attack was in the town of Khalis in Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad....

IRAQ - Nov 11 - Iraqi Cabinet Meets To Mull Latest Draft Of US Security Pact.
November 15, 2008... The Iraqi Cabinet meets behind closed doors for six hours to discuss a controversial military accord intended to govern the presence of US troops in Iraq beyond 2008. Baghdad and Washington have been racing to frame the terms of the deal ahead...

IRAQ - Nov 12 - Two US Soldiers Reported Killed By Iraqi In Mosul.
November 15, 2008... Two US soldiers are shot and killed and six are wounded by an Iraqi soldier after an altercation in the northern city of Mosul. The shooter was killed by other American soldiers, the witnesses said. A spokeswoman for the US military in northern...

ISRAEL - Nov 12 - Israelis Kill Four In Gaza Clashes.
November 15, 2008... Four Palestinian fighters are killed and an Israeli soldier wounded in clashes on the Gaza border in the latest flare-up to rattle a nearly five-month lull and imperil aid deliveries. The Israeli army said Palestinian fighters also fired...

PALESTINE - Nov 10 - Palestinian Unity Plan Collapses.(Brief article)
November 15, 2008... Egypt has been forced to postpone a high-profile meeting aimed at ending a long-running conflict between the two largest Palestinian factions, after the Islamist Hamas group says it will not attend the talks. The meetings were supposed to start...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 20 - Jordanian King Hosts Abbas After Secret Talks With Olmert.
November 22, 2008... Jordan's King Abdullah II hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas two days after Israeli leaders made a clandestine visit to the kingdom. The king and Abbas, who met at the kingdom's southern Red Sea resort of Aqaba, discussed...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Nov 18 - UK Urges Syria To Resume Israel Peace Talks.
November 22, 2008... UK foreign secretary David Miliband, says Syria had an "essential role" to play in the stability of the Middle East and urges it to press ahead with peace talks with Israel. Miliband's comments, made during the highest-level British visit to...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Nov 16 - Israeli Minister Openly Calls For Assassinating Hamas Leaders.
November 22, 2008... Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz says that Israel must "stop talking and launch a personal targeted killing policy against the Hamas government". Mofaz told the Israeli Ynet news following renewed rocket attacks on southern Israeli...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Nov 19 - Obama Tells Abbas He'll Work For Peace.(Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas)(Brief article)
November 22, 2008... The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, has received a courtesy phone call from President-elect Barack Obama, who confirmed that he would work for peace. The official, Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, said Obama had thanked Abbas for the...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Nov 20 - US Forces Kill Senior Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader.
November 22, 2008... The regional Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) leader Hajji Hammadi, is shot dead by US forces in a raid in the upscale Mansour district of Baghdad, according to US military spokesman Brig. Gen. David Perkins. Hajji Hammadi is believed by US officials to...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 17 - Taliban Reject Offer For Talks.
November 22, 2008... Taliban militants rejects an offer of peace talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying there will be no negotiations until foreign troops leave Afghanistan. Karzai offered Nov 16 to provide security for reclusive Taliban leader Mullah...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 19 - Al-Qaeda Criticises Obama's Support For Israel.
November 22, 2008... Al-Qaeda's second-in-command criticised Barack Obama for his support for Israel. In the first al-Qaeda reaction to the US presidential election, Ayman al-Zawahiri described Obama and other black Americans who have served in high positions as...

IRAN - Nov 18 - Ahmadi-Nejad Ally Appointed Interior Minister.
November 22, 2008... Iran's parliament approves Sadegh Mahsouli, President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad's closest allies as interior minister. Mahsouli was voted in by the narrowest of margins, receiving 138 votes out of 275 parliamentarians present - takes charge of the...

IRAQ - Nov 16 - Iraq Agrees US Three-Year Troop Stay.(Brief article)
November 22, 2008... After months of painstaking negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, the Iraqi cabinet approves a bilateral agreement allowing US troops to remain in the country for three more years. The accord still needs approval by Iraq's parliament,...

IRAQ - Nov 17 - US-Iraq Security Pact Signed.
November 22, 2008... Iraqi FM Hoshiyar Zebari and US ambassador Ryan Crocker signs a long-awaited accord requiring Washington to withdraw its forces within three years. The accord puts a formal end to months of negotiations on the future of the US presence, which...

IRAQ - Nov 17 - Sadr Fails To Block US-Iraq Pact In Parliament.(Muqtada al-Sadr)
November 22, 2008... Prominent Shi'ite theologian Muqtada al-Sadr's camp fails to halt the first reading in Parliament of a controversial Iraq-US military pact which has been passed by the Iraqi Cabinet. The Sadrist movement has vigorously opposed the wide-ranging...

PALESTINE - Nov 16 - Palestinians Firing Rockets Killed By Israeli Airstrike.
November 22, 2008... An Israeli airstrike kills four Palestinian fighters as they were firing mortars at Israel from the Gaza Strip, just hours after another group of fighters struck Israel in a separate rocket attack. The violence was the latest in a surge of...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 24 - Ahmadi-Nejad Opens Sleiman Visit With Praise For Lebanon's Resistance Feats.
November 29, 2008... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad praises Lebanese resistance against Israel, in a meeting with Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman. Ahmadi-Nejad added that the 34-day summer 2006 war with Israel led to "many achievements for the Lebanese...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Nov 27 - Lebanon Offers Formal Recognition To State Of Palestine.
November 29, 2008... Information Minister Tarek Mitri says Lebanon has decided for the first time to establish diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine, and has approved the opening of an embassy in Beirut. He said: The cabinet has approved the...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Nov 26 - Israel Bans Press In The Gaza Strip.
November 29, 2008... For more than 40 years the Gaza Strip has played a key role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, making it a place of keen interest to journalists. But for nearly three weeks now, Israel has blocked media access to the 25-mile-long coastal territory...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Nov 24 - Olmert At White House To Bid Farewell To 'Close Friend Of Israel'.
November 29, 2008... President George W. Bush hosts Israeli PM Ehud Olmert for farewell talks where the lame-duck leaders will take stock of their administrations, marked by a failure to clinch a Mideast peace deal. The meeting, branded by Israeli officials as "a...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Nov 24 - Nuclear Aid To Syria Would Be 'Wholly Inappropriate'.
November 29, 2008... The US says it will be "wholly inappropriate" for the United Nations' nuclear agency to give Syria technical help, given allegations the country was trying to covertly build a reactor. The State Department was responding to reports that UN...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 25 - Police In Kandahar Arrest Taliban Militants For Attack On Schoolgirls.(Brief article)
November 29, 2008... The police in Kandahar have arrested 10 Taliban militants they said were involved in an attack this month on a group of Afghan schoolgirls whose faces were doused with acid. The officials said that the militants, who were Afghan citizens, had...

AFGHANISTAN - Nov 28 - Taliban Kill 13 In Ambush Of Afghan Truck Convoy.
November 29, 2008... Taliban insurgents kill 13 Afghan soldiers in an ambush of a convoy in northwestern Afghanistan, while NATO-led troops fired on insurgents inside Pakistan. More than 300 militants attacked the Afghan forces' convoy, which was transporting 47...

EGYPT - Nov 28 - Egypt Minister Warns Against Media Pressure.(Ahmad Abdul Gait)(Brief article)
November 29, 2008... Egyptian FM Ahmad Abdul Gait warns against the "consequences of sharp media handling" of Saudi Arabia's punishment of two Egyptian doctors by jailing and flogging. "Media escalation on both sides is harmful. It is difficult for any government...

IRAQ - Nov 24 - Baghdad Bombs Target Government Employees.
November 29, 2008... Three bombings targeting Iraqi government employees and the US-fortified Green Zone kill at least 20 people and left scores wounded, two days before the Iraqi parliament is expected to vote on a controversial security agreement with the US. The...

IRAQ - Nov 26 - Iraq Delays Parliament Vote On US Troops.
November 29, 2008... Iraq's parliament delays a vote on a landmark pact setting a deadline for US troops to leave, after agreeing to Sunni Arab -demands to make it dependent on a referendum but rejecting other conditions. The deal paves the way for US troops to...

ISRAEL - Nov 27 - Livni Leads New Kadima Party Calls For Olmert To Step Down.(Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni)
November 29, 2008... Acting Israeli PM Ehud Olmert faces renewed pressure from his own party to step down following a decision to indict him in one of several graft cases over which police questioned him. FM Tzipi Livni led the call for Olmert to quit. "The PM has...

KUWAIT - Nov 25 - Kuwait's Government Resigns.
November 29, 2008... The government of Kuwait resigns to head off a parliamentary interrogation of the PM, putting a state-led rescue of the stock market and the future of democracy in the oil-rich Gulf state in doubt. Three Islamist members of the national...

PALESTINE - Nov 23 - Resistance Groups Agree To Observe Shaky Gaza Truce.(Brief article)
November 29, 2008... A Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha says Palestinian resistance groups have agreed to halt rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and to renew their commitment to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Israel in exchange for opening Gaza's crossing points. He...

PALESTINE - Nov 23 - Abbas To Call Snap Elections If Dialogue Fails.
November 29, 2008... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will call for elections in 2009 if his secular Fatah movement and its Islamist rivals Hamas do not reconcile by the end of this year. "If the dialogue does not begin, and if we fail, I will issue a...

PALESTINE - Nov 24 - Bank Alone Could Go To Polls.(West Bank)
November 29, 2008... A senior Abbas adviser Nimer Hammad says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could hold elections in the occupied West Bank alone if Hamas prevents the ballot from taking place in Gaza, an Abbas aide said on Nov 24. He said: If Hamas...