APS Diplomat Recorder articles from October 2007

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from October 2007

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 1 - Israel Frees 87 Palestinian Prisoners.
October 6, 2007... Israel begins releasing 87 jailed Palestinians in a bid to shore up President Mahmoud Abbas against rival Hamas Islamists and ahead of a US-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood. The prisoners, members of Abbas's Fatah or smaller...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 3 - Olmert, Abbas Meet On Draft Joint Statement.
October 6, 2007... Israel voices confidence it will reach agreement with the Palestinians on a joint statement ahead of a US-sponsored Middle East conference on Palestinian statehood expected next month. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 1 - US Offers Rewards In New Campaign Against Taliban In Afghanistan.
October 6, 2007... The US military has launched a new "Most Wanted" campaign offering rewards of up to US$200,000 for information leading to the capture of a dozen Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders. Posters and billboards are being put up around eastern Afghanistan...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct 2 - Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 12 In Kabul Bus Attack.
October 6, 2007... A suicide bomber approaches a bus carrying police officers and civilian employees of the Interior Ministry and blows himself up, killing at least 12 people, including at least one child, officials and witnesses said. The bombing, coming at the...

EGYPT - Oct 1 - Egyptian Editor Accuses Government Of 'Ambush Against Journalists'.
October 6, 2007... A newspaper editor who faces criminal charges for reporting that Egypt's president has ill accused the government of launching an organised campaign to silence the press and said it would take a miracle to escape going to prison. Ebrahim Eisa,...

IRAN - Oct 2 - Elbaradei Warns On 'Work Plan'.(Muhammad El Baradei)
October 6, 2007... Iran is being warned by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that it must fully answer key questions about its uranium enrichment programme before the end of the year if it is to avoid new sanctions. As he enters critical talks with Tehran on...

IRAQ - Oct 4 - Al-Qaeda 'Financier' Arrested In Iraq.
October 6, 2007... The US military claims that American and Iraqi forces had arrested an alleged financier for al-Qaeda who had received $100m from donors outside Iraq to fund insurgent operations. Military officials have long attributed al-Qaeda's expansion in...

LEBANON - Oct 1 - 'Aoun Is The Most Prominent Candidate - But Not The Only One'.(Michel Aoun)
October 6, 2007... Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan says that Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun is not the sole candidate for the presidency, although he is at the top of the list of presidential candidates. "Hizbullah believes Aoun is the most...

LEBANON - Oct 5 - Nasrallah Flogs Israel, Vows No Internal Fighting.
October 6, 2007... Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah lashes out at Israel, accusing it of plotting the assassinations and violence that have shaken Lebanon over the past few years but reiterating a pledge to seek consensus and dialogue to spare the country...

PALESTINE - Sept 30 - Palestinians Get Back Into Gaza.
October 6, 2007... In a surprise move, about 80 Palestinians, including militants wanted by Israel, crossed from Egypt, where they had been stranded, into the Gaza Strip before dawn. The semi-clandestine entry, through the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border,...

PALESTINE - Oct 1 - Palestinians Hand Over Fatah Al-Islam Commander Caught At Beddawi Camp:- A suspected senior commander of the Fatah al-Islam militant group is captured by Palestinian refugees in the Beddawi refugee camp in North Lebanon and turned over to the Lebanese military after he spent weeks in hiding,.
October 6, 2007... PALESTINE - Oct 1 - Palestinians Hand Over Fatah Al-Islam Commander Caught At Beddawi Camp:- A suspected senior commander of the Fatah al-Islam militant group is captured by Palestinian refugees in the Beddawi refugee camp in North Lebanon...

TURKEY - Sept 30 - Turkish Troops Kill 2 Kurdish Guerrillas Day After Deadly Ambush.
October 6, 2007... Turkish troops kill two Kurdish guerrillas a day after a group of rebels launch a deadly ambush on a minibus in southeastern Turkey, local media said. The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, attacked a military outpost at the Iraqi...

TURKEY - Oct 3 - President Of Turkey Defends Rights Record.
October 6, 2007... Abdullah Gul, the president of Turkey, defends his country's human rights record in a major European forum but says much remained to be done, including action on a law that has been used to restrict free speech. The EU, which Ankara hopes to...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 18 - Arab Gulf States To Hold Trade Talks With Tehran.
October 8, 2007... Arab Gulf states have agreed to start negotiations with Iran on a trade agreement in the hope that this could ease diplomatic tensions in the region. The Gulf Co-operation Council has begun a review of trade statistics between the two sides...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 17 - France Seeks New Set Of Sanctions On Iran.
October 8, 2007... France sent another strong message to Iran, announcing that it will work to set up a European sanctions regime modeled on the one in place in the US if the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on tougher measures to stop Iran's...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Sept 19 - Israel Declares Gaza An 'Enemy Entity'.
October 8, 2007... Israeli cabinet ministers vote unanimously to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" a move that could see it shut off fuel and power to the 1.4m Palestinians in the impoverished enclave if rocket attacks continue. Since June the territory...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept 20 - US Feared N Korea-Syria Link Before Israeli Strike.
October 8, 2007... The US had concerns about potential nuclear-related co-operation between North Korea and Syria before recently receiving Israeli intelligence on the issue that Israel reportedly used to justify an air strike inside Syria. Binyamin Netanyahu,...

IRAN - Sept 17 - Iran Scorns War Warning.
October 8, 2007... Iranian and western officials are locked in verbal duels that escalated the already tense situation in the region over Tehran's nuclear programme and the country's growing influence in the Middle East. The warnings and inflammatory statements...

IRAQ - Sept 16 - Militants Step Up Attacks Across Iraq Killing 30.(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... At least 30 people are killed as militants stepped up bombings and shootings across Iraq. This followed a threat by Al Qaida to launch a new phase of violence. Suspected Al Qaida militants shot dead 14 people in the predominantly Sunni Arab...

IRAQ - Sept 17 - Iraqis Revoke License Of US Security Company.
October 8, 2007... The Iraqi government says that it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, a private security company that provides protection for top US officials in Iraq, after a shooting involving an American diplomatic convoy killed eight Iraqis. A...

ISRAEL - Sept 16 - Israel Wants Joint Declaration Out Of Gathering In US.(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Israeli PM Ehud Olmert seeks to lower expectations for a US-led conference on Palestinian statehood, saying he wanted a joint declaration out of the gathering rather than a binding deal. "We are talking between us about a joint declaration that...

ISRAEL - Sept 17 - Olmert Popularity Soars After Syria Air Strike.(Ehud Olmert)
October 8, 2007... Last week's mysterious air strike against Syria has boosted Israeli PM Ehud Olmert's approval rating, a new opinion poll shows. The Dahaf Research Institute said 35% of people questioned were pleased with Olmert's performance, up from 25% on...

ISRAEL - Sept 20 - Olmert Will Free Palestinian Prisoners.
October 8, 2007... PM Ehud Olmert says that he will bring a proposal to his cabinet next week to free some Palestinian prisoners, and he pledged to work with Mahmoud Abbas on agreements toward ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Olmert also said that Iran was...

LEBANON - Beirut Car Bomb Kills Anti-Syrian Lawmaker.
October 8, 2007... A car bomb kills an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker and at least six other people in Beirut, just six days before parliament was due to elect a new president. Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange Party was the second government MP killed in a...

PALESTINE - Sept 17 - Abbas Threatens To Boycott Summit.(Mahmoud Abbas; peace negotiations)
October 8, 2007... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not attend the US-hosted peace conference in November unless Israel agrees to reach an agreement with the Palestinians there, Abbas' associates told Israeli daily Haaretz, adding the summit could "prove...

SAUDI ARABIA - Sept 18 - Saudi Theologian Publicly Denounces Al Qaida.
October 8, 2007... A leading Saudi theologian has publicly denounced Osama Bin Laden, a rare move among theologians in his native Saudi Arabia who have avoided direct criticism of the Al Qaida leader. Salman Al Awdah issued his "open letter to Osama Bin Laden" on...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Oct 9 - Turkey Considers Foray Into Iraq.
October 13, 2007... Turkey moves a step closer to sending its army into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish separatist rebels after a series of bloody attacks on Turkish civilians and security forces in the past two weeks that have caused a public outcry. The...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 12 - Haniyeh Warns Abbas Against Concessions.
October 13, 2007... Former Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, warns President Mahmoud Abbas against making too many concessions to Israel at a scheduled Middle East international summit in the US. "There will be a new peace conference later this...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 10 - US Urged To Engage With Syria.
October 13, 2007... Several former senior US officials warn Pres Bush that next month's conference on the Middle East risked having "devastating consequences" if it failed - and called on the administration to engage more with Syria in the push for a deal. The...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 12 - Respect Iran Sanctions, US Warns.
October 13, 2007... The US warns China, Russia and other countries opposed to tougher economic sanctions against Iran not to seize business opportunities left open by the departure of those respecting the sanctions regime. Robert Kimmitt, US deputy treasury...

EGYPT - Oct 7 - Angry Egyptians Attack Government Symbols In Northern Sinai Town.
October 13, 2007... Thousands of angry demonstrators destroy the HQ's of Egypt's ruling party in this restful northern Sinai Peninsula city in the second day of protests over government neglect. Dozens were injured when plainclothes police officers waded into the...

IRAN - Oct 8 - Students Protest At Ahmadi-Nejad Speech.
October 13, 2007... Just two weeks after being confronted by students at New York's Columbia University, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad faces a smaller protest much closer to home - at Tehran University. More than 100 students gathered to chant slogans -...

IRAQ - Oct 8 - No Let-Up In Basra Power Struggles.
October 13, 2007... As British forces prepare to scale down their mission in southern Iraq, there is no let-up in the power struggles between rival Shi'ite Islamist political factions and militias that bedevilled them for more than three years. But although the...

IRAQ - Oct 9 - Iraq Car Bombs Target US-Allied Sunnis.
October 13, 2007... Two suicide car bombs kill at least 22 people in northern Iraq in attacks targeting a local police chief as well as a Sunni Arab tribal leader working with US forces to fight al Qaeda. Al Qaeda in Iraq had vowed to ramp up attacks during the...

ISRAEL - Oct 7 - No Agreement Yet.
October 13, 2007... Olmert: Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says at the start of Cabinet meeting that he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not come to any conclusion during their meeting last week, meant to jumpstart negotiations before a US-sponsored Middle East...

ISRAEL - Oct 9 - Israeli Police Question Olmert In Corruption Investigation.(Ehud Olmert)
October 13, 2007... PM Ehud Olmert of Israel is questioned for five hours by the police at his official residence, Israeli officials said, as part of a criminal investigation into whether he tried to influence a tender for the sale of an Israeli bank when he was...

LEBANON - Oct 9 - Lebanon's Ruling Majority Protests Nasrallah Speech.
October 13, 2007... As the ruling majority continues to lash out at the latest speech by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah hinting at electing a president based on popular vote, there are contradictory reports on when the actual president gets elected. As verbal...

LIBYA - Oct 8 - Democracy Treats People Like Donkeys, Gaddafi Says.(Muammar Gaddafi )(Brief article)
October 13, 2007... Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says multiparty democracy is a sham promoted by governments that treat their people "like donkeys" and deny them real power, the official Libyan news agency Jana. Gaddafi added in a speech last week that his north...

PALESTINE - Oct 7 - Peace Negotiators Split Over Draft.
October 13, 2007... Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are deeply divided over the content of a joint document they are drafting for next month's US-sponsored statehood conference. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, both weakened by...

PALESTINE - Oct 11 - Hamas Hints At Relinquishing Gaza To Fatah.
October 13, 2007... With international pressure and isolation mounting by the day, Hamas has yielded ground for the first time since capturing the Gaza Strip four months ago by announcing that its rule is temporary. Hamas softened its stand toward its Fatah rivals...

SAUDI ARABIA - Oct 8 - King Issues Rules For Succession.(Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz)(Brief article)
October 13, 2007... King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia issues a decree detailing regulations to implement a succession law that was announced a year ago. The 18 articles in the new regulations outline who can become a member of the Allegiance Commission,...

SUDAN - Oct 11 - Ex-Rebels Quit Unity Government In Sudan.
October 13, 2007... South Sudan's former rebel movement, which signed a historic peace agreement two years ago with Sudan's governing party to end one of Africa's longest-running wars, abruptly pulls out of the national unity government in the gravest blow yet to...

SYRIA - Oct 7 - Syria Reportedly Encourages Sunni Insurgents.
October 13, 2007... Syria is encouraging Sunni Arab insurgent groups and former Iraqi Baathists with ties to the leaders of Saddam Hussein's government to organise here, diplomats and Syrian political analysts say. By building strong ties to those groups, they...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 13 - Kouchner Urges EU For Fresh Iran Sanctions.
October 20, 2007... France's FM Bernard Kouchner, says it has been many years since the world faced a crisis as dangerous as that prompted by Iran's nuclear programme. He said: "We have to find a peaceful solution". Later, in a video interview with the FT, he said...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 15 - EU Seeks To Step Up Pressure On Tehran.
October 20, 2007... The EU begins to examine the possibility of beefing up sanctions by EU states on Iran, seeking to put renewed pressure on Tehran to suspend key aspects of its nuclear programme. EU FMs instructed experts to study further possible restrictions...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 16 - Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad Invited To Moscow For Talks.
October 20, 2007... Vladimir Putin is reported to have invited his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, to talks in Moscow in a move that could increase tensions between Russia and the US. Tass, the Russian news agency, quoted a statement from the two...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Oct 18 - Olmert In 'Urgent' Talks With Putin.
October 20, 2007... The Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, hold talks in the Kremlin with Russian president Vladimir Putin, seeking to persuade him to back new UN sanctions regarding Iran's nuclear programme. Following Putin's own visit to Tehran this week, Olmert held what...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 14 - Hizbullah, Israel Dismiss Reports That Captured Soldiers Are In Iranian Hands.
October 20, 2007... Two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah in July 2006 have been handed to Iran and can be freed in a German-brokered swap. The daily As-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted a source identified as a high-ranking official on the staff of Iran's supreme...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 15 - Israel And Hizbullah Exchange Bodies.
October 20, 2007... Israel and Hizbullah, the Lebanese militant movement, exchang a prisoner and several bodies in the first such transaction between the two sides since they fought a 34-day war last year. The two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hizbullah...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 14 - Turkey-US Military Ties Under Threat.
October 20, 2007... Turkey's most senior general General Yashar Buyukanit warns that military ties with the US will be severely damaged if the House of Representatives adopted a resolution labelling the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. The...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct 18 - Don't Cave In To The Taliban.
October 20, 2007... As recently as Aug. 7, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan declares the Taliban a "defeated" and "spent" terrorist force, and vows publicly, together with President George W. Bush, to finish off the militia. But barely seven weeks later,...

EGYPT - Oct 18 - Egypt Angry At EU Block To Nuclear Free Zone.(Brief article)
October 20, 2007... Egypt has sent a high-level protest to dozens of European countries expressing "astonishment and regret" at their refusal to endorse Cairo's call for a Middle East nuclear free zone at a conference last month. "Egypt is unaware of the...

IRAQ - Oct 17 - Bomb Attacks Kill At Least 8.
October 20, 2007... A roadside bomb explodes near a police patrol, killing at least seven officers in a Shiite area south of Baghdad that has seen fierce clashes between militia factions. To the north, a suicide bomber driving an explosives-loaded truck struck a...

IRAQ - Oct 19 - Kurdistan Warns Turkey On Incursion.
October 20, 2007... The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region issue a statement implying that Kurdish forces will resist a Turkish military operation against rebels based in their territory. The statement by Kurdistan president Masoud Barzani is the...

PALESTINE - Oct 17 - Abbas Issues Warning Over Mideast Summit.(Mahmoud Abbas )
October 20, 2007... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israel of hampering peace efforts and issued the warning that he will not attend a US-sponsored Middle East summit unless it yielded concrete results. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heard the...

SAUDI ARABIA - Oct 17 - Kingdom Is Top FDI Recipient In Arab World.
October 20, 2007... Saudi Arabia is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Arab world in 2006, attracting $18 bn, an increase of 51% over 2005, according to a report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report,...

SUDAN - Oct 16 - In Southern Darfur, Signs Of Another Massacre.
October 20, 2007... AU and UN officials are looking into reports of a new massacre in Darfur, in which witnesses described government troops and their allied militias killing more than 30 civilians, slitting the throats of several men praying at a mosque and...

TURKEY - Oct 15 - Turkish Cabinet Backs Iraq Foray.
October 20, 2007... The prospect of a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq moved a step closer after Turkey's cabinet agrees to seek parliamentary approval for a military response to a resurgence of attacks by PKK separatists operating from mountain hideaways in...

TURKEY - Oct 15 - Iraq Incursion Not Inevitable.
October 20, 2007... Turkey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, says that securing parliament's permission to launch a major attack on Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq did not necessarily mean a military incursion was imminent. "I sincerely wish that this motion will...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Oct 23 - 'ME Conference Must Reach A Final Solution'.
October 27, 2007... Crown Prince Sultan says that the coming US-sponsored Middle East peace summit should tackle core issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict and ensure total Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories. The prince said: "The conference...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Oct 25 - Iraq Wants Turkey To Accept Baghdad's Offer To Deal With Kurd Rebels.
October 27, 2007... The Iraqi FM Hoshyar Zebari, urges Turkey to accept an offer by his government to "pacify, isolate and disrupt" Kurdish separatist rebels - operating out of bases in northern Iraq - but using methods short of military action. In the past few...

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Oct 26 - Ahead Of Peace Talks, Israel Tries To Allay Abbas's Concern For Gaza.
October 27, 2007... PM Ehud Olmert of Israel promises the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, that Israel will not cause a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, despite its declared intention to carry out limited power cuts to the strip in an attempt to curb...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 23 - US Signals Its Intent On Iran Missile Shield.
October 27, 2007... George W. Bush on Tuesday said a missile defence system was urgently needed to protect the US and Europe from Iran, warning that Tehran could have the capability to strike the US and Europe with ballistic missiles within eight years. "The need...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 25 - US Hits Iran With Financial Sanctions.
October 27, 2007... Washington announces a raft of new unilateral sanctions against Iran, targeting the elite international Quds Force unit of the Revolutionary Guards and Tehran's largest bank. The new US curbs come at a time when the UN has been unable to agree...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct 22 - Bin Laden Asks Iraq Insurgents To Unite.
October 27, 2007... Osama Bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive "extremism", speaking in an audiotape aired and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to Al Qaida's branch in Iraq. In the audiotape broadcast on Al Jazeera...

IRAN - Oct 21 - Dismay As Iran Nuclear Chief Quits.
October 27, 2007... The sudden departure of Iran's leading nuclear and security official is greeted with dismay in Tehran political circles amid concern that a power struggle at the highest levels of the regime has exploded into the open. In western capitals too,...

IRAN - Oct 23 - Ahmadi-Nejad Sees No Need For Nuclear Talks.
October 27, 2007... Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad says Tehran had no need for negotiations over its nuclear programme, indicating a lack of interest in the round of discussions between Iranian officials and the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana....

IRAQ - Oct 21 - Raid Kills 49 'Criminals' In Baghdad, US Military Says.
October 27, 2007... US forces say they killed 49 militants in fierce fighting in Baghdad during a raid to capture an Iranian-linked militia chief who the military said it suspected of abducting US-led coalition soldiers and other foreigners. Iraqi officials...

IRAQ - Oct 23 - Iraq Acts To Avoid Turkish Incursion.
October 27, 2007... Iraq's PM Nouri al-Maliki, orders the closure of the operation of the PKK Kurdish separatist group in his country in an attempt to prevent a Turkish military incursion across the border. The move comes after intense international pressure to...

ISRAEL - Oct 21 - Plot To Kill Olmert Foiled, Israeli Says.
October 27, 2007... The chief of Israel's internal security agency tells the cabinet that Palestinian gunmen had plotted to assassinate PM Ehud Olmert on his way to a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in June, but that the plan was foiled by...

MOROCCO - Oct 21 - Moroccan Cabinet Reflects Party Weakness.
October 27, 2007... When King Muhammad names Abbas el-Fassi as Morocco's new PM, some saw it as a positive sign for the north African state's fledgling democracy. He was after all the leader of the party that won most parliamentary seats in September elections....

PALESTINE - Oct 23 - 3 Palestinian Militants Killed By Israeli Army Fire.
October 27, 2007... Three Palestinian militants are killed by Israeli army fire and a Palestinian security prisoner died of wounds sustained the day before during the quelling of a riot in an Israeli prison, Israeli officials said. The death of the prisoner, who...

TURKEY - Oct 21 - Erdogan Faces An Impossible Choice.
October 27, 2007... A Turkish attack on northern Iraq to end cross-border raids by the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is beginning to look politically unstoppable after this weekend's attack on troops in south-east Turkey, the worst in a decade. The PM Recep...

TURKEY - Oct 23 - Turk Won't 'Wait Forever' For Iraq To Act On Kurds, Erdogan Says.
October 27, 2007... The Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, renews warnings that Turkey will take military action against the Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq if diplomatic efforts failed. "We cannot wait forever" for the Iraqi government to take the action to...

TURKEY - Oct 24 - Turkey Strikes At Kurdish Positions From Air.
October 27, 2007... Turkish warplanes join Sikorsky and Cobra military helicopters in southeastern Turkey in attacks on the broad mountainous passes that Kurdish separatist rebels use to travel from hideouts in northern Iraq into Turkey, the state-run Anatolian...